Anglo African Investments Ltd and its subsidiaries (the “Group”) have achieved a satisfactory performance during the year under review, achieving double-digit growth in revenue and profit from continuing operations, despite the difficulties encountered in its regional business.

Transformation

The transformation plan disclosed in the IR2016 was implemented during FY2017, the highlights of which are as follows:

• The Group believes in the strong growth potential of its subsidiary in Zambia and has injected an additional capital of MUR 1 million during FY2017 to strengthen its capital base and cash flow. Results achieved by our subsidiary in Zambia in FY2017 are encouraging and we expect higher growth in the next financial year.
• Operations in Madagascar and Zimbabwe have been scaled back due to losses incurred by the subsidiaries in both countries, and political and economic uncertainties clouding their future prospects. The subsidiary in Rwanda has been closed down considering the intense competition making it difficult to penetrate the market unless more resources are deployed there, but the Group has decided to proceed differently.Hence, our investments in, and loans to, those subsidiaries, amounting to MUR 12.8 million have been written off as irrecoverable in the current year. In addition, the Group incurred one-off expenditures of around MUR 2 million relating to the closing down process. Business opportunities referred to us by our partners, consultants and existing customers in those countries are now dealt with by the regional business team based in Mauritius.
• In line with our strategy to focus on the technology business, the Group disposed of its subsidiary, MobiMea Ltd, which is a trading company selling mobile devices. The Group recorded the results of MobiMea Ltd’s operations for the six months till disposal date in December 2016 as “profit from discontinued operations” and re-presented the comparative figures for FY2016 accordingly.
• The Group continued to build capabilities in Fintech, disbursing MUR 1.5 million in staffing, training and marketing, but has not generated revenue from this activity yet. The Group is confident that the Fintech line of business will bring long-term value-added and looks forward to positive developments in FY2018.

Revenue

Revenue from continuing operations grew by 24% from MUR 220.7 million in FY2016 to MUR 272.6 million in FY2017, driven by:

• our subsidiary in Zambia, which had its first full operating year in 2017 and accounted for 12% of group revenue
• our telecom consultancy business, which also fared very well, growing its revenue twofold as it won a major 2-year contract in the last quarter of FY2016
• our IT business in Mauritius, which registered a flat growth over last year as it was negatively impacted by lower income from digital consultancy, offset by higher income generated by the datacom department and stable revenue from the infrastructure segment.

On the other hand, revenue from international business, excluding from Zambia, fell in this transition year as we contracted our local presence in Zimbabwe, Madagascar, and Rwanda.

Profitability

Hence, the Group’s information technology business and telecom consultancy remain the drivers for the Group’s performance despite the difficult economic environment. Group profit after tax from continuing operations increased by 27.1% to reach MUR 13.7 million.

The Group’s profit for the year showed a flat growth considering that profit from discontinued operations in FY2017 included results of only 6 months operations till disposal date, compared to 12 months last year.

Gross margin from continuing operations fell from 29% in FY2016 to 27% in FY2017 while net margin from continuing operations was maintained at 5% in both periods.

Administrative and other expenses

Administrative and other expenses attributable to continuing operations were well controlled and increased by 3% to MUR 58 million in FY2017.

Gearing

The Company’s borrowings, relating to obligations under finance lease, represented less than 5% of equity in both FY2017 and FY2016.

Liquidity

The Group has sufficient liquidity to fund its operations. It generated cash from operating activities of MUR 37.3 million in FY2017 and its current assets ratio is 2.3.

Dividend

In line with its policy not to declare dividend till 30 June 2017, no dividend has been paid out for FY2017. This policy was adopted in order to strengthen the capital base of the Group and have sufficient free cash flow to fund its growth.