Profit jumps 32% in Q2 for Angostura

Profit before tax popped 20 percent for the Trinidad based Angostura Holdings, for the six-month to June 2021, to $74 million, up from $62 million in 2020 comparative period, while profit before tax rose 10 percent to $46 million from $42 million and profit after tax climbed 32 percent to $36.5 million for the quarter from $28 million and moved to 36 percent from $41 million in the half year to $55.6 million in 2021.

Angostura Holdings aged rum.

Revenue rose 6 percent to $218 million from $205 million for the quarter and was up 3 percent to $370 million for the half year from $358 million in 2020.
“Owing to improvement in the efficiency of the wastewater treatment facility, gross profit margins increased to 48 percent from 46 percent over the prior period as distillery alcohol production normalized in 2021 compared to 2020,” Terrence Bharath, chairman, advised shareholders in his report on the results. Cost of goods sold slipped by one percent to $117 million from $118 million in 2020 and for the half year rose at a slower pace than the increase in revenues after rising by just one percent to $194 million from $192 million in 2020. Gross profit popped 16 percent to $102 million from $87 million, while it rose 6 percent to $176 million for the six months to June 2021, from $167 million in 2020.

Angostura Bitters produced by the company.

Heineken offered J$31 per share for D&G in 2015 when the stock was trading at J$8 on the JSE.

Improvement in international markets, in terms of revenue and credit outlook, directly impacted the Expected Credit Loss Model resulting in a significant write back $2.7 million in the June quarter versus a write provision of $8 million in 2020 and write back of $4.2 million for the half year compared to a provision of $8.4 million in 2020.
Investment income rose to $3.5 million in the June quarter from $3 million last year and climbed from $5.5 million to $8 million for the six-month period.
“Revenue growth over the prior year was mainly driven by recovery in sale of bitters in the markets of Australasia, North America, Europe and the UK and rum in Europe, but faced more severe revenue challenges in the local Trinidad market,” the chairman informed shareholders.
Selling and marketing expenses rose sharply by 64 percent to $36.3 million in the June quarter and 15 percent for the half year to $67.5 million while Administrative expenses rose 20 percent to $25 million for the June quarter to $25 million and 7 percent for the six months to June to $44.6 million.
Current assets Net cash from operating activities delivered $71 million, but investing activities utilized $79 million, leaving negative funds flow of $10 million and $14 million in 2020.
Taxation slipped to $9.8 million from $14.2 million in the quarter and ended at $18. 4 million for the half year from $39 million in 2020.
Current assets amount to $1.08 billion and Current liabilities $104 million. Investments ended at $568 million and cash and equivalents closed the period at $51 million. Shareholders’ equity stood at $1.3 billion.
Earnings per share came in at 18 cents, up from 13 cents in 2020 for the June quarter and 27 cents for the half year versus 20 cents in 2020 and should end the year around 90 cents and would put the PE ratio at 18 times 2021 earnings at the last traded price of $16.48 on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange.
The Board of Directors approved an interim dividend of 9 cents per share to be paid on October 25.
The stock may be fully valued currently, based on PE ratio, but it possesses a good brand and products that could become attractive to international spirit companies that may well be prepared to pay a nice premium for it, as was done in Jamaica for Desnoes and Geddes brewers of the world famed Red Stripe beer and Lascelles Demercado producers of the Appleton brand of rums.

Rum – dominant export product

Jamaica has been producing rum for centuries but with the bulk of it being exported in raw form, there is a great deal of change with several local branded processed and aged rums being produced locally and exported.
Appleton Estate rum is to be found all over the world and is one of the leading export brands dominating many overseas markets. A recent addition to the list is Worthy Park Estate rums. Last year rums brought in US$54.4 million dollars in export earnings, making it one of the country’s leading export items. The 2020 inflows were down 3 percent on exports of US$56 million in 2019, but it is up 38 percent from US$39.6 million earned in 2017. In 2018 exports of the prized product rose to $41 million. The good news is that the largest portion of rum exports are the higher value added brands rather than bulk rum that has far less value and contributes less to the local economy compared to the branded products.
Rum might be amongst Jamaica’s most popular export products but it not the only beverage making waves in the export market. A big surprise in the export market is the category of Alcoholic Beverages excluding Rum that grew 47 percent since 2017, from US$37.4 million to US$54.7 million, inching just one percent in 2020 over 2019, having jumped 46 percent in 2018 over 2017.
Non-Alcoholic Beverages rose 56 percent in 2020 over 2017 from US$12 million to US$18.65 and rose 33 percent in 2018 over 2017 and eight percent each in 2019 over 2018 and 2020 over 2019.

Coming tomorrow – Sauces could overtake rum as lead export