Ricoh India Reports Highest Ever Loss In First Half Of Financial Year

Ricoh India Ltd. on Monday registered its highest ever loss in the first half of the financial year 2016-17. The loss widened to Rs 183 crore from Rs 147 crore a year ago. Revenue declined 54 percent to Rs 512.08 crore in the same period.

Finance cost almost doubled to Rs 94 crore as against Rs 49 crore for the same period last year. The company used capital worth Rs 1,123 crore it had received from promoters in order to reduce bank borrowings and thereby lower finance costs. The effect of this capital infusion and the subsequent reduction in debt will reflect in the earnings for the third and fourth quarter of this financial year.

Audit uncertainties persist for the company as audit firm BSR issued a ‘disclaimer opinion’ in its report, indicating that it was unable to obtain sufficient evidence during the audit due to improper and incomplete documentation.

The company appointed Pooja Aggarwal as the new chief financial officer of the company to replace Arvind Singhal. Ricoh India had earlier terminated the employment of the former CFO as he was found to be in breach of statutory duties.

Trading in shares of Ricoh India will be suspended from December 13, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) had said on December 2. The company recently released its earnings for quarter-ended December 2015 and March 2016 and as well as full-year earnings for financial year 2015-16. However, the delay in releasing the first and second quarter earnings for financial year 2016-17 had prompted BSE to suspend trading.

The company has ended lower for the last nine trading sessions and the stock has hit a lower circuit in seven sessions. The stock is currently trading at Rs 193.45 apiece and will resume trading on a trade-for-trade basis for a period of three months once the company pays up the prescribed fine. After this period of three months, trading in the shares of the company will be shifted back to the normal trading category.