Raptis profit slumps
RAPTIS development companies are working on $250m worth of beachside tower projects, but the riches are yet to flow to shareholders in the Asx-listed Raptis Group.
Filing its half-year results to the market, the Jim Raptis-chaired group revealed its sole income came from the unexpected resurrection of a long-dormant subsidiary company, which mysteriously paid the group $312,000.
The company revealed a profit of $203,265 for the six months to December 31, down from a 2020 half-year profit of $553,843.
Shareholders in Raptis Group include the Australian Government which, along with other creditors, accepted shares in lieu of hundreds of millions of dollars when the company crashed into administration during construction of the $700 million Southport Central and The Hilton in Surfers Paradise.
Raptis companies were in debt by more than a billion dollars at the time of the collapse, with tradies of one company alone owed $25m.
Shares in Raptis, selling for $1.24 at its peak in 2007, last traded at 3c, giving the once mega development group a market capitalisation of just $2.09m.
Mr Raptis (pictured) has maintained the floundering listed l entity t has nothing to do with his successful private development companies, desp i te them sharing a logo, S ur fers Paradise address, address directorships and their portfolio of past projects.
It has been an eventful half-year for Mr Raptis, who, along with wife Helen and son Evan, faces an $80m asset freeze, including the veteran developer’s $20m Paradise Waters mansion.
The freeze came as the ATO seeks $109.7m from Mr Raptis, members of his family and other entities they allege are linked to him.
Mr Raptis’ family members are not accused of wrongdoing, criminal or otherwise.
Through ASX reports since the company was relisted in 2015, Raptis shareholders have been repeatedly told the directors are “researching opportunities”.
Despite an apparent dearth of opportunities for the public company, Mr Raptis’s private Raptis companies have had plenty.
The Raptis logo is flying high above current projects Pearl Main Beach and The Gallery in Broadbeach.