Following its highly successful additional public offering (APO) in January, Derrimon Trading Company Limited (DTL) has begun to put the funds to use as seen from the 21 per cent rise in revenue to $4.01 billion with net profit attributable to shareholders growing by 68 per cent to a record $154.2 million for the period ending March 31, 2021.

The Derrimon Group of companies has been on an accelerated plan to tap into new markets through acquisition and organic growth of its existing business lines. The net proceeds from its APO facilitated its $1.4 billion acquisition of New York-based FoodSavers and Good Food For Less businesses which are held under its 80 per cent controlled Manrock LLC. The majority of DTL’s first quarter revenue growth came from its core business which saw a 24 per cent rise to $3.74 billion. This was against the backdrop of reduced operational capacity caused by new COVID-19 restrictions which limited operating hours for some of the companies in the group.

Consolidated gross profit for DTL increased by 23 per cent to $751.7 million with its overall gross margin improving by 100 basis points. Even with total operating expenses up by 21 per cent to $520.7 million, DTL’s operating profit grew by 23 per cent to $199.7 million. Due to DTL extinguishing $1.92 billion in long and short-term debt, finance costs dipped by 53 per cent to $23.2 million. Even with a slightly higher tax bill, DTL’s consolidated net profit improved by 63 per cent to $160.6 million. This result represents 52 per cent of DTL’s overall 2020 financial year’s net profit of $311.1 million.

Total assets grew by 59 per cent to $9.29 billion which was largely attributed to the APO proceeds which saw the group invest $1.12 billion in financial instruments and another $163.7 million in non-current assets. Total liabilities fell by 14 per cent to $3.80 billion while equity attributable to shareholders rose by 318 per cent to $5.30 billion. DTL has begun the construction of its new Select Grocers location in Curatoe Hill, Clarendon along with the accelerated deployment of its new group technology platform.

“Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the lagging economic effects, the overall results for the first three months of 2021 was very encouraging. We continue to identify and assess many of the possible risks which include availability of supplies, availability of foreign exchange within the markets, time lag within the logistics chain, and initiatives implemented by the government to reduce working hours. These remain challenging times, however, we have the right talent and leadership and remain confident that we will continue to diversify our business and operating markets to deliver on our plans,” said Chairman and CEO Derrick Cotterell in his shareholders report.