Date: January 14, 2018
Knutsford Express Services Limited (KEX), for the quarter ended November 30, 2018, reported total revenue of $555.11 million, a 25% or $109.68 million increase when compared with the $445.42 million reported for the same period in 2017. For the second quarter, revenues increased by 26% to close the period at $262.18 million versus $208.14 million of 2017.
Administrative and general expenses grew 22% to total $421.50 million (2017: $344.54 million). Consequently, gross profit rose 32% to close at $133.60 million compared to the $100.88 million for the same period a year ago.
Finance costs increased 45% to $15.63 million for the period from $10.80 million for 2016 while finance income surged to $6.04 million in 2018 relative to $900,708 a year ago.
Profit before taxation amounted to $124.01 million, relative to $90.98 million reported in 2016, a 36% increase. No taxes were incurred this year as a result of the Junior Market Tax holiday. For the quarter net profits amounted to $36.01 million (2017: $34.40 million), a 5% increase.
As such, earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter amounted to $0.072 (2017: $0.069) while for the six months the EPS was $0.25 (2017: $0.18). The twelve-month trailing EPS amounted to $0.42. The number of shares used in our calculations is 500,000,015.
KEX added, “On the basis of strong demand for our existing travel and courier services we have started to implement growth aimed at diversifying the company’s income stream. In this regard, at the end of the quarter, we moved to acquire a small coach charter operation in Florida, USA.”
Balance Sheet at a Glance:
As at November 30, 2018, assets totalled $832.36 million, $196.08 million more than the $636.27 million recorded last year. The increase in total assets was largely due to increases in ‘property, plant and equipment’ and ‘Other assets’ by $94.49 million and $56.48 million respectively to total $506.21 million and $84.46 million correspondingly.
Shareholder’s equity closed at $715.23 million (2017: $539.61 million). As such, the book value per share was $1.43 (2017: $1.08).
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