March 17, 2020

The Limners and Bards Limited (LAB), for the first quarter ended January 30, 2020, reported a 39% increase in operating revenues to $263 million versus $189.37 million booked in 2019.

Cost of operating revenue rose by 43% for the period to $172.72 million (2019: $121.17 million). Consequently, gross profit for the period rose by 32% closing at $90.28 million compared to $68.20 million for the same period last year.

The Company reported a 69% increase in administration expenses to $40.70 million (2019: $24.11 million). Also, selling and distribution costs for the quarter totaled $384,300 compared to $676,510 for the previous period. Therefore, total operating expenses amounted to $41.09 million, a 66% increase from the previous period which was $24.78 million. However, profit before net finance cost and taxation rose by 13% to $49.19 million (2019: $43.42 million).

Net finance costs went down to $145,332 (2019: $1.27 million). This was as a result of a surge in finance income to $1.22 million compared to $25,806 for the same quarter ended January 2019. Finance cost for the three months closed at $1.36 million (2019: $1.30 million).

Profit before taxation amounted to $48.91 million (2019: $42.14 million). There was no taxation booked for the period (2019: $9.58 million), as such net profit for the first quarter grew by 50% to $48.91 million (2019: $32.56 million).

Earnings per share (EPS) for the first quarter amounted to $0.05 compared to $0.03 for the corresponding quarter for the prior year. The trailing twelve month earnings per share amounted to $0.12. The number of shares used in our calculations is 945,690,252 units. Notably, LAB’s stock price closed the trading period on March 16, 2020 at a price of $2.03.

Balance Sheet Highlights: 

As at January 31, 2020, the Company reported total assets of $555.84 million, an 83% rise when compared to $304.45 million a year ago. This was as a result of ‘Accounts receivable’ and ‘Cash and cash equivalents’ which closed at $194.47 million (2019: $149.24 million) and $248.77 million (2019: $53.07 million), respectively.

Shareholders’ Equity as at January 31, 2020 was $386.06 million compared to $115.38 million a year ago. This resulted in a book value per share of $0.41 compared to $0.12 in 2019.

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