Profit popped 45 percent higher in 2022 at Derrimon Trading Company to $580 million for shareholders, following a mere 3.8 percent rise in revenues to $18.4 billion from $17.74 billion in 2021 and following a fall in cost of sales to $13.78 billion from $14.34 billion in 2021 resulting in gross profit rising a solid 36 percent to $4.6 billion from just $3.4 billion, with profit margin climbing to 25.2 percent from just 19.2 percent in 2021.
Sales revenue fell in the final quarter compared with 2021, with $4.6 billion generated in the December 2022 quarter, down from $5.6 billion in 2021, as segment data shows the wholesale and retail segment suffering a $1.8 billion decline for the year to $8.4 billion. “We took deliberate strategic steps to focus more on our retail business that has greater margins and improves cash flows,” Derrick Cotterell, Managing Director, advised ICInsder.com in response to a question about the reasons for the lower sales in the December quarter. He continued to indicate that “going forward, there will be more focus on brands with a higher margin and less on bulk products.” He said it does not mean they are getting out of the bilk products.
Other operating income includes rental, $82 million from a gain on acquiring a subsidiary, management fees and dividend. Debt recovery generated $237 million in 2022, up from $104 million in 2021.
Operating and administrative expenses rose 28.7 percent to $2.995 billion in 2022 from $2.33 billion in the previous year. Sales and distribution expenses increased by a hefty 71 percent to $689 million from $402 million in 2021. The shift in focusing on retail business is also based on increased borrowing costs, with interest rates having risen sharply in the country and forcing attention on improving cash flows to keep borrowings down and, by extension, interest cost. Finance costs more than doubled to $464 million from $231 million in 2021.
Going forward, the group will benefit from opening a supermarket in May Pen in the last quarter, which Cotterell says is doing very well.
Gross cash flow brought in $1.25 billion, which was used to fund increased working capital of $720 million, capital expenditure amounted to $1.47 billion that was partially financed by loans inflows net of repayment of $600 million.
At the end of December, shareholders’ equity stood at $6.1 billion, with long term borrowings at $4.7 billion and short term at $476 million. Current assets ended the period at $7.3 billion inclusive of trade and other receivables of $2.2 billion, cash and bank balances of $900 million. Current liabilities ended at $4.3 billion and net current assets at $2.9 billion.
Earnings per share came out at 12.8 cents for the year, up from 9.4 cents in 2021. IC Insider.com forecasts 16 cents per share for 2023, with a PE of 14 times the current year’s earnings based on the price of $2.10, the stock traded at on the Jamaica Stock Exchange Junior Market.
The company did not pay a dividend during the year and ended with a net asset value at the end of the year at $1.22, with the stock selling at 1.73 book value.
Profit bolted 45% at Derrimon in 2023
Main Event leads in latest quarterly profit
The vast majority of listed companies have now released earnings for the period ending in December or January, recently showing various degrees of success and some failures. Results during the past week, a number of results were released to the Jamaica Stock Exchange.
Main Event revenues growing nicely profit stalls.
The star performer was Main Event posting a 211 percent rise in revenues to $627 million from just $202 million in 2022 and generating a 390 percent rise in profit to $120 million from a loss of $41 million in 2022, with earning per share of 39 cents for the January first quarter showing and seeming poised to earn $1.80 for the year.
Blue Power reported an increase in revenues year over year, with a profit of $13 million compared with a profit of $9 million for the third quarter to January 2022. For the nine months, revenues rose 82 percent to $633 million from $347 million in 2022 with profit slipping from $204 million to $29 million, with earnings per share a mere 5 cents. The 2022 results included gain on sale of Investment property amounting to $346 million. For the January quarter revenues amounted to $194 million up from $135 million with a profit of $13 million up from $9 million in 2022.
CAC 2000 reported reduced revenues of $128 million for the first quarter to January from $222 million in 2022 and a loss of $52 million down from a loss of $32 million in 2022. Management stated that the results was affected by “delays in delivery of goods due to longer lead and delivery times.”
