By Our Reporter
Picfare Group of Companies, the promoters of Southern range Nyanza Limited, Picfare Industries Limited and Henley Property Developers has reassured Ugandans of its long stay in the county.
This comes on the heels of rumors and social media posts that the legendary company was on the verge of winding up.
This followed screen shots circulating on social media, taken from a newspaper advert showing entities attached to the company announcing their exit.
The entities include among others: Picfare Trading Co. Limited, Picfare Jinja Limited as detailed in The Monitor Newspaper of Wednesday 07/12/2022and the Gazette.
However, in a statement meant to reassure Ugandans, the company says what they are doing is normal procedure meant to wind up dormant entities.
“The Group would like to clarify as follows: The companies being wound up in accordance with the law, have been DORMANT. AS such, with the view to ensuring compliance with the Law, these are formally being closed for better compliance,” Richard D Mubiru, the Corporate Affairs Director of the Group says.
He adds, “Picfare Industries Limited and Henley Property Developers Limited among others are fully functional and shall remain serving you as-always.”
The on-going winding-up processes for the DORMANT entities involves advertisement in the Local Press of the details of the entities being wound-up.
This is still on-going and other adverts will be appearing as part of the process.
He adds that any massive closure of active businesses enlist Government action through the Ministry of Labor to guarantee legal disengagement. This has not happened because there is no issue but for the social media attempt at this.
“Picfare Group is a unionized work station. How come NOTU and COFTU -umbrella bodies for workers representation are yet to swing into action. There is inactivity on their part, because there is no threat to any workers’ futures.”
The National Organisation of Trade Unions (NOTU) represents millions of Ugandan workers and works with labour unions and community groups in all the districts of Uganda.
COFTU is the Central Organisation of Free Trade Unions – Uganda
It is this that set off the alarm bells, something he says was unnecessary.
“There is therefore no need to be worried of missing out on any of the Group brands/services,” he said.
Picfare has established itself as a household name in East Africa in the field of printing, since it inception in 1981 in a small premise in 2nd Street, Kampala.
Its expansion began in 1992 with production of exercise books and catering to the import substitution in local markets. With east Africa development and the importance of education, as well as acquiring Nytil, it moved to Njeru, Jinja to expand capacity and consolidate synergy.
GROWTH
Mr Mubiru also spoke about the company’s major growth plans, saying they are testament to the entity’s commitment to Uganda.
“The group is doing very well. For those of you that have been noticing, the growth trends for the group, you will recall that just last year, a new state-of-the-art Picfare Industries factory was commissioned by H.E the president in Namanve. It sits on 12 acres of land and that is testament to growth,” Mubiru said.
He added, “For purposes of NYTIL or southern range Nyanza Ltd, we have been growing tremendously. The latest is we are undergoing another phase of major expansion that will see us consume additional cotton lint from with Uganda to levels that have never happened before.”
Considered the backbone if industries, the company employs over 5000 people.
The Picfare Group business activities in Uganda mirror the National Development Plan Three (NDP3) priorities and are testament to its strong foundation and indelible footprints.
They include; Picfare Industries Limited, Southern Range Nyanza Limited, Pan African Carriers Uganda Limited, Henley Property Developers Limited, Henley Engineering Co. Limited, Drury Agro Processing Limited and AGFAM Investments Limited.
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