$2.80-billion profit for Wisynco
WISYNCO Group Limited posted last Friday an audited after-tax profit of $2.80 billion for the financial year ended June 30, 2020, a 4.1 decline over the previous corresponding period.
The company’s net profit margin of 8.3 per cent for 2020 was lower than the 9.4 per cent realised for 2019 and was impacted primarily by the challenges of the fourth quarter of 2020, according to Chief Executive Officer Andrew Mahfood.
He further indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic slowed activities in all areas, especially in the food service industry, bars and entertainment, and schools, which led to a challenging quarter (April-June).
“Revenues for the nine months ended March 31, 2020 were growing at an average rate of 27.5 per cent for the fiscal year however, due to COVID-19, the growth rate dropped significantly, as expected, in the final quarter, resulting in an overall growth rate of 19.4 per cent for the year,” Mahfood said.
Revenue from continuing operations for the financial year under review was $32.2 billion.
Mahfood added that Wisynco’s cogeneration plant, which was scheduled to be commissioned during its third quarter (March 2020), was also impacted by the pandemic.
“Our [cogeneration plant] operations had commissioning challenges during the quarter due to the supplier engineers not being able to arrive in Jamaica because of travel restrictions arising from COVID-19, however, we were able to work virtually with the suppliers to get the engine commissioned,” Mahfood continued.
“We have been running at approximately 75 per cent capacity from our start-up date of July 16, 2020, and are confident that improved savings from this investment will accrue to the company in the future. Subsequent to June 30, 2020 we were able to refinance our investment in the cogen plant under a new, competitively priced $500-million financing arrangement.”
Selling, distribution and administrative expenses of $8.1 billion was 13 per cent greater than the $7.2 billion recorded in the prior year.
The company’s expense to sales ratio for the period under review improved from 26.8 per cent last year to 25.3 per cent in the financial year under review.
Wisynco’s return on equity for the period under review ended at 22 per cent, down from the 26 per cent achieved in the previous corresponding period.
