Q3 profit jumps 43% for the Lab

Profit jumps 43 percent before tax at Limners and Bard trading as the Lab, with revenues up 41 percent for the third quarter. Aftertax, profit climbed 66 percent from $12.7 million to $21 million for the July quarter. Nine months profit, rose 54 percent to $108 million, from $70 million, aftertax, while profit rose 22 percent from $88.6 million before tax in 2019, to $107.8 million. In 2019, the Company incurred a tax charge of $19 million for the nine months but had none in 2020, as it benefited from the listing on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange. Profit for the nine months equals the 2019 full year pretax profit of $107.5 million. The company enjoyed increased profit due to a 41.4 percent rise in revenues in the July quarter, from $152 million to $217 million and an increase of 41 percent for the nine months from $486 million to $686 million.
The cost incurred in generating operating revenue grew faster than incomes, of 46 percent for the nine months to $459 million and 48 percent for the quarter to $154 million.
Administration expenses and other costs rose 47 percent to $119 million for the nine months and by 31 percent for the quarter to $40 million. In a report accompanying the results, the chairman, Steven Gooden and Kimala Bennett, Chief Executive Officer, stated, “these included a systemization initiative and training to assist inefficiencies linked to our growth drivers and a pay-out of 50 percent of our 2019 employee profit share.

The Company earned 2 cents per share in the quarter and 11 cents for the nine months. IC Insider.com projects the full-year earnings ta 16 cents per share, with expenses traditionally lower in the final quarter. The Company generated cash flows from operating of $116 million, up from $77 million in 2019.
Shareholders’ equity climbed to $45 million from $332 million at the end of July 2019. Current assets stand at $529 million including Cash and cash equivalents of $384 million, up from $213 million in July 2019. Current liabilities amounted to $134 million leaving strong net current assets at the end of the period. Borrowings stood at just $66 million.
The stock last traded at $2.80 on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Monday for a PE ratio of 17.5. With the current year ending a little over a month from now and IC Insider.com projecting 28 cents earnings per share for fiscal 2021, the stock can be considered appropriately priced.