Graphic takes measures to cut down cost, increase revenue generation
Management of the Graphic Communications Group Ltd. (GCGL), is working towards cutting down production cost and also increase revenue generation.
Advertisement
This forms part of measures to enable the company to maintain its position as publishers of leading newspaper brands in the country.
The Director of Finance and Administration of the company, Samuel Essel, said this when he appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament in Accra yesterday.
Also present were the Managing Director of the company, Ato Afful, and the Director of Audit, Richard Owusu Afriyie.
Investment
The director said much resources had been invested in the company’s online platforms to enable it to tap into opportunities in the digital economy.
“But these things take time to mature, we will get the benefits over time and so I believe that soon, we will see results.
“In the short term, it is very difficult to see the benefits of such investments which could lead you to make a wrong judgement over such decisions,” he added.
Responding to how current challenges in the economy were affecting production, Mr Essel said: “Honourable Chair, rightly so, as you said, once in a while, businesses get into a bit of difficulties, but we take measures to address them”.
Other Trending Stories
“We are doing a number of things to cut down cost and increase revenue. Some of the measures we are undertaking are yielding results,” he said.
Commendation
The committee commended the company for being able to increase its revenue by GH¢10 million and its Internally Generated Funds by GH¢ 9 million but questioned why the company had 34 per cent increase in general and administrative expenses.
Mr Essel said the increase in revenue was as a result of additional jobs that were undertaken by the company and its subsidiary - G-PAK, as well as re-evaluation of assets.
On the general increment and administrative expenses, he said, they were driven by two factors: increase in depreciation and re-evaluation of the assets.
Depreciation
The director also mentioned the depreciation of the cedi which had also led to exchange losses.
“In the year 2022, we began with an exchange rate of GH¢6 to a US dollar, which went up to GH¢15 by the end of the year.
“That increase gave us a huge exchange loss because 90 per cent of our raw materials are sourced from outside the country and we mostly buy on credit, so the liabilities had doubled and for which reason we had a huge exchange loss in the year,” he added.
Mr Essel further said that the exchange loss was a factor of foreign currency liabilities vis a vis movement in the exchange rate.
“All what we try to do is minimise the exposure by paying off the debt a bit earlier, but the depreciation of the cedis to the US dollars is something that is out of our control. For those that are within our control, we do manage them,” he said.
