Date: July 26, 2019
The Limner and Bards Limited (LAB), for the six months ended April 30, 2019, reported a 28% increase revenues to $334.48 million versus $260.64 million booked in 2018. Revenues for the quarter rose by 7% to $145.11 million (2018: $136.19 million).
Cost of operating revenue rose by 30% for the period to $209.58 million (2018: $106.63 million). Consequently, gross profit for the period rose by 25% closing at $124.90 million compared to $100.02 million for the same period last year. For the quarter, gross profit increased 58% to $56.70 million (2018: $35.83 million).
The Company reported a 29% increase in administration expenses to $50.54 million (2018: $39.33 million). For the quarter, the Company reported a 135% increase in administrative expenses which closed the quarter at $25.75 million (2018: $10.94 million).
Consequently, profit before taxation rose by 23% to $74.37 million (2018: $60.69 million).
Net finance costs went up to $2.23 million compared to net finance income of $186,894 for the same period in the prior year.
Profit before taxation amounted to $72.14 million (2018: $60.88 million). Taxation booked $15.02 million for the period (2018: $7.91 million), as such net profit for the six months grew by 8% to $57.12 million (2018: $52.96 million). Net profit for the quarter was reported at $24.56 million compared to $22.95 million booked in the corresponding quarter of 2018.
Earnings per share (EPS) for the six months amounted to $0.06 compared to a similar $0.06 in 2018, while for the quarter EPS amounted to $0.03 versus $0.02 documented in the prior comparable quarter. The twelve months trailing EPS amounted to $0.07. The number of shares used in our calculations is 945,690,252 units. Notably, LAB’s stock price closed the trading period on July 26, 2019 at a price of $1.30.
Balance Sheet Highlights:
As at April 30, 2019, the Company reported total assets of $315.52 million, a 32% rise when compared to $239.56 million a year ago. This was as a result of ‘Accounts receivable’ and ‘Cash and cash equivalents’ which closed at $133.46 million (2018: $67.65 million ) and $89.37 million (2018: $59.73 million), respectively. This was however tempered by a downward movement in ‘Due from related parties’ which amounted to $3.11 million (2018: $20.98 million).
Shareholders’ Equity as at April 30, 2019 was $139.94 million compared to $113.47 million a year ago. This resulted in a book value per share of $0.15 compared to $0.12 in 2018.
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