Riyadh – Mubasher: Abdullah Abdul Mohsen Al Khodari Sons Co. announced trimming its losses by 15% in the full year 2017.

The company posted SAR 101.445 million ($27.05 million) in losses in 2017 down from SAR 119.341 million ($31.82 million) in the previous year.

The construction and engineering-focused firm attributed the year-on-year decline in net losses to a 48% drop in direct costs on the back of “slow progress on ongoing construction projects” as well as a 31% decline in selling and marketing costs owing to a decrease in bidding activity.

General and administrative expenses fell 28% “due to reduction in manpower costs and resources optimization, resulting from previously announced Leaner Al-Khodari Programme,” the company announced in its statement.

It further attributed the 15% fall in losses to higher income by 25%, resulting from increased auction sales of excess used equipment in 2017 compared to the previous year, lower financial charges by 8%, and a 63% drop in Zakat expenses in 2017.

Losses per share (LPS) reached SAR 1.82 in 2017 versus SAR 2.14 in 2016, according to a filing to the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul).

Al Khodari’s revenues retreated 51% to SAR 519.46 million in the full year 2017, from SAR 1.060 billion the year before, on the back of fewer awards received during the year.

“Significant liquidity challenges facing the contracting industry due to delay in payments” were reflected in slow progress at ongoing construction projects, the Saudi firm added.

This revenue drop resulted in gross losses surging 74.94% year-on-year to SAR 43.658 million last year, from SAR 24.956 million.

Meanwhile, total comprehensive losses fell 21% year-on-year to SAR 95.8 million versus SAR 121.06 million, the statement showed.

Al Khodari’s accumulated losses currently amount to SAR 14.4 million representing 2.58% of capital, the company revealed.

The Saudi construction company also revealed that its total equity attributable to shareholders, excluding minority rights, as at 31 December 2017 amounted to SAR 638.7 million down 12% from SAR 725.68 million.

Moreover, total non-controlling interests slipped by 1% to SAR 547,000 in 2017 compared to SAR 556,000 at 31 December 2016.

Al Khodari last reported a 57% drop in losses to SAR 22.88 million in the third quarter of 2017 from SAR 53.42 million in the same period of the year before.

As for the nine-month period ended September 2017, Al Khodari posted SAR 65.66 million in losses, down 39% year-on-year from SAR 108.46 million.