Zambia Sugar Shareholders Bemoan Low Dividends

SOME minority shareholders for Zambia Sugar plc have complained that they are not getting good returns from their investments despite having invested so much in the company.

But the Zambia Sugar management has said it is doing everything possible to double up efforts in terms of production so that shareholders can get the returns on their investments.

Speaking during the company’s open day for its minority shareholders in Mazabuka on Thursday, one of the shareholders, Peter Kombe said the minority shareholders had a lot of shares but they were not getting as much dividends on their investments.

“We have a lot of shares but we are not getting any incentives,” he said before others supported him on the assertion.

In response, company secretary Lovemore Sievu said the management was doing everything possible to ensure that investments were diligently executed for the benefit of its shareholders.

Mr Sievu was responding to concerns by another shareholder Euphrace Kombe who said that the company was behind target in terms of production.

The purpose of the open day was to provide a forum for the company’s shareholders to dialogue with management and get clarifications and advice on certain issues.

Shareholders said that they were not getting incentives for their investments considering that they were getting less dividends despite owning more shares in the company.

But Mr Sievu said the company had a programme of servicing the K1trillion debt from commercial banks which was used on Nakambala Sugar Estate Expansion Project last year.

Zambia Sugar’s financing costs had also increased by 22 per cent from K127 billion in 2010/11 to K156 billion in the year under review.

“So once we finish repaying the loan we owe the banks, everybody will be smiling,” Mr Sievu said.

Mr Sievu said he believed Zambia Sugar was doing well because of the demand in the shares.

“We also believe that people are satisfied with what is being done at the sugar firm and it is all up to them to make decisions on how much to invest,” he said.

Shareholder representative Jobb Shamfuti thanked the shareholders for the support they had continued to render to Zambia Sugar.

Mr Shamfuti said it was because of the support the company was receiving from the shareholders that Nakambala Estate had grown to 14,000 hectares.

Posted by Editor on August 14, 2012. Filed under BUSINESS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry