Company Results — Page 81

Mayberry profit crushed

March 3, 2014 by IC Insider.com

Profit fell sharply at Mayberry Investments for the year ending December 2013, falling to $102 million as it declined sharply from $439 million reported in 2012. Earnings per share came out at only 9 cents as profit took a big hit of $337.5 million from the transaction in connection with the Government National Debt Exchange Programme (NDX) in February last year. Without the NDX charge, earnings per share would have been around 22 cents in 2013.

Mayberry recorded a decline of $238 million in total revenues driven by declines of $112 million in net interest income, $111.4 million in fees and commissions and $42 million in dividend income and $129 million in net unrealized losses on trading portfolio. There were gains on disposal of a small portion of the associated shareholding of $60 million as well as increase in net foreign exchange gains $105 million.

Total expense for the year was 10 percent lower than for 2012 coming in at $681 million for 2013 and flowed from reduction in staff cost of $32 million and reduced provisions of $91 million as the company recovered some loans.

Mayberry operating profit fell to $213 million from $374 million in 2012 before the NDX charge due mainly to lower net interest income and losses on investment valuation.

In the final quarter, Mayberry reported only $3 million pretax profit compared with $162 million in 2012 and after booking a tax credit, ended up at $42 million in the last quarter, still lower than the $176 million reported in 2012. In the last quarter, the company suffered from lower net interest income and reversal of credit loss gains achieved in the prior period.

Assets grew by $1.2 billion during the year to $22 billion partly funded by increased liabilities.

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: Jamaican Stock, JSE Company, Mayberry

Eppley profit jumps

February 19, 2014 by IC Insider.com

Eppley is an interesting play with limited income and limited cost in the short term but profit could explode to the upside in 2014 as increased funds under management are put to work.

The company reported a big jump in profits of $34 million or $61.04 per share earnings (EPS) for 2013. In 2012, profit was just $15 million and EPS of $50.21. In the December 2013 quarter, EPS came out at $13.88 as profit amounted to $11 million as no tax was charged due to the exemption for Junior Market companies.

The full year earnings came from income of $65.3 million. Operating expenses were $34 million and interest expense $16.5 million. Eppley generated $24 million in Other Income. Net interest income for the full year was roughly the same as in 2012 at $48.7 million, 2012 $50 million. Income should grow in 2014 as the proceeds of the preference shares issued at the end of 2013 which brought in $387 million at 9.5 percent per annum starts to generate income.

At the end of 2012, there was $463 million total assets under management but that has grown to $814 million, almost doubling the amount. Except for a very small amount, the remainder of the assets are all potentially income generating. At the end of December, only about $160 million of the assets was not placed to maximize returns and that should be corrected in 2014.

Stock outlook | The company stated that it had a $757 million portfolio with an average yield of 15 percent at year end; $474 million of these funds are borrowed but at lower cost than the rate being generated by the portfolio. Earnings for 2014 should be in the region of $60 million or $107 per share after paying preference dividends. If this materializes, the stock could move strongly upwards if enough trading takes place. Eppley announced a $9 per share dividend payable on February 28, 2014. The stock, which trades infrequently, last traded at $380.

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: Eppley, Jamaican Stock, JSE Company

Carreras is back

February 19, 2014 by IC Insider.com

Profits at Carreras is back on track dollar wise, as revenues hit $3.66 billion in the 2013 December quarter versus $3.745 billion in 2012.

Gross profit is above the 2012 period of $1.69 billion at $1.75 billion in 2013. Selling and administrative expenses declined in the latest quarter, which would have pushed the 2013 results above 2012. Carreras booked interest due on the debt owed by the tax department of $1.8 billion as other income, resulting in profits growing to $2.18 billion after tax, versus $1.17 billion in the prior year. Gross profit is down for the nine months to $3.98 billion from $4.34 billion in 2012. Profit after tax for the year-to-date is $3.1 billion versus $5.1 billion, with both periods having swollen figures due to exceptional income.

Volumes are still down, but not as badly as in the June quarter, when sales were negatively affected by the hike in cigarette prices in March 2013 and the stock piling of inventories by the trade ahead of the price hike, a practise that goes back for several years. The December quarter’s performance is in stark contrast to the June quarter when revenues plummeted from $3.1 billion in June 2012 quarter to just $2.16 billion, a sharp 30 percent drop, but profit after tax fared even worse, dipping by 40 percent.

