Company flags geopolitical and supply chain risks

GAP Vassilopoulos Public Ltd on Monday reported a lower profit attributable to shareholders for the first half of 2026, despite an increase in revenue, as its earnings declined compared with the same period last year.

The group’s profit attributable to shareholders stood at €1.26 million in the six months to June 30, 2026, down from €1.48 million in the first half of 2025.

Revenue, however, increased by 6.03 per cent to €38.05m, compared with €35.89m a year earlier, according to the company’s interim consolidated financial statements.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fell to €2.81m, from €2.99m in the corresponding period of 2025.

The group also reported earnings of €2.16m after deducting depreciation on fixed assets and leases, which the company described as non-cash expenses. This compared with €2.31m in the first half of last year.

Gross profit increased to €11.82m, from €11.12m a year earlier, while the gross profit margin remained unchanged at 31 per cent.

The group’s main activities remained unchanged during the reporting period compared with the year ended December 31, 2025.

Its operations cover a broad range of services, including tourism, hotel operations, logistics and transport, including cash-in-transit services, as well as insurance services.

Looking ahead, management said its main objectives were to achieve steady growth and strengthen the group’s operations abroad, while maintaining and reinforcing its leading position in its main business sectors.

It placed particular emphasis on its logistics operations in Cyprus.

The company also outlined a series of external factors that it believes could affect its performance, warning that the economic consequences of the current global crisis remained difficult to assess with reasonable certainty.

In its assessment, the expansion of conflicts and the uncertainty surrounding geopolitical developments made it difficult to predict the potential impact on the global economy and business activity.

The group identified rising energy prices, exchange-rate fluctuations, stock market volatility, supply chain disruptions and increasing inflationary pressures as factors that could affect its operations.

Management said the consequences would depend on the scale and duration of the crisis and remained unknown at this stage.

It added that it would continue to monitor developments closely and assess whether further corrective measures were necessary if the period of disruption continued.

The board also identified a number of risks and uncertainties affecting the group, including economic conditions in key markets, including Cyprus, the United Kingdom, Israel, Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium.

Developments in these markets have a direct effect on the group’s activities, the company said, adding that the board regularly assesses economic trends in those countries and responds accordingly to limit any potential negative impact.

Another risk concerns the possible loss of commercial representations, as the group provides services on behalf of foreign organisations in Cyprus.

However, management said it did not consider the loss of an individual representation to pose a significant threat, arguing that customers were generally connected to the group rather than the organisation it represented.

It added that a lost representation could be replaced relatively quickly by another in the same sector.

The company also highlighted competition across its business activities, saying its strategy was to offer traders a broad range of high-standard services through a one-stop-shop model.

Regarding financial risks, the group said its exposure to concentrated credit risk was limited because it had a large customer base operating across different sectors of the economy.

It also identified foreign-exchange risk arising from movements in currencies against the euro, which is the group’s functional and presentation currency.

Other risks include interest-rate exposure linked to cash flows from its long-term borrowing and liquidity risk.