Figures are quoted in United States dollars (except where it is indicated otherwise):

Transjamaican Highway Limited (TJH), for the year ended December 31, 2020, reported a 15% decrease in revenue to US$45.38 million relative to US$53.29 million in the corresponding period last year. Revenue for the fourth quarter amounted to US$12.75 million (2019: US$14.02 million), a 9% decrease. TJH noted that, “This decrease resulted mainly from the decline in traffic we have been experiencing as a result of the various measures implemented to help combat the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic.”

Other gains amounted to US$1.64 million relative to a gain of US$3.86 million for the comparable period in 2019.  The Company highlighted that, “This decrease was primarily due to the impact of the amortization of the discontinued Shareholder Grant which was offset by foreign exchange losses resulting from the continued devaluation of the Jamaican Dollar against its U.S Dollar counterpart.”

Operating expenses totalled US$31.08 million versus the US$36.01 million in the comparable period last year, a 14% decrease year over year. Whereas operating expenses for the fourth quarter contracted by 61% to end at US$4.09 million (2019: US$10.54 million). The Company noted, “This decrease was primarily due to lower year-end adjustments to the amortization of the Intangibles (based on the actual and forecasted traffics) and fees associated to Purchase and Sale of the company’s shares in December 2019.”

Administrative expenses increased 1% to US$1.30 million (2019: US$1.29 million). For the fourth quarter, there was a 7% decrease in administrative expenses to total US$418,000 (2019: US$448,000).

Finance cost amounted to US$17.12 million (2019: US$32.99 million). Finance cost for the fourth quarter equalled US$3.78 million when compared to US$19.44 million for the corresponding quarter last year.

Loss before taxation closed at US$2.48 million versus loss of US$13.14 million as at December 2019. For the fourth quarter, TJH reported profit before tax of US$6.17 million versus a loss before tax of US$15.28 million for the corresponding quarter in 2019.

The Company reported a taxation credit of US$613,000 (2019: $21.44 million) resulting in a net loss of US$1.87 million, relative to a profit of US$8.30 million booked for the corresponding period last year. Net profit for the quarter amounted to US$1.96 million relative to a profit of the US$6.16 million in 2019.

Consequently, earnings per share (EPS) amounted to US0.016 cent for the quarter relative to an earnings per share of US0.049 cent last year. For the year ended December 31, 2020, loss per share (LPS) amounted to US0.015 cent relative to an EPS of US0.067 cent booked in the corresponding period last year. The number of shares used in this calculation was 12,501,000,000 shares. TJH traded on March 29, 2021 at J$1.38 while TJHUSD closed at US$0.01.

Management highlighted that, “Despite these unfavourable conditions, it should be noted that all of the Company’s financial obligations were met throughout the year and that a first payment of dividends since being listed on the Jamaican Stock Exchange was made on December 15, 2020 (US$6.6 million).”

Balance Sheet at a Glance: 

As at December 31, 2020, total assets closed at US$320.48 million relative to US$292.21 million the prior year.  The 10% increase was attributable to a 371% uptick in ‘Restricted cash’ which totalled US$51.41 million (2019: $10.91 million), a 3% increase in ‘Deferred tax assets’ which amounted to US$22.06 million (2019: US$21.44 million) and a 124% increase in other receivables which amounted to US$1.18 million (2019: US$528,000).

Shareholders’ equity totalled US$57.04 million (2019: US$65.25 million) resulting in a book value of US$0.0046 (2019: US$0.0052).

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