June 15, 2020
CAC 2000 (CAC), for the six months ended April 30, 2020, reported revenues of $573.56 million versus $516.48 million booked in 2019. Revenues for the quarter fell by 24% to $266.99 million (2019: $350.06 million).
Cost of sales rose by 8% for the six months period to $368.94 million (2019: $342.83 million). Consequently, gross profit for the period increased by 18% closing at $204.62 million compared to $173.65 million for the same period last year. For the quarter, gross profit decreased 25% to $89.81 million (2019: $119.09 million).
The Company reported a 5% increase in total expenses to $214.26 million (2019: $204.16 million). There was a 4% increase in General Administration to $201.50 million (2019: $193.64 million). Management noted, “significant offsetting increases over budget were recorded in staff welfare, bad debt and insurance but major savings came from salaries, IT, depreciation, bade debt provision, bank charges, directors’ fees and professional fees.” While, there was a 21% increase in Selling & Distribution to $12.76 million (2019: $10.52 million) due to “advertising and salaries,” as per Management. For the quarter, the Company reported a 17% increase in total expenses which closed the quarter at $108.48 million (2019: $92.37 million).
Other income of $1.86 million was recorded for the period under review, down from $47.14 million reported for the same period in the prior year.
Consequently, loss before taxation and finance cost, for the six months ended April 30, 2020, amounted to $7.78 million relative to a profit of $16.64 million in 2019.
Net finance costs, for the six months ended April 30, 2020, went up to $13.75 million (2019: $13.57 million). Of this, interest expense for the six months amounted to $14.39 million (2019: $11.35 million). Interest income closed at $153,443 (2019: $134,283) whereas other gains closed at $487,894 versus other losses of $2.35 million reported in the same period last year. The Company stated that “finance costs increased marginally due to changes in interest expenses offset by exchange losses.”
Loss before taxation for the six months amounted to $21.53 million relative to a profit of $3.07 million in 2019. No taxes were recorded for the period, as such net loss totalled for the six months $21.53 million relative to a profit of $3.07 million in 2019. Net loss for the quarter was reported at $22.84 million compared to a net profit of $40.76 million booked in the corresponding quarter of 2019.
Total comprehensive loss for the six months amounted to $21.53 million relative to total comprehensive income of $3.07 million. For the quarter, total comprehensive loss was $22.84 million relative to total comprehensive income of $40.76 million in the corresponding quarter in 2019.
CAC noted that, “the increased revenues and profits for this quarter demonstrates our continued recovery from the challenges arising from the road construction works in the prior year, despite the Covid-19 impact.”
Loss per share (LPS) for the six months amounted to $0.17 compared to an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.02 in 2019, while for the quarter LPS amounted to $0.18 versus an EPS of $0.32 documented in the prior comparable quarter. The twelve months trailing LPS amounted to $0.40. The number of shares used in our calculations is 129,032,258 units. Notably, CAC’s stock price closed the trading period on June 12, 2020 at a price of $9.40.
Management mentioned that, “the Covid-19 pandemic has negatively affected operations as customers have closed their job sites, walk in sales activity and collections are down, St, Catherine curfew impacted our workforce movement and we have incurred additional costs for employee and customer safety- the result is a reduction in net earnings. Despite the above, we kept all staff on board on a rostered and work from home basis and took the opportunity to work on improving of operating effectiveness and pivoting into new business opportunities to provide solutions for our customers.”
Looking forward to the rest of the year, CAC noted that, “we foresee that operations will continue to be difficult and we will continue to adjust operations, reduce costs and execute, subject to customer and policy constraints, our large project portfolio. We have already launched multiple product/solutions related to indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and getting significant traction as we help our customers prepare for return to the “new normal.” There will be further opportunities for expanded and new areas of business, and we plan to emerge from this pandemic invigorated and restored.”
Balance Sheet Highlights:
As at April 30, 2020, the Company reported total assets of $1.14 billion, a 4% increase when compared to $1.10 billion a year ago. This was as a result of ‘Trade and Other Receivables’ and ‘Inventories’ which closed at $561.63 million (2019: $520.45 million) and $326.48 million (2019: $294.78 million), respectively. This was however tempered by a downward movement in ‘Due from related parties’ which amounted to $29.36 million (2019: $56.12 million).
Shareholders’ Equity as at April 30, 2020 was $345.42 million compared to $490.60 million a year ago. This resulted in a book value per share of $2.68 compared to $3.80 in 2019.
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