![\"Agencia](\"http:\/\/allafrica.com\/img\/static\/publishers\/minibanners\/aim180.jpg\" "\\"Visit")
<\/a><\/p>\n22 December 2011<\/p>\n
\n
Maputo \u2014 The contribution made to the Mozambican treasury by the companies in which the state owns shares was only 2.25 per cent of what had been planned for this year.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Wednesday at a meeting of the Consultative Council of the Institute for the Management of State Holdings (IGEPE), Finance Minister Manuel Chang said the contribution made by dividends from these companies is still insignificant.<\/p>\n
“What we want is that there should be a greater contribution from these companies in the coming years”, he stressed. “We have good results in some companies and bad results in others. We want the state to receive much more, and we want the companies to expand their activities. If they make a profit, they will channel much more to the state”.<\/p>\n
It had been expected that dividends from companies wholly or partly owned by the state would reach 465.69 million meticais (about 17.25 million US dollars) this year. But in fact these dividends only amounted to 10.46 million meticais – or just 2.25 per cent of the target.<\/p>\n
This poor result, explained IGEPE chairperson Apolinario Panguene, was due entirely to the fact that two profitable companies, the aluminium smelter Mozal, and the mobile phone company M-Cel, paid out much less in dividends than had been expected.<\/p>\n
Although the state only owns four per cent of the shares of Mozal, it had been expected that this company, with by far the largest factory in the country, responsible for over 60 per cent of Mozambican exports, would pay a healthy dividend.<\/p>\n
“We had great expectations of Mozal dividends”, said Panguene, “but because of Mozal’s own financial commitments it was not possible to receive what we were hoping for”.<\/p>\n
Mozal is still paying off the loans incurred in building the smelter, and this restricts its ability to pay dividends. “Some of the financers of Mozal impose restrictions on the distribution of dividends, depending on the level of obligations that Mozal has to these financial institutions”.<\/p>\n
This, together with the fall in world aluminium prices, thanks to the international financial crisis, has reduced the amount the state receives from Mozal. The aluminium price peaked at well over 3,000 dollars a tonne in July 2008, and then fell to around 1,500 dollars a tonne by the end of 2008. It has recovered somewhat since then, and reached almost 2,800 dollars a tonne in April this year.<\/p>\n
But there has been another sharp fall, and the current aluminium price is less than 2,000 dollars a tonne.<\/p>\n
As for M-Cel, this is entirely publicly owned. 74 per cent of its shares are held by the state telecommunications company, TDM, and 26 per cent by IGEPE. Panguene blamed the reduced dividends from M-Cel on the company’s increased operating costs and on its battle for market share with its sole competitor, the South African company Vodacom.<\/p>\n
“Vodacom has been much stronger than in previous years, and naturally this obliges M-Cel to make an effort in terms of advertising and other services, which cuts into its profits at the end of the financial year”, said Panguene.<\/p>\n
Vodacom, despite not yet showing a profit in Mozambique, has forced M-Cel into a price cutting war. It is also evident that Vodacom is greatly outspending M-Cel in advertising, and has purchased the services of some of the country’s best known musicians for its adverts.<\/p>\n
Panguene promised that IGEPE would follow the activities of the companies “more effectively” throughout 2012 “so that we know what the problems are before the end of the year and can introduce corrective measures so that we are not surprised by a reduction in dividends at the end of the year”.<\/p>\n
The state has shares in 128 companies which IGEPE manages. Despite the dividend problem, at least Mozal and M-Cel both make a profit – many of the companies not only make a loss but are paralysed.<\/p>\n
The heaviest liabilities for the state are the provincial Road and Bridge Construction and Maintenance Companies (ECMEPs): attempts to privatize these companies have so far failed.<\/p>\n
AllAfrica – All the Time<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n