Knutsford Express Services Limited (KEX) for the first quarter ended August 31, 2023 reported a 18% increase in revenue totalling $491.79 million compared to $415.09 million in the corresponding three months last year.

Administrative and General Expenses amounted to $380.34 million (2022: $302.94 million), this represents an increase of 26% year over year. Consequently, gross profit decreased by 1% to $111.45 million compared to $112.15 million for the first quarter ended August 31, 2022.

Finance Income increased by 4185% to close at $3.42 million (2022: $79,772), while Finance costs increased by 6% from $15.30 million in 2022 to $16.29 million for the three months. As a result, Profit before taxation for the first quarter amounted to $98.58 million, a 2% increase relative to $96.93 million reported in 2022.

Taxation for the three months amounted to $12.40 million, a 2% decrease relative to $12.70 million reported in 2022. Net Profit from continuing operations totalled $86.18 million a 2% increase from the corresponding period last year. (2022: $84.23 million).

Consequently, Earnings Per Share for the three months amounted to $0.172 (2022: EPS: $0.168). The twelve month trailing EPS was $0.61 and the number of shares used in these calculations was 500,000,015. Notably, KEX’s stock price closed the trading period on October 12, 2023 at a price of $12.34 with a corresponding P/E ratio of 20.14x.

Balance Sheet Highlights

As at August 31, 2023, assets totalled $1.85 billion, $329.91 million more than the $1.52 billion recorded last year. The increase in total assets was largely attributable to increases in ‘Short term Investments’ which closed at $306.22 million (2022: $178.17 million).

Shareholder’s equity was $1.14 billion (2022: $835.33 million), representing a book value per share of $2.28 (2022: $1.67).

Management noted, “In this quarter we increased our workforce and invested in our people as we sought to meet customer demand. As we manage growth, we are exploring new and improved products and services to make our travel and transportation experience offerings more seamless and enjoyable. In this regard, we are delighted to see more passengers taking advantage of booking their travel online and we are encouraged to deploy kiosk to complement this trend of customer empowerment.”

Kex noted, “We expect to deploy within the coming months two (2) new double-decker premium coaches in operation with another three (3) coaches to commence service by the end of the 3^rd quarter.”

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