Fosrich released full year results to December, with profit jumping to $325 million from $199 million in 2021 as revenues climbed a solid 43.4 percent to $3.37 billion and delivered earnings per share of just 6 cents and placing the stock in a seriously overvalued position. The company recorded a $61 million loss in the final quarter with revenues rising 19.5 percent in the quarter to $795 million from $665 million in 2021, with the September quarterly growth being higher at 31 percent.
Dolla Financial posted increased profit of $280 million or 18 cents per share from revenues of $746 million up 115 percent from profit of $130 million in 2021, with revenues up 90 percent on the $395 million in 2021. The company should go on to earn 40 cents in 2023. In the earning call, Trevene Mckenzie, the Chief Financial Officer stated that they expected first quarter revenues to come in around $250 million with profit rising at least 50 percent year over year. The company also indicates that they plan to open a second branch in Guyana in Berbice town, in the second quarter.
Limners and Bards delivered disappointing first quarter results of just $7 million, down from $66 million in 2022 as revenues dropped sharply by 44 percent to $248 million from $443 million. The fall came from the Production segment, with revenues down from $58 million from $140 million with segment profit down from $62 million to $29 million while Media segment revenues dipped to $135 million from $243 million with segment fell from $35 million to $18 million while Agency was relatively steady with revenues came in at $54 million with profit of $44 million from $60 million in revenues in 2022 and profit of $46 million.
Lumber Depot suffered 7 percent decline in revenues for the January quarter with $373 million in the 2023 period versus $400 million in 2022 and profit of $29 million, a fall of 19 percent from $36 million in 2022, while revenues for the nine months to January 2023 amounts to $1.15 billion, marginally below $1.16 million garnered in 2022 and profit of $107 million in 2023 down 25 percent from $143 million in 2022.
TransJamaican Highway reported a US$7 million loss for 2022, but only after accounting for a net loss of $14 million on the acquisition of a subsidiary, which compares with a profit of US$4 million in 2021 from revenues of $53 million, with improved traffic delivering a record US$65 million in revenues in 2022. Without the exceptional loss, profit for 2022 would have been US$6.7 million or earnings per share amounting to 0.0006 US cents or 9 cents Jamaican.
169% surge in profit at SOS
Stationery and Office Supplies (SOS) enjoyed a blow year in 2022, with earnings hitting a record high, after profits jumped 169 percent before tax to $284 million and $257 million after tax from a 55 percent jump in revenues to $1.75 billion from $1.12 billion in 2021. SOS benefitted from one time income from a Gain on disposal of property, plant and equipment of $30 which was partially offset by unusually large impairment losses of $11.5 million.
Income tax on the year’s profit amounts to $27 million compared with a tax credit of $1 million in 2021. Net profit in 2021 was $107 million but gross profit jumped 59 percent from $574 million in 2021 to $912 million for 2022, as gross profit margin slipped during the year to 47.8 percent from 49 percent in 2021.
Administrative and general expenses rose 25 percent to $399 million from $320 million in 2021. Selling and promotional costs rose 64 percent to $132 million from $80 million in the prior year, Impairment loss on financial assets jumped 698 percent to $11.5 million up from $1.4 million and Depreciation and amortisation costs rose 13.7 percent to $30 million up from $26.4 million. There were cost savings during the year with Loss on foreign exchange falling 85 percent to $1.2 million from $8 million in 2021 and Finance costs dropping 22 percent to $8.7 million from $11 million in 2021 as loans were partially repaid.
Allan McDaniels CEO of SOS
Gross cash flow during the year brought in $336 million, which was used to fund increased working capital needs of $84 million, capital expenditure amounting to $50 million, loan repayment of $49 million and dividend payment of $45 million, leaving $97 million to add to cash funds.
At the end of the year, shareholders’ equity grew to $1.1 billion with long term borrowings at $67 million and short term at $43 million. Current assets ended the period at $737 million inclusive of trade and other receivables of $200 million versus $124 million in the prior year. Cash and bank balances rose to $132 million from $34 million in the previous year and inventories climbed to $369 million up from $296 million in 2021. Current liabilities ended at $181 million and resulted in Net current assets of $556 million.
