Date: January 14, 2019
Paramount Trading (Jamaica) Limited for the six months ended November 30, 2018 recorded a slight 1% increase in total revenues to $697.28 million from $687.18 million reported in 2017. For the quarter, revenues declined 9% to close at $325.10 million (2017: $356.29 million).
PTL mentioned that, “since the beginning of this financial year, the company commenced accounting for the new joint venture blending operations with Allegheny and consequently its share of the profit from sales by the new venture, which amounted to $1.4 million for the current quarter and $2.1 million YTD.”
Direct expenses closed the period at $464.75 million, a decrease of approximately $21.98 million relative to the $486.72 million booked a year ago. As a result of the decline in direct expenses, gross profit grew by approximately 16% to $232.53 million (2017: $200.45 million). For the quarter, gross profit closed at $109.90 million relative to $99.08 million reported in the prior corresponding quarter.
Other operating income amounted $2.41 million for the six months period, a decline of 6% compared to $2.56 million booked for the previous year’s corresponding period. For the second quarter, other operating income fell by 24% to close at $1.01 million (2017: $1.33 million).
Administrative expenses climbed 31% to $177.59 million, up from the $135.64 million recorded for 2017. Selling and distribution expenses surged significantly by 56% for the six months to close at $13.72 million (2017: $8.79 million). As such, operating profit amounted to $45.72 million compared to $58.59 million for the same period of the prior financial year. For the quarter, operating profit went down 37% to close the quarter at $13.50 million (2017: $21.50 million)
Finance income amounted to $220,767 down 61% when compared to the $559,233 reported for the prior year, while finance costs grew grossly by 314% to total $6.37 million (2017: $1.54 million).
Pre-tax profit for the period totalled $39.58 million, 31% less than the $57.61 million reported in prior corresponding period. Taxes were charged for the period totalled $4.95 million relative to nil in 2017. As such, Net profit attributable to shareholders totalled $34.63 million, a decline of 40% (2017: $57.61 million).
Earnings per share for the six months totalled $0.02 (2017: $0.04). The trailing twelve months earnings per a share is $0.02. 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 $2.60 on January 14, 2019.
Balance Sheet Highlights:
As at November 30, 2018, the company’s assets totalled $1.27 billion, $214.60 million more than the $1.05 billion quoted a year ago. The main contributor to this growth was the increase in ‘Receivables’ which closed at $399.10 million relative to $321.28 million a year ago. ‘Inventories’ as at November 30, 2018 amounted to $553.83 million, a 40% growth relative to the $394.43 million recorded in 2017.
Shareholder’s equity as at November 30, 2018 stood at $713.35 million (2017: $739.39 million) resulting in a book value per share of $0.46 (2017: $0.48).
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