Expenses rise | Administrative, sales & marketing expenses fell in the latest quarter to $600 million from $710 million in 2012 but is marginally up to $1.655 billion for the nine months compared to $1.58 billion for the same period as of December 2012.

Tax Recovered | The tax now recoverable is down to $980 million from $1.733 billion at the end of March and is expected to be fully recovered over the next 12 months and will most likely be distributed as dividends to shareholders.

Carreras ended up with cash funds of $3.8 billion at the end of December, equity is at $4.7 billion or $9.60 per share.

Earnings appears to be back on track to deliver around $6 per share annualised, which would result in some increase in the quarterly dividend that was cut from $1.50 to $1 last year in light of the drop in profit. Carreras declared $1.62 as the latest dividend to be paid March after paying a special capital cash distribution of $1.18 on January 30, 2014.

Carreras is an IC Insider Buy Rated Stock.

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: Carreras, Jamaican Stock, JSE Company

Caribbean Producers results pushes stock

February 14, 2014 by IC Insider.com

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Investors were evidently impressed with the results of Caribbean Producers Jamaica (CPJ) for the half year to December 2013 and pushed the stock price up to $3 on Thursday, February 13th, the first trading day after the release.

The company released second quarter results to December showing profits up by 202 percent to US$1.624 million for the six months and 65 percent for the December quarter to US$1.18 million from US$711,712 in 2012. Earnings per share for the six months amounted to US$0.148 cents.

Sales revenues rose by 24 percent for the December quarter and 22 percent year to December hitting US$37.5 million for the 6 months and US$20.46 for the quarter. Gross profit margins came out at 41 percent for the quarter and 42.4 percent year to December. In the prior year, the margins were 42 percent for the quarter and 39.8 percent for the six months period.

Expenses up | Selling and administrative expenses are up 16.4 percent in the December quarter and 18.2 percent for the six months, while finance cost rose by 19 percent in the latest quarter and 14.4 percent for the year to December. Depreciation charge also rose sharply due mainly to their expansion into meat and juice processing.

CPJ’s performance for the next quarter should push profits up quite sharply as historically the March quarter generates the highest amount of sales and profit during the peak winter tourist season. IC Insider has forecast earnings for the full year at 70 cents Jamaican and J$1.35 for 2015 fiscal year.

Finances | The company is still not comfortably funded with borrowed funds of US$25 million at an elevated level and in excess of equity of just US$14.7 million. Short term loans are at $11 million, well in excess of the annual cash flow of approximately US$9 million.

Caribbean Producers is an IC Insider Buy Rated stock.

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: Caribbean Producers (CPJ), Jamaican Stock, JSE Company

D&G elevated to Buy Rated!

February 14, 2014 by IC Insider.com

Desnoes & Geddes brewers of the world renown Red Stripe beer reported profit before taxation of $2.45 billion, a 102 percent increase over the $1.2 billion generated in 2012 and net profit of $1.95 billion. The huge jump in the bottom line came from booking capital gains from the sale of its interest in two eastern Caribbean Breweries in the December quarter, which contributed $970 million to the profit. Excluding this one-off capital gain would result in the 2013 numbers coming in at $1.479 billion for pretax profit or an increase of 21 percent, and $976 million after tax versus $808 in 2012. This translates to 35 cents per share for the six months period.

Profit in the local market before administrative and selling expenses rose 22 percent to reach $1.56 billion but export profits fell slightly to $402 from $468 million in 2012. Based on the latest results, IC Insider is forecasting 80 cents per share earnings for the year to June 2014 and $1.10 for 2015. Based on the company’s expected performance, IC Insider has elevated Desnoes & Geddes to Buy Rated status.

Sales | Revenues grew 12 percent to $7.30 billion, compared with $6.5 billion in 2012 for the six months and grew by a more robust 18.5 percent in the latest quarter to $4 billion.

“The domestic portfolio continues to grow, increasing by 23 percent on growth in the brewed portfolio as well as improved pricing. Export sales declined 28 percent as the shift in production from Jamaica to the USA during the last financial year,” management stated in their release with the financials.