Earnings per share came out at $1.03 cents for the year up from 43 cents in 2021. IC Insider.com forecasts $2 per share for the current fiscal year, with a PE of 7.3 times the current year’s earnings down from 14.5 based on 2021 results, compared with 11.3 for the market based 2023 earnings at $14.50 the stock traded at on Friday on the Jamaica Stock Exchange Junior Market.
Stationary & Office Supplies – Montego Bay office.
Of note is a 37 percent increase in fourth quarter revenues, which was at a slower pace than the 63 percent increase for the nine months to September and a 45 percent rise in the 4th quarter of 2021, suggesting that the pace for 2023 should be strong, but most likely slower than that of 2022. The pace in 2023 will be helped by a deal struck with a company in Trinidad to cross sell products as well as the possibility that other deals may be struck with others.
SEEK division produced receipts and other ruled books as well as graph paper for the first time in June last year, using machinery that was purchased from the former operators, they will enjoy increased production for the entire year in 2023 compared with approximately six months in 2022 and contributed $43 million to gross profit for 2022.
With improving profits and shrinking supplies outside of the TOP 10 shareholders, who control 91 percent of the issued shares, the stock is setting up for a stock split that cannot be far off and when given will catapult the stock price upwards.
Going forward, with the Jamaican economy recovering and now growing, the stage is being set for SOS to continue to grow at an attractive pace for a while and deliver above average returns for investors in cash dividends and stock price gains.
Q3 profit jumps 40% at Medical Disposables
Profit after tax for the nine months to December last year fell 10.7 percent to $68 million at Medical Disposables, compared with $76 million in 2021. For the quarter, it rose from $37 million to $38. Profit after tax attributable to the company’s shareholders ended 2022 with $58 million, down 10.7 percent from $65 million in the previous year. For the quarter, it climbed 40 percent to $28 million after minority interest compared with $20 million in 2021.
Improved profit margins played a pivotal role in the company’s fortunes in the December quarter, with gross profit margin increasing from 26.8 percent in 2021 to 29 percent in 2022, helping to propel it to the most profitable quarter for the nine months of operations in 2022. Gross Profit margin for the nine months in 2022 increased to 27.26 percent from 25.85 percent in 2021.
Gross profit hit $273 million from sales of $941 million, up from $250 million from sales of $930 million in the second quarter to June. Gross profit for the December quarter improved by 16.6 percent or $39 million compared to the 2021 third quarter.
Sales for the third quarter grew by $66 million or 7.5 percent over the third quarter in 2021, moving from $875 million in the 2021 December quarter, driven by increased demand for pharmaceutical and consumer items, the report stated.
Sales increased by 10.8 percent or $270 million for the nine months to December 2022, to $2.76 billion from $2.49 billion in 2021 and delivered a 16.9 percent improvement in gross profit of $108 million to $753 million from $645 million in 2021.
Selling and administrative cost dipped in the December quarter, compared with the September quarter, to $78 million versus $83 million, while selling and distribution cost rose just $2 million to $114 million. Finance cost spoiled the party, jumping to $31 million from $28.5 million and “was due mainly to an overall upward adjustment in financing, particularly working capital. The increased usage of the working capital lines of credit was deemed necessary to hold greater levels of inventory in an effort to mitigate against any additional supply chain risks that could lead to further out-of-stock instances,” management stated in their report accompanying the Financials.
Medical Disposables traded at a new all-time high of $10.
“Out of stock issues continue to affect the Group’s profitability as suppliers are faced with global supply chain challenges within their operations. The availability of key speciality products such as vaccines and oncology medicines has become infrequent and inconsistent. Our internal estimates have tracked over $100 million in lost sales due to the shortages,” the company stated. That would translate to close to $30 million more in pretax profit.
The operations generated cash inflows of $109 million for the nine months, but working capital needs consumed it all as inventory rose sharply.
At the end of December, inventories increased by $360 million to $1.53 billion, up from $1.17 billion in December 2021. Receivables declined to $603 million at the end of December 2022 from $708 million at the end of 2021. Cash and bank balances rose to $128 from $72 million at the end of 2021. Loans due to lenders amount to $1.14 billion, up from $965 million at the end of 2021 and is just a bit less than shareholders’ equity, that stood at $1.17 billion compared with $1.07 billion at the end of 2021.
