Sameer Africa cuts losses on cheap raw material prices
A worker at the Sameer plant in Nairobi checks a tyre . File
What you need to know:
The company’s net growth in cash and cash equivalents improved from outflows of Sh163 million to Sh206 million as the company avoided borrowing to fund expansion
Tyre maker Sameer Africa has cut its 2015 after tax losses from Sh66.9 million to Sh15.6 million on cheap raw material prices and cost cutting.
Total revenue fell to Sh3.36 billion from Sh3.77 billion while operating costs fell to Sh916.1 million from Sh1.01 billion in 2014.
The manufacturer blamed subsidized arrivals from the East for competition that hurt its sales and chaos in some export markets.
The company froze dividends to improve its net growth in cash and cash equivalents from outflows of Sh163 million to inflows of Sh206 million and also put off borrowing to fund expansion. Its current assets also staid well ahead of current liabilities but competition from subsidised and cheap arrivals may not go away anytime soon.
"Sales into our markets were also adversely affected by civil unrest in some and acute hard currency shortages in others," it said.
Sameer did not mention the markets that experienced chaos but South Sudan had hard currencies supply shocks while Burundi suffered serious political and humanitarian problems.
PAYE Tax Calculator
Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
