Riya Mala 
[File Photo]
Concerns have been raised over high cash reserves at Fiji Ports Corporation Limited, with warnings it may be limiting growth.
Natural Resources Committee member Inosi Kuridrani says the company’s liquidity is unusually high, meaning funds are sitting idle instead of being invested.
He adds this is affecting profit growth, which stands at around three percent, and improving receivables and payables could boost performance.
FPCL has been urged to address these issues to improve profitability and better use its resources.
“Excessive liquidity, it’s a warning to us, you know, tells us that money has been sitting there, funds have been sitting there, doing nothing, so if we can people just address on that, because according to the current ratio that I’ve calculated it’s about 9 to 1, which is quite excessive for the company.”
In response, Chief Financial Officer Suresh Prasad says the high liquidity was due to COVID-related project delays and the timing of dividend payments.
“Most of the KPEX project expenditure had been put on hold, so we were basically strategizing and realigning our expenditure, KPEX expenditures, and that’s why you see a high liquidity position that was captured in these financial statements.”
Prasad says Fiji Ports plans $500 million in capital expenditure over the next 10 years, and the current cash position is expected to change as those projects move forward.
