Expolanka eyes East Africa for further expansion
The Expolanka Holdings PLC now firmly under the control of Japanese-based SG Holdings which recently increased its stake in the company wants to venture into Africa, officials said. “We are more a fashion logistics company and in this backdrop we want to increase our reach. So we’re eyeing renting logistics facilities in East Africa. This is because when our clients (who are in apparel industry) expand in certain areas, we follow suit to cater to their logistic needs,” Hanif Yusoof, Group CEO – Expolanka Holdings PLC told the Business Times.
He added that the company’s business is a ‘light asset’ and in that respect Expolanka Holdings’ is looking to rent space. “But if there’re any attractive opportunities for acquisitions in our core businesses – freight and logistics, and travel and leisure both locally and internationally-, we are interested,” he said. The company recorded a pre-tax profit (PBT) of Rs. 563 million for the third quarter of the financial year posting an overall profit growth of 14 per cent in comparison to the corresponding period of the previous financial year.
The recorded profit attributable to equity holders for the third quarter was Rs. 344 million, the company has said adding that the recorded PBT for the nine months that ended in December 2015 was Rs. 1.6 billion with an overall profit growth of 69 per cent in comparison to the corresponding period last year. The Kassim family divested most of their shares in Expolanka retaining some 10 per cent earlier this month to SG Holdings, which had already owned over 50 per cent. Commenting on the positive results, Mr. Yusoof was quoted in a company media release as saying.
“In the last financial year we took several strategic steps to ensure the sustainable growth of our business. These positive results indicate the effectiveness of our concentrated efforts on business growth in the group’s core sectors including operational efficiencies and restructuring efforts”. ”Each sector in the group has contributed to the positive growth of this quarter. We hope to capitalise on this growth to build a solid platform for future performances. We have already identified and implemented measures such as more focused investments on developing IT enabled business growth to seize greater growth opportunities,” Mr. Yusoof, has further said.