One wonders, while the Tunis Stock Exchange is supposed to be the bastion of transparency, with figures that are audited and periodically published, who is telling the truth and who should be believed when it comes to Somocer, a company whose owners are reportedly abroad and which is now under judicial administration.
The Abdennadher Group company is heavily loss-making
In the second quarter of 2025, total sales recorded a clear increase of +17%, reaching 16.04 million dinars compared to 13.77 million in the same period of 2024, and up +22.3% compared to the first quarter of 2025.
On a half-year cumulative basis, however, sales registered a slight drop of -3.46%, falling from 30.20 million dinars in 2024 to 29.15 million dinars in 2025.
Domestic sales in the first half of 2025 amounted to 27.30 million dinars, up +5.4% compared to the same period in 2023.
As for exports, revenues stood at 1.86 million dinars, down –56.9% compared to 2024. The domestic market shows good momentum. Abroad, activity is struggling to recover due to global conditions, but the Libyan market is showing signs of gradual recovery after the political disruptions earlier this year.
Somocer has managed to slightly reduce its overall bank commitments, which fell from 78.99 million dinars to 76.14 million dinars, a decline of 3.61%.
“This progress strengthens our credibility with financial partners and paves the way for sustainable and balanced development,” Somocer assures.
The Abdennadher family’s company would thus have succeeded in slightly reducing its overall bank commitments, from 76.042 million dinars to 72.850 million dinars, a decrease of 4%.
And according to Somocer’s judicial management, “this positive development demonstrates sustained effort in financial management, despite difficult conditions.”
Officially then, everything now seems to be on track for the future of this company, which has almost never distributed profits.
With all this, is Somocer’s situation sound?
Yet, taken as a whole for the first half of the current fiscal year, the same figures say something else.
At the end of the first six months of 2025, total operating income (31.506 MD) had fallen by more than 16.6 MD.
This operating income did not even cover operating expenses (39.874 MD), meaning Somocer was already running an operating loss of more than 8.368 MD. Adding nearly 5 MD in financial charges and almost 2 MD in ordinary losses, the company ended up with a net deficit of over 14.697 MD.
This net loss is a sharp increase compared to the first half of 2023, and even compared to the full-year net loss of 2023, which Somocer closed with a deficit of nearly 12 MD.
And while the judicial administrators are all smiles in their upbeat assessments, the auditors’ report on Somocer’s interim financial statements is filled with reservations.
“Somocer holds stakes in the share capital of Somosan and Somocer-Négoce, amounting respectively to TND 3,200 thousand and TND 1,990 thousand.
These investments have not been provisioned for impairment (…). Somocer also holds receivables from Somosan and ABC Gros (related parties) amounting respectively to TND 2,169 thousand and TND 1,120 thousand.
These receivables have not been provisioned for impairment either. Furthermore, Somocer has acted as joint guarantor on behalf of Somosan for bank loans amounting to TND 14,500 thousand in principal.
We believe that a provision should be estimated and recorded in the interim financial statements to cover the potential default risk associated with these receivables and with the guarantee granted to Somosan.”
According to the auditors, “Somocer faced operational and financial difficulties during fiscal years 2022, 2023, and the first half of 2024, which negatively impacted its performance and financial position.”
The same auditors note that Somocer “was subject to a customs audit in June 2024,” which should cost it 8.5 MD, the second after the one in 2022 that cost 3.7 MD following negotiations with Customs.
The auditors also reveal that Somocer is negotiating a rescheduling of its debt.
So no, Somocer is not doing well, and its situation is not sound!
