The balance of $870 million due from the tax department for taxes over paid by its subsidiary, Cigarette Company of Jamaica was recovered in full by the company, Carreras reported in a release of the June quarterly results.
This means that the large special capital distributions that the company has been paying for a few years will soon come to an end. The company declared a total dividend of $1.80 per share payable September 3.
Carreras also reported a 6 percent improvement in profit flowing from a 1 percent increase in sales revenue of $2.6 2 billion, up from $2.59 billion in the 2014 first quarter, with profit ending at $622 million, in 2014 profit of $589 million was generated. Gross profit was slightly up on 2014 with $1.286 billion realized in the June 2015 quarter and $1.257 billion in 2014.
The company suffered from decline in volume sales in the quarter due to the price increase effected earlier in the year, which saw a shift in sales taking place in the March quarter as dealers sought to take advantage of the price change. Administrative cost fell from $372 million to $356 million while distribution and marketing expenses declined from $185 million to $164.
Earnings per share came in at $1.28 and should be in the $6 range for the full year.