File photo: STV<\/p>\n
The debt of Linhas A\u00e9reas de Mo\u00e7ambique (LAM) increased by 0.5% over three months, reaching 5,921 million meticais (\u20ac79 million) by September, due to payment delays, according to data from the Ministry of Finance.<\/p>\n
The balance of the state-owned LAM\u2019s domestic debt rose by 32.78 million meticais (\u20ac438,000) from the second to the third quarter, \u201cresulting from delays in the payment of instalments,\u201d according to the latest Mozambican public debt bulletin, contrasting with a 2.4% reduction in the second quarter compared to the previous one.<\/p>\n
LAM will be able to pay the accumulated debt in annual instalments, which will still be guaranteed by the State with commercial banks, as authorised by a resolution approved on 2 September by the Council of Ministers.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the Government said it had approved \u201cthe resolution authorising the payment of annual instalments of LAM\u2019s debt, guaranteed by the State with commercial banks,\u201d although without specifying amounts, within the ongoing process of restructuring the airline.<\/p>\n
The Government also authorised, in the same resolution, the Institute for the Management of State Holdings (IGEPE), the entity that manages and coordinates the State\u2019s business sector, to establish a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the management and settlement of this debt.<\/p>\n
A further resolution authorised the creation of an SPV owned by Hidroel\u00e9ctrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB), Ports and Railways of Mozambique (CFM), Mozambican Insurance Company (EMOSE), and LAM shareholders, \u201cwhose main objective is to secure financing for the acquisition of the stake\u201d in the airline.<\/p>\n
LAM has not operated international flights for almost a year, focusing on domestic routes, which also led to new management in May and the entry of HCB, CFM, and EMOSE as shareholders.<\/p>\n
To reduce recurring flight cancellations, the company has been acquiring and leasing new aircraft, the latest being a 148-seat Airbus A319, which arrived in Maputo in December.<\/p>\n
LAM\u2019s losses soared to 3,977 million meticais (\u20ac53.5 million) in 2023, forcing the State to inject 1 billion meticais (\u20ac13.7 million) and to issue a comfort letter in 2024, as reported by Lusa on 7 August.<\/p>\n
LAM, which has not publicly disclosed its accounts, recorded losses of 448.6 million meticais (\u20ac6 million) in 2022, which then increased sharply the following year, according to the most recent available financial statements.<\/p>\n
The company has faced operational problems for several years related to a reduced fleet and lack of investment, with some incidents recorded\u2014non-fatal\u2014linked by experts to inadequate aircraft maintenance, and is currently undergoing a deep restructuring process.<\/p>\n
Despite the accumulated losses in that year, LAM\u2019s service sales grew by 4% in 2023 compared to 2022, reaching 8,813 million meticais (\u20ac118.7 million), according to the report, which referred to the majority shareholder\u2019s \u201ccommitment to provide the necessary resources\u201d to enable the company \u201cto meet its obligations and commitments\u201d to third parties, \u201cthrough a comfort letter dated 7 October 2024,\u201d issued by IGEPE.<\/p>\n
It added that, \u201cgiven the loss recorded\u201d in the 2023 financial year \u201cand previous years,\u201d and due to the company closing the year with negative equity of 19,670 million meticais (\u20ac265 million), compared to 16,765 million meticais (\u20ac225.8 million) in 2022, and current assets being \u201clower than current liabilities\u201d by approximately 18,641 million meticais (\u20ac251 million), the airline\u2019s continuity was at risk.<\/p>\n
\u201cConscious of this situation, the board of directors appealed, through various reports submitted to shareholders on the company\u2019s situation, and proposed measures, some short-term and others strategic, to maintain the company\u2019s sustainability,\u201d reads the report, adding that in 2023 the State \u201cmade additional instalment payments totalling 1,017,393,669 meticais (\u20ac13.7 million).\u201d<\/p>\n
Source: Lusa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"File photo: STV The debt of Linhas A\u00e9reas de Mo\u00e7ambique (LAM) increased by 0.5% over three months, reaching…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255974,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[114,184,85,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-255973","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}