16th May 2016 13:50
LONDON (Alliance News) - London-listed Masawara PLC, which is focused on acquiring interests in companies based in Zimbabwe and southern Africa, on Monday said it swung to a loss in 2015.
Masawara said it made a pretax loss of USD2.1 million in 2015, swinging from a USD23.0 million pretax profit in 2014, even as net total revenue rose to USD101.7 million from USD85.0 million.
In a statement, Chairman David Suratgar said the loss was primarily due to a USD12.5 million impairment related to Telerix Communications (Private) Ltd and a USD2.0 million operating loss from Sable Chemical Industries.
Masawara took took control of Sable in June 2015, prior to which it was accounted for as an associate and had no impact on Masawara's results, as the investment in Sable had been fully impaired. The impairment of Telerix's loan notes was "prudent" in light of uncertainties about when the business will be able to fully repay the loans, Suratgar said.
"The future of this business looks positive on the back of the acquisition by Dandemutande, Telerix's operating company, of the iWay Africa Zimbabwe (Private) Ltd and Africa Online (Private) Ltd customers and selected assets and liabilities in July 2015, as well as the beginning of a management contract awarded to Gondwana International Networks (Pty) Ltd, a Pan-African IT specialist based in South Africa, which now co-owns Dandemutande following the transaction," Suratgar said.
The chairman said 2016 will be a further year of consolidation, including continued emphasis on restructuring and optimisation of Masawara's investment portfolio.
Shares in Masawara were untraded in London on Monday. The stock closed at 47.50 pence Friday last week.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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