Date: November 14, 2019
Wigton Windfarm Limited, for the six months ended September 30, 2019, reported sales of $1.47 billion, a 2% decline on the $1.49 billion reported in the prior year. Revenue for the quarter declined 10% to $632.34 million (2018: $705.64 million). WIG noted that, “the decrease in revenue was directly related to a 10.7% decrease in production in the current reporting quarter as a result of lower wind regime. Availability of the wind turbines was 8.2% better than the SPLY. Major repairs and maintenance were conducted during this quarter to capitalize on the low wind regime during the quarter.”
Cost of sales went up 8% to close the period at $387.82 million versus $357.63 million booked in the previous comparable period. As such, gross profit declined to total $1.08 billion (2018: $1.13 billion).
Other income amounted to $118.22 million, a 32% decline when compared to $174.45 million in the same period last year. General administrative expenses increased for the period amounting to $181.34 million relative to $163.24 million documented in the same period in the previous year.
Consequently, operating profit decreased 11%, closing the period under review at $1.01 billion (2018: $1.14 billion).
Finance expense trended downwards from $752.56 million in 2018 to $301.72 million in 2019. Management stated that, “The main contributor to the decrease was a reduction in finance expense of $240.5 million or 60.9% as a result of lower exchange losses.” Management also noted, “ On December 14, 2018, WWFL refinanced its United States Dollar Loans totaling US$49.2 million. The loans were refinance through private placement of bonds that raised J$6,348,586,690 to repay the loans to the Petrocaribe Development Fund (PDF) of US$49.2 million.”
As such, profit before taxation went up by 83% to close at $712.50 million (2018: $389.55 million). After taxation of $171.00 million (2018: $93.49 million), net profit for the period totaled $541.50 million (2018: $296.06 million). Net profit for the quarter closed at $175.10 million versus $121.39 million booked in the similar period last year, “due to a $208.7 million decrease in total expenses, explained above which offset a $138.1 million decline in revenues and an increase of $16.9 million in taxation”
Earnings per share (EPS) was $0.049 for the period compared to $0.027 in 2018. EPS for the quarter amounted to $0.016 (2018: $0.011). The twelve-month trailing EPS amounted to $0.073. The number of shares used in the calculations is 11,000,000,000. WIG stock price closed the trading period on November 14, 2019 at $0.95.
Balance Sheet Highlights:
As at September 30, 2019, Wigton’s total asset base went up by 5% amounting to $10.33 billion (2018: $9.82 billion). The increase was as a result of increases in ‘Cash and Deposits’ which closed $2.35 billion (2018: $1.19 billion). However, the increase was partially tempered by a decline in ‘Accounts Receivables’ and ‘Property, Plant & Equipment’, which closed the period at $123.28 million (2018: $349.48 million) and $7.73 billion (2018: $8.16 billion), respectively.
Shareholders’ Equity amounted to $3.44 billion relative to $2.62 billion in 2018 resulting in a book value per share of $0.31 relative to $0.24 in 2018.
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