LONDON: Zimbabwe-focused investment company Cambria Africa PLC t swung to a profit in 2017, though revenue rose minimally.

Pretax profit for the year to August was USD716,000, with Cambria having posted a loss of USD140,000 the year before. Revenue rose to USD8.6 million from USD8.5 million.

However, these results have been restated to treat the closure of Payserv Zambia as discontinued operations. This business made a loss of USD153,000 in the year ending August.

In the period, Payserv Africa increased revenue by 20% to USD6.4 million and pretax profit by 51% to USD2.4 million in 2017.

Cambria’s other business, Millchem, posted a drop in revenue of 30% to USD2.2 million from USD3.2 million, though its pretax loss narrowed to USD169,000 from USD264,000.

The company said the biggest development in 2017 was the removal of Robert Mugabe as president in November, with his replacement Emmerson Mnangagwa announcing business friendly policies.

Cambria is also to shortly conduct an open offer, to capitalise on new opportunities in Zimbabwe as well as expanding its existing businesses.

Shares were up 17% on Tuesday at 1.20 pence each.