QWI Investments Limited (QWI), for the six months ended March 31, 2021, reported total income of $265.33 million relative to total loss of $622.75 million booked in the corresponding period last year. Of this:

• QWI recorded gains from investment activities of $259.28 million for the period ended March 2021 relative to a loss from investment activities of $622.29 million for the comparable period in 2020. While for the quarter, gain from investment activities amounted to $126.85 million versus loss from investment activities of $529.71 million in the prior comparable quarter. “QWI’s Jamaican portfolio produced $191 million of unrealised gains in the half year while we realised gains of $56 million in the USA portfolio. The total investment gain for the half year was $259 million which represents a $881 million swing from the $622 million of net losses in the year ago period. The Company’s USA investment portfolio produced a total return of 27.5 percent in US dollars, representing a significant outperformance of the 11 percent growth in the S&P 500 Index and the 19 percent growth in the MSCI World Index,” as per QWI.
• In addition, dividend and interest income amounted to $17.54 million as at March 2021 (2020: $15.42 million). However, for the quarter, this amounted to $7.18 million (2020: $7.77 million).
• Unrealized currency loss amounted to $11.49 million (2020: $15.87 million).

Administrative expenses for the period amounted to $23.68 million (2020: $21.10 million) while interest expense amounted to $13.05 million (2020: $11.79 million).

As such, QWI ended the period with a profit before taxation of $228.61 million versus a loss before taxation of $655.65 million booked for the six months ended March 31, 2020.

Consequently, following a tax expense of $57.89 million (2020 tax credit: $79.24 million), net profit for the period amounted to $170.72 million relative to a loss of $576.41 million booked for the six months ended March 31, 2020. The second quarter booked net profit of $78.98 million relative to a net loss of $481.93 million documented in the same period last quarter.

Earnings per share for the period amounted to $0.13 for the six months ended March 31, 2021 relative to a loss per share of $0.42 for the comparable period in 2020. While the EPS for the second quarter was $0.058 (2020 LPS: $0.353). The trailing EPS amounted to $0.26. The total shares outstanding used for this calculation was 1,365,000,015. Additionally, QWI closed the trading the period May 04, 2021 at a price of $0.99.

Notably, Management stated that, “the Company’s portfolio is reviewed on an on-going basis with changes effected by the addition or disposal of investments as the Investment Committee believes will be advantageous to QWI. Subsequent to the March quarter, stock markets have generally shown favourable trends. We took advantage of such conditions to add to some of our existing holdings and reduced positions in others. Our management of the portfolio resulted in the NAV moving up by 9 percent from $1.21 at the end of the quarter to $1.32 at the end of April. In Jamaica, the continuing re-opening of the tourism sector, and growth seen in some of the other sectors in the economy such as construction, is encouraging.”

Balance Sheet at a Glance:

As at March 31, 2021, total assets closed at $1.97 billion (2020: $1.47 billion), a 34% increase. Of this increase, quoted investments (local) grew by 23% closing at $1.45 billion (2020: $1.18 billion). In addition, quoted investments (overseas) contributed to the increase amounting to $509.53 million (2020: $235.57 million). This was tempered by a 90% decrease in ‘Due from Brokers and Other Receivables’ which amounted to $5.47 million (2020: $56.94 million).

The total equity as at March 31, 2021 amounted to $1.65 billion (2020: $1.30 billion). This resulted in a net asset value per share of $1.21 (2020: $0.95).

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