Atlas Mara: Expansion plans in the pipeline

ROBERT Diamond’s Atlas Mara said it was seeking to expand through further financial services purchases in sub-Saharan Africa after reporting a loss in its first year. The loss on an unaudited statutory accounting basis was $63.1 million (R749m) in the 13 months to December, the company said yesterday. Atlas Mara said it would have posted a $7.2m profit if transactions made last year had been completed at the start of the year and one-time costs were excluded. It will not pay a dividend. Atlas Mara, co-founded by Diamond and Ugandan entrepreneur Ashish Thakkar, has been expanding by buying African financial services companies. The company acquired ABC Holdings and ADC African Development last year and bought a stake in Union Bank of Nigeria in September. – Bloomberg