GLI Finance swings to loss amid strategic review

The AIM-traded company’s board said earnings were impacted by £13m of write-downs in investments in underperforming or liquidated platforms following its strategic review.

Its full business strategic review, undertaken during the period, included a review of the cost base, capital structure, detailed assessment of equity and loan investments and valuations.

As a consequence of making early write downs and recognising losses in underperforming assets, together with raising capital and reorganising Sancus BMS Group, the company’s balance sheet was strengthened at the period, according to the board.

The numbers didn’t lie, however, with net asset value per share decreasing to 37.07p from 42.73p.

GLI’s debt-to-gross asset ratio reduced to 30%, from 33% at the start of the period, and the company’s net assets increased to £105.6m from £98.2m.

Its weighted average cost of debt decreased to 6.8% for the period, from 8.6% in the year to 31 December 2015.

“The last six months have marked the beginning of a period of significant transformation for GLI Finance,” said chairman Patrick Firth.

“We continue to restructure the business in order to reduce its complexity, remove potential conflicts of interests and optimise our allocation of capital and resource.

“We have made good progress in establishing the basis for a strong business that is sustainable over the long-term and well positioned to take advantage of significant market opportunities in order to generate value for our shareholders,” he explained.