Oakbay Resources and Energy, a Gupta owned and JSE- listed company, is set to report a loss of R16.913 million for the year ended February 2016.<\/p>\n
This, the company said in a trading statement on Thursday, is an improvement of 56.57% from a prior loss of R38.940 million in 2015.<\/p>\n
Oakbay Resources is a major subsidiary of Oakbay Investments \u2013 the main investment channel for the Gupta family in South Africa.<\/p>\n
In April, the company announced that its non-executive chairman, Atul Gupta, and its chief executive officer, Varun Gupta, had resigned with immediate effect following what it deemed \u201ca sustained political attack on the company, and the concern that the jobs and livelihoods of nearly one thousand employees would be at immediate risk as a result of the outgoing director\u2019s association with the company.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Gupta family came under heavy scrutiny following allegations that the family was attempting to capture the state through business relationships with the president.<\/p>\n
Business Day reported that in April, Oakbay Resources averted suspension on the JSE by signing SizweNtsalubaGobodo as its auditors following KPMG\u2019s decision to no longer associate itself with Gupta-family-owned businesses.<\/p>\n
In its trading update on Thursday, Oakbay said that it expects to report a loss attributable to the owners of the company for the year ended February 2016, of R5.092 million -an improvement of 86.44% from a 2015 loss of R37.565 million.<\/p>\n
The company expects a headline loss of R5.450 million, up 85.49% from a prior loss of R37.565 million, along with a basic loss per share of 0.64 cents, and a headline loss per share of 0.68 cents – up 96.38% from before.<\/p>\n
“The company\u2019s overall financial performance for the year improved compared to the prior year, primarily as a result of margins realised from contract mining activities and a higher ZAR gold price; which had a positive effect on operating profits,” the company said.<\/p>\n
Oakbay expects to publish its results\u00a0 on Friday, 10 June 2016.<\/p>\n
Guptas and Zuma resign from Oakbay business<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n