May 1, 2023
Jamaican Teas Limited (JAMT) reported a 14% increase in revenues to total $1.33 billion (2022: $1.17 billion). For the quarter, revenues amounted to $665.51 million a 16% increase when compared to $574.53 million in the previous corresponding period.
Cost of sales increased by 16% to $1.03 billion (2022: $893.93 million) for the six months ended March 31, 2023. Gross profit rose 7% to close at $296.33 million relative to $276.70 million booked for last year’s corresponding period. Gross profit for the quarter closed at $146.76 million (2022: $130.14 million). JAMT highlighted, “The company experienced sharp increases in ocean marine freight rates during 2022 and the effects of these higher costs are still being reflected in the cost of inventories purchased in 2022 but consumed in the current financial period. Not all of these cost increases were passed on to customers”.
Other loss for the period amounted to $57.20 million versus other income of $242.91 million recorded the prior year’s corresponding period. Other income for the quarter closed at $11.50 million, which reflects an 85% decline when compared to other income of $75.71 million documented for the same period last year. Management stated that “During this quarter, the decline in the prices of stocks on the Jamaica Stock Exchange continued from the first quarter. While share prices overseas increased significantly, this improved performance was insufficient to offset the declines in Jamaica. We still expect this adverse trend will be reversed later in the year, as inflation rates continue to decline and interest rates appear to have peaked and begun a decline downwards”.
Sales and marketing cost rose by 64% to $25.16 million for the six months ended March 2023 relative to $15.35 million for the same period of 2022. Administrative expenses went up by 1%, totalling $170.10 million (2022: $168.91 million).
Finance cost for the period under review amounted to $30.41 million (2022: $21.80 million), while for the quarter finance costs closed at $16.10 million versus $12.52 million in the prior year’s corresponding quarter.
Consequently, pretax profit totalled $13.46 million for the period compared to $313.54 million in 2022. For the quarter, JAMT recorded a pretax profit of $42.09 million relative to $109.43 million in 2022.
JAMT documented a net profit of $48.08 million year to date, relative to $251.83 million recorded twelve months earlier. For the quarter, net profit closed at $62.34 million (2022: $87.26 million). Net profit attributable to shareholders for the period under review totalled $86.20 million compared to $171.15 million in 2022. Net profit attributable to shareholders for the quarter closed at $58.63 million relative to $62.48 million in 2022.
Consequently, earnings per share (EPS) totalled $0.04 compared to $0.08 for the period ended March 31, 2022. For the quarter, EPS closed at $0.03 (2022: $0.03). The twelve months earnings per share amounted to $0.05. The numbers of shares used in the calculations are 2,159,880,377 units. JAMT last traded on April 28, 2023 at $2.41 with a corresponding P/E of 47.76 times.
Balance Sheet Highlights:
As at March 31, 2023, the Company total assets amounted to $4.86 billion, an increase of 8% when compared to the $4.51 billion reported as at March 2022. The main contributor of this increase was ‘Property, Plant and Equipment’ which totaled $861.04 million (2022: $401.57 million).
Shareholders’ Equity totalled $2.75 billion as at March 31, 2023 (2022: $2.30 billion), resulting in a book value per share of $1.28 (2022: $1.07).
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