HOLT GROUP REPORTS LOSSES, RESTRUCTURING

HOLT GROUP REPORTS LOSSES, RESTRUCTURING

   Holt Group Inc., the stevedoring, shipping and warehousing group, reported a net loss of $22.3 million for the first six months of the year.

   The result compares with a profit of $4.4 million in the first half of 1999.

   Holt Group, parent company of ocean carrier Navieras, said that first-half results include one-time costs, such as write-off expenses, caused by a restructuring plan the company has implemented to reduce debt, cut costs and improve cash flow.

   Leo Holt, spokesman for the group, said the company has faced over-tonnaging and competitive pressures in the U.S. mainland/Puerto Rico Jones Act trade. The highly-leveraged Holt Group posted an operating loss of $5.5 million for the first six months of the year, as compared to an operating profit of $14.9 million for the same period in 1999.Revenue decreased by 9 percent to $163.5 million.

   Holt Group’s profit and loss statement shows that the company had negative stockholders’ equity of $18.1 million as of June 30, and debt obligations of $327.7 million, with total assets of $414.3 million.

   “Except with respect to the obligations under the revolving credit agreement, the company remains in default under its date obligations as of the date of filing,” Holt Group said in the Sept. 8 statement.

   The spokesman, Holt, said that Holt Group has now sold non-core assets such as its shareholding in Atlantic Container Line and certain warehouses. The core activity of the Holt Group is Navieras, he said.

   Adverse market and trade conditions have impacted carriers in the Puerto Rico trade, Holt said. Navieras has “a positive cash flow,” he added.