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Prince Sunduzani, Business Reporter
ONE of the country’s oldest wooden flooring and furniture companies, Birdlands Trading private limited, formerly Durawood Products, has survived liquidation and is now under judicial management after one of its shareholders sold property worth $1 million to settle a fraction of the firm’s debts.

The Bulawayo-based company had gone under liquidation in 2015 after accruing arrears of over $1 million to different creditors. It owed $700 000 to Stanbic Bank and $300 000 to Renaissance Bank and an undisclosed amount to workers in unpaid salary arrears.

Durawood judicial manager Mr Khumbulani Mathema told Business Chronicle that the lifeline provided to the company would see an increase in capacity utilisation from 10 percent to 50 percent.

“The shareholders approached one of their shareholders’ family trust, which owned property next door and that property was then sold to Stanbic Bank to the tune of $1 million and the money was then used to pay off the Stanbic debt, which was the main debt,” he said.

“What it meant was almost 70 percent of the creditors were cleared, now the company owes a few creditors and we have gotten into partnership with the concession holders in Tsholotsho and we will be getting some timber as harvesting has started in Tsholotsho. Production has also started and the money has also allowed the company to come out of liquidation into judicial management. This means that the workers will also be engaged going forward and start to get some payment.”

Mr Mathema said the company has signed deals with equipment suppliers for capacitation and retooling in order for production to start at full throttle.

“We also signed an MoU with a company called Bowser Investments, which has brought in some new machines. We are also in talks with a number of leading companies who will replace some of the old equipment. We are looking to increase our capacity utilisation up to 50 percent as we were operating at 10 percent,” he said.

During its peak, Durawood Products was one of the country’s biggest foreign currency earners realising over 100 000 pounds a month through exports mainly to the United Kingdom. The firm boasts of being one of the first timber processors in Africa to be awarded a Forest Management Certificate by the Forest Stewardship Council Certification of Mexico in 1996 to enable its products to be sold in Europe after that market became environmentally conscious.

Bulawayo industries are slowly recovering with companies such as Merlin, NRZ among others also coming on board.

@PrinceNkosy102