Wilderness earnings up three fold on US recovery
Friday, May 31, 2013
According to the company's financial results, the recovery in the US market, though partly offset by soft demand from the European market, coupled with the weakening of the Rand and the Pula against the greenback, pushed up the company's turnover."Local currencies have been weaker against our main trading currencies (being the United States dollar and the Euro) and this has worked in our favour. The positive impact of the Rand weakening by an average of 13 percent against the US dollar over the year was partially offset by a 2 percent unfavourable movement in the Rand/Pula cross rate. The net result is that turnover has increased by 13 percent to P1.2 billion," said the company.
As a result, the group's after tax profits amounted to P27.7 million, representing a 238 percent increase over the comparable result last year.The company, which owns and operates 59 luxury safari camps, with a total of 1,028 beds in eight southern African countries, recorded a 3.7 percent decline in total bed night sales largely due to the permanent closure of non-performing camps and the temporary closure of others for maintenance."If we normalise for these closures, we achieved a 1 percent increase in bed night sales. For the 2012 calendar year, we increased our rates on average by between 4 percent and 10 percent.
These roads, which are vital conduits for trade and tourism, have long been in dire need of repair. However, while this development is undoubtedly a positive step, it also raises questions about broader issues of infrastructural management and road safety that deserve closer scrutiny.The A3 and A33 roads are not just any roads, they are critical arteries that connect Botswana to its neighbours and facilitate the movement of goods and people...