Date: October 19, 2018
Express Catering Limited (ECL) for the three months ended August 31, 2018Revenues increased by 7% for the period to US$4.06 million (Q1 2017: US$3.81 million). The company commented that “The spending patterns for the First and Second Quarters have traditionally been lower than the rest of the year. We constantly benchmark our minimum revenue growth target to be within the rate of passenger growth”.
Cost of sales (COS) increased by 5% for the period to US$1.09 million (Q1 2017: US$1.04 million). As a result gross profit increased year-on-year for the three month period by 7%, from US$2.77 million in Q1 2017 to US$2.97 million in Q1 2018.
Total expenses increased by 5% for the period in review to US$1.94 million in Q1 2018, up from US$1.85 million in Q1 2017. This increase was associated with a 5% increase in administrative expenses to US$1.79 million from US$1.70 million in 2017. According to the company “Fixed assets expenditure for the quarter was US$77,787. This was spent mainly to continue the work on the additional Starbucks locations in the Airport. The third of the total planned 3 Starbucks location in the airport was complete just after the close of the quarter”. Depreciation and Amortization saw a 2% increase to US$140,442 compared to US$137,124 for 2017. Promotion expenses however declined 19% for the quarter from US$12,095 to US$9,746.
Consequently, operating profit increased by 12% to US$1.03 million (Q1 2017: US$919,479).
Finance cost of US$84,555 (2017: US$482,000) was booked for the period. This resulted in total comprehensive profit for the year increasing by 12% to US$937,891 (Q1 2017: US$834,448).
The twelve month trailing earnings-per-share was US 0.22 cents while for Q1 2017, it amounted to US 0.057 cents (2017:US 0.051 cents). The number of shares used in our calculations was 1,637,500,000. Notably, ECL closed the trading period on October 18, 2018 at a price of J$8.45.
Balance Sheet Highlights:
The company, as at August 31, 2018, recorded total assets of US$12.48 million, an increase of 21% when compared to US$10.36 million for the Q1 2017.
Total Stockholders’ equity as at August 31, 2018 closed at US$7.42 million, a 38% increase from $5.38 million for the corresponding period last year. This resulted in a book value of US 0.45 cents (2017: US 0.33 cents).
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