National Foods Limited chief executive officer, Mike Lashbrook receiving the overall best performing company on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange from African Export Import Bank (Afreximbank)’s regional manager for southern Africa, Gift Simwaka.
ZIMBABWE Stock Exchange (ZSE)-listed milling firm, National Foods Limited (Natfoods), was on Friday crowned the best performing company on the local bourse in the Financial Gazette’s Top Companies Survey 2016 sponsored by financial services giant, Old Mutual Zimbabwe.
Natfoods, which is part of ZSE-listed conglomerate, Innscor Africa Limited, operates in the manufacturing sector, which has been hit by an uninterrupted decline since 2011, when manufacturing sector capacity utilisation reached a peak of 57,2 percent, but has steadily declined to about 34,3 percent, according to the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries.
It has consistently been among the top performing companies in Zimbabwe. Its crowning moment came on Friday when it took the top spot, with chief executive officer, Mike Lashbrook attributing the company’s performance to all its staff members and customers who continue to believe in their products.
“As a company were are aggressive in seeking opportunities and being innovative for our business to grow,” said Lashbrook.
Natfoods is one of Zimbabwe’s largest manufacturers and marketers of food products, with a footprint spanning pre-packing and sale of dry groceries, to the manufacturing of stock feeds and food products.
The company is into milling, manufacturing, distribution and property.
Natfoods was ranked overall best performer, followed by tobacco processor, BAT in second place, while beverages giant, Delta, was the second runner up.
Delegate follow proceedings at The Financial Gazette’s Top Companies Survey.
Delta also won the disclosure and investor relations award. BAT also won the best tangible investor returns award
Stanbic Bank won the best bank, with Standard Chartered being the runner-up.
FML took the award for the best life assurance company, while Nicoz Diamond won the award for the best short-term insurer.
Special mention award was won by Amalgamated Regional Trading (ART) Corporation. The award is given to a company that would have significantly improved its operation during the period under review, but did not qualify to be in the top three.
Welcome Mavingire, chairman of the panel of judges and analysts said the volatilities in the economy and financial markets continued to make the task of selecting the Top Companies in Zimbabwe challenging.
“The criteria we used was robust, it was modified to incorporate changes on the market even though the market was not rewarding some companies. The biggest challenge that we encountered was availability of information, because we depended on publicly available information,” Mavingire said.
British American Tobacco managing director Clara Mlambo receiving the best tangible investor returns award from CABS deputy managing director Mehluli Mpofu. BAT also won the overall best performer, runner up award.