CFAO Gambia
Limited, one of the leading and oldest trading companies in The Gambia, last
Thursday convened its 34thAnnual General Meeting
at the company's premises at Kanifing.
The highlight of the meeting saw the adoption of the report of the directors and the financial statements for the year ended 31stDecember 2007, the approval of the dividends and proposals by the directors among other businesses.
According to reports of the meeting, the company achieved a gain after tax of D5, 325, 418 against a gain of D17, 090, 939 last year.
The main factors for this performance, reports reveal, are the absence of reversal of provisions on debtors and stocks as in 2006, no exceptional profit as in 2006 due to the sale of assets, heavy investments in marketing and promotion, which resulted in increased volumes of vehicles sold, and the high increase of electricity cost (plus 30%).
Also part of the factors include the instability of the Dalasi during the second semester which had a negative impact on the company's profits and the investments in cars to equip AVIS car rental fleet, department of CFAO (G) Limited.
"The conditions of the environment are still tense as the Dalasi is not yet stabilised and remains quite strong Vs foreign currencies; this is not helpful for the Gambian economy, especially in the world context of price increment.
"In addition, pressure from The Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA) became stronger as they force companies into setting duties on materials in stock which affects cash flow and slows down the sales", said Mr C. Sartini, chairman of the company's board of directors.
Due to certain slow-downs in the sales, the report further states, the company plans to focus on after-sales activities (parts and service) to consolidate its professionalism and remain a reference in the market. "More over, customers will start to come more and more to service their vehicles as they grow older. That is why we recruited an engineer at the workshop last September. He has already improved things in a big way in terms of quality and figures," he stated.
The company's report also confirmed the good results of 2006 despite an uncertain economic environment during half of the year. "2008 will be harder and we need to keep on improving on procedures and monitoring our expenses so as to sustain our efforts. Consequently, our target for this year is mostly to improve internal control and settlement of procedures to be in line with CFAO shareholders", the report added. During the "Any Other Business" section it was unanimously agreed by the stakeholders that the name of the company be changed from CFAO to CFAO Motors to be in line with international standards.
