The board of directors of Sygnus Credit Investments Limited has authorised a three-year share buyback programme, which will see SCI repurchasing up to US$9.00 million of its ordinary shares.

In a statement on May 12, the company indicated that this further reflects SCI’s commitment to shareholders during its initial public offering and as prescribed by its articles of association. 

Meanwhile, SCI has released its unaudited financial results for the nine-month period, ended March 31, 2023.

These results were driven by the expansion of its private credit portfolio across the Caribbean region, which grew by 13.0 per cent to US$140.97 million.  

SCI reported a net profit of US$4.29 million, up 51.4 per cent, and total investment income of US$6.27 million, up 11.3 per cent. Net investment income came in at US$3.56 million, up 2.6 per cent for the period under review. Earnings per share increased to 0.73 US cents compared with 0.48 US cents last year.

The performance was aligned with the company’s thrust of enhancing shareholder value, which was revealed at its recent annual general meeting in January 2023. Inclusive of the US$1.00 million in dividends paid on April 14, SCI has paid US$2.55 million thus far in the financial year and US$10.35 million since inception. 

Phase II of the integration of Acrecent Financial Corporation (AFC) into SCI remained on-track for completion by the end of the financial year. The Puerto Rican management team is diligently expanding and scaling the business in collaboration with SCI’s investment manager. 

Jason Morris, executive vice president and chief investment officer at Sygnus Capital shared, “The approval of the three-year share buyback programme is aligned with SCI’s keen focus to enhance shareholder value as was outlined at the annual general meeting in January this year. It also fulfils our promise made to shareholders during SCI’s initial public offering and the commitment made in the articles of the company.”

“The share buyback is intended to be accretive and will coincide with SCI’s current growth and expansion phase. It is similar to buyback programs being executed by many large publicly listed private credit firms. Speaking of growth, we are executing a dedicated investment support program for a growth enhancing sector which is a very exciting prospect for SCI, as we seek to further deepen and expand access to credit for middle-market firms while enhancing shareholder value. We have a robust pipeline of opportunities across multiple English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean territories particularly in Jamaica,” Morris continued.

“The Puerto Rico business has a significant pipeline of opportunities with a strong focus on impact investing themes and has been experiencing very strong growth in originations. Overall, SCI continues to see very strong demand for flexible debt capital across the English, Dutch and Spanish-speaking Caribbean which is in keeping with similar trends in the more developed markets such as the mainland USA. To support the multiple channels of growth opportunities, we continue to negotiate with regional and international partners to access special purpose financing facilities and dedicated credit lines, while simultaneously seeking to raise capital via redeemable preference shares primarily to fund some interesting Jamaican opportunities,” he added.

SCI is rated CariBBB- with a stable outlook by Caribbean rating agency CariCRIS on the regional rating scale. The company carries a rating of jmBBB+  with a stable outlook on the Jamaican rating scale.