Gross Profit margin ended at 72 percent for the December quarter and 70.8 percent for the six months but the 2012 six months numbers were at a high of 75.8 percent.

Expenses | D&G was able to cut cost even as revenues rose. Marketing cost declined by 9 percent to $497 million, which the company attributes savings as a result of funds expended in 2012 on Jamaica’s 50th independence celebration. Cost containment and the outsourcing of the distribution of its products led to the reduction in general, selling and administrative cost with a fall of 9 percent to $542 million for the six months to December.

Finances | Cash resources climbed to $1.7 billion at the end of 2013 from $1.2 billion in 2012 but receivables jumped to $2.95 billion from just over a $1 billion in 2012 and $1.1 billion in June 2013. The company attributes the rise due mainly to full credit being given to its associated distribution company.

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: D&G, Jamaican Stock, JSE Company

CWJ loss down with much progress

February 14, 2014 by IC Insider.com

Cable & Wireless Jamaica released quarterly results showing a loss of $315 million compared to $438 million in 2012 from lower revenues and $120 million in restructuring cost.

The latest quarterly results showed improvement in several areas with changes in revenues and cost. The December quarter showed an overall revenue reduction of 19 percent but cost was down as well. The end result is growth in gross margin with gross profit up to $3.65 billion from $3.27 billion in 2012 and moderate improvement in the bottom-line. However, there is far more happening here than meets the eyes. The company is reporting increased revenue from cellular phone usage coming from both voice and data with a growth in the customer base year-over-year. The pace has been growing since 2012 and is up 11 percent for 2013 in US dollars and is expected to increase even more as data usage grows.

Image courtesy of nokhoog_buchachon/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

These quarterly numbers have lots of coded information about current and future performances of a company that has bled much blood in the past few years and is trying hard to recover. For the nine months, loss is $1.75 billion and is down from $2.2 billion in 2012. More importantly, the stage is set for a sharp reduction in losses going forward. Landline revenue was down in keeping with the reduction in local termination rates as well as CWJ’s cut in landline call rates during the period. A large part of the revenue reduction came from restructuring of the telephone directory cost which now leaves CWJ in a better position as the risk was reduced.

Cost savings were also achieved in restructuring commission payments to mobile credit distributors and the wage bill was down in the quarter. However, administrative and other cost rose due to the outsourcing of the maintenance work for the phone system. IC Insider believes the future is bright for CWJ and is forecasting an absolute profit in the March quarter and an overall profit in 2015 fiscal year.

CWJ grew its mobile subscriber base, increasing by 23% and quarterly mobile service revenue rose 43 percent over the 2012 prior year quarter in local currency. This increase is after the company changed its method of accounting for active users from counting customers having credit on their phones to those who actually used their phones during the last 60 days. Gary Sinclair, LIME’s Managing Director, stated that 55,000 customers were removed from the total as a result of the change. Nevertheless, the overall number of subscribers are up year-over-year and continues to grow in 2014.

In response to the question, “Is December’s income now representative of what can be expected baring growth or contraction on a quarterly basis,” Sinclair stated that EBITA is actually up in January and that is more indicative of what can be expected.

The strategy is clear, cut cost some more and grow the mobile base, the area of strong growth potential.

In trading on Thursday, investors reacted negatively to the news and sold CWJ’s stock down to 31 cents but some buying came in and drove the price up.

With growth to come in revenues and lower cost on the horizon, Cable & Wireless Jamaica is now a Buy Rated stock.

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: C&WJ, Jamaican Stock, JSE Company

Cargo Handlers’ solid quarter

February 7, 2014 by IC Insider.com

For the December quarter 2013, revenues excluding interest income, grew by 23 percent for the Montego Bay based and junior listed Cargo Handlers and profit reached $27.99 million, up from $22 million in 2012. Total revenues amounted to $51 million, up from $41.6 million in the previous year’s quarter and operating revenues grew by 9 percent to $44.3 million. Operating expenses grew from $20 million to $23.4 million, an increase of 15 percent.

Earnings per share rose from 53 cents to 67 cents in the quarter, an increase of 26 percent. Earnings for 2014, which ends in September, should be close to $3 per share. For the year to September 2013, the company earned $2.27 per share.

