Group suffers $602k loss
NAVITI Investments Ltd and its subsidiary companies incurred a group net loss of $602,471 in 1975, mainly because of the fall of tourist traffic and heavy interest payments.
This, according to a report in The Fiji Times of March 23, 1976.
The company’s directors, in a report for the year ending September, said the year was “the most difficult” for Naviti since its formation eight years ago.
Because of the loss, which came after a decreased group profit the previous year, the directors have not recommended a dividend.
Liquidity problems reported in 1974 “have not been altogether resolved”, said the directors.
“While the problems were eased by the completion of major capital works, the downturn in trading conditions continued to strain the company’s liquidity.”
Since September 30, however, the Outrigger Motel in Suva had been sold to the Fijian Affairs Board for $400,000 and the company had received a cash grant equivalent to 7 per cent of the capital cost of the Naviti Resort Hotel under the Hotel Aids Ordinance.
Further long-term funding had been obtained from the Fiji National Provident Fund.
This money would “considerably ease” the present liquidity position, but heavy interest payments due together with depressed trading conditions required the continuation of careful management, the directors said.
In Fiji, the group’s Gateway, Isa Lei and Outrigger hotels lost money in 1975.
Losses by the newly-completed Naviti Resorts had been the main factor for the group’s overall loss.
Advance bookings were not bright but signs of a recovery of tourism were emerging.
Occupancy
The company was increasing its Australian and New Zealand promotional work, but hotel occupancy rates were not expected to dramatically recover over the next 12 months. The group had not yet received a management fee or dividend from its investment in the Tusitala Hotel in Western Samoa. Trading in the Solomons had been depressed apart from results from the Mendana Hotel, which had improved.