Knutsford Express Services

Disappointing early Q3 results

October 22, 2023 by IC Insider.com

Profits are the primary driver of stock prices. The early release of third quarter results for 2023 for some listed companies has been less than inspiring, with the majority reporting lower revenues and profits for the third quarter and, in some cases, reduced revenues and profits for the year to date. That is not the results the market needs to lift a sagging market weighted down by some poor profit results for the year and tight monetary policy being pursued by Jamaica’s Central Bank.

Margaritaville, located in the Turks & Caicos Islands

So far, Companies reporting include AMG Packaging, Caribbean Cream with it trading brand Kremi, Express Catering, Image Plus Consultants, Knutsford Express, Margaritaville, Mayberry Investments, Paramount Trading and Portland JSX Fund.
AMG Packaging reported a slight drop in full year earnings to August of $94 million. The 2023 performance is better than that of 2022, with the current year’s figures including a one-off charge and vastly increased taxation than in the previous year.
Profit after tax is down from $105 million in the previous year, but this is after taxation that climbed from $18 million to $39 million in the current year. Revenues in the current year come out at $1 billion, up from $996 million in the prior year. For the quarter, revenues fell to $230 million from $257 million, with profits after tax of $19 million, down from $25 million in the previous year. The 2023 result was dragged down by a one off charge relating to payroll tax credits that were not allowed in prior years, amounting to $11 million, had this not been the case, profits would have been higher than for the previous year. Additionally, the taxation charge for the year was $11 million versus just $5 million in the prior year’s fourth quarter.

Caribbean Cream reported revenues of $646 million for the 2023 August quarter versus $645 million in 2022, with the year to date revenues slipping into $1.25 billion from $1.257 billion in 2022. Profit fell to $3.6 million in the August quarter, down from $7 million in 2022, but is up to $10 million for the six months from $8.5 million in 2022.
Revenues and profits rebounded strongly at Express Catering in the first quarter to August 2023 versus 2022. Net profit for the quarter ended at US$843,114 for EPS of 0.051 US cents, up 29 percent from a profit of US$652,841, with EPS of 0.040 US cents in the similar period in 2022 as revenues climbed 30 percent to US$5.4 million from US$4.9 million in 2022 aided by a strong rebound in tourism traffic passing through the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, as well as the opening of new restaurants in the airport.
Image Plus reported sharply lower second quarter results, a 40 percent drop in earnings from $64 million before tax in 2022 to just $39 million for the second quarter as revenues declined by 7 percent to $254 million from $274 million in 2022 but remained flat for the half year at $554 million, resulting in pretax profit falling 33 percent from $153 million down to $103 million. The company indicated that revenues decreased due to machine breakdown.
Revenues at Knutsford Express jumped 18.5 percent for the first quarter ending August to $492 million from $415 million in the 2022 first quarter. The revenue improvement translated to slight growth in profit as cost rose nearly 26 percent to $380 million from $303 million. The company stated that it increased its workforce to manage growth. Before tax, profit increased marginally to $86 million from $84 million in the prior year.
Margaritaville was one company delivering improved revenues and profit for the 2023 first quarter, primarily reflecting improvement in tourism traffic in the Caribbean region. The company generated revenues of US$1.8 million in the August 2023 quarter, up solidly from US$1.42 million in the prior year and delivered gross profit of $1.33 billion this year versus US$1.03 million. Net profit surged to US$230,000 for the year to date against just US$94,000 in 2022.
Mayberry Investments released nine months’ results with a $985 million loss for the third quarter and $693 million loss for the nine months after reporting significant investment losses of around $2 billion in both periods, but shareholders’ equity remains strong at $15.75 billion.

Paramount

Paramount Trading reported lower revenues and profits in the first quarter ending August, following what the company states is the conclusion of the best major six month contract to supply admixture to the construction sector. Revenues declined by 28 percent to $426 million from $595 million the year before and profits fell by 32 percent to $65 million from $97 million the previous year.
Portland JSX Fund reported a worsened loss of US$1,457,327 for the quarter to August this year, up from US$416,643 in the similar quarter in 2022 and a loss of US$8.71 million versus a profit of US$376,681 profit for the six months to August 2022.
The results reflect net fair value losses on investments of US$1.3 million in the quarter and US$8.3 million for the half year.

