Slow growth during fourth quarter

Durrant Pate/Contributor 

Investment and brokerage house, Barita Investments experienced marginal gains during 2022 with net profits inching up by four percent to J$4.22 billion.

This came about following taxation for the year of J$1.02 billion, a slight decline from the $1.06 billion incurred for 2021. For the September fourth quarter, net profit marginally increased to J$390.20 million, up from J$389.84 million last year.

Profit before tax increased two per cent to J$5.24 billion, up from the J$5.12 billion posted in 2021. For the fourth quarter, pretax profit declined 22 per cent to J$644.76 million from the 2021 booking of J$824.71 million.

Earnings per share for the year totalled J$3.46, slightly up from the J$3.33 made last year. Barita’s stock price closed trading on Thursday at J$99.96 with a correspond P/E ratio of 28.90 times.

Net interest income up 8%

For the year ended September 30, 2022, Barita saw an eight per cent increase in net interest income of $1.67 billion, up from J$1.54 billion in 2021. For the last quarter, net interest income was down 27 per cent to J$284.60 million from J$388.33 million in 2021.

However, dividend income soared 2,921 per cent to J$31.84 million (2021: J$1.05 million). Gains on sale of investment increased 113 per cent to J$3.36 billion (2021: J$1.58 billion), while fees & commissions income declined three per cent to J$3.02 billion (2021: J$3.12 billion).

Foreign exchange trading and translation dipped to J$791.51 million, down from the J$1.85 billion made a year ago. Administrative expenses climbed to $2.09 billion, from the 2021 booking of J$1.79 billion, a 17 per cent increase year over year.

As at September 30, 2022, total assets amounted J$109.70 billion (2021: J$90.21 billion), an increase of 22 per cent year over year. This was due mainly to the growth in ‘Pledged Assets,’ which increased by J$11.31 billion to a total of J$61.60 billion (2021: J$50.29 billion) and ‘Marketable Securities,’ which rose by J$10.16 billion to J$24.29 billion (2021: J$14.13 billion).

Shareholders’ equity amounted to J$32.18 billion (2021: J$36.25 billion) resulting in a book value per share of J$26.72 (2021: J$30.10).