Trafco announces BD1.67m net profit, dividend of 16pc
Manama : Trafco Group yesterday announced financial results for the year ending 31 December 2017 reporting a net profit of BD1.67 million against last year’s BD1.74m with a slight 4 per cent drop.
Chairman of the Board Ebrahim Zainal said the board has also resolved to recommend a cash dividend for the year of 16 per cent equal to BD1,232,559 in the forthcoming Annual General Meeting against a cash dividend paid for last year at 17pc equal to BD1,309,594.
The total sales of the group, indicated by S.Sridhar Group CEO, were down by 3pc from BD41m to BD40m for the full year. Similarly lower were the total sales in the last quarter to BD9.99m against BD10.13m for the same quarter last year, and net profit this year 4th quarter was BD314K against BD411K for the same period last year.
The Chairman added that Awal Dairy Company which is 51pc owned subsidiary Company had a very good financial year, as the total sales was up by about 4pc from BD.14.5m to BD15m, while the net profit for this year was up by about 8pc from BD1.3m to BD1.4m. This was mainly due to the expansion in the export market and lower prices for some raw materials and packaging materials.
Awal Dairy Company received official approval for opening a branch in Saudi Arabia, which is expected to be operative within the first quarter of the New Year.
On the other hand, other wholly owned companies within the group performed well in general. Trafco Logistics Company had a good result for the second year in a row with a net profit for the year of BD202K against BD125K previous year.
Bahrain Water Bottling & Beverages Company achieved a net profit of BD179K against BD102K last year with expansion into its activities and adding new equipment to its line. The retail arm of the group Metro Markets also expanded with a new branch in Salmabad by end of 2017 but its sales and consequently profitability for the year was down from BD53K to BD39K mainly due to the closure of its main branch in East Riffa that is being rebuilt by the landlord.
Bahrain Fresh Fruits Company, another wholly owned company of the Group suffered losses again this year due to lower GP in sales and tough competition. Losses for the year were BD136K against BD116K last year. Management is seriously looking into ways and means of improving sales and profitability in the coming year.
With regards to Bahrain Livestock which is 36pc owned by the Group, the same negative condition that was suffered in the last two years continued mainly due to lower demand on red meat and tough competition from new traders in this line working at much lower gross margin policy. The losses in 2017 increased from BD364K to BD464K and our share of this loss for this year was BD168K that was reflected in the group’s financials. The board of directors of the company took recently serious decision to reshuffle the top management and reduce total overheads. The company decided also to return to the landlord the plots of land that was used as feedlot in Sitra, since the company has discontinued import of live animal, and its slaughterhouse remains totally closed.
The investment portfolio the group continued to perform well in line with previous years. The gain from investment activities including dividends received and profit on trading shares was BD879K in total for the year as against BD895K last year. This year’s fourth quarter investment income was at BD208K against BD 273K in the similar period last year.
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