Medserv plc has registered a pre-tax loss of €1.15 million for 2012, as business levels fell while its main market Libya was still recovering from the 2011 crisis. However, revenue generated in the second half of the year resulted in 62 per cent of the year’s revenue, clearly indicating the upturn in business, Medserv said.
Group revenue slipped from €9.2 million to €6.7 million and the group sustained an operating loss before depreciation of €482,806.
Last year, the group embarked on capital investment to improve efficiency and competitive levels. It also strengthened the management team to introduce new expertise and increased its marketing budget to finance new market and product developments to meet expected business opportunities.
This contributed to an increase in costs for the year with a direct consequence on the operating results for 2012. This short term impact will be replaced by a long term benefit to the group. Loss attributable to the company owners amounted to €249,970.
Group total assets stood at €13.2 million. Receivables, net of impairment losses, amounted to €3.3 million of which 73 per cent represented invoiced amounts receivable in respect of services rendered by the group. The group’s trade and other payables at the end of the year amounted to €2 million.
“The downturn in business provided us with an opportunity to strengthen our service offering. The investment we made does have a short term impact on the performance reported, an impact however that will be replaced by a long term benefit to the group,” chairman Anthony Diacono said.
Medserv Misurata FZC has resumed operations in Libya although the damage to the warehouse has not been repaired by the local authorities and this severely restricts the nature of the goods the company can store safely.
The development of the Medserv base in Limassol, Cyprus, has just started and the group expects to secure its first business at the end of this year or early next year in line with progress made in exploration activity offshore Cyprus.
The group has tendered for business in East Africa and entered into a joint venture with a leading European firm to strengthen its bid to penetrate this market. Meanwhile, a new subsidiary, Medserv East Africa Limited, has been set up to tap opportunities in this market.
Medserv signed a new lease agreement with Malta Freeport Corporation last December which will allow the group to operate from its current location at Malta Freeport up to 2060.
It will also invest €4 million to install a 2MWp photovoltaic farm making use of the extensive roofs found in its Malta base.