Swissport shares gain 10% at DSE

The Swissport share price continued with a rally yesterday, gaining over 10 per cent to reach 1,900/- since the year started.

The shares of the biggest ground handling firm hit the new high following robust performance ever, since it was listed on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE). 

The Zan Securities Chief Executive Officer, Mr Raphael Masumbuko, said despite slight drop on profits, investors hope that the prospects for the company were bright and scrambled for its shares, thus pushing demand up.

“Decline in profits hasn’t put off investors, after all it is very marginal to discourage them,” Mr Masumbuko told the ‘Daily News,’ that “the dividend offered is still good.”

He added: “The firm has shown steady growth overtime and share price rally is expected to continue, as investors are confident it will perform well in the near future.”

The day before Wednesday Swissport announced that its profit level has slowed by 5 per cent to drag with its dividend and earning per share by the same margin.

The company which operates at Kilimanjaro and Dar es Salaam airports said the profit slid a bit to 6.72bn/- at the end of last year, compared to 7.08bn/- posted in previous year. Both dividends and EPS sunk by 5 per cent to 149/39 and 186/75 respectively.

“This is attributed to increased fuel and maintenance costs, depreciation, personnel costs, rent and occupancy expenses,” Swissport said in a statement released to the public on Tuesday. 

During the year, total operating revenue grew by 8 per cent to 30.35bn/- against the previous year, due to traffic and cargo increase by 4 and 3 per cent respectively.

But other operating income plummeted by 83 per cent to 53m/-. To maximise revenue, Swissport plans to construct a new warehouse at Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) in this year’s second quarter. 

“A successful completion of this project will help us to continue delivering quality and improved services to our cargo customers - Swissport, that was privatised in early 2000s,” he said.

The construction of the warehouse follows the forecasted slight increase in number of the frequencies and volume of cargo in this year. 

“Several strategies and plans have been put in the place to address future challenges including planned further liberalisation of the ground handling market,” the statement said.

Source: The Daily News, www.dailynews.co.tz, reported by Abduel Elinaza in Dar es salaam

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