MUTARE - The Mutare city council's liquor outlets are operating at a loss, documents made available to The Zimbabwean indicate. The cash strapped council is making a loss averaging $700 a month from each of its four beerhalls.The council has at least 17 liquor outlets under its wing and these, according to documents in our possession, are “poorly performing and now proving to be a liability to Pungwe Breweries” (the council’s operating company).
Statistics for the four bars from October to December 2009 show that for the three months the four beerhalls had a combined net loss of nearly $10 000.
In October last year Rufaro and Dangamvura had a total loss of $800, while Mushando and Nyausunzi recorded their only profit for the year – $72 and $400 respectively.
Pungwe Breweries Board chairperson, Exavia Upare, said the company was operating below capacity owing to low cash injection.
“Liquor business is the in thing at the moment and to imagine that our outlets posted losses is a shock. The management systems were poor and are largely to blame for the predicament we find ourselves in,” Upare said.
“We are hoping to find a partner who will invest in our liquor outlets and get a substantial stake in the business while the council will have a controlling stake in the deal,” he added.
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