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Business Reporter
THE country’s dominant multi-media group, Zimpapers (1980) Limited, has successfully recapitalised its operations despite the difficult economy as it moves to consolidate solid revenue growth and operational efficiency.Group board chairman, Charles Utete yesterday reported in a statement accompanying the firm’s abridged audited results for the year ended December 31, 2014 that Zimpapers was poised for growth in  the wake of recapitalisation in its four major   divisions —print, broadcasting, digital and commercial printing.

“The company’s expansion plans for the year under review, saw it launching three new digital products and the most formidable social media site in the country while boosting its print capabilities to maximise advertising revenue and improve reader appeal of its products,” said Utete.

“Serious investment was made in its journalism with the first ever Media Training Lab in Zimbabwe that trains its editors, reporters and photographers in the latest trends in journalism, such as writing across platforms.”

The board chair said Zimpapers has successfully installed new printing presses for its newspaper and commercial printing operations as well meeting information technology requirements.

He, however, said the benefits of the investments made such as increased colour portions, new productive range, efficiency and waste reduction  levels, only started to be realised in the last quarter of 2014.

Utete said moving forward the company would prioritise embracing technology and developing new digital and mobile products to tap into these opportunities.

He reported that during the period under review, the digital division contributed seven percent of the total revenue compared to the four percent in the prior year.

Meanwhile, the group posted a seven percent loss in revenue to $41.6 million in 2014 compared to $44.9 million in 2013.

The decrease in revenue has been attributed to liquidity challenges that characterised 2014.

Gross profit also dropped to $31.9 million from $33.1 million with the profit margin increasing to 77 percent from 74 percent due to efficient procurement of raw materials and efficiency in production cycles brought about by recapitalisation.

Comparatively, operating expenses before retrenchment and severence packages of $5.96 million grew 17 percent from $32.8 million.

The expenses also included a Zimra tax audit of $2.5 million, provision of doubtful debts of $911.218 and impairment of stock of $694.626.

Loss before tax stood at $12.9 million compared to a profit of $453.910 last year.

The loss has been attributed to revenue decline due to a staff rationalisation programme and impairment of the old printing press.

Finance costs also increased by 22 percent to $1.62 million due to expensive short term borrowings to finance recapitalisation processes.

The newspaper division posted a $56.914 loss compared to an operating profit of $3.6 million the previous year while the commercial division widened its losses from $528,284 in 2013 to $1.1 million.

The broadcasting arm also widened its operating loss to $281,680 from $197,418 in the prior year.