Durrant Pate/Contributor

Air conditioning company CAC 2000 Limited continues to diversify its income stream since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, offering a new range of air conditioning units to the Jamaican market.

The company is now dealing VYTAL Inverter air conditioners, which are new-wave units designed for comfort backed by expert service and reliability.

CAC 2000 chief executive, Gia Abraham, reports that the launch of its own trademarked brand, Vytal is being well received by our customers and resellers.

However, she did not provide any details of the numbers of units so far sold in the Jamaican market place but the starting prices for a unit is $57,450 +GCT (12,000 British Thermal Unit BTU) and options up to 36,000 BTU. In her third quarter report to shareholders Abraham admitted that one of “CAC’s big takeaway from COVID continues to be the need for diversification of our revenue streams and product offerings.”

The VYTAL Inverter Air Conditioners is just one of these new product offerings.

She advises, “CAC continues to being focused on building up our project pipeline and to this end we continue to see the project portfolio bolstered by our wins on a day to day basis. All in all CAC continues to set itself up for growth and expansion.”

In the meantime, CAC continues to focus on expanding the markets served, as the company implements new products and services and remain committed to delivering long-term value to shareholders.

Financial highlights

For the nine-month period ended July 31, 2023, net loss for grew by a whopping 272 per cent; moving from J$19.90 million for the same period in 2022 closing on J$73.94 million. For the July quarter net loss was J$27.55 million (2022: J$33.70 million).

Consequently, loss per share (LPS) for the nine months amounted to J$0.57 (2022: LPS: $0.16), while LPS for the third quarter closed on J$0.21 (2022: LPS: $0.26).

Notably, CAC’s stock price closed the trading period on Friday (September 15) at a price of J$3.52. Revenues for the combined three quarters under review declined by 16 per cent totaling J$637.76 million compared to J$754.94 million in the corresponding period last year. Revenue for the July quarter saw 15 per cent increase to close at J$251.26 million compared to J$219.28 million for the comparable quarter of 2022.

‘Cost of Sales’ amounted to J$402.57 million (2022: J$444.24 million), this represents a decline of nine per cent year-over-year. Consequently, gross profit went down 24 per cent to J$235.20 million compared to J$310.70 million for the nine months ended July 31, 2022.

Selling & Distribution declined by 33 per cent to close at J$10.62 million (2022: J$15.78 million), while ‘General Administration’ fell 19 per c from J$305.07 million in 2022 to J$247.70 million in the period under review. As a result, total expenses for the nine months ended July 31, 2023 amounted to J$258.32 million, a 19 per cent decrease relative to J$320.86 million reported in 2022.

The company’s assets closed on J$1.31 billion (2022: J$1.51 billion). The overall movement was due to declines in ‘Trade and Other Receivables’ and ‘Inventories’ which ended the period at J$552.65 million (2022: J$622.74 million) and J$585.78 million (2022: J$642.13 million) respectively.

Shareholder’s equity was J$370.09 billion (2022: J$403.73 billion), representing a book value per share of J$2.86 (2022: J$3.13).