Cairo – Mubasher: GB Auto on Tuesday said it turned to losses in the third quarter of 2017 on the back of higher financing costs and sales expenses.

The automotive company logged EGP 141.1 million in losses in the three-month period ended 30 September 2017 against EGP 47.02 million in profits in the corresponding period of 2016, according to a filing to the Egyptian Exchange (EGX).

The rise in financing costs to EGP 343.08 million, from EGP 244.76 million in the year-ago period, was the reason behind GB Auto’s losses in Q3-17, the statement indicated.

Meanwhile, GB Auto’s sales rose to EGP 5.03 billion in Q3-17 from EGP 4.32 billion in the same period of 2016.

Commenting on the company’s results for Q3-17, GB Auto CEO Raouf Ghabbour stated that the quarter’s overall performance “showed an improvement, as we had anticipated, but the fact remains that consumer sentiment continues to be a hamper on the automotive business.”

“We do see signs of increasing demand for Passenger Cars, which we believe will steadily continue, as we’ve managed to maintain our market share at above 30% and anticipate we’ll hit 33% — our historical rate — by the end of the year,” he added.

At the level of the nine-month period between January and September, the automotive maker suffered consolidated losses of EGP 475.46 million against EGP 184.89 million in profits in the year-ago period.

Meanwhile, standalone profits for the nine-month period showed losses of EGP 533.5 million versus breaking even in the corresponding period of 2016, the company’s statement showed.

GB Auto Group “recorded revenue gains for both the three and nine-month periods despite the rocky landscape the auto business continues to have to navigate,” the statement showed.