June 17, 2021

Lasco Financial Services Limited (LASF), recorded trading income of $2.22 billion, this represents a reduction of 8% when compared to $2.40 billion posted at the end of 2020 while trading income for the fourth quarter amounted to $543.15 million (2020: $587.89 million).

Other income decreased to $75.09 million versus $102.87 million in 2020. This resulted in overall income of $2.29 billion, a reduction of 9% when compared to $2.51 billion for the corresponding period in 2020. For the fourth quarter, total income closed at $605.21 million (2020: $579.23 million).

Operating expenses amounted to $1.85 billion, 19% less than the $2.28 billion reported the year prior. Of this:

• Administrative costs closed at $1.079 billion (2020: $1.082 million) at end of March 2021.
• Selling and promotional costs amounted to $765.82 million (2020: $1.19 billion) at the end of the 2021 financial year.

Consequently, due to the decrease in total expenses, profit from operations increased by 94% to total $447.43 million relative to the $230.31 million booked last year.  As for the quarter, LASF booked a profit from operations of $56.97 million relative a loss of $109.90 million recorded at the end of 2020.

Finance costs decreased to $187.05 million (2020: $208.35 million), resulting in a profit before tax of $260.38 million relative to the $21.97 million booked at the end 2020. For the quarter, profit before tax closed at $10.88 million relative to a loss of $170.19 million documented twelve months earlier.

Net profit closed the period under review at $156.75 million versus a loss of $56.92 million posted the same period last year. Taxes for the period amounted to $103.63 million (2020: $78.89 million). Net profit for the quarter amounted to $2.84 million relative to 2020 fourth quarter loss of $133.85 million.

Earnings per share amounted to $0.12 (2020 LPS: $0.05), while for the quarter, EPS closed at $0.002 (2020 LPS: $0.11). The number of shares used in our calculations amounted to 1,270,561,058 units. LASF closed the trading period on June 16, 2021 at $3.52 with a corresponding P/E of 28.53 times.

Balance Sheet Highlights:

As at March 31, 2021, the Company’s total assets closed the period at $4.30 billion, 9% more than its value of $3.96 billion a year ago. This increase was largely due to ‘Cash and cash equivalents’ and ‘Short term Deposits’ which closed at $1.06 billion (2020: $487.44 million) and $312.76 million (2020: $235.49 million), respectively. However, these were tempered by a decline in ‘Receivables’ by $272.67 million to $1.64 billion (2020: $1.91 billion).

Shareholders’ equity attributable to stockholders of the Company amounted to $1.70 billion relative to $1.54 billion booked in 2020. This translates to a book value per share of $1.34 (2020: $1.21).

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