Saudi contractor Abdullah Abdul Mohsin Al Khodari Sons said it has narrowed its net loss for 2017 by 15 per cent from SR119.4 million ($31.8 million) the previous year to SR111 million ($27 million).

While its gross loss widened by 75 per cent to $11.65 million in 2017, Al Khodari has recorded a 22.05 per cent annual improvement in its operational loss for the year, which was valued at $7.4 million.

Announcing the results, Al Khodari said the key reason for the decrease in net loss was due to decline in direct costs by 48 per cent (SR522 million) mainly due to the slow progress on ongoing construction projects and the fall in the selling and marketing costs by 31 per cent (SR2.03 million) due to a decrease in bidding activity.

The Saudi contractor witnessed a sharp decline in revenue by 51 per cent (SR541 million) owing to the decline in new project awards, significant liquidity challenges facing the contracting industry due to delay in payments, reflected in slow progress on ongoing construction projects.

However, this resulted in increase in the company's gross loss by 75 per cent (SR18.7 million), said the company in its statement.

Al Khodari said the total comprehensive loss for 2017 was SR95.8 million as compared to SR121.06 million the year before resulting in a decrease of 21 per cent.

The company's total equity attributable to shareholders (no minority rights) as of December 31, 2017 was put at SR638.7 million compared to SR725.68 million.

The general and administrative expenses of the company were down due to the contractor's Leaner Al-Khodari Programme, it added.-TradeArabia News Service