The results do not yet reflect the proposed acquisition of the tanker operating company for transporting fuel. The company indicates that the acquisition should be concluded during February. A deposit of $69 million against the purchase was made and is included in receivables on the balance sheet in December at $95 million, an increase over $19 million as of September 2013. Cash is down from $131 million in September to $69 million at the end of December. The company is debt free.

The purchase will be fully in cash so there should be further depletion of cash when the deal is concluded. There should be some administrative cost savings as some of the functions now done by the transport company can be transferred to Cargo Handlers thus saving on cost.

A dividend of 50 cents per share was just declared by the company and is payable in March 6, 2014.

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: Cargo Handlers, Jamaican Stock, JSE Company

Slight gain for Republic Q1 profit

February 4, 2014 by IC Insider.com

Profit for the quarter of Republic Bank’s first quarter to December 2013 just barely rose to $303 million, up from $296 million in 2012 as net revenues inched up by 2.4 percent to $860 million from $840 in 2012. Operating cost rose faster than revenue gains, ending up at $449 million compared to $421 million in the prior period. It was not all gloom, as loan provision fell to just $2 million compared to $17 million in 2012 and share of associated profit came to $12.7 million versus just $44,000 in 2012.

Profit attributable to Republic’s shareholders came in at $291 million versus $285 million in 2012. For the full year to September 2013, the banking group reported profit of $1.17 billion. Territorially, in the latest quarter Trinidad accounted for $434 million in pretax profit up from $431 million in 2012. Barbados pretax profit contribution was down marginally to $39.4 million from $39.8 million and other territories contributed $63.6 million compared to $63.2million in 2012.

Loans grew by 6.5 percent annualized in the quarter, which is a slower pace than the 7.3 percent growth year over year to December. The difference is not great, but Republic will need to pick-up lending growth to start getting a reasonable growth in profits. There is much scope for increased lending with loans of only $25.6 billion lent out of a total balance sheet of nearly $58 billion in assets and deposits of $545.8 billion.

The Trinidad economy is estimated to have grown by 2.8 percent in 2013. Most likely growth will pick up in 2014. An improving economy should lay the foundation for an uptick in lending over and above what the bank achieved for the last fiscal year and help to move profit up at a faster pace than in the December quarter.

Republic Bank is an ICInsider Buy Rated stock. To view the full list, click here.

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: Republic Bank, TTSE

Cable & Wireless up 56% in January

February 1, 2014 by IC Insider.com

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Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: C&WJ, Jamaican Stock, JSE Company, Lime

Lasco Financial’s marketing investment

January 29, 2014 by IC Insider.com

The latest quarterly report to December 2013, shows that Lasco Finance Services pumped in funds to nearly double its promotional cost to push for a greater share of the remittance business, resulting in heightened marketing and selling cost from $111 in 2012 million to $204 million in 2013.

In the December quarter the cost was pushed to $87 million compared to just $36 million in 2012. The increase spend in this area kept profits down to $46 million versus $55 million in the December 2012 quarter and for the nine months period $136 million or 20.6 percent above the 2012 results for the similar period. Administrative cost rose by a strong 26 percent for the year to September but by the end of 2013, the rate of increase fell to 22 percent as the December quarter increased by only 15 percent to reach $47.5 million and for the nine months $144 million versus $118 million.

With the reduced spend on promotion that should flow with the completion of the World Cup promo, profit should end the year around $220 million and that would be up from $164 million in 2013 or earnings of 18 cents per share.

“In pursuit of our strategic objective to increase our market share in the remittance industry, towards the end of the 2nd Quarter, we launched our Brazil 2014 promotion which lasted until December 31, 2013. This investment contributed to the more than 100% increase in selling and promotional expenses. We anticipate that the resulting rise in transactions from this awareness campaign will continue into the future periods,” management stated in release accompanying the results.

As the promotion ended, the March quarter figures should reflect much lower cost in this area and with that increased profit. Trading income in the quarter rose by a strong 42 percent to reach $176 million and for the nine months period the growth was 42.6 percent taking it to $469 million.

The financials remain strong with equity of $610 million, liabilities of only $95 million and cash of $302 million.

Lasco Financial is an IC Insider Buy Rated Stock. To view the full list, click here.

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