Beechwood Avenue service station.
Profit jumped 45.5 percent before tax for FESCO to $57 million from $39 million in 2020, and for six months to September, pretax profit surged 49.5 percent to $97.2 million above the $64.97 million in 2020. Profit after taxation jumped 121 percent to $57 million from $26 million, in the 2020 September quarter, with taxation eating out $13.4 million in 2020 and for the half year, it moved 95 percent higher to $97 million from $50 million following profit tax of $15 million in 2020.
The company is now on a tax holiday, initially for five years for listing on the Jamaica Stock Exchange Junior Market.
Sales spiked 51 percent to $2.4 billion from $1.6 million in the September quarter and jumped 54 percent to $4.3 billion for the six months to September from $2.8 billion in 2020.
Cost of sales rose 52.2 percent to $2.35 billion from $1.54 billion in the 2020 September quarter and jumped 54.7 percent to $4.2 billion from $2.7 billion in the half year to September 2020. Gross profit popped 22.1 percent to $73.5 million from $60 million in 2020 for the quarter and 37 percent to $128 million for the six months from $93 million in 2020.
Operating and administrative expenses dropped 15 percent to $17.8 million, from $21 million for the quarter, but rose 29.6 percent to $38 million from $29.55 million in the six months to September 2020.
Gross cash flow brought in $98 million, but growth in working capital reduced the cash provided by operating activities to $72, after receiving $322 million from loans and proceeds from the issue of new shares offset by addition to fixed assets amounting to $136 million, the company improved its cash position at the end of the period substantially. At the end of September, shareholders’ equity stood at $639 billion, up from $255 million at the end of September 2020, with long term borrowings standing at $117 million and short term loans at $7 million. Current assets ended the period at $883 million, up from $312 million in September 2020. The 2021 figure includes trade and other receivables of $551 million, cash and bank balances of $307 million. Current liabilities ended the period at $517 million and $217 million in 2020. Net current assets ended the period at $366 million. The company owned and operated service station on Beechwood Avenue in Kingston was opened recently and will add to sales in the present quarter onwards.
Earnings per share came out at 2.3 cents for the quarter and 3.9 cents for the year to date. IC Insider.com forecast is for 10 cents per share for the fiscal year ending March 2021. Accordingly, the stocks that closed at $3.25 on the Jamaica Stock Exchange Junior Market on Friday boast a high PE of 34 times the current year’s earnings compared to the market average of around 14. Net asset value is 26, with the stock selling at 12.5 book value.
