March 02, 2020
Sterling Investments Limited (SIL) for the year ended December 31, 2019 reported a 34% increase in total revenue to $148.37 million compared to $110.45 million recorded for the corresponding period in 2018. The Company noted that, “the increase reflected increased foreign exchange earnings and trading gains.” Of total revenue:
Interest income closed the period at $98.30 million, up 4% from the $82.20 million for the comparable period in 2018.
Foreign exchange gain amounted to $43.87 million compared to the gain of $23.01 million booked the prior year’s period. The Company stated that, “SIL’s portfolio benefited from the rise in global asset prices (in USD terms) which in turn led to a substantial increase in total comprehensive income from a loss of J$21.7 million in 2018 to J$211.5 million in 2019.”
The Company booked net gain on sale of debt investment securities at FVOCI increased by 67% of $4.34 million relative to 2.6 million in 2018.
The Company also booked Net gain on sale of equity investment securities at FVTPL of $1.87 million a decrease from 2.64 million in the prior comparable period.
Management noted that, “SIL recorded an unrealized gain on quoted equities of J$1.9 million. The Jamaican dollar depreciated against the US dollar by J$4.85 or 3.8% for the twelve-month period ended December 2019, relative to the same period in 2018 when it depreciated by J$2.72 or 2.2%.”
The company experienced a 25% decrease in total expenses from total $53.38 million in 2018 to $39.78 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. Of this:
Interest expense totaled $12.87 million (2018: $10.99 million).
Other expenses totaled $37.74 million, an increase of 31% (2018: $28.80 million).
SIL booked an impairment gain on available for sale securities of $1.18 million relative to loss of $9.44 million for the corresponding period in 2018.
Unrealized fair value gain on equity investments securities at FVTPL closed at $9.65 million versus a loss of $4.14 million booked in the prior corresponding period.
Operating profit recorded for the year closed at $108.60 million relative to $57.07 million booked for the prior year. Operating profit for the quarter closed at $2.56 million compared with the loss of $52.05 million booked for the prior year’s quarter.
Other income for the period grossly increased from $252,709 booked in 2018 to $423,958 in 2019.
Preference dividend expense for the year ended December 31, 2019, totaled to $7.23 million, an increase of 137% relative to $3.05 million recorded last year.
Tax charges of $629,229 (2018: $452,648) was booked for the year and as such an 88% increase was recorded in net income, moving from 53.82 million in 2018 to 101.17 million. Net profit for the quarter amounted to $955,356 relative to the loss of $36.58 million reported for the comparable quarter in 2018.
Total comprehensive income for the year amounted to $211.54 million compared to total comprehensive loss of $21.71 million booked for 2018.
This resulted in earnings per share of $0.27 relative to $0.14 in 2018. Earnings per share for the quarter amounted to $0.003 compared to a loss per share of $0.097 in 2018. The numbers of shares used in the calculations are 375,703,483 units. SIL stock price closed the trading period on March 02, 2020 at a price of $3.08 while SILUS closed the trading period at US$0.03.
Balance Sheet Highlights:
As at December 31, 2019, the company’s assets totaled $1.63 billion, 35% more than $1.21 million a year ago. This resulted mainly from an increase in ‘Investment Securities’ which closed at $1.59 billion, 37% higher than the $1.16 billion booked as at December 31, 2018.
Shareholder’s equity as at December 31, 2019 stood at $1.23 billion compared to $845.54 million in 2018. The book value per share amounted to $3.27 (2018: $2.25).
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