May 12, 2020

FIRSTROCK Capital Holdings Group (FIRSTROCK)’s total investment income amounted to US$1.56 million for the three months ended March 31, 2020. Of this, rental income amounted to US$114,242, while fair value gains on investments totalled US$1.03 million. Interest income closed at US$217,282 for the quarter, while gain on acquisition of subsidiary totalled US$188,843. Other income for the three months amounted to US$7,811.

Administrative and general expenses closed at US$619,267 for the three months, while depreciation totalled US$2,793. Preference dividend amounted to US$113,298 booked during the period under review. FIRSTROCK, as at March 2020, reported allowance for credit losses of US$14,745. Thus, total operating expenses for the quarter amounted to US$750,103.

As such, profit before taxation for the quarter closed at US$808,318.
Taxation charges amounted to US$5,091, thus resulting in net profit of US$803,227 for the three months ended March 31, 2020. Profit attributable to shareholders amounted to US$797,485. Furthermore, total comprehensive income amounted to US$787,815 for the three months ended March 31, 2020.

FIRSTROCK stated, “this performance was buttressed by prudent deployment of capital, revenue growth and improved operational efficiency. A key risk mitigation strategy of FCH is the diversification of assets across multiple jurisdictions.”

Consequently, earnings per share (EPS) amounted to US$0.0028 for the quarter ended March 31, 2020. The Company’s six-months trailing EPS amounted to US$0.0044. The number of shares used in this calculation was 286,025,318 shares. FIRSTROCKJMD traded on May 11, 2020 at JMD$11.09 while FIRSTROCKUSD closed at US$0.09.

FIRSTROCK noted, “During the quarter, the Group acquired a super majority stake in Dolla-Financial Services Limited, a microlending company with operations in Jamaica and Guyana. This represents the first private equity transaction for the group and we have formulated a clear, precise and quantifiable strategy to grow the business both organically and through acquisition. Additionally, the group acquired properties located at 1-3 Bamboo Avenue, Kingston 6 Jamaica totalling 3.45 acres and is moving assiduously to execute its luxury multi-family residential development.”

Furthermore, Management highlighted, “St. Lucia recorded its first COVID-19 case in March of this year, so too has the Cayman Islands, Costa Rica and the United States as early as February. As such, FCH utilized the opportunity as a beta test of its Business Continuity Plan (BCP). First Rock Capital Resource Limited initiated its work from home policy to ensure that employees maintain social distancing whilst performing their job functions. With the advent of COVID-19, there comes with it, a falloff in economic activity. Unfortunately, no jurisdiction has been spared the economic impact of this pandemic and as such we have done and continue to do impact assessments for all our subsidiaries to ensure that we are employing risk mitigation strategies to circumvent or minimize the impact.”

Balance Sheet at a Glance:

As at March 31, 2020, total assets closed at US$34.83 million. Notably, investment property totalled US$15.80 million, while financial assets at amortised cost amounted to US$13.67 million as at March 31, 2020.

Shareholder’s equity totalled US$28.76 million resulting in a book value of US$0.1006.

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