Despite being hit by the effects of cyclone Ana last year, Illovo Sugar Malawi plc has posted a 30 percent increase in net profit from K20.6 billion in 2021 to K26.6 billion in 2022.
This has been disclosed on Tuesday 6th February during a press briefing which the company held after an Investor’s Forum at Mount Soche Hotel in Blantyre where stakeholders were being briefed on 2022 business performance.
Speaking at the press briefing, Illovo Sugar Managing Director, Lekani Katandula, cited hardworking spirit amongst staff as one of the major factors that have contributed to the 30 percent rise in profit last year.
He further mentioned that in 2022, the company invested so much in advertising their products and added that they also introduced several new sugar depots across the country which he said has also contributed so much to the success stories.
“To attain the improvements that we have, we brought up a number of initiatives, we have very deliberately been trying to reduce our cost of production, cost of services, the market, we are making a good progress there and we have also been trying to grow our domestic market.
“We have now made sure that we have adequate distribution centres throughout the country to make sure that sugar is available as close as possible to anywhere where fellow Malawians live in this country and at our recommended prices,” said Katandula.
Katandula continued to say he is so hopeful that 2023 will be another great year for the company arguing there are several initiatives which the company feel will boost their business including plans to resume exporting sugar this April, a development which will as well help in forex generation for the country.
Last year, Illovo increased sugar prices in May before a further increase in October.
Katandula, however, said the company has no plans to reduce sugar prices saying doing so may result in illegal exporting of the commodity which he said may in turn result in scarcity of the product on the local market as in last year’s case.
“There were concerns that sugar prices should be lower than where they are now. The challenge is that if the prices will be lower than now, we would battle with inadequate supply of sugar on the market just like last year. So, we want to make sure that sugar is available throughout the year. We have reacted to mitigate,” he added.
The profit has been made despite the company registering a reduction in sugar production which has fallen from 279 thousands tons to 230 thousand tons due to climatic shocks induced by tropical storms.
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