November 15, 2023
Berger Paints Jamaica Limited (BRG) for the nine months ended September 30, 2023, reported a 2% increase in Turnover totaling $2.23 billion compared to $2.18 billion in the corresponding period last year. Turnover for the third quarter experienced a 3% decrease to close at $768.13 million compared to $789.25 million for the comparable quarter of 2022.
Raw materials and consumable used increased negligibly to close at $1.244 billion (2022: $1.241 billion), while Employee benefits expense decreased by 2% from $423.67 million in 2022 to $416.28 million in the period under review.
For the nine months, changes in inventories of finished goods and work in progress recorded a loss of $60.94 million relative to an income of $19.51 million in the prior year.
As a result, total expenses for the nine months amounted to $2.43 billion, an 11% increase relative to $2.19 billion reported in 2022.
BRG noted, “Consumer demand across the Hardware network and Retail Channel continues to be a challenge while our Projects Channel has shown strong performances year-to-date over 2022.”
Loss before Finance Cost and Taxation for the nine months ended September 30, 2023, amounted to $242.98 million, relative to a profit of $25.61 million reported in 2022. Loss before Finance Cost and Taxation for the third quarter amounted to $111.11 million (2022: Profit of $1.08 million).
Taxation credit for the nine months was $14.27 million (2022: Taxation charge of $4.80 million). Net loss for the nine months amounted to $228.71 million versus a net profit of $20.81 million reported in 2022. For the third quarter, Net loss was $105.82 million (2022: Net loss of $500,000).
Consequently, Loss Per Share for the nine months amounted to $1.07 (2022: EPS of $0.10), while Loss Per Share for the quarter totaled $0.49 (2022: LPS of $0.002). The twelve-month trailing LPS was $1.16, and the number of shares used in these calculations was 214,322,393.
Notably, BRG’s stock price closed the trading period on November 14, 2023, at a price of $6.00.
Balance Sheet Highlights
The company’s assets totalled $2.18 billion (2022: $2.31 billion). The decline resulted from a 62% fall in ‘post-employment benefit assets’ closing at $81.11 million.
Shareholder’s equity was $996.52 million (2022: $1.32 billion), representing a book value per share of $4.65 (2022: $6.15).
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