Lasco Distributors Limited (LASD)
For the quarter ended June 30, 2017:

 Revenues grew by 6% or $235.53 million to end the period at $4.13 billion, up from $3.90 billion for the first quarter of 2016.

Cost of sales rose by $179.23 million or 5.6% amounting to $3.38 billion resulting in gross profits of $754.42 million, an 8.1% increase year over year.

Other operating income increased by 86.3%, to end the period at $18.43 million compared to the $9.89 million in the comparable quarter a year ago.

Operating Expenses grew by 10.6% to end the period at $555.77 million (2016: $502.34 million).  According to the company “the increase was driven by increased Professional Fees, Insurance costs and depreciation charges on higher asset carrying values for investment in the expansion of our warehouse. The company continues to invest in Marketing and Sales initiatives to drive demand for our key products and newly launched brands”.

Despite the increase, Operating Profit grew by 5.6% to close at $217.08 million relative to $205.67 million for the comparable period.

Finance costs of $140,000 were recorded for the period compared to $330,000 in the year prior.

Pre-tax profits totaled $216.94 million, an increase of 5.7% from the $205.34 million posted in the same quarter last year.

Tax charges for the period totalled $20.08 million relative to $29.90 million last year, resulting in a 12.2% increase in Net Profit for the quarter to $196.86 million when compared to $175.44 million last year .

Earnings per share for the quarter were $0.06 compared to $0.05 in the comparable period of 2016. The twelve months earnings per share for the period is $0.18. The number of shares used in our calculations is 3,424,462,483

Balance sheet at a glance:

 As at June 30, 2017, total assets amounted to $7.53 billion, 13.5% more than the $6.63 billion at June 30, 2016. The increase mainly reflects an 8.5% growth in current assets which closed at $6.05 billion relative to the $5.58 billion booked a year ago.

Shareholder’s equity as at June 30, 2017 amounted to $4.25 billion up from the $3.56 billion recorded as at June 30, 2016; this resulted in a book value per share of $1.24 (2016:$1.04).