Dia: shares fall after quarterly loss widens

(CercleFinance.com) - Dia shares are tumbling over 8% on Tuesday after the Spanish retailer reported a wider first-quarter loss and warned that it could eventually be forced to file for liquidation.


The discount chain said that its net loss widened to 144 million euros in the first quarter of 2019, from a loss of just 16 million euros in the same period last year, on sales that dropped 7% to 1.66 billion euros.

Analysts at Bankinter - who have a "sell" rating on the share - cited "negative results showing that fundamentals keep on deteriorating."

They highlighted a "very difficult situation" for the company, after a 352.6 million euro loss in 2018, with debt in excess of 1.7 billion euros.

In its statement, Dia said the completion of the 500 million euro capital increase - as part of LetterOne's bid - should mitigate uncertainty, and provide grounds for a commercial turnaround.

However, if any of the required elements to stabilise the company's capital structure and liquidity were to fail to happen, the situation could deteriorate rapidly, forcing the company to file for creditor protection and/or liquidation, Dia said.

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