Productive Business Solutions Limited (PBS) is looking to accelerate its growth momentum in 2022 as it rounds up its best year on record.

During the last year, the company recorded a 37 per cent bump in revenue to US$221.92 million ($34.42 billion). This was cemented with a solid US$6.07 million ($941.34 million) in net profit attributable to shareholders for its 2021 financial year (FY) ending December 31, 2022.

This will be facilitated through the issue of an additional 10 million preference shares during the 2022 FY. Five million preference shares will be issued in Jamaican dollars at an interest rate of 10 per cent per annum and another five million preference shares to be issued in United States dollars at nine per cent per annum.

However, unlike its $2.58 billion (US$17.55 million) cumulatively redeemable preference shares which were issued at 9.75 per cent in August 2017 at $100, these 10 million preference shares will be perpetual cumulatively redeemable preference shares which means they won’t have an immediate maturity date and decay like existing preference shares.

The 9.75 per cent preference shares are redeemable by June 30, 2024, and had a dividend payment of $126.81 million on January 31. They also have an early redemption period which allows the company to redeem the shares between the fourth (2021) and fifth (2022) anniversary once notice in writing is provided three months after the fourth anniversary.

“We’re not planning to redeem any existing preference shares early. What we’re asking for today is to issue a new class of preference shares. We’re going to authorise a certain number of shares and we’ll decide how many we’re actually going to issue. If we do an issue, we’ll have a very detailed explanation of the use of the proceeds. It’s not to repay any debt or refinance anything, but it is to grow,” stated chief investment officer of the Musson Group Nicholas Scott in an interview with the Jamaica Observer. Musson (Jamaica) Limited owns a direct 25.76 per cent stake in PBS and an overall 70.98 per cent stake through its subsidiary Facey Group Limited.

This growth has been facilitated due to the acquisition of PBS Technology Group Limited on September 1. PBS Technology Group was created from the acquisition of Massy Holdings Limited’s information technology and communications segment in September 2019. Massy Technologies earned TT $487.25 million (US$71.65 million) and generated TT$86.15 million (US$12.67 million) in net profit for Massy’s 2019 FY.

PBS acquired PBS Technology Group Limited from Musson (Jamaica), Portland Caribbean Fund II, LP, Portland Caribbean Fund II (Barbados) LP, and Portland Fund II Co-Invest Partnership on September 1 for the combination of US$5.49 million in cash and the issuance of 62,940,796 ordinary shares. The acquisition resulted in PBS operating in 19 countries across the Caribbean and Latin America with a workforce of over 2,100 professionals.

Due to the consolidation of PBS Technology Group in the fourth quarter, revenue improved by 43 per cent to US$76.46 million ($11.86 billion) and operating profit nearly tripling to US$11.81 million. EBITDA (Earnings before depreciation, taxation and amortisation) and consolidated net profit rising to US$16.37 million and US$7.98 million, respectively. This was the company’s best quarterly performance in its history.

“The business is growing a lot and very significant growth in our core metrics. As a result of that performance, we need to fund that continued growth of the business. The reason we want more capital is because we want to fund the expansion of the business. Further, the acquisition added Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Guyana to PBS’ footprint and resulted in balanced revenue between across the Caribbean and Central America,” Scott added on the dynamics of the larger PBS company.

Scott added that there are synergies taking place in the Jamaican and Barbados subsidiaries where PBS had an existing presence before the acquisition. The larger business was able to sell high end banking solutions to two of the largest banks in Central America and begin the implementation of national identification projects in two countries during 2021. The supply chain disruption left it with a strong backlog of orders for the first half of 2022. The improvement in the company’s cashflow allowed it to pay a US$2 million ordinary dividend to its shareholders on December 21.

Although Scott wasn’t able to indicate the timeline nor potential size of the preference share raise, he did confirm that the business would be taking off during 2022 as adoption for technology in the region continues to pick up. PBS’s total assets grew to US$338.24 million ($52.45 billion) largely due to the doubling of its non-current assets to US$156.97 million. Total liabilities closed the period at US$260.77 million while equity attributable to shareholders stood at US$75.94 million. PBS is listed on the Jamaica and Barbados Stock Exchanges.

“PBS produced excellent financial results in 2021. These results demonstrate the capabilities of PBS’ integrated platform, deep relationships with the global technology brands and the largest governments and companies in our region. It also showcases the talent of the thousands of information technology professionals on the PBS team. We look forward to building on this strong base and continuing the growth of our business in 2022,” stated PBS Chairman Paul B Scott.