Botswana retailer Choppies Enterprise Limited is considering withdrawing from Zimbabwe due to challenges faced by its local subsidiary, which has impacted the group’s financial performance.
These challenges are attributed to the instability of the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) currency, introduced in April to replace the Zimbabwe dollar as the official domestic currency.
Choppies holds a 100% stake in the local company Nanavac Investments (Pvt) Limited, which operates as Choppies Zimbabwe.
In its annual report for the period ending June 30, 2024, Choppies conceded that Zimbabwe continues to be a challenging environment. It said:
Operations in Zambia remain fairly stable and should improve significantly, following the ending of the drought and El Niño conditions which affected hydroelectric generation resulting in power cuts.
Once Namibia reaches critical mass, we believe the business will be profitable. Zimbabwe, however, continues to be a challenging environment.
The new ZiG currency, which replaced the Zimbabwean dollar, has not as yet helped to stabilise the economy, and consequently, the Zimbabwean operation has experienced a decline in performance. We are evaluating our operations in the country and will address the situation.
Choppies says it has 11 388 employees (10 289 Choppies, 1 099 Kamoso) in 287 stores (185 grocery retail, 75 liquor stores, 27 hardware stores) across Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
In Zimbabwe, Choppies has 30 stores and employs 1 051 (567 male and 484 female), who could end up losing their jobs if the retailer pulls out of the country. Said Choppies chief executive officer Ramachandran Ottapathu:
The long-term focus of our strategy is to reduce debt. We have exited all loss-making areas apart from Zimbabwe which is something we are currently considering. We are also looking into expansion plans throughout the group.
The economic challenges in Zimbabwe including high inflation, high unemployment levels and a shortage of foreign currency continued to impact our operations.
Due to the continued risk posed to the group, the company is weighing various options in Zimbabwe given the stress on the group’s financials.
The local currency has undergone six name changes but has yet to achieve stability, confidence, trust, or sustainability due to inflation fueled by excessive money creation by the Government.
Its previous iterations include the original currency post-independence, that is, the Zimbabwe dollar, then later bearers’ cheques, traveller’s cheques, bond notes, RTGS dollars, and now ZiG.
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