Conglomerate Press Corporation (PCL) plc has sold its 100 percent stake in struggling retail chainstore People’s Trading Centre (PTC) Limited to South Africa-based trading company Tafika Holdings Limited (THL).

In a communication to PTC employees dated March 11 2022 jointly signed by THL executive chairperson and chief executive officer (CEO) Arson Malola and PTC CEO Ferdinand Mchacha , THL is acquiring PTC as the foundation to its regional business.

One of the People’s shops

Reads the communication in part: “We are excited to announce that THL has entered into and signed a sale and purchase agreement with PCL to acquire 100 percent of its shares in PTC. This acquisition will be a positive move for our customers, suppliers and most importantly for you PTC employees.

“Moving forward, our improved stock range together with our dedicated employees will allow PTC to deliver more complete and competitive products and services to the existing and new customers. We will also respond to the changing customer needs and the channels though which PTC derivers its products.”

On the fate of employees, Malola and Mchacha said the parties will continue engaging staff through meetings at the head office and store visits by senior management, or other forums.

Over the years, PTC  performance has continued to weigh down heavily on overall PCL results as lack of capital to underwrite existing and emerging business risks led to further increases in accumulated losses, selling unprofitable stores in some locations as part of business repositioning.

Consequently, PCL announced in 2020 that the group had intensified the search for equity partners to help unlock much-needed financial resources to make the entity financially viable once more.

In 2020, PTC, which has 21 stores operating under the brand names of Spar, People’s Metro, People’s Express and Food Lovers Market,  was impacted by Covid-19 pandemic, particularly in the first half of 2020, due to a sharp decline in sales starting from March.

During the year under review, profitability of the Malawi-Stock Exchange listed-PCL dwindled as profit-after-tax declined from K24.76 billion in 2019 to K19.9 billion in 2020.

In December last year, the conglomerate said it was implementing a functional review of its corporate office as it repositioning.

Recently, PCL also divested its 20 percent stake in Castel at $12 million after assessing various operational and regulatory issues that continued to negatively affect the beverage manufacturer.

PCL board chairperson Randson Mwadiwa is on record as having said based on an analysis of the findings and recommendations of the consultants, the board is in the process of implementing some pragmatic interventions aimed at steering the ship to bring forth significant improvements in line with the core strategic objectives of the company to enhance shareholder value.

Registered in 1973, PTC was the first retail chain store to operate in Malawi.

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