Lasco Financial Services Limited (LASF)
For the six months ended September 30, 2017: –
LASF recorded trading income of $681.28 million; this represented a growth of 35% when compared to $506.21 million posted in 2016, while trading income for the quarter amounted to $378.6 million (2016: $268.73 million). Other income amounted to $33.93 million, an increase of 28% (2016: $26.52 million), this resulted in overall income of $715.22 million, a growth of 34% compared to $532.73 million for the corresponding period in 2016. Overall revenue growth for the quarter was $396.0 million (2016: $272.08 million). The company stated that “The second quarter revenues normally benefit from increased summer transactions, but this year, in particular, the investments in expansion which were put in place from the previous year began yielding the intended results. Additionally, there are new revenue streams in place this year which were not in place in the previous year, namely, our Montego Bay full-service branch and new additions to our agent network.”
Operating expenses amounted to $506.41 million, 24% more than the $408.31 million the year prior. This as administrative expenses rose by 29% to $252.17 million compared to the $194.9 million in 2016. Selling and promotional expenses also grew 19% to close at $254.24 million relative to the $213.41 million report in the prior period.
Despite the increase in total expenses, profit from operations grew by 68% to total $208.8 million, relative to the $124.443 million recorded last year.
Finance costs increased to $4.29 million (2016: $1.11 million) resulting in a profit before tax of $204.52 million, relative to the $123.32 million booked for 2016.
Net profits attributable to shareholders totaled $166.75 million, 66% more than the $100.17 million posted for the same period last year. Net profit for the quarter amounted to $99.87 million relative to $42.44 million booked in 2016. This after taxes for the period totaled $37.78 million (2016: $23.15 million).
Earnings per share for Lasco Financial Services Limited (LASF) amounted to $0.13 (2016: $0.08). EPS for the quarter totaled $0.08 (2016: $0.03), while the twelve-month trailing earnings per share amounted to $0.20. The number of shares used in our calculations amounted to 1,257,844,391 units.
Balance Sheet Highlights:
As at September 30, 2017, the company’s assets totaled $1.76 billion, $325.82 million or 23% more than its value a year ago. This increase was largely due to ‘loans and receivables’ which climbed from $551.27 million to $1.01 billion.
Equity attributable to stockholders of the company amounted to $1.27 billion relative to $1.06 billion in 2016. This translates to a book value per share of $1.01 (2016: $0.84).
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