The profit for the nine months resulted in earnings per share of 11 cents for the quarter and 22 cents for the nine months.
The company’s focus is on organic growth and expansion from acquisitions where possible, in furtherance of this goal, management is placing a great deal of emphasis on staff retention and recruiting talented personnel to enhance its pool of above average talents. The initial impact will be increased staff costs that will be above the increased revenues, but that will pay good dividends in future years.
ICInsider.com projects earnings of 45 cents for the year and $1 for the fiscal year ending March 2024. At the last traded price of $4.85, the stock trades at 11 times this year’s earnings and five times that of 2024, suggesting much upside potential for the stock price, with the market average PE ratio now around 13 and with several priced above 15 times earnings.
Miraculous turnaround at Palace
After nearly three years in the doldrums and on life support, helped by a number of popular and well patronized movies, Palace Amusement surged back to life in the December 2022 quarter when it made the first quarterly profit since March 2020. The profit back then was $44 million from revenues of $255 million, with the latest results surpassing it and easing much of the pain and nervousness the company and its staff encountered over the past three years.
Carib Cinema, the flagship for Palace Amusement.
“The company staged three block-buster pictures in the same Quarter – Woman King, Black Panther 2: Wankanda Forever and Avatar 2: The Way of Water; Our patrons’ response was close to 215,000 visits in the Quarter and this helped to push the overall attendance at the end of the six months to over 80 percent of pre-pandemic numbers,” the company’s management stated in a report accompanying the financials.
Palace aced the December quarter with revenues of $486 million, up 222 percent from just $151 million in 2021 and $736 million for the half year, up 218 percent from a mere $232 million in 2021. Accumulated profit of $304 million at June 2019, melted away by $772 million of losses, to a deficit of $468 million up to September last year as revenues were lower than cost, but profit surged to $79 million in the December quarter from a massive loss of $112 million in 2021 and for the half year a profit of $25 million from a loss of $191 million in 2021.
While revenues surged over 200 percent, direct expenses rose a more modest 98 percent in the December quarter and 97 percent, year to date, helping to swell the profit for both periods, but administrative expenses fell from $75 million to $47 million in the quarter and from $104 million for the half year to $75 million. Finance cost rose from $12 million in the 2021 last quarter to $14 million and from $17 million to $28 million for the half year. Legal and professional fees is one of the major areas of cost reduction in the period, dropping from $44 million to just $2 million for the six months period.
Segment Results show revenues of $266 million for Carib Cinema, up from just $91 million in 2021, with a profit of $11 million versus a $21 million loss in 2021. Cineplex had no revenues in 2021 but suffered a loss of $14 million and bounced back in 2022 with revenues of $99 million and profit of $20 million. Sunshine Palace generated revenues of $203 million versus $54 million in 2021 with profit of $41 million compared with a loss of $35 million in 2021. The 2022 revenues include $43 million classified as other activities for Sunshine Palace. Multiplex delivered revenues of $143 million in 2022, up from just $35 million in 2021 with a profit of $20 million versus a loss of $23 million in 2021.
Cash flow brought in $53 million compared with outflows of $163 million in 2021 and helped in boosting funds on hand at the end of the calendar year.
Palace Multiplex in Montego Bay.
From all that can be seen movies are still attracting patronage with what have been described as some good films and by the end of the fiscal year in June, the company seems set to be on its way to justifying their new bankers backing the company with a $700 million loan some of which was used to close out the Scotiabank loan and when the full history of this period unfolds the name Carol Lee, the financial controller will be high on the list for helping to save and restore the company to financial health.
The company now boast equity of $404 million thanks to the above profit and some $772 million in revaluation surplus, with $606 million of it coming in 2020. The company has some more lifting to do to steer them out of the woods while hoping that there will be no major setback in the recovery as they have $756 million in long term debt to be cleared in addition to $60 million of short term loans. There are halfway there with cash funds of $379 million on hand that should grow in the second half of the fiscal year. Palace also has accounts payable amounting to $435 million at the end of 2022 which is up from $386 million at the end of December 2021 and is covered by current assets of $481 million.
