Total expenses exploded by 197% to US$1.83 million

Durrant Pate/Contributor

Entertainment and restaurant company, Margaritaville (Turks) Limited (MTL) has managed to post net profit of US$455,197 for the half year period, ended November 30, 2022.

This reverses the net loss of US$606,269, which was reported 12 months earlier. Net profit for the November quarter amounted to US$360,759 compared to a loss of US$327,577 for the same period in 2021.

For the half-year under review, MTL reported an operating profit of US$193,844 compared to the loss of US$614,699 in 2021, while for the second quarter, the operating was US$70,403 compared to a loss of US$337,209 in November 2021. Finance costs for the six-month period was US$57,619 and US$28,296 for the second quarter.

Big revenue increase

There was a big jump in revenues, which closed the six-month period at US$2.78 million, an increase of US$2.77 million from the US$1,046 reported in November 2021. Revenue for the second quarter amounted to US$1.35 million (2021: US$504).

The management reports that, “total passenger count for the six months to November 2022 was 343,456. This produced revenue of $2.78 million for a spending rate of US$8.08 per passenger.” Regarding performance over second quarter, the company stated, “the second quarter saw a total of just under 168,000 passengers cruising into the port on 53 vessels, making an average of 3,169 passengers per ship call.”

Cost of sales increased to US$752,320 (2021: US$831), which resulted in a gross profit of US$2.02 million (2021: US$215). The management notes that, “Cost of Sales ratio of 27.1 per cent for the year to date is approximately two percentage points higher than the pre-pandemic rate. Considering the continuous inflationary pressures since COVID-19 and the more recent Ukraine war, the company is doing well to contain the cost of ingredients.”

Rise in expenses

Total expenses increased 197 per cent for the period under review to US$1.83 million (2021: US$614,915). The drivers of this increase in total expenses include Administrative Expenses which increased 258 per cent to US$1.68 million (2021: US$467,298) and promotional expenses which increased 746 per cent to $16,401 (2021: US$1,939).

The company, as at November 30, 2022, recorded total assets of US$5.32 million, an increase of 34 per cent when compared to US$3.95 million as at November 30, 2021. This was mainly due to ‘Owing by related companies’ for the period totalling US$1.25 million (2021: nil).

Total Stockholders’ equity as at November 30, 2022 closed at US$2.76 million, a 20 per cent increase from US$2.31 million for the corresponding period last year. This resulted in a book value of US$0.041 (2021: US$0.034).