Date: September 11, 2018
CAC 2000 Limited (CAC) revenues for the nine months ended July 31, 2018 increased 14% to $908.81 million relative to $799.18 million for the comparable period in 2017. Revenues for the third quarter increased by 23% to $285.38 million compared to $231.67 million for the same period the prior financial year.
Cost of Sales also increased by 6% for the period to $556.01 million (2017: $522.70 million). Consequently, Gross Profit for the period improved $76.33 million or 28% to $352.80 million (2017: $276.48 million). For the quarter, Gross Profit climbed 42% to close at $103.64 million (2017: $73.15 million).
The Company reported a 31% increase in Total Expenses to $284.39 million (2017: $217.44 million). This was as a result of a 34% increase in General Administration to $257.19 million (2017: $191.34 million) and a 4% upward movement in Selling & Distribution Expenses to $27.20 million (2017: $26.10 million). According to the company “the increases were to cover additional salaries, professional fees, costs related to the recent preference share issue and training/travel expenses.” For the quarter, the Company reported a 26% increase in Total Expenses which closed at $88.89 million compared to $70.57 million in 2017.
Other Income of $7.33 million was recorded for the period up from $2.12 million reported for the same period the prior year. The Company noted that, “this was due to due a gain from motor vehicle disposal.” Consequently, Profit before Taxation and Finance Cost rose by 24% to $75.74 million (2017: $61.16 million).
Net Finance Costs decreased significantly by 71% for the period in review to $3.26 million (2017: $11.37 million). CAC mentioned that, “this was due to interest costs being offset by jumps in foreign exchange gains and interest income.” Interest expense for the nine months amounted to $16.62 million relative to $11.65 million twelve months earlier. Interest income and other gains amounted to $4.85 million (2017: $620,765) and $8.51 million (2017: $343,064) respectively.
Profit Before Taxation increased by 46% for the nine months to close at $72.48 million (2017: $49.79 million). No taxes were recorded for the period compared to a tax credit of $222,812 reported in 2017. As such, Net Profit for the nine months increased 45% to $72.48 million (2017: $50.01 million). Net Profit for the quarter was reported at $18.83 million compared to a loss of $1.64 million for the corresponding quarter of 2017.
Earnings-per-share (EPS) for the nine months amounted to $0.56 compared to $0.39 in 2017, while for the quarter the EPS amounted to $0.15 versus a loss per share of $0.01. The twelve months trailing EPS amounted to $0.95. The number of shares used in our calculations is 129,032,258 units. Notably, CAC’s stock price closed the trading period on September 10, 2018 at a price of $9.01.
The company highlighted that, “the CAC 2000 Foundation received a grant from the Jamaica Social Investment Fund Integrated Community Development Project for the Alternative Likelihood Skills Development to provide skills training to 100 persons by March 2019. This training started in July and the intention is to not only provide training but to seek to provide gainful employment for the trainees in the air-conditioning industry.”
Balance Sheet Highlights:
As at July 31, 2018, the Company reported total assets of $1.12 billion, a 34% increase when compared to $832.54 million a year ago. This was as a result ‘Inventories’ which increased 31% to $356.89 million (2017: $273.36 million) and ‘Trade and Other Receivables’ which rose 40% to $583.03 million (2017: $415.17 million). ‘Cash and Cash Equivalents’ went up 25% to $114.79 million.
Shareholders’ Equity as at July 31, 2018 was $485.25 million compared to $372.37 million a year ago. This resulted in a book value per share of $3.76 compared to $2.89 in 2017.
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