Revenues climbed at Express Catering leading to a jump in profits in the first half of the company’s fiscal year to November 2023 as it rides the waves of recovery and growth in the tourism industry, resulting in profit jumping a robust 48 percent to US$187,240 in the November quarter from US$126,808 in 2022 and US$1.03 million for the half year, up 32 percent from US$779,649 in 2022.
Ian Dear, Managing Director of Express Catering
Revenues for the November quarter of 2023 climbed 23 percent to US$5.18 million from US$4.2 million in 2022 and were up 27 percent for the year to date, US$11.58 million compared to US$9.1 million in the previous year. Operating profit climbed 30 percent to US$846,457 for the quarter versus US$653,395 in the previous year and for the half year, it climbed 22 percent to US$2.25 million from US$1.85 million in 2022.
Finance costs took a nice bite out of numbers with an interest cost of US$660,608 in the 2023 November quarter from US$552,584 in 2022 and US$1.2 million for the half year from US$1 million in 2022. Most of the finance cost should be recovered from related companies that owe US$15.4 million and rising each year and is up from US$13.5 million in 2022. Had these funds not been lent out interest cost would have been substantially less with borrowings of US$9.5 million.
Earnings for the latest quarter ended at 0.01 US cents and 0.063 US cents for the half year. ICInsider.com projects 0.36 US or 55 cents Jamaican for the full year and J$1.10 for 2025. Based on these earnings the PE of the stock is only 7.2 or just over half of the market average of 13.2, suggesting a healthy upside for the stock in the months ahead.
