Most Zimbabwean businesses have been struggling thanks to a tough operating environment and of course the after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Supermarkets were some of the most affected but it seems OK supermarket has been doing well for itself. The company has been making frantic efforts to boost sales as it competes with the so-called tuckshops. Their perennial draw, The OK Grand Challenge, has been the talk of the town for weeks.

It seems all these efforts are paying off though as the company recently declared a dividend of $0.365 ZWL and US$0.13 hot on the heels of the company declaring an interim dividend of 21 cents. This tidbit was revealed by EF Securities on Twitter

OK Zimbabwe declares a dividend of 36.5c and 0.13 US Cents per share for the year to March 2022. This follows an interim dividend of 21c. Dividend will be payable on June 28, 2022 with the last record date at June 17. Shares will trade cum-div on June 14 and ex-div on June 15.
EF Securities on Twitter

OK versus the tuckshops

For the past two years, we have noticed a trend where supermarkets have been haemorrhaging customers to tuckshops which offer heavy discounts in USD. Thanks to fewer constraints and the fact that they pay using USD, tuckshops have also been able to weather shortages and offer a more complete array of products including household basics like cooking oil and mealie-meal. Shops like OK have been somewhat stymied by shortages but 2021 was a better year in this regard and hence the apparent reversal of fortunes with OK even being able to declare a decent dividend. It remains to be seen though how well supermarkets like OK will compete in the current environment of resurfaced shortages. The shops we surveyed actually ran out of cooking oil and mealie-meal.

See the latest Grocery prices in OK