Financial highlights
The decisive actions taken by CIEL in response to the global pandemic in early 2020 have enabled the Group to emerge stronger and leaner out of the crisis. Group revenue of MUR 17.9 bn and EBITDA of MUR 2.7 bn resulted in an EBITDA margin of 15.1% for the financial year ended 30 June 2021 (2020: 14.6%), despite revenue that has not yet fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels. CIEL’s profit after tax for the year stood at MUR 446M compared to MUR 2,178M losses in the prior period.
The global crisis did not stop the Group from looking to the future and continuing to work on the quality and resilience of its portfolio: it divested certain non-core assets such as the Kanuhura resort in the Maldives and the healthcare insurance business in Uganda.
Cluster highlights
- Continued and robust momentum in the Textile cluster with demand coming back to pre-COVID levels
- The Healthcare cluster reported strong results with profits driven mostly by C-Care’s operations
- Good resilience demonstrated by the Finance cluster given the high level of pandemic-related risk provisions under IFRS 9
- Revaluation of land at Ferney reflected in profitability of new Property cluster
- Agro’s remarkable performance driven by improved results from sugar operations in Mauritius, Tanzania and Kenya
- Hotels & Resorts took the full impact of the pandemic in this financial year but managed to considerably reduce its fixed cost base
Commenting the results, Jean-Pierre Dalais, CIEL Group Chief Executive said: “The financial results demonstrate CIEL Group’s capacity to take advantage of this unprecedented crisis. They are in line with our set objective: to emerge as a fitter, leaner and a stronger group. This is evidenced by the improvement in the EBITDA margin despite the borders being closed to our hotel cluster throughout the financial year. The improved performance of all the other clusters, combined with recent pick up in demand allows CIEL to move ahead with renewed confidence and excitement about our future.”
