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Rurelec narrows losses as liquidity remains 'critical issue'
Latin America-focussed electricity utility Rurelec issued its audited results for the year ended 31 December on Friday, reporting that its operating loss more than halved to £3.7m from £12.8m year-on-year.
The AIM-traded firm's loss before tax was £5.8m, down from £9.3m.
It reported further write downs of assets, to values its directors believed could be supported in the current market conditions.
The company also made a "substantial" reduction in its ongoing borrowings, post its Peru disposal, with group borrowings standing at £1.4m st year-end, compared to £4m 12 months earlier.
Its total loss per share was 1.04p, down from 1.65p, with the net asset value per share falling to 4.5p from 5.6p.
"During 2017 the group has continued to reduce costs, and pursue asset sales," said executive director Simon Morris.
"The group's interests in the hydro schemes in Peru were disposed of in December 2017, with completion occurring on 30 January 2018."
As in 2016, Morris said liquidity was a major issue for Rurelec during 2017, explaining that major outages suffered in March and April, and in September and October, at the group's plant in Argentina put cash remittances back to the UK under severe pressure.
"Cash received has been utilised in settling legacy debts, some of which are many years old.
"Group current liabilities, excluding liabilities held for sale, have more than halved since 31 December 2016."
Morris said the overall loss before tax for the year reflected further write downs on a number of the group's assets.
"Losses also include £2.5m of foreign exchange losses.
"Given the outages suffered at the group's plant in Argentina, and the on-going requirement for the plant to operate well below capacity, liquidity remains a critical issue for the group."