Egypt's Qalaa Holdings, formerly Citadel Capital, widened its first quarter net loss by 7 percent to LE231.9 million (32.43 million US dollar) compared to the same period a year earlier, the firm said in a statement. "Net losses for the first quarter dipped seven percent year on year to reach LE231.9 million due to increased charges related to discontinued operations at portfolio companies including ESACO (ASEC Holding), El-Aguizy, Elmisrieen, Enjoy, Mom's Foods and certain non-core companies," it said. Qalaa Holdings has transformed from a private equity firm to an investment holding structure and its results for the first quarter of 2013 have been re-stated to reflect the impact of asset purchases under the transformation program. The firm completed a rights issue in April which raised its total paid-in capitial to LE8 billion. This allowed it to take majority stakes in most of its core industry subsidiaries including in the energy, cement, agri-foods, transportation and logistics sectors. As a result it now fully consolidates results from its various businesses, rather than using the equity method of previous years. Revenues for the first quarter rose by 14 percent at LE1.4 billion in the three months ending March 31 compared with "pro-forma" revenues of LE1.2 billion in the same period a year earlier, the statement said. As part of the firm's efforts to shed non-core assets, it exited its full majority stake in the Sudanese Egyptian Bank in a $22 million sale to the Islamic Solidarity Bank of Sudan. The firm expects to complete its divestiture of Egyptian glass manufacturer Sphinx Glass by the end of August after signing a sale and purchase agreement with Saudi Arabia's Construction Products Holding Co. (CPC) in June. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/108576.aspx
