LONDON (Alliance News) - Dragon-Ukrainian Properties & Development PLC Monday said its loss had halved in 2015, but said it continued to be hit by weak economic conditions in Ukraine.
The company's main aim is to realise its properties in the country and return surplus cash to shareholders.
"We do not foresee a quick recovery for the real estate market in Ukraine that will allow rapid monetisation of many of ours properties. As such, the board will continue to prudently evaluate modest investments to protect or enhance the value and salability of the company's most promising projects that are already under development and have demonstrated their ability to generate cash in the near term," said Non-Executive Chairman Mark Iwashko.
"We believe that 2016 will mark a turning point for Ukraine as continued support from the IMF and other donors coupled with the economic reforms that are currently underway set the stage for a return to economic growth and remain hopeful that the real estate market will also begin to show signs of recovery in the not so distant future," Iwashko added.
The investor in Ukrainian real estate said its net asset value stood at USD58.4 million at the end of 2015, down from USD92.4 million a year earlier, while it booked a net loss from operating activities of USD34.0 million for the year ended December 31 from USD70.2 million. Of this loss, USD31.3 million was attributable to the decrease in the fair value of its projects, which was a smaller decrease than the year before.
It said this was due to the threat of ongoing military conflict in its eastern most regions and strong economic headwinds of a deep recession, collapsing currency and a pending default on its sovereign debt.
Dragon-Ukrainian said it generated contracted sales of USD11.0 million and USD8.3 million in cash proceeds in the year, all coming from its four residential projects. While revenue was down 46% on a year-on-year basis, Dragon-Ukrainian said sales came in flat after eliminating the Henryland transaction from the 2014 results.
It ended 2015 with a cash balance of USD15.9 million, down from USD16.5 million at the end of 2014.
Shares in Dragon-Ukrainian were untraded on Monday, having last traded at 11.75 pence.
By Hannah Boland; hannahboland@alliancenews.com; @Hannaheboland
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