Financial Gazette (Harare)
Staff Reporter
29 November 2008
Harare — THE Financial Gazette this week announced the shelving of the Top Companies Survey citing the difficult operating environment that has made the staging of this year's event impossible.
In a statement, The Financial Gazette and Premier Banking Corporation said it would have been morally irresponsible for them to come up with top performing companies in the current operating environment where none of the listed concerns is operating at above 20 percent capacity.
Fingaz chief executive officer, Jacob Chisese, said while it was an extremely difficult decision to make, both companies had to face reality and reluctantly decided to postpone the Top Companies Survey to next year when, hopefully, the economic environment would have improved.
"Our considered view together with the distinguished panel of judges was that the main purpose of the Survey was to celebrate the top achievers on the local bourse," he said.
"We therefore felt that it would have been inappropriate to celebrate the success of any company quoted on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange when industry was operating at below 20 percent capacity.
"We therefore sincerely hope that conditions will be conducive enough to enable the holding of the Top Companies Survey next year," added Chisese.
Premier Banking Corporation has been sponsoring the survey for the past two years and has pledged its continued support once the situation improves.
This is the first time that the survey has been shelved since it was launched some three decades ago.
In statements accompanying financial results released so far this year, Zimba-bwe Stock Exch-ange-listed companies have highlighted the damaging impact the economic climate has had on their operations.
While most of them have posted astounding profits in Zimbabwe dollar terms, their performance in Uni-ted States dollars terms has not been pleasing. Their local earnings have been rendered worthless by hyperinflation.
In order to survive, most companies are no longer making money from their core business, taking advantage of a raft of illegal arbitrage opportunities replete in the country's economy.
Corporate governance has therefore scarcely been adhered to as companies focus on survival.
The country's economy has been on the tailspin for the past decade, epitomized by inflation of about 231 million percent as of July, 80 percent unemployment, declining capa-city utilisation in industry and serious food shortages affecting a third of the country's population.
It had been hoped that a unity government would inspire the much-awaited economic recovery, but these hopes were dashed when the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), rejected the outcome of a Southern African Development Community extraordinary summit that recommended the sharing of the Ministry of Home Affairs between the MDC-T and ZANU-PF.
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