Date: September 5, 2018
Express Catering Limited (ECL) for the year ended May 31, 2018 reported a 10% increase in revenue to US$15.71 million (2017: US$14.23 million). Revenue for the quarter advanced 5% to close at US$4.35 million relative to US$4.21 million reported the previous year.
Cost of sales (COS) increased by 13% for the period to US$4.60 million (2017: US$4.08 million). As a result gross profit increased year-on-year by 9%, from US$10.15 million in 2017 to US$11.1 million in 2018. Gross profit for the fourth quarter improved from US$2.69 million in 2017 to US$2.82 million, a 5% increase year over year.
Total expenses decreased by 16% for the period in review to US$7.15 million for 2017, down from US$8.51 million booked for 2017’s year end.
- The decrease was associated with a 17% decline in administrative expenses to US$6.61 million from US$7.97 million:
- Group recoverable costs booked in 2017 in the amount of US$1.4 million was not repeated for the current financial year.
- Franchise fees declined for the year by US$636,686 to US$481,133 (2017: US$1.12 million).
- Depreciation and Amortization saw a 3% decline to US$511,804 compared to US$525,418 for the comparable period in 2017.
- Promotional expenses however saw a 73% increase from US$20,762 to US$35,931. Total expenses for the quarter declined 25% to close at US$1.67 million (2017: $2.23 million).
Consequently, operating profit for the period grossly increased by 141% to US$3.95 million (2017: US$1.64 million). Operating profit for the quarter totalled US$1.1 million, a growth of 154% relative to US$451,581 booked for the corresponding quarter of 2017.
Finance cost of US$341,131 (2017: US$362,347) was incurred for the period, while foreign exchange loss amounted to US$44,379 relative to the gain of US$37,207 booked in 2017.
Pre-tax profit for the year totalled US$3.56 million, a 170% increase above the US$1.32 million recorded for 2017.
Taxation for the period totalled US$114,969 (2017: US$240,774). Consequently, net profit for the period amounted to US$3.45 million, a 219% increase above the US$1.08 million recorded for 2017. For the quarter, net profit amounted to US$925,167 versus US$131,500 booked for the comparable period in 2017, a 604% increase.
Earnings per share (EPS) for the year ended totaled US$0.21 cents (2017: US$0.07 cents). Earnings per share for the quarter amounted to US0.06 cents (2017: US0.01 cents). The number of shares used in the calculation was 1,637,500,000 units. Notably, ECL’s stock price closed the trading period on September 5, 2018 at a price of JMD$8.00.
Balance Sheet Highlights:
The company, as at May 31, 2018, recorded total assets of US$12.41 million (2017: US$9.54 million). Notably, property, plant and equipment amounted to US$4.65 million (US$4.44 million), while ‘Owing by related companies’ totalled US$6.0 million (2017: US$3.62 million).
Total Stockholders’ equity as at May 31, 2018 closed at US$6.48 million (2017: US$4.55 million); this resulted in a book value of US$0.40cents (2017: US$0.28 cents)
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