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: 2023 Q3 profit results, AMG Packaging, Caribbean Cream, Emerging markets, Emerging Stock, Image Plus Consultants, Jamaica Stock Exchange, Jamaican stocks, Knutsford Express Services, Kremi, Margaritaville, Mayberry Investments, Paramount Trading, Portland JX Fund.

Knutsford Express revenues & profit nearing normal

April 18, 2022 by IC Insider.com

Knutsford Express, the Montego Bay based cross country luxury transport, is set to deliver increased revenues and profit for the fiscal year to May, compared to 2021, but the results will be far from normal levels, nine months’ results to February show.
Revenues and profit for the third quarter reveal that things are not far from normal, following the economic fallout in 2020 from the impact of the covid-19 virus. Revenues for the nine months rose 70 percent to $775 million from $456 million in 2021 and delivered a profit of $52 million, a big turnaround from a loss of $55 million in 2021, but the third quarter numbers saw revenues jumping 63 percent to $301 million from $185 million same the similar quarter in 2021 with a profit of $37 million compared to a slight loss of $1 million.

Knutsford Express

Revenues in the latest quarter are just 5 percent below the $318 million generated in the February 2020 quarter when the company reported a profit of $40 million before tax and for the nine months with revenues then, of $925 million or 20 percent higher than the current period, with a profit of $113 million before tax.
Administrative and other operating costs rose 39 percent from $515 million in the nine months to February 2021 to $716 million in 2022, with the third quarter ending with $258 million, up 38 percent versus $187 million in 2021. Depreciation rose from $87 million for the nine months in 2021 to $107 million in 2022. Finance cost amounts to $7 million in the 2022 latest quarter against $4 million in 2021 and year to date $17 million, compared to $11.4 million in 2021.
Gross cash flow brought in $190 million, a $144 million addition to fixed assets offset by loan inflows of $50 million, increased payables and dividends paid of $40 million, resulting in cash on hand at the beginning of the period of $132 million falling by $36 million.
At the end of February, shareholders’ equity stood at $845 million, with long term borrowings at $223 million and short term debt at $21 million. Current assets ended the period at $357 million, including trade and other assets of $103 million, cash and equivalent of $236 million. Current liabilities amount to $94 million at the close of the period and net current assets of $263 million.
Earnings per share for the quarter was 8 cents and 9 cents for the nine months. ICInsider.com projections suggest earnings per share for the fiscal year to May at 20 cents and 2023 at 50 cents.
The February quarter results fall in a period when tourism flows to the country were down around a third compared with the 2020 period, suggesting a better period ahead for traffic as the company benefitted from patronage from visitors coming into the island. Accordingly, the coming fiscal year should see the company’s revenues and profit bouncing sharply over that of the current fiscal year.
The stock last traded on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange at $7.99, with a PE of 40 versus the market average of 24, the PE falls to 16 versus 13 for the market.

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: Emerging markets, Jamaica Stock Exchange, Jamaican Stock, junior market, Knutsford Express Services

Knutsford Express suffers Q1 loss

November 10, 2020 by IC Insider.com

Coming off a financial year with an 11 percent decline in revenue and a 78 percent drop in profit for the year, Knutsford Express had the second-worst quarterly performance following the $70 million losses incurred in the April quarter this year, as dislocations caused by the impact of the COVID virus the company’s operations severely.

Knutsford Express

Revenue dropped 62 percent or a huge $203 million from the $325 million recorded in 2019 to just $122 million in the first-quarter ending August 2020. Drastically reduced trips and services due to the restrictions put in place by the government to contain the spread of COVID-19 was a key factor affecting business and the financial results. Knutsford incurred a loss of $26 million for the August 2020 quarter, before finance income and expenses, 146 percent lower than the profit of $57 million earned the 2019 first quarter.
Unfortunately, the company continues the very poor practice of grouping direct operating and administrative costs together, therefore preventing investors from properly assessing the operation and the contribution the operating facility makes to overhead cost. For the quarter, administrative and operating expenses fell at a much slower pace and amounts than the fall in revenues, with expenses dropping 45 percent from $267 million in 2019 August quarter to $148 million in 2020. Depreciation charges accounted for $29 million up from 426 million in 2019.
Finance income in the 2020 quarter pulled in $4 million compared to $2 million collected in 2019, while finance costs declined from $7 million in 2019 to $3 million in 2020.

