Net profits up 11% during June quarter

Durrant Pate/Contributor

Lasco Distributors Limited has managed to grow its profitability during the June quarter as a result of growth in all its divisions.

The growth in the Consumer, Pharmaceutical and Exports divisions was driven by rebalanced marketing investment to diversify the business and a focus on improving on-shelf availability. Lasco Distributors, which is listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, chalked out an 11 per cent rise in its net profit, closing the quarter at J$324.89 million.

This is up from J$292.07 million posted during the comparable period in 2021. Pre-tax profit amounted to $382.36 million, a 10 per cent increase from the $346.78 million reported in the previous year.

Taxation came out at J$57.48 million in comparison to the 2021 posting of J$54.71 million. Total comprehensive amounted to J$383.12 million relative to J$329.35 million booked in 2021.

Revenues went up nine per cent to J$6.26 billion, up from the J$5.76 billion made during the corresponding quarter in 2021.

Marginal rise in cost of sales

Cost of sales amounted to $5.18 billion, up eight per cent on the J$4.79 billion in 2021. Operating expenses went up marginally to J$718.03 million compared to the J$699.69 million recorded for the comparable period of 2021.

As at June 30, 2022, ‘Total Assets’ amounted to J$13.43 billion, 13 per cent more than last year’s J$11.92 billion. This increase was due to an increase in ‘Inventories’ which closed at J$3.75 billion (2021: J$2.83 billion).

‘Receivables’ also contributed to the growth, closing at J$3.72 billion (2021: J$3.20 billion). Shareholders’ equity amounted to J$7.36 billion as at June 30, 2022 (2021: J$6.80 billion), reflecting an eight per cent increase.

This translated in a book value per share of J$2.10 (2021: J$1.94).