Obtala sells stake in Lesotho's Lifes Comfort Solutions for $100

AIM listed agricultural and forestry company Obtala sold its stake in Lifes Comfort Solutions retail outlets in Lesotho for just $100 to Rystabelz PTY, the latest divestiture of non-essential business ventures for the company.

The company is to dispose 72.69% of its stake in the retail outlets through its wholly owned subsidiary African Home Stores, with the deal expected to be completed within 90 days.

Chairman Miles Pelham said the disposal of Lifes Comfort Solutions marks the last divestiture of non-core ventures, leaving the company focused on its two remaining divisions - Tanzanian agriculture and Mozambican forestry.

The company would be able to focus on expanding production capacity within the two business divisions, while avoiding losses from retail operations.

A deferred consideration of $225,000 on the original October 2014 purchase, is payable in monthly instalments by African Home Stores with a final payment due in June 2017.

For the year 31 December 2015, Obtala’s retail division, which included Lifes Comfort Solutions as its only trading entity, made losses before tax of about £750,000 on turnover of about £3.125m and had net liabilities of about £134,000.

Shares in Obtala were up 2.06% to 12.50p at 1052 BST.