Introduction:
At Dolphin Cove’s Limited’s (DCOVE) Annual General Meeting (AMG), Director Stafford Burrowes opened proceedings by indicating that the company had decided to adopt the United States dollar as its financial currency instead of the Jamaican dollar. Mr Burrowes explained the rationale behind the decision being that it allowed the company to have a constant unit of measurement that the USD offers compared to the Jamaican dollar. Moving on Mr Burrowes labelled the 2016 financial year as satisfactory one for the company.
Financial Highlights:
DCOVE reported Total Revenue of US$15.27 million in 2016, a 1% increase when compared to the US$15.06 million booked the year prior. Of this revenue, Dolphin Attraction recorded an 11% decline to total US$8.81 million relative to US$9.95 million reported in 2015, while revenues from the Ancillary Services increased by 26% to total US$6.46 million from last year’s US$5.11 million. Total Direct Costs closed the period at US$1.13 million, 17% less than the US$1.37 million in 2015. Both Direct Cost to Dolphin Attractions and Ancillary Service Revenue recorded a decline of 33% and 4% to US$416.58 million (2015: US$620.59 million) and $717.09 million ( 2015: US$747.89 million) respectively. Net Profit for the period was US$2.86 million down 14% when compared to 2015’s profit of US$3.32 million. This followed taxes of US$431,737 relative to a tax credit of US$26,427 for the corresponding period in 2015. Despite the decline in profits the company paid its highest ever dividend payment US$1.88 million in 2016 relative to US$1.50 million in 2015. Mr Burrowes attributed this to the new initiatives the company has been pursuing, new namely; parks Moon Place and Yaaman and additional facilities such as a VIP restaurant to parks. The Yaaman Park is part of the company’s plan to diversify away from Dolphin Attraction and to capitalise on new revenue streams. The Yaaman Park offers off road adventure park attractions to customers. The chairman also made mention of the St Lucia project which has the company has planned US$3.5 million in capital expenditure towards.
Turing to the Dolphin Cove’s partnership with Dolphin Discovery, Mr Burrowes happily affirmed the relationship and noted that the relationship has proven to be rewarding in terms of technical know-how. In the latter part of his presentation, Mr Burrowes mentioned the welfare of the dolphins which he said was the most desirable in the industry. He also highlighted the numerous rewards the company has won (The Caribbean Leading Adventure Tourist, and Top rating on Trip Advisor).
He ended with a positive outlook for the company, underpinned by the increase in the number of visitors to the island and the number of new hotel rooms being built.
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