• NTS will voluntarily delist from the ZSE effective 31 December 2025 due to sustained losses, low liquidity, and market pressures
• FY2025 losses reached ZWG121.2 million, a sharp decline from a prior profit of ZWG67.4 million, driven by rising costs, stagnant revenues, and informal competition
• The delisting allows NTS to restructure operations, improve procurement strategies

Harare - National Tyre Services (NTS), Zimbabwe’s leading tyre distribution and retail company, is voluntarily delisting from the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange to look for greener pastures with  effect from 31 December 2025, according to the latest circular issued to investors.

The decision follows unanimous shareholder approval at an Extraordinary General Meeting held on 19 November 2025, where investors resolved to terminate the company’s listing on the ZSE Main Board in terms of Section 11 of the listing requirements. Regulatory clearance has since been granted, and NTS shares will cease trading after the effective date.

‘’ The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange Limited (“ZSE”) hereby notifies the investing public of the voluntary termination of listing of National Tyre Services Limited (“NTS”) with effect from 31 December 2025,’’ group chief executive officer Justin Bgoni said.

The delisting comes as the company grapples with sustained operating losses, weak trading liquidity and intensifying competitive pressures that have undermined the economic rationale for remaining listed.

Trading activity in NTS shares had already deteriorated sharply ahead of the delisting decision. Over the 12 months to 31 July 2025, the counter failed to trade for eight months, reflecting limited investor participation and weak price discovery. In such conditions, the listing provided little strategic benefit while continuing to impose fixed compliance and administrative costs.

From a technical performance perspective, NTS’s widening losses point to a structural mismatch between its cost base and revenue generation capacity. Rising operating expenses, combined with stagnant or declining revenue, have steadily eroded operating margins.

For the most recent reporting period ended 31 March 2025, the company recorded a  loss  of ZWG121,2 million,  from a profit of ZWG67.4 million in the comparative period. The deterioration reflects a cascading effect: declining volumes reduce revenue leverage, while fixed and semi-fixed costs remain largely unchanged, compressing margins and deepening losses.

Sales volumes have come under sustained pressure, driven by weakened consumer demand and aggressive price competition. Revenue growth has not kept pace with cost escalation, leaving limited room to absorb shocks.

Despite its position as the country’s pre-eminent distributor and retailer of new tyres and tubes, NTS operates in an increasingly hostile competitive landscape. The company’s core activities  including re-lugging tyres for agricultural and earthmoving applications and supplying truck tyres to the national transport industry remain strategically important, but profitability has been undermined by market substitution.

Although Zimbabwe prohibits the importation of used tyres, second-hand products continue to enter the market through informal channels. Informal operators frequently undercut formal pricing by more than 50%, eroding volumes for compliant businesses and stripping formal players of pricing power.

This pressure is amplified by broader economic conditions. Official data places unemployment above 40%, while independent estimates suggest rates exceeding 80%.

The result has been a deeply entrenched survivalist consumption pattern, where price overwhelmingly dictates purchasing decisions, often at the expense of quality, warranties or regulatory compliance.

Beyond competition, in half year 2024 infrastructure failures  compounded NTS’s challenges. At its retreading plant, unreliable electricity supply has restricted capacity utilisation to around 30%, resulting in estimated revenue losses of up to 40% of projected sales. Power outages, foreign-currency shortages and exchange-rate volatility have also disrupted procurement cycles and inventory planning .

As conditions worsened, NTS struggled to sustain adequate restocking levels and meet some listing-related obligations, reinforcing the logic of exiting the public market to preserve operational flexibility.

NTS’s difficulties mirror a broader pattern across Zimbabwe’s formal economy. Weak demand, rising costs and informal competition have forced many established firms into retrenchment or restructuring.

OK Zimbabwe has already rationalised parts of its store network as it battles declining volumes and thin margins and plans  further store closures as the retailer seeks to stabilise operations. TM Pick n Pay has also publicly flagged concerns around the sustainability of operating in Zimbabwe under current conditions.

Elsewhere, Metro Peech was sold, while Khaya Cement and Beta Bricks entered corporate rescue, underscoring the depth of stress across manufacturing and retail. Zimplow has closed several Trentyre branches, citing intense competition from both formal and informal players and the need to operate a leaner structure.

Against this backdrop, NTS management is pursuing a turnaround strategy following a weak first half of FY2025. A central plank of this approach is the resumption of direct procurement of budget tyre brands from China, aimed at broadening product offerings, improving availability and restoring price competitiveness.

By sourcing directly from Chinese manufacturers, NTS expects to reduce reliance on intermediaries, strengthen negotiating leverage and improve gross margins. The strategy is also predicated on a cyclical recovery in demand, particularly from agriculture.

Improved rainfall this year is expected to stimulate agricultural activity, increasing demand for tyre replacements and servicing. Poor road conditions, characterised by widespread potholes, should theoretically support steady tyre wear and replacement demand.

However, these assumptions carry material risk. Rainfall in the early part of the season, from September to December, has been below expectations, raising doubts over the scale and timing of any agricultural rebound. Consumer behaviour also remains a critical uncertainty, with many customers likely to continue favouring informal providers on price grounds.

What the delisting ultimately signals

The convergence of operating losses, weak demand, infrastructure constraints and aggressive informal competition has cast uncertainty over NTS’s recovery path. As strategic initiatives face execution risk, informal competitors continue to expand, further squeezing formal margins.

Analytically, the delisting reflects a pragmatic recalibration rather than a singular event. It highlights how formal businesses are reassessing cost structures, branch footprints and capital-market participation in response to prolonged economic pressure.

For NTS, the exit creates space to restructure, rationalise underperforming operations and refine its value proposition without the added burden of public-market obligations. For the broader market, it reinforces a clear trend: survival in Zimbabwe’s current economy increasingly favours flexibility, lean operations and differentiation not scale alone.

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