Samba Foods Limited sales increased from GH¢557, 965 in 2019 to GH¢672, 907 in 2020 in spite of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic which affected business activities in the country.
This represents 20.6 percentage increase over the previous year’s sales.
Dr Leticia Osafo-Addo, Chief Executive Officer of Samba Foods, disclosed this when the company took its turn at the Fact-Behind-the-Figures series of the Ghana Stock Exchange in Accra last week.
She said the coronavirus outbreak had a negative impact on the company’s cash flow adding that "overhead cost and cost of raw materials continue to be a major contributor to cost of sales."
"A historical percentage to turnover shows 52 per cent in 2017, 50 per cent in 2018. It moved up to 57 per cent in 2019 and declined slightly in 2020 to 56 per cent," Dr Osafo-Addo, said.
The CEO of Samba Foods said the gross profit margin over the period was 48 per cent in 2017 and 50 per cent in 2018, 2019 and 2020 recorded an increase from 43 per cent to 44 per cent respectively.
She said in line with the increased productivity within the 2020 fiscal year, the operating expense moved up from 13 per cent in 2019 to 20 per cent in 2020.
She said the increment in operating expenses was as a result of price fluctuations in raw materials and other direct cost.
"A major ambition of the company is to return to profitability and be the leading player in the food processing and preservation industry. The food processing and preservation industry have been dominated by multinational companies who controlled over 80 per cent of the total market share," Dr Osafo-Addo, stated.
To be able to compete with this multinational companies and win a lion share in the industry, she said, Samba Foods had adopted a number of strategic initiatives.
Dr Osafo-Addo indicated that the new strategic initiatives were focused on retail segment and channel of distribution to the local and international markets.It is also to retain its prime position as the best food brand and manufacturing business in Ghana and expand the production of fortify Shito for the growing market of women in reproductive age.Dr Osafo-Addo said the company had a number of products under development, namely ketchup, mayonnaise, spicy oil for grilled tilapia, spicy oil for khebab and groundnut paste in sachet.
