Salamis dumps ‘Star’ to save money

Salamis Tours (Holdings) announced that it will dispose the ferry boat, Salamis Star at a loss of CYP 3 mln in an effort to achieve annual cost savings of CYP 700.000.

The Salamis Star was bought in 2000 to service the Piraeus-Limassol-Haifa route, ferrying passengers and cargo. However, after the events of September 2001, the political tension in Israel, the decline in tourists to Cyprus, the company was obliged to cease the operation of the ferry boat since 2003.

The Board, having considered all the recent developments, decided at a meeting on March 10, 2005 to dispose the Star at a loss of CYP 3.004.754, and take charge to its 2004 accounts.

Salamis said following the sell-off, it will restate the losses reported for 2004 to CYP 5.033.754 losses with losses per share climbing to 13.78 cent. In 2003, the company had lost CYP 3.66 mln.

Salamis said the disposal of the Star will give an immediate cost saving of CYP 280.000 regarding ship maintenance and finance savings, as well as CYP 420.000 in goodwill savings.