Tunisia: 31.2% drop in the overall income of companies listed on the Tunis Stock Exchange in the first half of 2020




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The overall half-year result for the first half of 2020, companies listed on the Tunis Stock Exchange (BVMT) recorded a decrease of 31.2% compared to the same period of the year 2019, officials announced. of the BVMT based in Tunis.

This overall result stood at 720.411 million dinars against 1.048 billion dinars as of June 30, 2019, a contraction of 327.096 million dinars. « This development is attributable in particular to the repercussions of the COVID-19 crisis on the activity of the majority of listed companies », explain the managers of the Tunis Stock Exchange. They specify, however, that this result only includes the 64 listed companies that have published their half-yearly financial statements, out of the 80 (including the company HEXABYTE, delisted on September 30, 2020) on the List.

Of the 64 listed companies that published their half-year financial statements, 44 recorded profitable results for the first half of 2020.

The companies that make up the Tunindex20 (the index of the 20 flagship stocks of the stock market), monopolized 84% of the overall half-year result. However, this result shrank by 24% compared to that of the first half of 2019, or a total amount of 608 million dinars against 802 million dinars. Various fortunes are noted concerning the evolution of the half-year results by sector.

The result of all the companies making up the financial sector (main category capitalization of the quotation) fell by 34.5% in the first half of 2020 compared to the same period of the year 2019, thus totaling 451 million. dinars against 689 million dinars. The 12 listed banks achieved an overall half-year result of 396 million dinars, down 34.1% compared to the same period of the year 2019. “Nine banks made profits and three closed the half-year with losses ”, note the leaders of the BVMT. Likewise, the 4 listed insurance companies posted an overall half-year result down 48% to 32 million dinars against 62 million dinars during the first half of 2019.

The only sector that escaped the crisis was leasing, for which the overall half-year result of the 7 listed leasing companies increased by 32.9% compared to the same period in 2019 to reach 3.7 million. dinars against 2.8 million dinars.

Regarding the consumer services sector, data from the BVMT indicate that the overall result also experienced a decline of 54.3%, attributed to the decline of the majority of the companies that compose it. Within this sector, the overall half-year result of the two large-scale retailers listed on the stock exchange (Monoprix and Magasin General) showed a deficit of 7 million dinars against a positive result of 2 million dinars during the same period of the year. year 2019. This underperformance is attributed by officials of the Tunis Stock Exchange mainly to the poor performance of the company Magasin General.

The same trend is noted for the overall half-year result of the three listed car dealers, which fell by 28% to stand at 21.7 million dinars against 30.2 million dinars during the same period of 2019.

Regarding the consumer goods sector, the same trend was noted with a decline of 13.8% of the overall half-year result for the first half of 2020 compared to the same period of the past year. The leaders of the Stock Exchange believe that this regression is mainly driven by the automotive and equipment sub-sector, which recorded a sharp drop of 124.6%. In this sub-sector, the overall half-year result of the three large groups operating in the food industry (Poulina Group Holding, Délice Holding and SFBT) fell by 17.9% to reach 180 million dinars against 219 million dinars during the first semester 2019.

In the industrial sector, however, the trend is reversed. The overall half-year result has thus increased to stand at 1.5 million dinars against -3.8 million dinars during the same period of the year 2019. “This improvement in performance is attributed to the recovery observed for both listed cement factories and the resistance of the industrial goods and services sub-sector (+ 4%), ”say BVMT officials.

Pulled down in particular by the poor performance of the ICF company, the overall half-year result of the basic materials sector fell sharply to 25.1 million dinars against 66.6 million dinars during the same period of year 2019. This trend is dependent on the poor performance at the level of companies belonging to the commodities sub-sectors whose overall half-year result ended the first six months of 2020 with a decline of 71.5% compared to at the same time of year 2019.

In the other sectors, the Technology sector achieved a performance of 36.2%, while the other three sectors (health, oil and gas and telecommunications) found themselves with poor performances.