Apple distributor posts yearly loss

After appointing a new CEO at the end of the year, local Apple distributor Renaissance informed the NZX of a $2.7 million loss for the 2009 year.

The preliminary loss is pre-tax for the 2009 year. The company’s notice to the NZX said that while parts of the business, such as Natcoll, performed on par for the year, MagnumMac and Renaissance Education Division (RED) performed worse than expected.

Renaissance’s former Managing Director Paul Johnston resigned at the end of the year due to the company’s poor financial performance and is now MD of distributor Simms International. Johnston was replaced with current Renaissance CEO Richard Webb, who said that he has started a full review of the business and will detail his plans in the company’s March annual report.

Renaissance also reported that it was in breach of one of its bank covenants relating to interest cover and that the company has discussed the issue with the bank. Because the company has positive expectations for the 2010 year the board did not anticipate having to make changes in order to maintain positive interest cover going forward.

Yearly revenue increased less than 3% from $189.6 million to $194.7 million in 2009.

Renaissance called MagnumMac “a disappointment” after it lost $1.5 million trading and another $0.7 million from stock adjustments and other one-off costs in 2009. But Renaissance said it was “confident of the future” of the stores after reassembling the leadership team in the last six months.