By Deon Schlechter
WINDHOEK – During their annual general meeting held in December 2014 Agra shareholders approved the annual report for the financial year ending July 31 2014 and expressed satisfaction with Agra’s performance, albeit considerable capital outflow for various infrastructure developments made.
This was revealed by Agra chief executive officer, Peter Kazmaier, in an interview last Friday when he said the most salient feature that was tabled and discussed was the impressive net profit after tax of N$34 million which exceeded the budgeted amount by N$8.8 million.
“Looking at the current year, we are pleased to report that turnover has exceeded last year’s five months’ period to December 2014 by 12 percent and net profit before tax for the same period exceeded last year’s by 10 percent,” he commented.
Agra is currently finalizing the first phase of the Auas Valley shopping mall’s refurbishment. There are a great number of outstanding issues regarding the quality of workmanship and extensive delays on various fronts. This results not only delays in the planned occupation of areas and buildings, but as a consequence financial losses are incurred as rentals cannot be charged.
“At the same time we are excited about the new Agra Windhoek branch in the Lafrenz Industrial Area, which is expected to be handed over to Agra at the end of March, with a grand new opening taking place early May 2015.
“The new branch will have a retail area with offices of 4 000 square metres, a bulk storage area of 2 500 square metres and total yard space of 18 900 square metres (including roads, parking and ramps) as well as lettable space for outside tenants of 1200 square metres.”
“The aim is to create an exceptional shopping experience at the Agra branch including a coffee shop, and various other amenities, like ATMs from various banks and other complementing shops form part of this state-of-the-art business complex offering the widest product variety of any of Agra’s branches,” added Kazmaier.
“I am explicitly proud of the accomplished upgrading of our retail outlets in Karasburg and Opuwo in 2014 – Agra is truly serving our farmers with a wide range of products country-wide. And to expand our network, Agra will open another retail outlet in Rundu towards mid-2015. The latter is a smart partnership with a local businessman,” said Kazmaier.
Also on the cards for the second half of 2015 is the planning and preparation for phase 2 of the expansion and refurbishment projects, which will consist of more retail space, a totally new Agra urban concept, and the possibility of additional office space.
He explained that Namibian climatic conditions are by nature erratic, thereby posing considerable economic risks to business. The mentioned projects are therefore part of Agra’s strategy to diversify its business portfolio to augment income streams by not solely having to rely on agriculture-based businesses.
“Albeit Agra’s drive for diversification, our company’s business focus will remain to be anchored in the agricultural market. We also see training, education and empowerment of farmers and other stakeholders as part of our social investment with the aim to improve skills and expertise to increase the productivity and socio-ecological sustainability of our agricultural sector.
“I am fully aware that the year ahead will in all likelihood be one of the more difficult years for Namibian farmers. While we are all praying for rain it seems a drought is looming, especially in the agronomy areas of our country, and therefore a vastly reduced maize and millet harvest is likely. This will have a devastating effect on all those producers who have increased the areas under cultivation following the very good harvests experienced last year,” continued Kazmaier.
“In addition, the lack of available grazing could lead to our livestock producers having to sell off a great number of their animals, which might lead to a drop in the prices of livestock as a result of the oversupply caused by the drought conditions. This in turn will weaken the purchasing power of our farmers, disregarding maintenance and improvement of farm infrastructure in 2015, which in turn would lead to a reduction in Agra’s turnover,” he said.
“In the short-term Agra might benefit, because of increased lick and fodder sales, but seen from the producers’ side, the profitability of their livestock business would decline. All of us are still optimistic and hopeful that the rains will come in time and in the quantities which are necessary to prevent extensive drought conditions. At Agra we will continue to spread the risk of doing business by diversifying our various undertakings into different markets thereby not being exposed to only one industry; and we will continue to invest Namibian money in Namibian business, for the benefit of Namibians,” he concluded.