Property services group Colliers SA, which is listed on the JSE, announced on Tuesday that it would dispose of its human resources and payroll business.

This came after the company’s directors decided to focus on property-related services and property investment.

The company also cited the negative effect of the depressed economy and related problems in the property industry.

Dividends to shareholders were therefore withheld.

Meanwhile, a company statement said Colliers’s continuing operations — property investments and property-related services — recorded a loss for the year of R16,8m.

The company said it had to impair loans and inventory by more than R18,5m and wrote off R2m of bad debts.

“Despite the loss, the group remains stable and well positioned to grow when the already evident recovery in the property market gains momentum.”

Furthermore, Colliers CEO Rick Fertig and directors Bernard Kaiser, Wayne Alcock and Bill Ward would evaluate increasing the annuity income of the group by acquiring more income producing companies.

On the operations side, auctions, broking and property and facilities management all yielded positive returns, while the residential operations suffered a loss, but showed signs of recovery.

“In general, there are numerous opportunities which have arisen which, if successful, will have a positive impact on the property services side of the business,” said Mr Fertig. He did not provide details.

The company recently diversified into the residential property market, establishing Colliers Residential.

Overall, the group’s headline loss per share for the year ended February 28 was expected to be 60% to 65% better than the headline loss per share for the previous year.

Earnings per share were expected to be 200% to 205% lower than the earnings per share for the previous year.