Knutsford’s New Kingston depot

The US operation generated a mere $638,000 in revenue and contributed $4 million to the loss, but that is down from the prior year with a loss of $9 million from revenues of $7 million.
Cash flows from operating activities brought in $9 million, down from $78 million at the end of August 2019. After spending $35 million on the acquisition of fixed assets and borrowing $15 million, it resulted in an increase in cash of $13 million at the end of the period, pushing funds on hands to $52 million, down from $194 million at the end of 2019. The company also has investments amounting to $97 million. Current assets stood at $194 million at the end of August 2020 down 51 percent from $393 billion in August of the previous year. Current liabilities stood at just $76 million to be more than adequately covered by current assets. At the close of August, shareholders’ equity stood at $744 million down from $827 million at the close of the corresponding period in 2019.
Going forward, as activities pick up locally and visitor arrivals numbers grow, the company stands to benefit from increased patronage and improved profitability. At the same time, the loss incurred in the quarter is lower than the depreciation charge that is positive as it means no drain on cash. The company should recover from the downturn experienced during the year, but it may not be until 2021 that investors will get a truer sense as to the level of rebound in profit as well as the stock price, that may be possible. “We expect an improved performance in the next quarter,” the Directors, stated in their report accompanying the quarterly.
Earnings per share ended with a loss of 5 cents for the quarter. Knutsford Express currently trades on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange at $6.55.

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: Emerging markets, Jamaican Stock, Jamaican stocks, junior market, Knutsford Express Services

Knutsford Express riding high

May 17, 2017 by IC Insider.com

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Knutsford Express last traded at $68.

Knutsford Express last traded in 2016 at $20, today its up 240 percent to $68, thanks to a combination of factors, chief amongst them is a scarcity of supply and a proposed 5 for 1 stock split.
A 33 percent rise in revenues to $203 million in the February quarter and a 63 percent rise in operating profit show the company in a pretty strong growth path.
Earnings per share closed the nine months period at $1.20 after the third quarter delivered 54 cents.
“We had a strong third quarter”, Oliver Townsend told IC Insider.com, in response to the question, “can this growth continue,” Townsend answered in the affirmative. With our Montego Bay transport hub coming on stream by June this year, we should see continued growth as the company expect increased business as a result of having the hub located at the Sangster International Airport. The convenience of persons flying in and out of the airport being able to have easy and ready access to the Knutsford facility will see more persons patronizing the service, Townsend advised this publication. Ocho Rios is to have a new hub in which meals and drinks will be sold and thus enhance customers’ experience.
“We are also going directly from Kingston to Port Antonio using smaller buses via the Junction Road, the company’s Chief Executive said.
New buses added to replace older ones will reduce operating cost. The February results got a boost of $8.5 million realized from sales of buses, helping to push net profit up 94 percent to $53.7 million. For the nine months, revenues climbed 28.5 percent to $429.7 million while net profit moved higher by 35 percent to $120 million.
Knutsford does not break out its cost into direct operating expenses, marketing and administrative and other expenses so that readers can fully glean how the company is really doing, from an operational standpoint. Data compiled by IC Insider.com show an improving level of efficiency as business expands. Net profit as a percentage of revenues climbed to 24.7 percent and is up from 20 percent in the third quarter of 2016 and ended at 22.34 percent for the nine months compared to 23.2 percent in 2016.
Depreciation charges rose 54 percent to $39 million well ahead of the growth in revenues, but the newer buses should reduce repairs and maintenance as well as the possibility that there could be fuel savings.
Knutsford generated gross cash flows of $159 million To February, up from $114 million in 2016, dividends of $24 million paid and $87 million spent of acquiring fixed assets left the company with $103 million in funds at bank or in cash. Shareholders’ Equity stands at $432 million with borrowings of just $68 million and cash and short term investments of $123 million. Current assets amounted to $180 million and current liabilities at a low $35 million.
The Company is listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange and last traded at $68 for a PE of 25 based on estimated earnings for 2018 fiscal year’s estimated earnings of $2.75. The stock could be considered a bit pricey, with the market average at 13 times this year earning. With a 5 to 1 stock split days away, who knows what investors may do in light of the limited supply of the stock. At least profit seems to be on the rise at an attractive pace, as such investors with a long term time horizon may well enjoy gains sometime in the future, based on the growth path that the company is enjoying.

