Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. TRANSPORT and logistics firm, Unifreight Africa Limited (Unifreight) has slashed its reliance on less-than-truckload (LTL) operations, reducing revenue share from 87% in 2021 to a third by 2025, as it moves to pivot its business on cross-border and fourth-party logistics (4PL).
The LTL segment consolidates smaller consignments from multiple customers into shared trucks, serving mainly Zimbabwe’s retail market.
In contrast, cross-border transport handles full loads across regional routes, thus giving the company a chance to increase its foreign currency earnings.
Meanwhile, 4PL allows Unifreight to move beyond just transporting goods by managing entire supply chains for clients — from planning and co-ordination to customs and warehousing — giving the group steadier, contract-based revenues.
Following this shift, the firm projected its revenue to rise by over 30% to the equivalent of US$32 million (ZiG856,96 million) for the current year, based on a 30% increase in turnover during the first quarter.
“Unifreight Africa has been undergoing a strategic transformation to ensure sustainable growth and resilience in a difficult economic environment. A critical part of this strategy is the evolution of our business model,” Unifreight group chief executive officer Richard Clarke said in the firm’s annual period ended December 31, 2024.
“In 2021, approximately 87% of our revenue came from the traditional less-than-truckload segment, a concentration that posed sustainability risks through high exposure to the Zimbabwean retail market.
“By 2025, we have successfully reshaped our revenue mix. LTL is now expected to contribute roughly one-third of total revenues, down from its former dominance.
“This deliberate shift has been achieved by aggressively growing other segments (cross-border transport and 4PL logistics). Importantly, this diversification has not come at the expense of LTL’s absolute performance.”
He said the group’s LTL revenues have still grown by about 10% compared to 2021 levels, even as its share of the pie had reduced.
“In effect, we have reduced our exposure to the domestic retail freight cycle and broadened our base, which makes the business more resilient against sector-specific downturns,” Clarke said.
“The LTL division remains a core division in which we plan to launch a new customer-facing mobile application in Q4 2025 for our LTL services.”
He said this would allow clients to get instant quotes, track consignment and manage pick-ups/ deliveries in real time.
“This digital platform is expected to enhance customer experience and loyalty in our LTL and courier segments,” Clarke added.
The shift in its revenue comes as during the firm’s annual period ended December 31, 2024, Unifreight recorded a 29,06% decline in revenue to ZiG743,98 million from the prior year.
This led to the firm’s profit after tax taking a massive 53,05% drop to ZiG343,51 million from the prior year.
“Key strategic objectives for the coming year include growing our regional presence through further cross-border route expansion, scaling up 4PL volumes, and reinforcing our dominance in the LTL and express courier space, not just locally within Zimbabwe, but regionally as well,” Clarke said.
“Our vision is to offer end-to-end logistics solutions that rival the best in the industry, driving sustainable growth and value creation for our shareholders.”
Total assets saw a slight increase to ZiG1,9 billion during the period under review from a prior year comparative of ZiG1,85 billion, hence, the firm was barely liquid, having ZiG1,07 to every ZiG of short-term debt.
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