Egyptian private equity firm, Citadel Capital, realised a consolidated net loss in the second quarter of 2012 of LE124.23 million ($21 million), an improvement over the previous quarter, the company announced on Tuesday.

With assets mainly focused in the Middle East and Africa, Citadel Capital controls more than US$9.5 billion of investments across 15 countries.

The firm had realised a loss of LE159 million in the first quarter of 2012. Overall, Citadel saw a total net loss of LE283.5 million ($46.9 million) in the first six months of 2012.

The reason behind the smaller net loss on a quarterly basis was the growth in net interest income to LE7.5 million compared to a net interest expense of LE51 million in the last quarter due to one-off interest costs.

Associate companies which include ASEC Holding, United Foundries, ASCOM, Tawazon, Finance Unlimited, TAQA Arabia and Nile Logistics, saw their performance return to pre-revolution levels by the end of the Q2.

On an annual basis, consolidated net losses fell 3 per cent in first half of 2012, below the same period last year.