Delta Corp in the process of complying with Indigenisation

Delta Corporation has said it is in the process of complying with the indigenisation policy and has since submitted its road map to the government.

CE Pearson Govero told the Imara Investment Conference yesterday that the beverages company submitted the indigenisation its road map to the government and are currently in talks with the ministry of Indigenisation over the matter.    

 "We are in our second year of the compliance timeline. We submitted our documents to the government and these have not been signed since 2010"

Delta's major shareholders are Stanbic Nominees at 22.79%, SabMiller Zimbabwe at 21.86% and Rainier Incorporated at 15.75%.

Govero said Delta is however looking forward to employment growth expected in the agricultural, mining and other sectors of the economy, with the implementation of the indigenisation policy.

"With the coming of the indigenisation policy, we are certain that the employment growth is going to be high and that will definitely see Delta growing as well. And when people talk about beverages, you know they are talking about Delta".

Govero said the group was not worried about the outcome of the elections but rather expects an increase in consumption.

"With the coming of the elections, we remain optimistic. Just for interest, we have had a couple of elections in the past 10 years and during those times, the consumption was enhanced, so we will definitely remain optimistic", said Govero.

However in the near future, consumer disposable incomes remain under pressure with Govero saying volume performance will reflect this, and growth although a focus area, will be a challenge in the first half of the year.

He said the group's strategy was to keep the beverages affordable at the same time meeting the aspirations of the premium consumers.

"The group will bring new offerings to the market via a carefully managed innovation pipeline as well as nurture the strong core brands."

Govero said the regional PCC benchmarks highlight opportunity on beer, soft drinks and Non Alcoholic Beverages (NABs) while there was an opportunity in process and cost management.

The group forecasts earnings growth to be ahead of GDP and inflation driven by the mix and productivity.

Of the associate companies, Govero said Afdis was operating to plan and product availability and innovation was improving. He noted a recapitalisation programme was underway.

At Schweppes, profitability was trending up. Product acceptability of Minute Maid had been encouraging while on the other hand, the bottom end of the cordials market was intensely competitive.