BUUMBA CHIMBULU writes
@SunZambia
ZAMBIAN Breweries is finalizing plans for a number of local institutional investors to increase their stake in the company, its managing director Morgan Moran has said.
Mr Moran said this would be done through buying shares at the Lusaka Securities Exchange (LSE).
From an initial market capitalization of US$10 million in 1997, the company has grown to over US$336 million, making it the largest company regularly trading on the LSE.
In a statement, Mr Moran said the move was expected to increase the percentage of the company’s shares on the market to 25 percent of the total, by releasing an additional 12.13 percent of its shares.
Mr Moran said the brewer’s success in listing was largely due to the LSE’s capacity to offer potential shareholders lliquidity in the trading of its shares, confidence in the future of the business, as well as a chance for the public to own part of one of the largest manufacturing companies in Zambia.
“Through the years we have been able to use LuSE as a mechanism to raise capital to pay for a lot of the investments we have been making.
“In the last five years we have been very active in increasing our capacity through the opening of the malting plant in the Lusaka South MFEZ and upgrading the capacity at our Ndola plant. We are also working on a major upgrade of the Lusaka brewery which will take us to the next level,” he said.
Mr Moran said through strategic partnerships, the companh had more than doubled production capacity in the last decade which had helped create jobs, increase tax payments and boost the economy.
“We are happy with the relationship we have with LuSE. We appreciate the openness and transparency and willingness to push for more liquidity exhibited by LSE.
“As a responsible corporate citizen, Zambian Breweries shares LuSE’s drive to ensure transparency in order to create a liquid, vibrant market that will benefit investors, companies and the nation,” he said.
And LSE chief executive Priscilla Sampa said “the future of the LuSE as well as that of companies presently listed is bright, as is the future of any company that chooses to list and access the capital that can be secured through listing.”
