LETSHEGO PROFITS DOWN
Financial service provider, Letshego, is anticipating a significant dent to its profits for the first half of the year. The company issued cautionary statement this week indicating that profit before tax for the six months ended 30 June 2022, is expected to drop by 15 to 20 percent, lower than the comparative period ended 30 June 2021.
Letshego’s new group board chairman, Philip Odera said the profits before tax are anticipated to drop to between P81.6 million to P108.8 million compared to P544.1 million in 2021. He further highlighted that the six-month period financials will be announced before end of August.
The development comes on the backdrop of internal boardroom squabbles hinged to still under the wraps decision to sell a stake to Bayport.
According to information on the deal, Bayport has indicated an interest of acquiring an additional minimum of 22.1 percent from other shareholders to make Bayport a majority shareholder of 50.1 percent of Letshego. However, indications are that major shareholder, Botswana Public Officers’ Pension Fund (BPOPF) has reservations on the intended acquisition. Authorities at Letshego have kept their lips tight on the proposed deal.
With operations in Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, Lesotho, Eswatini, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, and Tanzania, Letshego defied challenges from COVID-19 pandemic and recorded a double digit performance growth for 2021, with profit before tax up 11 percent year-on-year to P1.147 billion, and profit after tax climbing 16 percent for the same comparative period, to P730 million.