The chief executive of East African Cables (Stock; CABL) Peter Arina is to step down after less than two years, amid widening losses for the company.
The company wouldn’t comment on the circumstances leading to Mr Arina’s abrupt departure, but said he would be leaving by 31st of August 2017 and Mr Paul Muigai, its chief operating officer, would take over as CEO in acting capacity effective Tuesday 28th August 2017.
Arina has worked for East African Cables since October 2015, when he joined the company as chief executive following the departure of previous boss George Mwangi.
On Tuesday, the listed cable manufacturer reported its half year 2017 financial results with loss before tax widening significantly by 718% to Sh 331.8 Million. The company said the performance was “hampered greatly by continued constraint in accessing working capital lines. The heavy capital investment that resulted in tripling of installed capacity led to greater need for working capital financing but access to credit lines was affected by reduced lending appetite following the introduction of interest rate caps.”
Consequently, the net loss for the period deepened by 639% to Sh 232.5 Million from Sh 31.5 Million reported in the same period in 2016. Turnover declined by 30% from Sh 2.1 Billion to Sh 1.47 Billion.
The Board did not declare payment of an interim dividend.
