CONSTRUCTION firm, Turnall Holdings Limited, is targeting the regional export market and has ploughed US$2 million to upgrade its Bulawayo plant to upscale.
With the economy expected to be negatively impacted by the El Nino-induced drought and declining commodity prices in the agriculture and mining sectors, respectively, government support to the construction and infrastructure industries is expected to be lower.
As construction firms have a significant amount of public sector projects, lower government support in the form of financing will negatively impact such companies.
“The group is also committed to returning to the regional export market and a significant investment in new equipment to convert the Bulawayo sheeting plant to Non-AC production for the export market will come on stream in quarter 2 2025, following the commissioning of the new sheeting plant in Harare in quarter 1 2025,” board Turnall chairperson Grenville Hampshire said in an annual report for 2023.
He said the group remains committed to the implementation of an ambitious recovery plan which involves the introduction of a new modern production line in Harare for roofing sheets and flat products.
“ … extensive modifications to the Bulawayo sheeting plant and a major investment in new templates and spares aimed at reducing costs and increasing output from the Harare concrete tile plant,” Hampshire said.
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“Maintaining high standards of product quality remains a key priority and this will be underpinned when spares and equipment with a value of over 2 million start to arrive in Bulawayo in quarter 2 2024.”
Turnall managing director John Mkushi said that once the conversion at its Bulawayo plant was complete, the machine would focus on producing non-AC products and the new Harare machine will focus on AC production.
“The civil works for the installation of the new Harare sheeting machine are in progress. The machine has a capacity of 210 tonnes per day and is double the current output coming from Bulawayo,” Mkushi said.
“The significant portion of the company’s AC sales volumes comes from Harare and so the installation of Harare plant is going to cut product transport costs from Bulawayo to Harare. This is going to lower costs and selling prices.”
He said the business was looking forward to improved production capacity of both the Tile plant and Bulawayo sheeting machine.
“The tile plant will be recapitalised with new additional templates which will boost output from the current 25 000 units per day to 40 000 units by the end of the 2024-financial year. The Bulawayo sheeting machine is being converted to non-AC,” Mkushi said.
He said as a result of these efforts, the group was looking forward to improved profitability and cashflows following the resizing of the business subsequent to year end.
“Management is focusing on maximising revenue through increased sales activity and containing costs to ensure that the cost base is matched with business activity and revenue,” Mkushi said.
Turnall is also planning to set up a glass reinforced plastic pipe plant in 2025.