Profit before taxation and gains on the valuation of investment properties for 2023 rose 12.8 percent from $242 million in 2022 to $273 million at Stanley Motta, a real estate owner, with the final quarter increasing 11 percent from $64 million to $71 million in the final quarter of the year.
Stanley Motta 58 Half Way Tree building.
Revenues, primarily comprising rental income rose 6.6 percent for the year to $535 million from $502 million in 2022 and increased 10 percent from $127 million in the December 2022 quarter to $140 million in 2023. Finance cost was $83 million for 2023 and $90 million in 2022 with the final quarter cost down to $22 million from $33 million in 2022, even borrowing cost ballooned to $1.86 billion from $982 million at the end of 2022.
The company expended nearly $1.2 billion on the construction of a 10 story building at 58 Half Way Tree road property to add 84,000 square feet of rentable space within the complex to cost $1.8 billion to be completed in the middle of this year, the 2022 annual report stated. The new building will add around 40 percent to the rented space and generate rental in the order of $200 million to rental income per annum. Finance costs associated with funding the construction will be in the order of $100 million in the early years.
After fair value gains on investment properties of $1.5 billion versus $616 million in 2022 the company ended with net profit of $1.78 billion in 2023 and $849 million in 2022, with the final quarter results being $1.58 billion compared with $675 million in 2022.
Administrative expenses for 2023 remained stable, compared to that in 2022, at $180 million for the year and for the final quarter it rose 10 percent to $33 million from $30 million in 2022.
The company ended the year with shareholders’ equity of $1.9 billion, with cash and equivalent of just 439 million and current liabilities of $231 million.
Earnings per share for the year, was $2.34, compared to $1.12 in 2022. The stock last traded at $7 on the Main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange and closed on Tuesday with only a handful of offers.
