Mpico registers K8.1bn profit, shareholders happy

Malawi Property Investment Company (Mpico) plc board chairperson Edith Jiya says the property management firm posted a profit after-tax of K8.1 billion in the year ended December 2022.

Speaking during the Malawi Stock Exchange (MSE)-listed firm annual general meeting on Friday in Lilongwe, she said the shareholders are happy with the financial performance achieved in 2022.

“We have grown our dividends from the previous year by 15 percent, translating into K321 million. Our profit has increased from K6.4 billion to K8.1 billion,” she said.

Jiya said the economic outlook for this year looks challenging, but the company will put in place mitigating measures to weather the storm.

She said the net profit could have been much higher had it not been for challenges such as weather-related shocks, power shortages and high inflation rate currently at 29.2 percent as of May this year.

Said Jiya: “The year 2022 was quite challenging. We had a lot of hitches that the business had to navigate.

“The outlook for this year seems challenging again. The weather-related shocks are still with us.”

During the meeting, the shareholders learnt that the Malawi Government owes Mpico plc K6 billion in unpaid rentals, which also affected the shareholders’ dividends.

One of the shareholders, Joe Maere, commended Mpico plc for the successful year, but urged the firm’s board and management to find ways to collect K6 billion in arrears owed by government.

He said: “We are prompting the board and management to work extra hard to collect the money locked up with government worth K6 billion in rentals.

“That is a lot of money just sitting idle that could have been used for other things or distributed to shareholders in form of dividends.”

Old Mutual Investment Group managing director Mark Mikwamba said Mpico plc share prices on MSE is rising.

“The property business suffered a setback because of Covid-19 and other weather-related shocks but we are growing,” he said. Mikwamba said Mpico plc has over 27 properties valued at K80 billion.