January 17, 2022

Paramount Trading (Jamaica) Limited for the six months ended November 30, 2021 recorded a 15% increase in total revenues to $770.49 million from $668.61 million reported in 2020. For the quarter, revenues rose 31% to close at $401.18 million (2020: $306.60 million). PTL added that, “The reduction in curfew hours, elimination of  “no movement days” and opening some schools to face to face during the quarter contributed to a general improvement in the economy. During the period, revenue growth strategies employed by the Company resulted in improvement in our revenue, led primarily by our food division.”

Direct expenses closed the period at $529.47 million 17% growth compared to the $452.26 million booked in the corresponding period in 2020. Notwithstanding, gross profit rose by11% to $241.02 million (2020: $216.36 million). For the quarter, gross profit closed at $129.92 million relative to $100.02 million reported in the prior corresponding quarter.

Other operating income amounted $22.67 million for the six months period; a 78% uptick compared to the $12.75 million booked for the previous year’s corresponding period. For the second quarter, other operating income grew by 24% to close at $9.54 million (2020: $7.69 million).

Administrative expenses grew 3% to $181.30 million, up from the $176.83 million recorded for 2020. Selling and distribution expenses rose by 8% for the six months period to close at $5.60 million (2020: $5.20 million). As such, operating profit amounted to $76.79 million compared to $47.07 million for the same period of the prior financial year. For the quarter, operating profit rose by 170% to close the quarter at $45.16 million (2020: $16.75 million).

Finance income amounted to $1.84 million up 55% when compared to the $1.19 million reported for the prior comparable period, while finance costs fell 6% to total $24.33 million (2020: $25.75 million).

Pre-tax profit for the period totalled $54.29 million, 141% more than the $22.51 million reported in prior corresponding period. Taxes were charged for the period totalled $6.79 million relative to $2.81 million in 2020.

As such, net profit for the period being total comprehensive income totalled $47.51 million, an increase of 141% (2020: $19.70 million) when compared to 2020 six-month period. However, for the second quarter, net profit totalled $28.58 million in 2021 relative to $4.52 million in comparable quarter of 2020.

Earnings per share for the six months totalled $0.03 (2020: $0.01). As for the second quarter, EPS amounted to $0.019 (2020: $0.003). The trailing twelve months earnings per share is $0.06. The number of shares used in our calculations is 1,542,467,080 units. PTL stock price closed the trading period at a price of $1.46 on January 14, 2022 with a corresponding P/E of 24.63 times.

Balance Sheet Highlights:

As of November 30, 2021, the company’s assets totalled $1.75 billion, $48.23 million more than the $1.70 billion quoted a year ago. The main contributor to this growth due to ‘Receivables’ which closed at $346.37 million a 38% growth relative to the $250.30 million recorded in 2020.

Shareholder’s equity as of November 30, 2021 stood at $843.83 million (2020: $814.08 million) resulting in a book value per share of $0.55 (2020: $0.53).

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