September 13, 2022
Express Catering Limited (ECL) for the year ended May 31, 2022 reported a 223% increase in revenue to US$14.24 million (2021: US$4.41 million). Revenue for the quarter climbed 116% to close at US$4.63 million relative to US$2.14 million reported the previous year.
Cost of sales (COS) rose by 228% for the period to US$5 million (2021: US$1.53 million). Likewise, gross profit grew year-on-year by 220%, from US$2.89 million in 2021 to US$9.24 million in 2022. Gross profit for the fourth quarter climbed significantly from US$1.19 million in 2021 to US$2.90 million, a 145% increase year over year.
Total expenses increased by 54% for the period in review to US$6.80 million, up from US$4.43 million booked for 2021’s year end. The growth was associated with a 100% uptick in administrative expenses to US$4.02 million from US$2.01 million booked in the same period last year. Depreciation and Amortization saw a 15% increase to US$2.78 million compared to US$2.41 million for the comparable period in 2021. Promotional expenses saw a 65% decrease from US$13,996 in 2021 to US$4,858 for the period under review. Total expenses for the fourth quarter rose 10% to close at US$1.68 million (2021: US$1.52 million).
Consequently, operating profit for the period amounted to US$2.43 million relative to the loss of US$1.54 million in 2021. Operating profit for the quarter totalled US$1.23 relative to the loss of US$336,749 booked for the corresponding quarter of 2021.
Finance cost of US$2.07 million (2021: US$1.93 million) was incurred for the period and foreign exchange gain amounted to US$8,059 relative to loss of US$59,378 reported a year prior.
Pre-tax profit for the year totalled US$1.10 million, a significant increase when compared to the pre-tax loss of US$1.73 million recorded for 2021. No tax was incurred for the period under review, as such net profit amounted to US$1.10 million (2021: loss of US$1.73 million). For the quarter, net profit amounted to US$732,296 versus a net profit of US$706,879 booked for the comparable period in 2021.
Earning per share (EPS) for the year ended totalled US0.07 cents (2021: LPS of US0.11 cents). Earnings per share for the quarter amounted to US0.04 cents (2021: EPS of US0.04 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 12, 2022 at a price of J$5.60 with a corresponding P/E ratio of 54.03 times.
Balance Sheet Highlights:
The Company, as at May 31, 2022, recorded total assets of US$40.49 million (2021: US$39.81 million). The 2% increase in the asset base was primarily attributable to the 40% increase in ‘Due from related companies’ which amounted to US$10.66 million (2021: US$7.64 million), this was slightly tempered by a US$2.18 million decline in ‘Right-of-use asset’ which ended at US$24.03 million (2021: US$26.22 million).
Total Stockholders’ equity as at May 31, 2022 closed at US$3.34 million (2021: US$2.24 million); this resulted in a book value of US0.20 cents (2021: US0.14 cents).
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