November 8, 2022

QWI Investments Limited (QWI)

Unaudited financials for the year ended September 30, 2022

QWI Investments Limited (QWI), for the twelve months ended September 30, 2022, reported total income of $44.38 million relative to total income of $545.73 million booked in the corresponding period last year. Total loss for the quarter amounted to $49.47 million relative to income of $55.89 million a year prior.

QWI recorded losses from investment activities of $34.16 million for the period ended September 2022 relative to gains from investment activities of $507.23 million for the comparable period in 2021. While for the quarter, losses from investment activities amounted to $65.59 million versus gains of $39.11 million in the prior comparable quarter. Management noted, “This reversal resulted from a sharp deterioration in US share prices following increases in interest rates to combat inflation. To a lesser extent, the Jamaican market also deteriorated during the quarter.”

In addition, dividend and interest income rose to $39.75 million (2021: $35.52 million). However, for the quarter, this amounted to $11.64 million (2021: $10.21 million).

Unrealized currency gain amounted to $38.79 million significantly higher than the unrealized gain of $2.98 million reported last year.

Administrative expenses for the period amounted to $86.95 million (2021: $54.25 million), while interest expense amounted to $30.12 million (2021: $29.71 million).

As such, QWI ended the period with a loss before taxation of $72.69 million compared to the profit before taxation of $461.77 million booked for the twelve months ended September 30, 2021.

Consequently, following a tax credit of $22.67 million (2021 tax expense: $112 million), net loss for the period amounted to $50.02 million relative to net profit of $349.77 million booked for the twelve months ended September 30, 2021. Fourth quarter booked net loss of $61.11 million relative to a net profit of $29.29 million documented in the same period last quarter.

Loss per share (LPS) for the period amounted to $0.04 for the period relative to an earnings per share of $0.26 for the comparable period in 2021. LPS for the fourth quarter was $0.04 (2021 EPS: $0.02). The total shares outstanding used for this calculation was 1,365,000,015. Additionally, QWI closed the trading the period November 7, 2022 at a price of $0.70.

Balance Sheet at a Glance:

As at September 30, 2022, total assets closed at $2.13 billion (2021: $2.32 billion), an 8% decrease. This was mainly attributable to ‘Quoted investments-overseas’ which contracted by 40% closing at $342.72 million (2021: $571.40 million). This was however tempered by ‘Due from brokers and receivables’ which had an increase of $80.06 million to $107.59 million (2021: $27.53 million). Additionally, ‘Cash and Bank’ grew by 535% closing at $43.54 million (2021: $6.86 million).

The total equity as at September 30, 2022 amounted to $1.73 billion (2021: $1.83 billion). This resulted in a net asset value per share of $1.27 (2021: $1.34).

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