JAMAICA Public Service (JPS) saw an 11 per cent increase in net profits over the 2013 fourth quarter compared to the corresponding period the year prior.

The electricity distributor’s bottom line showed a profit of US$4.2 million for the September to December 2013 period relative to US$3.8 million over the same three months in 2012.

JPS saw a marginal dip in revenues to US$274.3 million for the period under review compared to US$276.9 million in the December 2012 quarter, but operating expenses of US$47.3 million for the period was 10 per cent lower than year earlier levels.

However, the light company’s annual net profit plummeted overall last year to US$1.1 million, down from US$12.9 million the year before. The decline in the bottom line was made against the background of a four per cent drop in revenues to US$1.1 billion and a 24 per cent jump in net finance costs to US$63.3 million.

Earlier in 2013, the viability of JPS was questioned by its own CEO, with the light and power company in breach of loan covenants that could have seen creditors demanding immediate repayment of up to US$430 million. JPS, though, completed negotiations with lenders in the September 2013 quarter and is now fully compliant with its loan covenant obligations.

JPS is owned by Japan-based Marubeni Corporation at 40 per cent; South-Korea-based Korea East-West Power at 40 per cent; Government of Jamaica at 19.9 per cent; and some 3,000 shareholders holding the remaining 0.1 per cent of the shares.