Date: October 12, 2018
Paramount Trading (Jamaica) Limited, for the period ended August 31, 2018, recorded a 12% increase in total revenues to $372.18 million from $330.89 million reported in 2017. The company highlighted that, “this does not include additional inflows related to the new joint venture with Allegheny which is accounted for separately. The growth was due largely to growth in the Core Chemical business line ($43.5 million or 16.9%).”
PTL further mentioned that, “during the quarter the company commenced accounting for the new joint venture blending operations with Allegheny and consequently its share of the profit from sales by the new venture, which amounted to $0.73 million for the quarter.”
Direct expenses closed the period at $249.55 million, an increase of approximately $20.04 million relative to the $229.51 million booked a year ago. Despite the growth in direct expenses, gross profit grew by approximately 21% to $122.63 million (2017: $101.38 million).
Other operating income amounted $1.41 million for the quarter, a growth of 14% compared to $1.23 million booked for the previous year’s corresponding period.
Administrative expenses climbed 38% to $86.87 million, up from the $62.73 million recorded for 2017. Selling and distribution expenses surged significantly by 103% for the quarter to close at $5.67 million (2017: $2.80 million). As such, operating profit amounted to $32.22 million compared to $37.09 million for the same quarter of the prior financial year.
Finance income amounted to $381,663 up 26% when compared to the $304,029 reported for the prior year, while finance costs grew grossly by 603% to total $24.54 million (2017: $3.50 million).
Pre-tax profit for the quarter totalled 8.07 million, 76% less than the $33.90 million reported in prior corresponding quarter. Taxes were charged for the quarter in the amount of $1.01 million relative to nil in 2017. As such, Net profit attributable to shareholders totalled $7.06 million, a decline of 79% (2017: $33.90 million).
Earnings per share for the three months totalled $0.005 (2017: $0.022). The trailing twelve months loss per a share is $0.021. The number of shares used in our calculations is 1,542,467,080 units. PTL stock price closed the trading period at a price of $2.75 on October 12, 2018.
PTL mentioned that, “with revenues trending appreciably in the right direction and expected run off of costs associated with necessary investment, Paramount has an optimistic outlook for the rest of the year.”
Balance Sheet Highlights:
As at August 31, 2018, the company’s assets totalled $1.25 billion, $291.99 million more than the $957.06 billion quoted a year ago. The main contributor to this growth was the increase in Receivables which closed at $463.17 million relative to $282.94 million a year ago. Inventories as at August 31, 2018 amounted to $502.06 million, a 48% growth relative to the $338.42 million recorded in 2017.
Shareholder’s equity as at August 31, 2018 stood at $747.48 million (2017: $715.68 million) resulting in a book value per share of $0.48 (2017: $0.46).
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