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: Jamaica Stock Exchange, Jamaican Stock, Jamaican stocks, junior market, Knutsford Express Services, Sangster International Airport, Trading Activity

Audit wrongly states ISP earnings as 32c

April 1, 2017 by IC Insider.com

I$P Finance hits a new high recently.

ISP Finance earned $40 million for 2016 or earnings per share of 46 cents based on an average of 87 million shares in issue for the year, but the audited statement reported only 32 cents based on a non-existence average of 126.5 million.
The company only issued 105 million shares hence it is not possible for the average to be greater.
The above error along with glaring errors elsewhere in the financial system at large raise the question about the investing public being adequately protected, in spite of regulators in place to do police the system?
Auditors are required to use care and due diligence in undertaking their duties to ensure that the companies they audit maintain proper records that will give a fair view of a company’s profit and financial position. Users of audited statement is not expected to see glaring errors in them. It raises questions about the quality of the audit and the management of the company as well.
Knutsford Express’ audited reports for 2014 and 2015, were filled with errors or questionable treatment of transactions, raising questions about the accuracy of the entire reports.
The earnings per share for 2014 was overstated due to inaccurate computation of the average number of shares issued in 2013, while showing earnings per share of $1.07 for 2014. The income statement erroneously stated by way of note, that “using the weighted average number of shares at end of 2015 would result in earnings being 50 cents for 2014.” Since no new share were issued in 2015 there can be no there is no need for a computation of an average and there can be no change to the earnings for 2014 if the correct average was computed for 2014 in the first place.
The report had further stated “During January 2014, the company raised additional capital of $99,862,700 from its initial public offering of 99,999,003 shares for its enlistment on the

Jamaica Stock Exchange Junior Market”. The company in fact issued 26 million bonus shares in 2013 while the public offering was for 20,000,000 ordinary shares, only 4,867,338 new shares were offered by the company while 15,132,662 shares existing shares were sold to the public in the IPO by shareholders. At the time the IPO, 95,132,662 ordinary shares were already issued, the average number of shares should be approximately 60 million rather than 46.8 million used to compute the 2014 EPS, which would have worked out around 83 cents.
According to ISP Finance prospectus, 1n January 2007 the company was incorporated with an authorised share capital of 10,000 ordinary shares at J$1 per share. In June 2007 the company’s authorised share capital was increased to 5,000,000 ordinary shares with all being subscribed for at $1 each.
On February 11, 2016 the company’s authorised share capital was increased to 105,000,000 ordinary shares. Of the 100,000,000 ordinary share increase, 51,017,500 shares were allotted to Gencorp Limited at J$2 per each being the same price at which shares were offered in the IPO. Of the balance just over 48.98 million units were offered to the general public in the IPO.

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: Emerging market stock, I$P Finance, Jamaica Stock Exchange, Jamaican Stock, junior market, Knutsford Express Services

Demand for some junior stocks, supply low

January 26, 2015 by IC Insider.com

Trading activity on the Junior Market closed with only 5 securities trading and ended with 76,353 units valued at $161,387 changing hands. The JSE Junior Market Index rose 0.41 points to close at 693.11, with the price of 1 stock advancing and 2 declining.
At the close of the market, there were 6 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and only 1 with the offer that was lower. The junior market closed with 4 securities closing with no bids to buy and 6 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale.
At the close, Honey Bun traded 4,686 shares at $1.95, Knutsford Express Services closed with 15,000 shares trading, 5 cents lower at $5.80, Lasco Distributors ended trading with 14,569 units at $1.40, Lasco Financial Services closed with 37,098 shares changing hands while gaining 5 cents to $1.05 and Lasco Manufacturing lost 1 cent in trading 5,000 shares at $1.18.