Creative training institute iCreate Limited reported on Monday an unaudited net loss of $7.85 million for the second quarter ended June 30, 2019, following a net loss of $6.43 million recorded in the corresponding period last year. This latest information on the group’s financial position was posted on the Jamaica Stock Exchange’s website.

Company directors in the website posting indicated that while iCreate recorded a net loss of $9.34 million for the six-month period ended June 30, 2019, compared with the $3.65 million recorded for the corresponding period last year, this was primarily due to increased operating expenses of $6.07 million, associated with expansion activities during the second quarter.

“Since our [initial public offering], we added approximately 1,500 [square feet] of training space, in addition to increasing the amount of training equipment to satisfy the demand being experienced at our Kingston location,” the report stated.

“This is driven mainly by our creative courses (photography, video production and graphic design), which have all been oversubscribed during the quarter. Additionally, for the Montego Bay location, we outfitted another 1,500 [square feet] of training space to get operations underway.”

The company added that the increased space in its Kingston and Montego Bay locations was one of iCreate’s initial public offering mandates, which will now give iCreate the opportunity to roll out several new courses.

“We successfully started a cohort for our digital marketing programme in Montego Bay and will be introducing the creative certificate courses in [quarter three],” the company said. For the quarter under review, iCreate recorded revenues of $13.13 million, a 59.2 per cent increase when compared with the corresponding quarter in 2018.

“Year-to-date revenues increased by 26.7 per cent, when compared to the corresponding six months in 2018. Our Kingston location accounts for approximately 98 per cent of total revenues, signalling a strong demand for our courses, which is expected to continue with the completion of our Kingston and Montego Bay build-out,” the report stated.

During the quarter, iCreate signed a memorandum of understanding with Trend Media Group (a subsidiary of Digicel Group) and Mico University College, which will see iCreate offering digital marketing courses available to thousands of Caribbean nationals outside of Jamaica and offering a special programme designed to equip teachers in Jamaica to build their capacity to deliver digital and creative courses in classrooms across Jamaica. A subsidiary of eMedia Interactive, iCreate was founded by Tyrone Wilson.

The institution works in partnership with the University of the Commonwealth Caribbean to deliver degrees and certification courses to prospective students in the fields of film, advertising, animation, graphic design, mobile games and fashion design.

— Abbion Robinson