Posts a net profit of $4 Billion

Investment house Barita has a lot to smile about as it put in a solid performance for both Q4 and financial year 2024.

Operating revenue for Financial year 2024 came in at J$10 billion, a 10 per cent increase o. The prior year.  Treasury,Trading and the brokerage business were the real stars here.

This saw Barita generate a net profit of $3.9 billion, a 14 per cent increase over 2023’s net profit figure.

Barita has managed to reverse the trend of falling net interest income.

Net interest income for the 12 months ended September 30, 2024 jumped to $643 million, $62 million more than the $581.1 million posted for financial year 2023.

Here Fees and Commissions contributed $3.7 billion, a 9 per cent  increase on the $3.4 billion posted last year.

Gain on Investment Activities increased by $515 million or 12 per cent to $4.9 billion. This was driven by a significant increase in realised gains from fixed income securities and unrealised gains from equity investments marked-to-market.

Foreign exchange trading slipped marginally this year, coming in at $594 million. This line weighed in with $604. 3 million last year.

For the year under review, total shareholder equity stood  at $35.5 billion while total assets increased to $142.8 billion. The Group posted a return on average equity of 10.9 per cent with an efficiency ratio of 48.6 per cent.

Barita’s loan book increased by $1.4 billion or 13 per cent to $12.3 billion driven in the main by secured credit facilities and margin loans.

Earnings per share (EPS) increased by 14 per cent to $3.24.

Operating expenses increased for financial year 2024 but an impairment/credit loss of $510 million must be factored in here. Staff costs were trimmed to $1.68 billion and here a restructuring exercise helped in this regard.  Administration costs fell by 8 per cent or $221 million  which went some way in offsetting the impairment charge.