February 13, 2024
RADIO JAMAICA LIMITED (RJR) for the nine months ended December 31, 2023, reported a 1% decrease in Revenue totalling $4.14 billion compared to $4.19 billion in the corresponding period last year. Revenue for the third quarter had a 3% decrease to close at $1.41 billion compared to $1.45 billion for the comparable quarter of 2022. RJR attributed lower revenues year over year to declines in the print and other segment, despite increases in the audio/visual and audio segments.
Direct expenses amounted to $1.842 billion (2022: $1.840 billion). Consequently, gross profit decreased by 2% to $2.30 billion compared to $2.35 billion for the nine months ended December 31, 2022. The company booked gross profit of $794.19 million for the third quarter versus $826.24 million reported for the similar quarter of 2022.
RJR highlighted, “Other income increased by $191 million, arising mainly from revaluation gains in investment properties, and investment income in the current period”.
Administration expenses increased by 16% to close at $1.20 billion (2022: $1.04 billion), while Selling expenses decreased by 3% from $811.78 million in 2022 to $790.85 million in the period under review. As a result, total expenses for the nine months ended December 31, 2023, amounted to $2.61 billion, a 3% increase relative to $2.54 billion reported in 2022.
According to Management, “Higher admin expenses were driven primarily by increases in staff welfare, professional fees, and higher depreciation expenses relating to prior investments in infrastructure upgrades and software implementation.”
Operating Loss for the nine months ended December 31, 2023, amounted to $2.42 million, a 97% decrease relative to $83.93 million reported in 2022. Operating Profit for the third quarter amounted to $99.08 million (2022: Loss of $49.24 million).
Finance Costs totalled $42.59 million a 12% increase from the corresponding period last year. (2022: $38.04 million).
Bargain purchase gain for the period amounted to nil (2022: $444.20 million). As such, Loss before taxation for the nine months ended December 31, 2023, amounted to $45.01 million, relative to profit before taxation of $322.23 million reported in 2022. Profit before taxation for the third quarter amounted to $79.21 million (2022: $382.35 million).
Taxation for the nine months ended December 31, 2023, amounted to $1.36 million (2022: Tax Credit of $17.26 million).
Net Loss for the nine months amounted to $46.37 million, down from net profit of $339.49 million reported in 2022. For the third quarter, Net Profit was $56.26 million (2022: $391.76 million).
Consequently, Loss Per Share for the nine months amounted to $0.02 (2022: EPS: $0.11), while Earnings Per Share for the quarter totalled $0.02 (2022: EPS: $0.13). The twelve-month trailing LPS was $0.06 and the number of shares used in these calculations was 3,023,506,931.
Notably, RJR’s stock price closed the trading period on February 12, 2024, at a price of $1.40.
Balance Sheet Highlights
The company’s assets totalled $6.86 billion (2022: $6.72 billion). The movement in total assets was influenced by ‘Receivables’ growing by $215.41 million, ‘Inventories’ increasing by $165.32 million and ‘Investment properties’ up by $156.72 million. However, ‘Investments’ and ‘Cash and bank balances’ declined by $175.21 million and $216.97 million, partially offsetting the initial uptick in the company’s asset base.
Shareholder’s equity was $4.53 billion (2022: $4.62 billion), representing a book value per share of $1.50 (2022: $1.53).
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