November 11, 2024

Stationery and Office Supplies Limited (SOS)

Unaudited financials for the nine months ended September 30, 2024:

Stationery and Office Supplies Limited (SOS) for the nine months ended September 30, 2024, reported an 8% decrease in revenue totaling $1.41 billion compared to $1.53 billion in the corresponding period last year. Revenue for the third quarter had an 8% decrease to close at $448.31 million compared to $487.90 million for the comparable quarter of 2023.

Cost Of Sales amounted to $614.11 million (2023: $702.52 million), this represents a decrease of 13% year over year. Consequently, gross profit decreased by 5% to $791.82 million compared to $829.80 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2023. The company booked gross profit of $247.91 million for the third quarter versus $271.88 million reported for the similar quarter of 2023.

Administrative and general expenses increased by 15% to close at $435.36 million (2023: $378.24 million), while Selling and Promotional Costs increased by 17% from $97.07 million in 2023 to $113.12 million in the period under review. As a result, depreciation & amortisation for the nine months ended September 30, 2024, amounted to $30.01 million, a 13% increase relative to $26.45 million reported in 2023.

Operating profit for the nine months ended September 30, 2024, amounted to $213.33 million, a 35% decrease relative to $327.90 million reported in 2023. Operating profit for the third quarter amounted to $60.55 million (2023: $96.37 million). Finance costs totalled $2.90 million a 45% decrease from the corresponding period last year. (2023: $5.29 million).

Profit before tax for the nine months ended September 30, 2024, amounted to $226.78 million, a 33% decrease relative to $337.34 million reported in 2023. Profit before tax for the third quarter amounted to $70.10 million (2023: $107.99 million).

Gain on foreign exchange for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 had a 42% decrease to reach $2.93 million (2023: $5.08 million) . Profit on disposal of property plant and equipment for the nine months amounted to $5.57 million, a 22% decrease from the $7.11 million reported in 2023. For the third quarter, Profit on disposal of property plant and equipment was $5.57 million (2023: $7.11 million).

Income Tax Expenses decreased by 34% to $28.36 million (2023: $43.00 million). Income Tax Expenses for the quarter totalled $8.76 million relative to the $12.75 million booked in the prior year’s quarter.

Net Profit for the period totalled $198.42 million, relative to the $294.34 million reported twelve prior. For the quarter, Net Profit amounted to $61.34 million compared to the $95.24 million reported in 2023.

Consequently, Earnings Per Share for the nine months amounted to $0.09 (2023: EPS: $0.13), while Earnings Per Share for the quarter totaled $0.03 (2023: EPS: $0.04). The twelve month trailing EPS was $0.08 and the number of shares used in these calculations was 2,251,084,500.

Notably, SOS’s stock price closed the trading period on November 14, 2024, at a price of $1.66 with a corresponding P/E ratio of 20.53x.

Balance Sheet Highlights:

The company’s assets totalled $1.94 billion (2023: $1.73 billion). This increase in total assets is attributable to ‘Property, Plant and Equipment’, which amounted to $857.58 million (2023: $669.23 million).

Total equity was $1.53 billion (2023: $1.35 billion), representing a book value per share of $0.68 (2023: $0.60).

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