June 2, 2020

Consolidated Bakeries (Jamaica) Limited (PURITY) recorded a 7% increase in revenue to $1.03 billion from $960.32 million reported for the corresponding period in 2018. For the quarter, the Company recorded revenues of $240.55 million (2018: $243.87 million), representing a 1% decline.

Cost of sales for the year ended December 31, 2019 rose by 9% to close at $642.42 million (2018: $588.15 million), leading to a gross profit of $384.84 million (2018: $372.17 million). Within the quarter, PURITY recorded cost of sales of $157.75 million, up 3% relative to $153.06 million booked in the same quarter last year. As such, fourth quarter’s gross profit totaled $82.80 million, reflecting a decrease of 9% year over year (2018: $90.80 million).

The Company reported total expenses of $388.95 million, a 14% rise when compared to the $340.19 million reported in 2018. Of this, Administrative expenses amounted to $153.45 million,  a 13% increase relative to $135.25 million reported in 2018. Selling expenses went up by 15% to close at $204.05 million (2018: $177.57 million), whereas depreciation closed at $31.45 million (2018: $27.37 million).

This resulted in an operating loss of $4.11 million for the year end compared to an operating profit of $31.98 million documented for the comparable period in 2018. For the quarter, operating loss amounted to $24.13 million relative to operating profit of $2.56 million recorded in the prior corresponding quarter.

Finance costs decreased by 26% to close at $16.97 million versus $23.07 million booked twelve months earlier. While, other Income went up by 14% to close at $11.37 million (2018: $9.94 million).

Consequently, PURITY recorded loss before tax of $9.71 million compared to pretax profit of $18.85 million for the same period last year.  Pretax loss for the quarter closed at $25.19 million compared to loss before tax of $4.14 million in the previous comparable quarter.

The Company incurred taxes of $2.78 million (2018: $5.89 million) for the period under review, resulting in net loss of $12.49 million versus a profit of $12.96 million booked twelve months earlier. For the quarter, the Company recorded a net loss of $26.04 million compared to a loss of $7.15 million for the corresponding quarter in 2018.

Total comprehensive loss closed the period under review at $14.36 million compared to total comprehensive income of $4.26 million in the prior comparable period.

As a result, loss per share (LPS) for the year end amounted to $0.06 compared to earnings per share (EPS) of $0.06 reported in 2018. For the quarter, the loss per share totaled $0.12 relative to LPS of $0.03 in 2018. The number of shares used in our calculations is 222,709,171 units. PURITY stock last traded on June 1, 2020 at $1.64.

Balance Sheet Highlights:

PURITY, as at December 31, 2019, recorded ‘Total Assets’ of $991.68 million (2018: $983.14 million), an increase of 1% year over year. The increase was attributed mainly to a 2% and 9% growth in ‘Property, Plant and Equipment’ and ‘Trade and other Receivables’ which closed at $742.75 million (2018: $724.80 million) and $102.14 million (2018: $93.93 million), respectively.

Shareholders’ equity totaled $706.30 million (2018: $720.66 million), resulting in a book value per share of $3.17 (2018: $3.24).

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