Friday, October 16, 2015

TransCentury on six-month funds campaign

Other areas of focus will be growth capital for existing power and engineering businesses and financing of infrastructure projects across sub-Saharan Africa which includes power generation plants, toll roads and oil pipelines/FILE

Other areas of focus will be growth capital for existing power and engineering businesses and financing of infrastructure projects across sub-Saharan Africa which includes power generation plants, toll roads and oil pipelines/FILE

NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 16 – TransCentury Limited plans to carry out a fundraising programme for the next six months.

The fundraising will focus on achieving growth for the company in three areas that includes refinancing the $56.8 million of convertible bonds issued by its subsidiary, TC Mauritius Holding due on March 25, 2016.

Other areas of focus will be growth capital for existing power and engineering businesses and financing of infrastructure projects across sub-Saharan Africa which includes power generation plants, toll roads and oil pipelines.

Various advisors have been engaged for this purpose.

The exact nature and structure of the transaction will be decided upon by the company’s board based on the recommendations of the advisors.

“Shareholders will be kept appraised of material developments,” the firm said.

Commenting on the move, analysts at Standard Investment Bank Research says the decision does not come as a surprise given that financing has been a key challenge for the company.

Implementation of the fundraising programme will be subject to the approval of TransCentury shareholders, the Capital Markets Authority and the Nairobi, Securities Exchange.

The firm recorded a net loss of Sh676 million in the first half of 2015, albeit an improvement compared to a net loss of Sh1.63 million recorded same period in 2014 with the firm’s revenue growing by five percent compared to the same period last year despite being impacted by a 25 percent decline in its power division revenue.

Power division revenues were significantly impacted by significant interruptions of production processes in the firms copper factory due to ongoing final phase of capacity and efficiency upgrade. The firm also faced foreign exchange currency challenges buoyed by a strong dollar that increased financial costs.

“The outlook is positive, for our core businesses with strong pipelines of Engineering projects now underway and a growing order group in our power division which will improve the financial performance in the second half of the year through reduction of the order backlog once the copper factory refurbishment is complete,” the firm said.



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