Turnall Holdings Battles Cash Flow Issues, Achieve...

Turnall Holdings Battles Cash Flow Issues, Achieves Revenue Growth

Audrey Galawu

Assistant Editor

Turnall Holdings Limited a leading Zimbabwean building materials manufacturer, reported a mixed bag of results for the year ended December 31, 2023. While the company grappled with cash flow challenges and raw material shortages, it managed to achieve significant revenue growth.

Turnall's financial report revealed a concerning decline in cash flow, with the figure dropping to negative US$61.8 billion from ZWL$2.8 billion in the previous year. Chairman Grenville Hampshire attributed this primarily to global supply chain disruptions caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which hampered the procurement of raw materials from Russia. This shortage impacted production and sales volumes of Turnall's AC building products.

The company was further burdened by significant exchange rate disparities between the official and alternative markets in Zimbabwe. Turnall incurred substantial exchange rate losses due to these disparities.

Despite these challenges, Turnall demonstrated its resilience by achieving a 109% increase in inflation-adjusted revenue, reaching US$84.2 billion compared to US$40.3 billion in the prior year. In historical terms, revenue grew by an impressive 834% to US$54.4 billion.

This positive outcome can be attributed to increased sales of concrete products and strategic product modifications that allowed Turnall to maximize the use of available raw materials for its fibre-cement products.

The company also reported an improvement in gross margins, both in inflation-adjusted and historical terms. This improvement is credited to timely adjustments of selling prices to keep pace with inflation and strict cost-containment measures implemented by management.