Sterling Investment Limited (SIL) reported a 26% decline in Total Revenue to $62.10 million compared to $83.61 million in 2016, while for the second quarter total revenue was down 46% to total $29.65 million relative to $54.87 for the previous quarter.

• Interest Income closed the period at $37.92 million, up from $37.38 million for the comparable period in 2016, this was a 1% increase.
• Gain on disposal of available for sale securities amounted to $21.42 million, an increase of 337% compared to gains of $4.90 million for the corresponding period in 2016. According to SIL, “this was primarily due to the overall improvement in the bond markets including the high yield and emerging markets.”
• Foreign exchange gains fell to $2.76 million compared to $41.33 million booked in the prior year’s period. SIL noted, “The Jamaican dollar depreciated against the US dollar by J$0.18 or 0.14% for the six-month period ended June 2017, relative to the same period in 2016 when it depreciated by J$5.97 or 4.96%. This led to reduced unrealized foreign exchange gains for the six months ended June 2017.”

The company experienced a 16% decline in total expenses totalling $14.75 million (2016: $17.63 million).For the second quarter total expenses amounted $4.35 million down 52% relative to $9.14 million in 2016.

A total of $3.58 million was booked for impairment gain on available-for-sale securities relative to a loss of $2.03 2016. Interest expense for the six months ended June 30, 2017 amounted $3.15 million, a 28% increase compared to $2.47 million reported for the prior year’s corresponding period. Unrealised loss on embedded derivative totalled $392,078 (2016: $269,764), while other operating expense for the period grew by 15% to $14.78 million (2016: $12.86 million).

Operating profit for recorded for the period was $47.36 million relative to $65.98 million booked for the prior year; a decrease of 28% decline.

Other Loses amounted to $6,331 relative to other income of $2.87 million for the corresponding period of 2016.

Preference dividend expense slid 24% from $5.25 million in 2016 to $4 million.

Taxes booked for the period were $387,215 (2016: $402,695), with net profit for the period down 32% to $42.96 million (2016: $63.20 million).

This resulted in earnings per share of $0.77 relative to $1.13 in 2016. The EPS for the quarter amounted to $0.44 relative to $0.79. The twelve month trailing EPS is $1.01. The number of shares used in this calculation was 55,876,281 units.

Balance Sheet Highlights:

As at June 30, 2017, the company’s assets totalled $1.08 billion, up 18% or $164.68 million more than its value of $915.2 million year ago. The increase was largely attributed to the growth in investment securities which experienced a 16% increase to $1.03 billion (2016: $884.25 million) over the same period.

Total liabilities increased by approximately 34% to close at $204.06 million (2016: $152.31 million).

Shareholder’s equity as at June 30, 2017 grew 15% standing at $875.82 million resulting in book value per share of approximately $15.67 relative to $13.65 for the same period in 2016.