Productive Business Solutions Limited (PBS) managed to grow its earnings for the fourth quarter and overall year to new peaks following several deals and a new acquisition.

The technology distribution company was able to grow its Q4 revenue by 11 per cent to US$99.92 million (J$15.35 billion), a figure which benefited from a US$3.3-million revenue contribution related to Infotrans Group Holding BV. PBS acquired Infotrans at the end of the second quarter as it seeks to make further inroads in Colombia along with the other markets of Curaçao, Aruba, Bonaire and Suriname.

“Q4 is always our strongest quarter, but in this case, it’s more robust. The strong backlog reflects low to double-digit growth. The portfolio of the company is very broad and there are certain things that happen in Q4 that didn’t happen before,” said PBS Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Pedro Paris Coronado in a recent interview with the Jamaica Observer.

The PBS CEO highlighted that the company’s fourth quarter benefited from several contracts coming on stream across several markets in the Caribbean and Latin America. This included work with the El Salvador and Nicaragua central banks, a contract with the El Salvadoran government for 140,000 hours of information technology support and the implementation of a Customs Core system and first electronic votes in Costa Rica. These moves are also complementary to their growth plans on getting 40,000 Xerox machines across the region and continuing to work on distributing more services for firms like NCR, Oracle, Dell and Alphabet.

Even with the company’s consolidated operating expenses increasing in Q4, its operating profit was 48 per cent higher at US$12.29 million with the EBITDA (Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) rising a third to US$16.78 million. After accounting for reduced finance costs, consolidated net profit grew 41 per cent to US$5.87 million with net profit attributable to shareholders improving to US$5.86 million.

“We continue to make these types of investments to motivate people to work in the office. The office in Honduras will have a kids’ zone for our employees. We’ll try to replicate these in other areas because we want to be close to our employees and their families. That’s when the magic happens,” Paris said in relation to the company’s continued improvement of care for the more than 2,600 team members.

PBS will be moving into the seventh and eighth floors of Unit 1 at 58 Half-Way-Tree Road later this year. It also moved into new offices in Colombia and Honduras as it worked on the integration of Infotrans. PBS’s acquisition of PBS Technology Group Limited, formerly Massy Technologies Infocom, in September 2021, resulted in the company’s head count surpassing 2,000 people at the time.

For the overall 2023 financial year, PBS’s revenue grew seven per cent to US$333.33 million (J$51.59 billion) with gross profit increasing a tenth to US$107.67 million. Higher operating expenses and a reduction in other income resulted in operating profit marginally, moving up from US$29.46 million to US$30.61 million. EBITDA also moved up to US$48.27 million.

After accounting for higher taxes and lower finance costs, PBS’s consolidated net profit increased 35 per cent to US$11.40 million, with net profit attributable to shareholders of US$11.34 million and an earnings per share of US$0.0602. This is the first time PBS has surpassed US$10 million in annual profit and represents a significant rise in business activity compared to 2019 when it earned US$180.10 million in revenue and US$2.09 million in consolidated net profit.

While investors will have to wait until March 30 to see PBS’s audited financials, Paris believes that the region needs to take technology more serious as the dynamics of the world continues to change. Apart from focusing more on delivering cybersecurity solutions to different clients, the firm is now looking to build further in roads in Colombia and El Salvador which are two of its fastest growing markets. PBS redesigned its logo last year and changed its slogan from ‘We make things happen’ to ‘Now, technology can’t wait’.

PBS’s total assets grew six per cent to US$401.93 million with its current assets making up US$224.54 million, inclusive of US$31.84 million in cash and cash equivalents. Total liabilities and equity attributable to shareholders were US$286.59 million and US$114.27 million, respectively. PBS chairman Paul B Scott noted at its September annual general meeting that the company wouldn’t disclose the acquisition price of Infotrans and investors would have to wait until the audited financials were out.

PBS’s stock price closed 2023 down 11 per cent to US$1.6137 but has since bounced up 15 per cent in 2024 to US$1.85, which gave it a market capitalisation of US$344.50 million. PBS paid US$6.50 million or US$0.0349061648 to shareholders in 2023, which was its largest ever annual dividend payment. PBS’s 9.75 per cent preference share matures on July 31 at a par value of J$100. The value is J$2.58 billion or US$15.43 million.