Letshego expects profit knock

Leading microlender, Letshego Holdings, expects its pretax profits for the half-year ended June 30 to be as much as 20% lower than the previous corresponding period. The group is due to report its results on August 29 and expects its financial statements to show a drop in pretax profits of up to P108.8 million. In the previous corresponding period, Letshego posted half-year pretax profits of P544.1 million, continuing a resilient performance through the pandemic period. The microlender did not provide any further details on the reasons for the lower profits, which were disclosed in line with the Botswana Stock Exchange’s (BSE) listing rules. Shareholders and market watchers are eagerly tracking Letshego’s performance after turbulence hit its Annual General Meeting held in June. The board, led by lawyer and former investment banker, Enos Banda, axed CEO, Andrew Okai in early May, citing an “irreparable breakdown of trust and confidence”. The move appears to have stirred apprehension amongst major shareholders on the group’s strategic direction and tensions resulted in Banda and two other directors quitting on the eve of the AGM. The troubles in the microlender have apparently ruffled investor confidence, with Letshego’s share price shedding 12% since the AGM on June 23. For the year to date, however, Letshego is still up 3.6 percent, although before the CEO’s exit, the microlender’s share price was up by nearly 29%, the BSE’s best performer at the time.