March 1, 2024

Jamaica Stock Exchange Limited (JSE) for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023, reported a 1% increase in Total Income of $2.18 billion compared to $2.16 billion in the corresponding period last year. Total Income for the fourth quarter had a 19% increase to close at $535.61 million compared to $449.66 million for the comparable quarter of 2022. Of this:

• Fee Income amounted to $1.70 billion (2022: $1.54 billion), this represents an increase of 10% year over year.
• Other operating income increased by 13% to $118.00 million compared to $104.81 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022.
• Cess decreased by 33% to close at $321.68 million (2022: $477.50 million).

Staff costs increased by 11% from $632.49 million in 2022 to $699.95 million in the period under review, while property expenses amounted to $341.57 million (2022: $305.47 million).

Total expenses for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023, amounted to $1.57 billion, a 10% increase relative to $1.43 billion reported in 2022.

Net Investment Income for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023, amounted to $64.36 million, a 110% increase relative to $30.72 million reported in 2022. Net Investment Income for the fourth quarter amounted to $22.47 million (2022: $21.67 million).

Profit before Taxation for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023, amounted to $683.00 million, a 10% decrease relative to $762.55 million reported in 2022. Profit before Taxation for the fourth quarter amounted to $237.57 million (2022: $138.09 million).

Taxation for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023, had a 3% increase to reach $267.00 million (2022: $259.31 million).

Net Profit for the twelve months amounted to $416.00 million, a 17% decrease from the $503.24 million reported in 2022. For the fourth quarter, Net Profit was $138.53 million (2022: $85.67 million).

Consequently, Earnings Per Share for the twelve months amounted to $0.59 (2022: EPS: $0.72), while Earnings Per Share for the quarter totalled $0.20 (2022: EPS: $0.12). The number of shares used in these calculations was 701,250,000.

Notably, JSE’s stock price closed the trading period on February 29, 2024, at a price of $10.03 with a corresponding P/E ratio of 16.91x.

Balance Sheet Highlights

The company’s assets totalled $3.06 billion (2022: $2.61 billion). The growth in total assets was primarily due to ‘Property, Plant & Equipment’ increasing 21% to $1.35 billion (2022: $1.11 billion).

Shareholder’s equity was $2.62 billion (2022: $2.22 billion), representing a book value per share of $3.73 (2022: $3.17).

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