Veritas faces D-Day after ANZ says banking facility won't be renewed

Tuesday 29th August 2017

Veritas Investments has to find $28.5 million in the next year or so after ANZ Bank New Zealand said it won't renew its banking facilities as they come due.

The company's board is working through a number of options, including selling or merging its various units with external parties, recapitalising the business or refinancing the loans with a new lender, chairman Tim Cook said in a statement.

The debt comes due in October and November of this year and through to September next year, and while that creates a "material uncertainty" over Veritas's future, "the directors consider that there is a reasonable expectation that the above options can be executed and that ANZ will support the group through this process," he said.

Veritas repaid $4.8 million of bank debt in the 12 months ended June 30 after the lender leaned on the company to map out a strategy to sell unprofitable businesses and review its capital plan. That included the sale of the upmarket Nosh supermarkets and the company-owned Mad Butcher stores.

Despite the loss of its lender's support, Veritas's board prepared its annual accounts on a going concern basis. However, it acknowledged that relies on finding alternative funding sources within the bank's timeframe or winning a reprieve from the bank.

Veritas;s results were at the upper end of guidance, with revenue falling 7.8 percent to $30.8 million and a 12 percent decline in underlying earnings to $4.2 million, The company was projecting revenue of between $26 million and $31 million and underlying profit of between $3.7 million and $4.3 million.

The Auckland-based company narrowed its net loss of $793,000, or 1.83 cents per share, in the June year, from $4.6 million, or 10.6 cents, a year earlier.

The shares were unchanged at 15 cents, having slumped 25 percent so far this year, valuing the company at $6.5 million.

(BusinessDesk)

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