Kuwait's Global House Q1 Net Loss Rises

Kuwait's Global Investment House, a firm undergoing a debt restructuring plan, said on Monday its net loss in the first quarter of 2011 rose sharply compared with the same period the previous year.

The net loss in the January-March period rose 55 percent to 22 million dinars ($80 million) compared with a shortfall of 14.2 million dinars ($51.5 million), Global said in a statement posted on Kuwait Stock Exchange website.

The firm was severely impacted by the world financial crisis and incurred around $1.7 billion in losses over the past three fiscal years.

Global defaulted on its debt in late 2008, but in December the following year it reached an agreement with its 53 creditors to restructure 1.73 billion dollars of debt over three years.

The company said in December that it has repaid $178 million of the debt, its first year commitments under the plan, in addition to repaying $82 million in interest.

Company assets dropped 19 percent to $2.35 billion on March 31, from $2.9 billion a year ago. Over the same period, its shareholders' equity also slumped 6.5 percent to $204 million from $530 million.