The initial offering of 400 million shares in RA Williams opens today at 9 in the morning at $1 each and is scheduled to close on the 31st of July but is expected to close much earlier.
Unfortunately, the prospectus has errors relating to data on profitability in 2024, resulting in uncertainty as to what years some of the information relates with both captioned with 2024 as the financial years and error in the interim statement of financial position to January.
The company currently has 1.16 billion shares outstanding and will have 2 billion units issued at the end of what is expected to be a successful offer. The shares are to be listed on the Junior Market, bringing the total listing back to 48. A total of 190 million of the shares being offered are reserved, with just 210 million available for the general public.
Profit before tax amounts to $133 million at April this year, for EPS of 83 and resulting in a PE of 12 times earnings just below the market average PE close to 14, there is not much room for short-term growth other than the hype of initial investment in the IPO and the limited number of shares on offer.
R.A. Williams, a primarily pharmacist-owned and operated pharmaceutical distribution company, that started operations in Spanish Town, St. Catherine in 2012.
In commenting on the issue, the Chief Executive Officer, R A Williams states, “We have recently concluded negotiations with Fourrts (India) Laboratories Pvt Ltd and Mankind Pharma Limited, which will see us introducing new treatment options in areas that require treatment with anti-infectives and dermatological options. From this expanded product offering, we expect a boost in the company’s revenues.”
Willaims went on to state, “The Company is in a new cycle of its growth which will be underpinned by the utilisation of a higher proportion of equity to fund its future expansion. As a result, the proceeds from this Invitation will be mainly used to repay the Company’s debts. This debt reduction will have the immediate effect of reducing the Company’s financing costs, thereby increasing the Company’s profitability and the expected returns to shareholders.
They currently distribute over 130 products, serving more than 700 customers across the island.
Growth in Revenues has been strong since 2020, with an increase of 41.6 percent For the year ended April 2023, to $1.4 billion, above sales of $994 million in 2023, which increased by a sharp 54 percent from $647 million in 2021 and was up 29 percent over the $502 million in 2020 with 2020 seeing an increase of 19 percent.
While revenue growth has been impressive, the annual improvement in the bottom line is even more impressive up to 2023. In 2020 while revenues climbed attractively, profit declined 51 percent from $36 million in 2019 to $18 million but grew 133 percent to $42 million in 2021 and by 26 percent to $52 in 2022 and 88 percent in 2023 to $98 million.
Margins on sales have been impressive at 42 percent over the past two years and an average of 43.4 percent since 2019.
Revenues grew by just 6.3 percent for the year to April 2024 to $1.5 billion with profit falling before tax to $133 million from $161 million in 2023.
Shareholders equity stood at $386 million at the end of April this year. In January 2024, short term loan which is erroneously grouped under a caption headed current assets, amounts to $215 million and related party loans of $107 million.
Sagicor Investments are brokers for the issue.
