Durrant Pate/Contributor

Montego Bay-based food distribution company Caribbean Producers Jamaica (CPJ) has dropped profit for its 2022/23 financial year, even as revenues registered a marked improvement.

For the financial year ended June 30, 2023, CPJ, which has seen its stock price dwindling since the start of the year having been on the up in 2022, net profit declined by 19 per cent moving from US$7.72 million in 2022 to US$6.25 million for the year in review. Taxation for the year went down 64 per cent to US$623,658 (2022: US$1.74 million).

For the fourth quarter, net profit amounted to US$2.43 million (2022: US$703,873). Consequently, earnings per share (EPS) closed the year on US$0.52 (2022: EPS: US$0.68), while EPS for the last quarter totalled US$0.22 cents (2022: EPS: US$0.06).

Notably, CPJ’s stock price closed trading last week at J$10.01, with a corresponding P/E ratio of 12.27x. Pre-tax profit for the year amounted to US$6.87 million, a 27 per cent decrease relative to the US$9.47 million reported in 2022.

Revenue performance

Gross operating revenue totalling for the year went up to US$142.58 million, coming from US$119.96 million in 2022, a 19 per cent increase. ‘Gross Operating Revenue’ for the last quarter was up 6.0 per cent, closing at US$35.54 million compared to US$33.52 million for 2022.

‘Cost of Operating Revenue’ amounted to US$103.60 million (2022: US$85.12 million), representing an increase of 22 per cent year over year. Consequently, gross profit increased by 12 per cent to US$38.98 million, compared to US$34.84 million for 2022.

Selling and administrative expenses increased by 35 per cent to close at US$24.68 million (2022: US$18.24 million), while ‘Depreciation’ increased by 3.0 per cent from US$4.21 million in 2022 to US$4.35 million in the period under review.

‘Other Operating Expense’ for the year ended June 30, 2023 amounted to US$222,081, relative to other operating income of US$403,695 reported in 2022. The company attributed these changes to higher costs relating to staff, selling, and marketing, repairs, maintenance, electricity and security.

Finance cost totalled US$3.39 million, a 15 per cent increase from the corresponding period last year (2022: US$2.95 million).

Balance sheet highlights

CPJ’s assets totalled US$90.11 million, up from the US$88.46 million booked in 2022. The marginal increase in total assets reflected a US$1.5 million increase in ‘Cash and Cash Equivalents’ to close at US$5.46 million, as well as a US$931.95 million increase in ‘Accounts Receivable’ to close at US$19.42 million.

However, the movement was partly offset by ‘Inventories’, which went down by US$1.25 million to close at US$38.91 million. Shareholder’s equity was US$28.91 million (2022: US$23.15 million), representing a book value per share of US2.62 cents (2022: US2.11 cents).