Hie Investor, I am a 76 year old who has contributed to growth by enabling the movement of people and products across Zimbabwe.
Welcome to On a Date with a listed company on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE).
THREAD: On a Date with Unifreight Africa (UNIF).
#1. History,
1921, John Watts a man who had been privileged to learn about business from his family's enterprises 14 years earlier starts two bus companies.
1929, Red & White Services is created to bring all bus operators which Watts had formed and acquired.
1937, Red & White United Transport is formed as a public limited company (plc) to hold the diverse interests of the group.
1946, Swift Transport Services (STS) a transport business is registered in Zimbabwe starting with two depots in Harare and Bulawayo
1950, Red & White United Transport sell off its UK bus and coach operations to the British Transport Commission (BTC) as part of the nationalisation efforts by the labour government.
The group changed its name to United Transport Company (UTC).
UTC continued to own businesses in Africa with operations in transport through the Rhodesia United Transport (RUT) which owned STS.
RUT concentrated its business efforts in Zambia, Zimbabwe & Malawi
It also had interests in road freight transport in the UK
1971, UTC operations are taken over by British Electric Traction (BET) but 25 years later is bought out by Rentokil.
1994, BET pours investment into its Zimbabwe unit to purchase luxury coaches, Blue Arrow
1995, Pioneer Transport started by Rudland brothers.
2014, Pioneer Corporation Africa (PCA) is rebranded to UNIF to take advantage of its brand recognition in the market
PCA had acquired UNIF 3 years earlier through a reverse listing on the ZSE. This facilitates a private company to list using the listed entity
Pioneer Transport is sold off from UNIF through a management buy out (MBO) at nil value due to losses.
2021, Zimplow issue 34,174,010 shares to UNIF to purchase 51% of Tredcor, trading as TrenTyre and 100% of Birmingham Investments a property holding entity.
#2. Operations,
Unifreight Africa is Zimbabwean owned transport enterprise offering comprehensive packages to solve logistical problems.
It specialises in
• COURIER services both local and global,
• FREIGHT offers express and consolidated.
• FULL-LOADS
40 outlets are operated across Zimbabwe comprising 24 depots
The business outlets are strategically located to provide easy access to their client's products for delivery to markets such Swift Mutakuri to tobacco farmers in Karoi.
The depots are located in,
Unifreight Africa operates all its services through the brands of Swift Transport, Bulwark Transport and SkyNet Worldwide Express
Swift Transport
A specialist in road freight and distribution solutions across Zimbabwe with 5 transport service offerings
Bulwark Transport
It offers clients the ability to customize their transport & logistics service by giving the function to UNIF to manage client's needs.
SkyNet
Offers the international and domestic airfreight services to a network of +209 countries.
#3. Competitors,
The transport and logistics industry in Zimbabwe is competitive with large corporations and individual enterprises fighting for limited clients
UNIF has a unique competitive advantage in the market due to its,
• Reliability Legacy
• Size
The business faces competition from,
° FedEx
Through its licensee Cheetah Express Logistics
° TSL
A ZSE listed company which controls Bak & Key Logistics
° Super Group, Whelson GDC
° Leopack
° DHL
° J&J Transport
° Ecocash's Vaya logistics
#4. Share price,
51,65 ZWL per share as at Dec 23, 2022
29,97 ZWL per share on the 3rd of January 2022
16th on ranking in terms of year to date performance on the ZSE
45th most traded stock over the past 3 months to 23/12/2022
106,474,237 issued shares
#5. Shareholding,
48.37% of UNIF is controlled by Unifreight Limited an investment vehicle owned by Rudland family.
The Rudlands led by Hamish and Simon are business tycoons with business interests in transport, agriculture and financial services.
#6. Management,
Robert Edward Kuipers - Group CEO (November, 2015)
A Zimbabwean born business executive who transformed UNIF from a penny stock to best ranked stock on performance in 2021.
Instrumental in the reverse listing of the business on ZSE.
#7. Pitch,
Established running contracts with a number of large businesses across industries in Zimbabwe.
Ability to provide logistical services globally through its partnership with SkyNet Worldwide Express.
Commands a wider depot distribution network.
Establishing an e-commerce fulfilment service to take advantage of the growing need to handle new business from e-commerce platforms
The stock has gained 72.4% from the start making it into the top 20 performers on the @ZSE_ZW an improvement from prior years
Each week will be on a Date with a company listed on the ZSE.
The purpose of this thread is to have a minimum appreciation of listed firms.
Disclaimer: Do not misconstrue this thread as investment advise DATE companies before you buy its shares
Martin Mataga
@MartinMataga
Democratizing investing knowledge by sharing simplified stories of people, enterprises and organizations delivering value in the marketplace. Growing with you!