Kuwait's Investment Dar, which owns half of British carmaker Aston Martin, plunged to a loss in the fourth quarter of 2008, but said it was confident of meeting its debt restructuring obligations.   

The firm made a net loss of 214.6 million dinars ($747.2 million) in the fourth quarter of 2008, compared to profits a year earlier, according to Reuters calculations. The firm did not release quarterly figures.

Dar said it made a 2008 full-year net loss of 80.3 million dinars, compared with a net profit of 126 million dinars in 2007. 

Reuters calculated 2008 fourth-quarter loss based on previous financial data which showed Dar making a net profit of 134.3 million dinars in the first nine months of 2008. The firm had made a fourth-quarter net profit of 3.77 million dinars in 2007.

Kuwait's central bank had delayed the approval of the 2008 results of the Islamic investment company, and appointed a temporary supervisor last year to monitor the firm's debt restructuring and the compilation of its financial results.

The results come after the Islamic investment firm applied last month for support under a government facility set up for troubled companies as part of a debt restructuring.

Dar has been trying to restructure about 1 billion dinars ($3.48 billion) of debt and said in December that it had reached a deal with 80 percent of its creditors. The government facility would help Dar get the consent of the rest of the creditors on its restructuring plan.

"We have overcome the hard stage with patience, perseverance and the right planning to face the effects of the crisis ... and we would like to stress the strength of Dar's financial position ... which will allow us to fulfil all our obligations," the firm's chairman Adnan Al-Musallam said in a statement.

Dar defaulted on a $100 million Islamic debt issue last year -- the first major, public Islamic instrument in the region to do so -- and has said it may sell some assets to meet its obligations.

Dar's total assets stood at 1.2 billion dinars at the end of December 2008 against total liabilities of about 1 billion dinars, the firm said. -Reuters