At this year’s annual general meeting, shareholders approved a 600 to 1 split as a result the stock trades x-split starting Monday, February 27, with the record date of February 28. The split will take the total number of shares to 862 million from 1.437 million currently.
The company should deliver earnings for the full year ending in June at around $100 per share.
Allen and Bailey buy 30m One on One shares
Soho Investments and Jorden Investments acquired 15 million shares each in One on One on Monday, February 13, to increase their equity holding in the company, the company announced.
The companies, owned by Ricardo Allen and John Bailey, respectively, bring their ownership in the 2022 listed Junior Market company to just under 24 percent and under 9 percent, respectively, in a move that is a vote of confidence in the future growth of the company.
Allen said, “Obviously, as the leader of the organization, I see the tremendous value that the team has been able to create here. We would also have line of sight as it relates to the growth journey we are about to embark on. With that being said, we believe that the current share price is low, and we will take the opportunity to purchase shares on the market as they become available at this price.
“We have some excellent growth initiatives ahead, and we look forward to executing on these and sharing them with our valued stakeholders when the time comes”.
Ricardo Allen CEO of One to One
On a recently hosted Earnings Call discussing the company’s first quarter results, Allen indicated that one of the company’s key strategic focus areas for the remainder of this year would be developing its content agency. To this end, the team has already acquired 4,000 square feet of space where it will look to build out studios to host instruction sessions and otherwise produce content to support its other product offerings, such as its Classroom in a Box as well as its Award-Winning Learning Management System.
In an interview with Allen, he indicated to ICInsider.com the content studio will provide abundant opportunities for creating content in educational services for local and global consumption.
Allen also indicated that staff cost rose in the first quarter of the current year ahead of revenue growth but that the additional revenues will start to flow in the company’s second half year numbers that are expected to flow through existing partnerships with agencies such as the Ministry of Education locally and the Department of Education in the Bahamas, as well as international alliances, such as that with Community Services Foundation.
The first quarter results show revenues almost doubling to $83 million, compared with $45 million in 2021, with profit rising to $12 million before tax from a loss of $1.8 million in 2021, following a sharp jump in Administrative and marketing cost to $54 million from $32 million in 2021.
Palace stock trades ex-split next Monday
Palace Amusement stock will trade x-split starting Monday, February 27, following approval at the January Annual general meeting of a 600 to 1 split with the record date of February 28.
The split will take the total number of shares to 862 million from 1.437 million currently and provide more liquidity in trading the company’s shares as more investors will be attracted to it than previously. The stock that traded on Monday at up to $2,700 will see the price dropping to the $4 plus range after the split takes effect next week.
The split comes at an opportune time for the company with its first profit since the March 2020 quarter and one of the best quarterly results in the company’s history.
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The stock has enjoyed regular trading since the announcement of the split with the price reaching a record $3,300 and is now trading in the $2,700 range since releasing half year results with profits and revenues surging 222 percent to $486 million, with a profit of $79 million in the December quarter.
The split will result in the stock trading in the $4 to $6 region and will result in almost daily trading thus providing the company with regular publicity that it never had before based on the limited trading opportunities in the past. Such exposure could well result in a 10 to 20 percent jump in attendance as the name and product are beamed regularly on a wider audience than before.
Stock split to drive business for Palace
Palace Amusement stock will trade x-split starting Monday, February, with the record date of February 28 for the 600 to 1 split that will take the total number of shares to 862 million for 1.437 million currently and provide the company with added ongoing publicity.
The stock has enjoyed regular trading since the announcement of the split with the price reaching a record $3,300 and is now trading in the $2,700 range since releasing half year results with profits and revenues surging 222 percent to $486 million, with a profit of $79 million in the December quarter.
The split will result in the stock trading in the $4 to $6 region and will result in almost daily trading thus providing the company with regular publicity that it never had before based on the limited trading opportunities in the past. Such exposure could well result in a 10 to 20 percent jump in attendance as the name and product are beamed regularly on a wider audience than before.
Image Plus surge in profits
Following a big surge in revenues and profit for the year to February 2022, Image Plus Consultants with revenues climbing 27 percent to $777 million and profit surging 298 percent to $94 million after tax, the company is now reporting continuing solid performance for the nine months to November.
