Wet Blue Industries seeks $650 000 for retooling

Bulawayo-based tannery Wet Blue Industries requires more than $600 000 to recapitalise and retool as the imploding economy is hurting performance, an official has said.

BY MTHANDAZO NYONI

The company was placed under provisional judicial management in September last year after business went down following the Cold Storage Company’s demise.

Wet Blue judicial manager Chrispen Mwete told NewsDay in an interview that the company still awaits financiers to inject $650 000 for retooling and working capital.

“We are still waiting for the financiers to come on board. In total, we need about $650 000 of which $400 000 would go towards machinery purchasing and the balance would be for working capital,” Mwete said.

He said business was currently doing “well” and they were expecting it to improve as time goes by.

In December last year, Wet Blue Industries clinched a deal with a subsidiary of the Grills group of companies, Bulawayo Abattoirs, under which the latter would supply 4 000 hides a month from this year.

Wet Blue Industries was one of the biggest tannery companies in Zimbabwe, processing between 18 and 25 tonnes of leather per month for export on behalf of the Cold Storage Company, which used to be the country’s biggest abattoir.

But the State-owned meat processor is saddled with a $22 million debt and owes workers $2,1 million in outstanding salaries. It requires $50 million to revive operations.

It resumed operations in October this year after shareholders injected capital.