Advertisement

AMA bottom line crashes as it revs up pursuit of ex-CEO

Smash repairer AMA Group has reported a $96 million bottom-line loss for the year after significant writedowns on goodwill.

Aug 24, 2021, updated Aug 24, 2021
The AMA Group has been hot hard by lockdowns

The AMA Group has been hot hard by lockdowns

The company reported a 17 per cent decline in vehicle repair because of fewer people driving during lockdowns.

It said it had also temporarily “hibernated” 190 staff in its NSW operations in August but had also received $30 million in wage subsidies from the Australian and New Zealand governments during the year.

The goodwill writedown of $90 million related to its acquisition of Capital Smart and reflected risk and uncertainty associated with COVID-19 and related allowances in respect to revenue projections.

Revenue was up for the group to $918 million and its EBITDAI was $54 million against $34 million the previous year.

AMA said it was still pursuing its former managing director Andrew Hopkins over to repay a $1.3 million loan on which he defaulted at the end of June. However, it revealed it had not written off the value of the loan because of the capacity of Hopkins to repay the loan and the recent signing of a loan deed.

The company said it had incurred a cost of more than $737,000 as “whistleblower” costs relating to the investigation into Hopkins who resigned at the start of the year.

“Legal proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia remain on foot an the group is seeking to recover funds of approximately $3 million relating to unauthorised expenses incurred by, or on the behalf of Andrew Hopkins as Chief executive of the company ($1.6 million) and the repayment of then outstanding loan which is in default and currently due and payable ($1.4 million),” AMA said.

None of the funds have yet been repaid.

The company said there were favourable and negative issues ahead.

InQueensland in your inbox. The best local news every workday at lunch time.
By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement andPrivacy Policy & Cookie Statement. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

It said the lockdowns which were impacting its business were still an issue that caused fewer crashes and therefore less business, but the increasing number of drive holidays meant there were more kilometres travelled.

It said there was a possibility it would seek to strengthen its balance sheet in the year ahead through a capital raising.

 

 

 

Local News Matters
Advertisement

We strive to deliver the best local independent coverage of the issues that matter to Queenslanders.

Copyright © 2024 InQueensland.
All rights reserved.
Privacy Policy