Revenue for December quarter closed at $4 billion

Cigarette company Carreras maintained its profitability despite the challenges caused by COVID-19 and the changing tobacco regulatory environment in Jamaica, which is hindering business.

For the nine-month period ended December 31, 2020, Carreras saw profit before income tax close at $3.48 billion relative to $3.28 billion in 2019. Taxation of $886.74 million was incurred for the nine months relative to $825.86 million reported a year earlier.

Consequently, net profit for the nine months increased to $2.59 billion relative to $2.45 billion booked in 2019. Net profit for the December quarter increased to $1.03 billion versus $704.10 million booked for the third quarter of 2019.

For the nine months under review, Carreras reported operating revenue of $10.16 billion, a one per cent decline relative to $10.28 billion booked in 2020. Revenue for the December quarter closed at $4 billion, compared to $3.64 billion reported for the second quarter of 2019.

Cost of operating revenue rose year over year by 0.4 per cent, amounting to $5.22 billion from $5.20 billion. As such, gross operating profit fell by three per cent to $4.94 billion relative to the $5.08 billion in 2019. Operating profit for the quarter was $1.91 billion relative to $1.77 billion booked for the same quarter of 2019.

Big jump in other operating income

Other operating income increased by 58 per cent, moving from $28.355 million in 2019 to $44.74 million for the period under review.

Administrative, distribution and marketing expenses decreased 20 per cent to total $1.51 billion (2019: $1.88 billion).

The management reported that, “the Company was able to capitalise on benefits in the route-to-market distribution network through significant decreases in related party costs as well as the reinforcement of performance initiatives employed by management”.

Interest income for the period amounted to $31.73 million, a 36 per cent decline from the $49.49 million booked in 2019. Interest expense for the nine-month period closed at $15.48 million relative to $8.46 million in 2019.

The earnings per share (EPS) for the period was $0.53 compared to $0.50 for the corresponding period of last year. EPS for the quarter amounted to $0.21 (2019: $0.15). The 12-month trailing EPS amounted to $0.77.