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We continue to share profiles of the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange Listed companies in their alphabetical order. Today we look at African Sun Limited, a giant in the tourism and hospitality sector that saw its humble beginnings in 1952 and continuously grew to be the giant we know today. We believe sharing these profiles will inspire our audience and also partly guide investors in making an investment decisions.
African Sun Limited is a hospitality management company that is involved in the running of hotels, resorts, casinos and timeshare operations in Zimbabwe and South Africa. It operates through four divisions; Hotels under Management, Hotels under Franchise, Owner-managed Hotels and the Victoria Falls Hotel Partnership. Established in 1968 as Zimbabwe Sun Limited, the company has grown in stature to include Legacy Hospitality Management Services Limited which manages five hotels, and the InterContinental Hotels Group. African Sun Limited is a constituent of the Zimbabwe Industrial Index.
The Company
The Company and its subsidiaries (“the Group”) currently has four divisions which are: Resort Hotels, City and Country Hotels, Victoria Falls Hotel Partnership and Sun Leisure division.
RESORT HOTELS
- There are five hotels under this division:
- Elephant Hills Resort and Conference Centre;
- The Kingdom at Victoria Falls;
- Hwange Safari Lodge;
- Caribbea Bay Resort; and
- Great Zimbabwe Hotel.
CITY AND COUNTRY HOTELS
- This division includes;
- Holiday Inn Harare; Bulawayo and Mutare
- Monomotapa Harare; and
- Troutbeck Resort.
THE VICTORIA FALLS HOTEL PARTNERSHIP
- The Victoria Falls Hotel is jointly operated with Meikles Hospitality (Private) Limited on a 50/50 partnership. The hotel is an affiliate of the Leading Hotels of the World (“LHW”).
SUN LEISURE
- This division includes the stand-alone charity casino (Harare Sun Casino), a hotel-based casino (Makasa Sun Casino) and Sun Leisure Tours, the Group’s ground handling touring operation.
Vision
- To be the leading Hospitality and Leisure Company in the markets we operate.
Mission Statement
- We exist to create value for all our stakeholders.
Historical Highlights
- 1952 – Rhodesia and Nyasaland Hotels (Private) Limited is formed as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rhodesian Breweries (Private) Limited.
- 1968 – Sable Hotels (Private) Limited is established.
- 1973 – Rhodesian Government grants first casino license for The Victoria Falls Hotel.
- 1974 – Development of the first four world-class hotels: Monomotapa Hotel in Salisbury, The Wankie Safari Lodge in Wankie, Caribbea Bay in Kariba, and the Elephant Hills Country Club in Victoria Falls.
- 1979 – Meikles Southern Sun Hotels is established, becoming the largest hotel chain in Southern and Eastern Africa, with control of 13 major properties in the country.
- 1980 – Meikles Southern Sun Hotels (Private) Limited changes its name to Zimbabwe Sun Hotels (Private) Limited) after Zimbabwe’s independence.
- 1988 – Zimbabwe Sun Hotels (Private) Limited) merges with Touch the Wild Safari Operations (Private) Limited), later sold to Rainbow Tourism Group (Private) Limited on 30 April 1998.
- 1990 – Zimbabwe Sun Limited is listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (“ZSE”), at the time being the largest initial public offer in Zimbabwe, with 70 million shares offered to the public, which was over-subscribed by 28%
- 1990 – Opening of the timeshares built in Troutbeck, Nyanga and at Caribbea Bay, Kariba which received “Gold Crown Resorts” status from the Resort Condominium International (“RCI”) in 1999.
- 1991 – First Holiday Inn franchise in Harare.
- 1992 – Elephant Hills Resort and Conference Centre officially opens its doors.
- 1994 – First regional office for reservations is established in Johannesburg.
- 1999 – Makasa Sun is re-developed into The Kingdom at Victoria Falls.
- 2002 – Zimbabwe Sun Limited is unbundled from Delta Corporation Limited.
- 2003 – Dawn Properties Limited is unbundled from Zimbabwe Sun Limited and is listed as the first property company on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.
- 2003 – The Hospitality Training Academy (“HTA”) is re-launched.
- 2004 – Zimbabwe Sun Limited acquires The Grace Hotel in Rosebank, South Africa, ranked among the “Top Ten” hotels in Africa and the Middle East by Condé Nast Traveler (USA) in its first year of operation.
- 2008 – Zimbabwe Sun Limited adds The Lakes Hotel and Conference Centre, in Johannesburg, South Africa to its portfolio.
- 2008 – Zimbabwe Sun Limited rebrands its name to African Sun Limited, to reflect its regional expansion strategy.
- 2008 – African Sun Limited adds Obudu Mountain Resort to its regional portfolio.
- 2008 – African Sun Limited takes over management of Holiday Inn Accra Airport.
- 2009 – The Company raises US$10 million through a Rights Offer.
- 2010 – Best Western Ikeja – Lagos Nigeria opened its doors to the public on 1 October 2010.
- 2011 – Best Western Homeville, Benin City, Nigeria opened its doors to the public on 1 October 2011.
- 2011 – African Sun Limited closed The Grace in Rosebank, The Lakes Hotel and Conference Centre in South Africa.
- 2012 – African Sun Limited exits the Holiday Inn Accra Airport Hotel management contract.
- 2012 – African Sun Amber Residence GRA Ikeja, Lagos Nigeria opened its doors to the public on 2 November 2012.
- 2013 – African Sun exited Obudu Mountain Resort after expiry of management contract.
- 2013 – African Sun Amber Hotel Accra Airport, Ghana opened its doors to the public on 10 December 2013.
- 2014 – African Sun Airport Hotel Lagos, Nigeria opened its doors to the public on 15 December 2014.
- 2015 – The Group exited all foreign operations to focus on Zimbabwe operations.
- 2015 – Engaged a regionally based, renowned Hotel Management Company, Legacy Hospitality Management Services Limited, to manage five hotels in Zimbabwe.
- 2017 – Declared first dividend to shareholders since 2009.
- 2018 – Declared a second dividend since 2009 and paid 52% of it in foreign currency.
- 2019 – Separation with Legacy Hospitality Management Services Limited.
Reference: African Sun Integrated Annual Report 2019
