First-quarter profit up for Paramount Trading
Chemical company Paramount Trading Jamaica Limited last Wednesday reported unaudited tax profit of $14.6 million for the first quarter ended August 31, 2019, an 89 per cent increase compared with the corresponding period last year, despite a 14 per cent decline in revenues.
For the period under review revenues amounted to $360.6 million, a reduction, according to the company, mainly due to less-than-expected outturn in the construction and technical grade brands.
However, the company’s operating expenses for the first quarter decreased by 11.5 million or 11.2 per cent, as a result of a restructuring exercise that was implemented during the third and fourth quarter of the company’s last financial year.
Paramount Trading, for the quarter under review, reduced inventories and receivables by 18 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively, and also reduced its accounts payables by 33 per cent. Finance costs also had a 93 per cent reduction due to a positive outcome in the company’s foreign exchange risk management.
Earnings per share ended at $0.009, an increase when compared with the $0.005 recorded in the corresponding period in 2018.
Just earlier in October, Paramount opened its $600-million world-class lubricant plant in partnership with lubricant manufacturer Allegheny Petroleum Products Company, which will supply API-certified lubricants initially to the local market.
“The company will have the full capacity of our lubricant manufacturing plant and the positive outflow of this development will soon be evident. We will ensure that we benefit from the general improvements in the economy; the manufacturing construction and transportation sectors will influence our growth,” the company stated in its report.
Paramount operates from two facilities — 39 Waltham Park Road, Kingston 13, and 8 East Bell Road, Kingston 11.