Profit for the third quarter ending February, this year jumped 159 percent to $24 million from $9.3 million at Paramount Trading, from a 5.7 percent rise in revenues for the quarter to $433 million from $409 million. Net profit jumped a solid 380 percent to $110 million from a loss of $39 million for the nine months period, from a mere 5.5 percent rise in revenues to $1.26 billion compared with $1.2 billion for the same period in the previous year.
Gross profit margin increased to 43 percent in the third quarter from 37.87 percent in the corresponding period in 2025 and for the year to date, rose to 43.85 percent from 35.15 percent in 2025, resulting in gross profit climbing 20.4 percent to $187 million in the February 2026 quarter from $155 million in 2025 and for the year to date it rose sharply by 31.7 percent to $554 million from $421 million, growing sharply to $32 million after tax compared to just $9.3 million in the third quarter of 2025.
Administrative, selling and distribution expenses rose 8.5 percent to $137 million in the third quarter from $126 million in the 2025 period and increased a mere 2 percent to $384 million in the nine months, from $378 million, as selling and Distribution expenses declined 58 percent to $7.2 million in the nine months ended February, from $17 million in 2025. Finance cost declined in the quarter to $20 million from $23 million in the same quarter in the prior year and from $66 million to $64 million for the nine months.
The operations generated Gross cash flow of $137 million, after working capital consumed $59 million and ended cash funds of $85 million at the end of the period and investments of $96 million.
Current assets ended the period at $1.45 billion inclusive of receivables of $516 million, cash and bank balances of $86 million. Current liabilities ended the period at $563 million and Net current assets of $887 million.
Shareholders’ equity close the third quarter amounts with $1.14 billion with long term borrowings amounting to $469 million and short-term borrowings of $84 million.
Earnings per share for the quarter was 1.6 cents and 7.2 for the nine months. IC Insider.com projects earnings of 10 cents per share for the current 2026 fiscal year, giving it a PE of 10.8 times based on the last traded price of $1.08 on the Jamaica Stock Exchange Junior Market. With the market average of 14, the stocks is undervalued. The big question, can the company keep on building on this platform? Recent history, leaves that as the real big question.
The company paid a dividend of 2.6 cents per ordinary share in December 2025.
The group benefited from a $15 billion one-time gain on the sale of a subsidiary; excluding this, earnings would have been just $13 billion for the year, compared to $13.3 billion generated in 2024 and earnings per share from continuing operations would be $7.60, up from $5.62 in 2024.
Total dividends for this year amount to 25.5 cents, with a yield of 6.4 percent, including a dividend of 12.58 cents paid in April.
Profit grew 7.8 percent to $9.2 billion after tax for the six months to April, over the previous year. A drop in loan loss provisions to $651 million in the latest quarter from $1 billion in the 2024 second quarter and $1 billion for the half year, down from $1.25 billion in 2024, helped to boost the group’s profit performance.
According to the Group, “loan book continues to perform well with mortgages increasing year over year by 24 percent, consumer loans by 14 percent, credit cards by 8 percent and commercial loans by 7 percent.” Deposits, an important fuel for funding loans and investments, increased 10 percent to $514 billion from $467 billion a year ago.
In addition to losing the $320 million per year for the next three years, shareholders have already chalked up a loss on their shares of $2.1 billion, following the announcement in March, and it could get worse, with the bid to buy the stock at $45 and the offer to sell at $46, last Friday. The dividend suspension will conserve TT$951.5 million for the three years based on $1.80 paid in 2024, 2023 and 2022, but it has had a detrimental impact on shareholders.
Some shareholders do not buy the optimism expressed by the directors, at least not now. For the year ending December last year, revenue grew by 5 percent to $7.4 billion and profits climbed just over 10 percent to $571 million from $517 million in 2023. On the surface, the stock should have been rising, instead, it has fallen from a 2025 high of $61. Compounding the issue, revenue grew 9.6 percent to $1.8 billion for the March 2025 quarter. Profits for the quarter dived 50 percent to $54 million from US$107 million as finance cost surged from $10 million to $52 million.
Total revenues excluding expected credit losses for the year ended January 31, 2025, grew by $2.2 billion to $17 billion, for an increase of 14.9 percent over the prior year period, primarily driven by growth in loans leading to an increase in net interest income of $1.1 billion or 10 percent as well as an increase in other revenue of 26.2 percent.
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Net foreign currency activities generated revenues of $2.48 billion up 9.5 percent from $2.27 billion in the comparative period in 2023 and for the year, revenues rose 6.4 percent of $9.3 Billion versus $8.75 billion in 2023.
Staff cost fell 10 percent in the last quarter to $2.92 billion from $3.24 billion in 2023 and rose 6.3 percent to $11.8 billion in the current year from $11.1 billion last year. Other operating expenses rose 4.2 percent to $3.1 billion in the quarter from $2.99 billion in 2023 and increased 4.6 percent in the year to $13.24 billion from $12.66 billion in the prior year. Tax on assets rose 13 percent to $1.55 from $1.376 billion in 2023. Taxation rose 16 percent to $9.55 billion, for the year from $8.2 billion in 2023.
$52.90, with investors trading 41,710 of the shares, following Tuesday’s price hike of $3.99 with the stock trading then at a 52 weeks’ high of $49.99, after investors traded 161,674 shares. 
According to the release, “the Board of Directors sees this use of capital as an opportunity to enhance shareholder value through the purchase, from time to time, of undervalued shares”.
Investors looking for the best dividend paying stocks on the Jamaica Stock Exchange should take the above factors into consideration. It is also a good factor to consider when buying stocks that are likely to increase in value over time.
The company reported earnings of $5.54 and that would suggest an annual dividend of $2.20 which would translate to a dividend yield of 6.7 percent with 2024 likely to be higher.