Ratings agency Fitch on Wednesday downgraded South Africa-based building materials group Aveng’s national long-term rating to ‘BBB(zaf)’ from ‘A(zaf)’ and its national short-term rating to ‘F2(zaf)’ from ‘F1(zaf)’, stating that the company’s outlook was negative.
The downgrade and negative outlook reflected continued deterioration in the group’s financial performance and cash position owing to its weaker South African operations, as a result of negative trading conditions as well as the poor general business environment in South Africa, Fitch said.
The downgrade also reflected limitation to cash movements within the group and the relative net financial position between the group’s Australian operations and the rest of the group.
By: Leandi Kolver
Read more at: http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/fitch-downgrades-aveng-company-outlook-negative-2014-03-12/rep_id
