But revenues for the year crawled up 4% to $20.29 billion

Lasco Distributors closed its financial year in March 2021 with profits going up by 25 per cent but revenues crawled up by four per cent to post $20.29 billion.

Net profit for the period closed at $909.48 million up from $725.76 million in 2020, representing a 25 per cent increase year over year following taxation of $206.53 million. Taxation for 2020 was less than half that amount with $92.51 million.

As for the March 2021 quarter, net profit amounted to $178.23 million versus net profit of $168.26 million reported in the previous corresponding quarter. Operating profit rose by 34 per cent to close at $1.12 billion (2020: $833.47 million) for the period under review.

For the quarter, there was a surged to $247.04 million relative to the $203.20 million recorded in the prior comparable quarter in 2020. Lasco Distributors posted four per cent growth in revenue to $20.29 billion, up from $19.50 billion in the corresponding period in 2020.

Revenues fell in the last quarter

For the last quarter, revenue fell by three per cent closing at $5.06 billion coming from $5.20 billion in 2020. Cost of sales amounted to $16.64 billion, up six per cent on the $15.72 billion reported in the prior comparable period.

Within the fourth quarter, cost of sales fell one per cent to $4.20 billion versus $4.24 billion in the previous quarter in 2020. Consequently, gross profit recorded a decline of three per cent year over year, closing at $3.65 billion compared to the $3.78 billion generated for the same period in the prior year.

Likewise, gross profit for the quarter fell 10 per cent totalling $858.10 million (2020: $957.52 million). Lasco Distributors highlighted that, “the margin reduction reflects increased temporary trade spend and discounts, and the underperformance of categories associated with out of home and on-the-go consumption such as schools, events and within the hospitality industry.”

Other operating income grew by 13 per cent to close the year-end at $147.75 million relative to $130.33 million in the corresponding period last year. For the quarter, other operating income closed at $42.07 million versus other operating income of $59.60 million in the same quarter last year.

Operating expenses cauterised

Operating expenses of $2.67 billion were booked for the year-end, this represented a 13 per cent decline relative to the $3.07 billion recorded for the comparable period of 2020. Of this amount administrative fell eight per cent to close at $2.13 billion compared to $2.37 billion in 2020 while selling and promotional cost closed at $548.81 million, down from the $702.85 million posted in 2020.

Finance cost for the year was down by more than 200 per cent to $4.84 million coming from $15.20 million in 2020, while for the quarter, finance costs closed at $1.25 million coming from the 2020 posting of $2.65 million. Pre-tax profit amounted to $1.12 billion, a 36 per cent increase from the $818.27 million reported in the previous year.

For the quarter, Pre-tax profit saw a rise to $245.79 million (2020: $200.55 million). Total comprehensive income closed the year end at $939.72 million (2020: $669.20 million).

Earnings per share for the year ended March 2021, totalled $0.26 versus $0.21 for the corresponding period in 2020. For the quarter, earnings per share amounted to $0.05 (2020: $0.05 ).

Notably, Lasco Distributors closed the trading period on May 28, 2021, at $4.18 with a corresponding P/E ratio of 16.14 times. As at March 31, 2021, ‘Total Assets’ amounted to $10.81 billion, 18 per cent more than last year’s $9.16 billion. This was due to an increase in ‘Receivables’ and ‘Inventories’ which closed at $3.23 billion (2020: $2.86 billion) and $2.91 billion (2020: 2.38 billion)