DUBAI: Saudi Arabian telecommunications firm Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) said on Wednesday it could meet all its debts despite announcing last week that it had suffered a $243 million loss in 2014 and expected to breach covenants on long-term loans.
"The company does not anticipate difficulties with respect to future financing repayments and costs," Mobily said in a stock exchange statement, stressing that it had repaid all financings during 2014.
However, Mobily said it did not expect to meet a net-debt-to-EBIDTA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) covenant as of last December 31 under its long-term financing facilities with various lenders.
That covenant specified a minimum EBITDA of 5.57 billion riyals ($1.49 billion) over the previous four quarters; the company's EBITDA for 2014 was short of that amount by 2.67 billion riyals, of which 2.51 billion riyals was due to provisions and adjustments related to the company's financial results, it said.
"Management is confident that discussions with the lenders to reset the net-debt-to-EBITDA financial covenant will be successful during the second quarter of year 2015. Mobily is committed to continue to meet its obligations as they become due in the normal course of operation," it said.
Mobily said its assets totalled 47.5 billion riyals as of December 31, up 2.3 percent from a year earlier, while total liabilities were 28 billion riyals, up 21 percent.
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