Revenues climbed 27 percent in the November quarter to $248 million and 43 percent in the nine months to $803 million while profit rose moderately to $24 million from $22 million in 2021 for the last quarter. The 2022 quarterly results would be about 50 percent better than the outturn for the 2021 period, being saddled with added costs that were not incurred in 2021, with expected credit loss expense of $6 million with none in 2021 and higher finance cost of $8 million up from $1.8 million. For the nine months, profit nearly tripled that of 2021 to reach $148 million.
It is unclear whether earnings reflect the elevated payment of directors’ fees or not. The change in cost year over year does not suggest that in which case profit for the new period would jump sharply when that cost amounting to some $15 million per quarter falls away. Costs of sales rose 25.5 percent to $82.8 million in the latest quarter, from $66 million in 2021, for the nine months, the increase is 42 percent to $274 million from $192 million, with both the quarterly and nine months cost tracking close to the increased revenues, which is a positive development.
Administrative expenses rose 21.6 percent to $113 million from $93 million for the quarter and 12.7 percent for the nine months to $297 million from $264 million in 2021. Depreciation charges were flat in the quarter at $13 million but up to $32 million from $29 for the nine months.Dr Karlene McDonnough – Chairman of Image Consultants Ltd. The company originally reported incorrect earnings per share for the periods with the use of an incorrect number of shares in the computation but that has since been amended with a new release. Earnings per share for the quarter is 2.3 cents and 15 cents for the nine months.
Dr Karlene McDonnough – Chairman of Image Consultants Ltd.
“The rate of revenue growth slowed somewhat since the second quarter as a result of the Ocho Rios relocation exercise (all operations at that branch were closed for four days whilst CT and Xray services were down for an additional seven days when the branch reopened as we awaited relocation of the 3 phase power supply required to operate these units). Management is confident that the move and resulting downtime is an investment that will redound significantly to the benefit of all stakeholders in the months ahead” the chairman and the Managing directors advised shareholders in their commentary accompanying the financials and went on to say.
“Despite this downtime, the company’s case count remains very healthy at 40,949 representing year to date, an increase of over 17 percent compared to the comparative period in the prior year. The number of cases at nine months represents 88.3 percent of the full financial year 21/22 case count. Expenses grew 12.7 percent over the last financial year driven by higher than normal costs in Q3. In the main, these costs were associated with one off marketing expenditure for the re-printing of all billboards, directional and office signs for the Ocho Rios branch. Traditionally too, Q3 costs are expected to be a little higher as we have expenditure associated with referring physician appreciation and end of year performance incentives for our team members.”
Cash flow generated by operations was $138 million, acquisition of fixed assets amounting to $143 million utilized it all, in addition, $30 million was placed in investments and $30 million was used to pay dividends that were partially funded from net loan proceeds that brought in $51 million.
At the end of November, long term borrowings stood at $118 million and short term at just $4 million. Current assets ended the period at $311 million including trade and other receivables of $242 million, up from $106 million in 2021, while cash funds and investments ended at $49 million. Current liabilities ended the period at $124 million. Net current assets amount to $200 million.
November ended with shareholders’ equity of $415 million but is expected to hit the $900 million mark with the proceeds of the recent public share issue.
The stock that fell to a low of $1.77 last week, traded over $2 since this week.
600 to 1 stock split for Palace
Palace Amusement Company advised that the Board of directors will recommend to shareholders at their upcoming Annual General Meeting to be held on January 24, 2023, that the existing shares be split into 600 units for each currently issued and that the authorised share capital of the Company be increased from 1,500,000 shares to an Unlimited number of shares.
Palace Amusement is recommending 600 to one stock split.
If the resolution if approved at the meeting will take effect from the close of business on February 28, 2023, resulting in the total issued share capital of the company being increased from 1,437,028 ordinary shares to 862,216,800 ordinary shares.
The shares were last traded on Friday at $1,179 each on the Main Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange but jumped nearly 20 percent in Wednesday’s trading session to $1,400, leading to a suspension in trading in the stock. The move will be welcomed by many of the company’s shareholders some of whom have been clamouring for the splitting of the stock for some time and will result in greater liquidity for the stock.
