GlobalCapital registered pre-tax earnings for 2016 amounting to €2.8 million compared to €5.6 million in 2015.
The results include a significant reduction in fair value gains on the group’s financial and property investment portfolios amounting to €1.4 million for the year compared to €7.3 million as at the end of the previous reporting period.
Group assets increased by 11.9 per cent from €101 million at December 31, 2015 to €113.1 million as at December 31, 2016 whereas shareholder funds more than doubled and this through a combination of the increase in share capital and other reserves.
During the financial year 2016, the board of directors embarked on consolidating the company’s position in the local market by strengthening its financial base through capitalisation, debt restructuring, the repayment of the maturing bond and strengthening the financial operating results of its subsidiaries.
The latter, together with the positive results reported over the last four consecutive reporting periods, led to a significant improvement in the group’s debt to equity ratio which reduced from 188 per cent as at end December 2015 to 64 per cent as at end of the current reporting period.
The company increased its authorised share capital from 30 million to 85 million ordinary shares of €0.291172 each. The directors said they intended to increase the issued share capital of the company, subject to any necessary regulatory approval, in order to increase the capital base by raising additional equity to meet the general financing requirements and to repay the company’s unsecured bonds maturity in 2021.
GlobalCapital Life Insurance registered a profit before taxation for the year ended December 31, 2016 of €3.5 million compared to €5.5 million in the prior year. GCLI’s total comprehensive income for the year recorded a significant improvement, closing at €6.9 million compared to €5.4 million at end 2015.
Earnings per share were 7c1 (2015: 15c7). The directors do not recommend the payment of a dividend for 2016 as the company had no distributable reserves at the end of the reporting period. No dividend was paid in 2015.
The financial reports give no indication that the group’s €5.5 million castle in Rome was sold.
GlobalCapital employs 57 people.