Cairo – Mubasher: Qalaa Holdings logged EGP 655.4 million ($73.8 million) losses in the second quarter of 2015/16 after minority interests, compared with EGP 8.9 million losses ($1 million) for the year-ago quarter, according to consolidated financial results.
On a six-month basis, net losses rose to EGP 948.3 million in Q2-16, as compared to EGP 220.9 million for the first half of 2015.
EBITDA for the second quarter stood at EGP 92.9 million, lower 40% year-on-year from the EGP 155.6 million, a press release revealed on Sunday.
The company attributed Q2 drop to operational hiccups at cement subsidiaries primarily Sudan’s Takamol plant, expecting, however, an improvement in the coming quarters "as productivity is already improving and hence EBITDA contributions will return to their normal levels."
The company suffered non-cash charges in Q2-16 amounting to EGP 315.1 million in total compared to the EGP 40.5 million recorded in the Q2-15.
"These non-cash charges relate to total impairments of EGP 255.4 million booked in 2Q16 (1H16: EGP 260.4 million) as well as FX losses of EGP 39.1 million (1H16: EGP 84.1 million)", the company showed.
“We are well aware of the toll taken on our bottom-line from these non-cash charges and management is working diligently to reduce them and shore-up the company’s financial statements prior to the commencement of operations at ERC,” said Qalaa Holdings Co-founder and Managing Director Hisham El-Khazindar, adding “With ERC now 90% complete and almost three months away from pre-commissioning, mechanical completion is expected by the second half of 2017. This coupled with TAQA’s strong growth momentum will position Qalaa for a financial turnaround by the end of next year."
