July 30, 2019
Express Catering Limited (ECL) for the year ended May 31, 2019 reported a 10% increase in revenue to US$17.32 million (2018: US$15.71 million). Revenue for the quarter advanced 17% to close at US$5.21 million relative to US$4.44 million reported the previous year.
Cost of sales (COS) increased by 10% for the period to US$5.07 million (2018: US$4.60 million). As a result gross profit increased year-on-year by 10%, from US$11.10 million in 2018 to US$12.25 million in 2019. Gross profit for the fourth quarter improved from US$1.62 million in 2018 to US$1.82 million, a 20% increase year over year.
Total expenses increased by 15% for the period in review to US$8.23 million for 2019, up from US$7.15 million booked for 2018’s year end. The rise was associated with a 15% increase in administrative expenses to US$7.63 million from US$6.61 million. Depreciation and Amortization saw an 8% increase to US$554,827 compared to US$511,804 for the comparable period in 2018. Promotional expenses also saw a 33% increase from US$35,931 to US$47,794. Total expenses for the fourth quarter climbed 31% to close at US$2.19 million (2018: US$1.67 million).
Consequently, operating profit for the period grossly increased by 2% to US$4.02 million (2018: US$3.95 million). Operating profit for the quarter totalled US$1.21 million, a growth of 5% relative to US$1.15 booked for the corresponding quarter of 2018.
Finance cost of US$342,047 (2018: US$341,131) was incurred for the period, while foreign exchange gain amounted to US$50,565 relative to the loss of US$44,379 booked in 2018.
Pre-tax profit for the year totalled US$3.73 million, a 5% increase above the US$3.56 million recorded for 2018. The was no tax for the FY2019, however, taxation for the FY2018 totalled US$114,969. Consequently, net profit for the period amounted to US$3.73million, an 8% increase above the US$3.45 million recorded for 2018. For the quarter, net profit amounted to US$1.18 million versus US$925,167 booked for the comparable period in 2018, a 28% increase.
Earnings per share (EPS) for the year ended totalled US$0.23 cents (2018: US$0.21 cents). Earnings per share for the quarter amounted to US$0.07 cents (2018: US$0.06 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 July 30, 2019 at a price of JMD$6.45.
Balance Sheet Highlights:
The company, as at May 31, 2019, recorded total assets of US$8.53 million (2018: US$12.41 million). Notably, property, plant and equipment amounted to US$4.39 million (US$4.65 million), ‘Licensing and franchises’ was US$1.02 million (2018: US$900,130), while ‘Owing by related companies’ totalled US$1.53 million (2018: US$6 million).
Total Stockholders’ equity as at May 31, 2019 closed at US$3.21 million (2018: US$6.48 million); this resulted in a book value of US$0.20cents (2018: US$0.40 cents)
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