Date: December 17, 2019
The Limners and Bards Limited (LAB), for the year ended October 31, 2019, reported a 31% increase revenues to $631.85 million versus $483.19 million booked in 2018. Revenues for the quarter rose by 58% to $145.57 million (2018: $91.91 million).
Cost of operating revenue rose by 26% for the period to $405.12 million (2018: $320.51 million). Consequently, gross profit for the period rose by 39% closing at $226.73 million compared to $162.68 million for the same period last year. For the quarter, gross profit increased 69% to $53.77 million (2018: $31.91 million).
The Company reported a 43% increase in total operating expenses to $117.23 million (2018: $82.21 million). For the quarter, the Company reported a 45% increase in total operating expenses which closed the quarter at $36.35 million (2018: $25.06 million). Of total expenses:
Administrative expenses increased 41% to close at $115.15 million relative to $81.65 million in 2018.
Selling and distribution costs closed at $2.09 million (2018: $559,516).
Notably, the company booked ‘Loss on disposal of Property, Plant and Equipment’ $1.45 million in 2018 relative to nil in 2019. In addition, impairment losses on financial assets closed at $448,216 (2018: $315,591). Consequently, profit before net finance and taxation rose by 39% to $109.05 million (2018: $78.70 million).
Net finance costs fell to $1.51 million compared to net finance cost of $2.16 million for 2018. ‘Loss in value of investments classified as FVTPL’ amounted to $85,958 (2018: nil).
Profit before taxation amounted to $107.45 million (2018: $76.53 million). Taxation booked $12.70 million for the period (2018: $14.22 million), as such net profit for the year end grew by 52% to $94.75 million (2018: $62.31 million). Net profit for the quarter was reported at $24.93 million compared to $2.80 million booked in the corresponding quarter of 2018.
Earnings per share (EPS) for the year end amounted to $0.10 compared to $0.07 in 2018, while for the quarter EPS amounted to $0.026 versus $0.003 documented in the prior comparable quarter. The number of shares used in our calculations is 945,690,252 units. Notably, LAB’s stock price closed the trading period on December 16, 2019 at a price of $2.84.
Balance Sheet Highlights:
As at October 31, 2019, the Company reported total assets of $488.52 million, a 101% rise when compared to $243.15 million a year ago. This was as a result of ‘Accounts receivable’ and ‘Cash and cash equivalents’ which closed at $83.84 million (2018: $64.92 million ) and $291.58 million (2018: $61.88 million), respectively. Also, ‘Property, Plant and Equipment’ contributed to the growth closing at $99.98 million (2018: $91.58 million). This was however tempered by a downward movement in ‘Due from related parties’ which amounted to $10.31 million (2018: $24.77 million).
Shareholders’ Equity as at October 31, 2019 was $356.06 million compared to $122.82 million a year ago. This resulted in a book value per share of $0.38 compared to $0.13 in 2018.
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