Copperbelt Energy Corporation PLC (the “Company”) is incorporated in Zambia under the Zambia Companies Act as a public limited Company and listed on the LuSE. The Company and its subsidiaries (together “the Group”) is involved in power generation, transmission, distribution, supply, and professional football through its Club subsidiary.  

Key milestones noted during the year:  

 CEC commissioned the 34 MW Solar PV plant at our Riverside location in Kitwe and commenced with the evacuation of power into the grid. In addition, CEC commenced the implementation of the 60MW Solar PV plant located at Itimpi in Kitwe. All this is in line with the green growth agenda and comes alongside technological improvements to the transmission network. The combined capital investment made for the Riverside and Itimpi Solar plants was US$75 million.  

 Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC) has also initiated Zambia’s first green bond program to raise $200 million on the LuSE for further investment in solar and other renewable energy generation projects. Through the Green Bond, CEC’s subsidiary, CEC Renewables raised US$454 million in the oversubscribed first tranche of the bond program, and this expected to anchor CEC’s green energy generation ambitions.  

For the year under review, CEC reported total revenue of ZMW7.85 billion (US$382.27million), (2022: ZMW6.38 billion (US$374.449 million)) and profit after tax of ZMW2.83 billion (US$137.65 million), (2022: ZMW866.41 billion (US$50.82 million)). Further, the CEC share price opened at ZMW3.78 per share and closed at ZMW7.09.  

The Company declared a dividend of US$ 55.25 million with ZCCM-IH receiving US$14.59 million (2022:US$10.3 million).

Rembrandt Properties Limited (Rembrandt) is a Special Purpose Vehicle between ZCCM-IH (49%), Urban Brands Asset Management (25.5%) and Sims Capital Ltd (25.5%). Rembrandt was specifically formed to develop the Leopards Square Hotel, a 74-key (room) hotel. In addition to ZCCM-IH equity contribution, the Company raised about US$2.2million in equity contribution from the other Shareholders and debt finance from ZANACO.  

The project faced several setbacks to completion among them, Covid-19 pandemic, delayed disbursement of loan proceeds and property redesign after the initial anchor tenant Food Lovers left the building. The building is about 95% complete; awaiting completion of the four (4) ground floor rooms, nine (9) upper deck rooms and a sky bar and circa US$200k to take the building to 100% completion. The project, nevertheless, went on soft opening to the general public on 1 June 2022 with conferences and the restaurant all kicking off at the same time as the hotel commenced operations. Since September 2022, the Tenant (Urban Hotel Lusaka) has been grossing an average of ZMW2.5 million per month from operating the property.  

There were no dividends paid during the year under review (2021: Nil).  

Rembrandt Properties Limited (Rembrandt) is a Special Purpose Vehicle between ZCCM-IH (49%), Urban Brands Asset Management (25.5%) and Sims Capital Ltd (25.5%).

Rembrandt was specifically formed to develop the Leopards Square Hotel, an 80-room hotel. The hotel’s delivery schedule has previously been affected by several factors, among them, the Covid pandemic, a change in the project’s scope, a revised development program, delayed funding disbursement, etc.

The project is now scheduled to open to the public in the second quarter of 2022.