Wigton Windfarm recorded a 34 per cent jump in net profits to $662.7 million for the financial year ending March 31, 2020 with the share price increasing by 40 per cent from its initial public offering (IPO).

In its first year as a listed company on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, Wigton saw its sales decline by one per cent to $2.42 billion primarily due to lower generation of energy during the year. Phase 2 of the windfarm had a nine per cent increase in sales while Phase 1 and 3 had a respective two and eight per cent drop in sales. As a result of these declines, gross profit fell by three per cent to $1.65 billion when compared with $1.71 billion in the prior year.

Other income declined by a sharp 56 per cent to $220.9 million mainly due to a decline in foreign exchange gains during the year. However, there was a 50 per cent fall in the finance expense to $526.6 million which was driven by the conversion of its debt to Jamaican dollars in December 2018 which eliminated the substantial foreign exchange losses. With the decline in the finance expense and taxes, Wigton was able to realise a greater net profit which left it with an earnings per share of $0.06 compared with the $0.04 in the prior year.

Total assets climbed by 10 per cent to $10.6 billion which was mainly due to a 91 per cent increase in the current assets to $3 billion. Total liabilities rose by four per cent to $7.1 billion with current liabilities increasing by 424 per cent mainly as a result of the $710 million Series A bond maturing in December.

Shareholder’s equity increased by 24 per cent to $3.46 billion from the $2.79 billion recorded in the prior year. Wigton will be paying a $0.0025 dividend to shareholders on August 13 which totals $27.5 million.

— DAVID ROSE