August 05, 2024

Paramount Trading (Jamaica) Limited (PTL)

Audited financials for the twelve months ended May 31, 2024:

Paramount Trading (Jamaica) Limited  (PTL), for the twelve months ended May 31, 2024, reported a 34% decrease in revenue totaling $1.62 billion compared to $2.46 billion in the corresponding period last year. Revenue for the fourth quarter had a 58% decrease to close at $349.66 million compared to $829.60 million for the comparable quarter of 2023.

Direct Expenses amounted to $1.00 billion (2023: $1.67 billion), a decrease of 43% year over year. Consequently, gross Profit decreased by 15% to $614.96 million compared to $798.64 million for the twelve months ended May 31, 2023. The company booked a gross Profit of $138.84 million for the fourth quarter versus $172.60 million reported for the similar quarter of 2023.

Other operating expense decreased by 155% to close at $46.22 million (2023: other operating income of $6.91 million), while Administrative Expenses increased by 10% from $436.12 million in 2023 to $480.51 million in the period under review. As a result, total expenses for the twelve months ended May 31, 2024, amounted to $501.68 million, a 7% increase relative to $467.80 million reported in 2023.

Operating Profit for the twelve months ended May 31, 2024, amounted to $67.05 million, an 80% decrease relative to $337.77 million reported in 2023. Operating loss for the fourth quarter amounted to $101.36 million (2023: operating income of $97.71 million). Net Finance cost totaled $68.88 million, a 46% increase from last year’s corresponding period (2023: $47.02 million).

Pretax loss for the twelve months ended May 31, 2024, amounted to $1.83 million, a 101% decrease relative to the pretax profit of $290.72 million reported in 2023. Pretax loss for the fourth quarter amounted to $126.02 million (2023: pretax profit of $83.61 million).

Taxation for the twelve months ending May 30, 2024, increased 72% to $12.53 million (2023: $45.31 million). Net loss for the twelve months amounted to $14.36 million, a 106% decrease from the net profit of $245.41 million reported in 2023. For the fourth quarter, Net loss closed at  $114.29 million (2023: net profit of $66.37 million).

Consequently, Loss Per Share for the twelve months amounted to $0.01 (2023: EPS: $0.16), while Loss Per Share for the quarter totaled $0.07 (2023: EPS: $0.04). The number of shares used in the calculations were 1,542,467,080 units.

Notably, PTL’s stock closed the trading period on August 02, 2024, at $1.45.

Balance Sheet Highlights

The company’s assets totaled $2.08 billion (2023: $2.22 billion). The company’s total asset base decreased due to a reduction in “Receivables,” closing the year at $527.65 million (2023: $802.76 million). There was also a material reduction in “Inventories” of $75.31 million ending the fiscal year at $664.44 million (2023: $739.75 million), which represented a year-over-year decline of 10% and a $9.25 million decrease in “Right of use Assets” closing the fiscal year at $46.26 million (2023: $55.52 million) representing a 17% year over year decrease.  

Shareholder’s equity was $1.04 billion (2023: $1.13 billion), representing a book value per share of $0.67 (2023: $0.73). This decline is ascribed to a 9% year-over-year decline in the “Retained Earnings” account, ending the fiscal year at $962.03 million (2023: $1.05 billion).

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