Consolidated Bakeries in Jamaica, which trades under the name of Purity, has incurred a net loss of $14.42 million for 2020.

This represents a slight increase over the net loss of $12.49 million booked for the previous year in 2019. Purity incurred taxes of $3.98 million for the period under review, resulting in the net loss of $14.42.

For the December 2020 quarter, the company recorded a net loss of $19.67 million compared to a loss of $20.90 million for the corresponding quarter in 2019.Total comprehensive losses for 2020 amounted to $13.90 million compared to losses of $14.36 million in 2019.

Purity, which is in the business of manufacturing and supplying baked products across Jamaica and diaspora markets in the Cayman Islands, Canada and United States, recorded loss before tax of $10.45 million for 2020 compared to pretax loss of $9.71 million for 2019.  Pretax loss for the December 2020 quarter closed at $17.31 million compared to loss before tax of $20.05 million in the December 2019 quarter.

Marginal fall in revenue

In its just-completed 2020 audited financial report, Purity recorded a three per cent decrease in revenue to $993.98 million coming from $1.03 billion reported in 2019. For the December 2020 quarter, the company recorded revenues of $223.98, representing a seven per cent decline coming from $240.61 million booked the year before.

Cost of sales for the year ended December 31, 2020 fell by six per cent to close at $601.94 million compared to the comparable period of $642.42 million. This led Purity to record a gross profit of $392.04 million for 2020.

Within the final quarter of 2020, Purity recorded cost of sales of $135.95 million, down 11 per cent relative to $157.62 million booked in the same quarter in 2019. As such, the fourth-quarter gross profit totalled $88.02 million, reflecting a one per cent increase year over the 2019 amount of$86.99 million.

Purity had total expenses of $389.26 million, a marginal rise of 0.1 per cent when compared to the $388.95 million reported in 2019. Of this, administrative expenses amounted to $215.58 million, a six per cent increase relative to $204.05 million reported in 2019.

Selling expenses contracted by nine per cent to close 2020 at $139.94 million coming from the $153.45 million booked in 2019, whereas depreciation ended the year at $33.74 million, slightly down from the $31.45 million posted in 2019.

Slight increase in finance costs

Finance costs increased by 12 per cent to close 2020 at $19.04 million versus $16.97 million booked twelve months earlier. While, other income fell by 49 per cent to close at $5.81 million down from the $11.37 million posted in 2019.

Purity, as at December 31, 2020, recorded total assets of $996.41 million coming from $1.00 billion the year before for a 0.4 per cent decline year over year. The decline was attributed mainly to a 25 per cent and five per cent fall in Cash and Cash Equivalents and Trade and other Receivables, which closed at $63.91 million and $96.72 million, respectively.