A statement by Illovo Sugar Malawi, that contains financial results for the year ended August 31, 2019, shows a drop in profits from K16.4 billion last year, to K10 billion this year, which has been attributed to illegal sugar imports, increased competition, pricing constraints and challenges with export quality.

The financial statement jointly signed by chairperson Gavin Dalgleish and managing director Mark Bainbridge outlines that challenging market conditions, including pre and post-election civil unrest, affected the market, coupled e with illegal sugar imports continuing despite action by the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA).

In the coming year, Illovo Malawi expects that normal weather patterns and improvement in power generation by Electricity Generation Company (Egenco) should have a positive impact on the agricultural output and factory throughput. Also good news to the minority shareholders, Illovo Malawi declared a dividend of 50 tambala per share, which will be payable on March 31, 2020. It has been 4 years since the shareholders last received their dividends.