Tropical Battery posts another record quarter
TROPICAL Battery announced that it has achieved record earnings for its first quarter ended December 31, 2021.
“We are grateful for a record quarter on many fronts; highest revenue, highest operating profit and the highest net income after tax ever recorded in a single quarter,” Managing Director Alexander Melville said in the report to shareholders.
This represents the best-performing quarter in the company’s 70 plus-year history. The company listed on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange in 2020.
Revenues came in at $662 million, a 47 per cent increase over the previous corresponding period. This was driven by an increase in balanced inventory arrivals and “a tremendous effort on the part of our sales team to surpass targets by bringing in new customers”.
Tropical Battery had achieved its first record revenues of $521 million in the third quarter of its 2021 financial year.
Net profit during the quarter amounted to $56.7 million, a whopping 198 per cent increase over the previous corresponding quarter which recorded $19 million.
Additionally, earnings per share doubled from $0.02 in the previous corresponding quarter to$0.04 per share in the first quarter for its fiscal year 2022, representing another quarterly record for the company.
While operating expenses during the quarter were also up 10 per cent over the prior corresponding period, the managing director pointed out that they are growing at a slower pace than revenues.
According to Melville, if the company can maintain this momentum then it will exceed targets set for the 2022 financial year.
During the first quarter the company took another step towards further diversifying its products and services in by retaining Oliver Hill to lead Tropical Mobility Limited, a new subsidiary formed to take advantage of the growing use of electric vehicles (EVs) in Jamaica.
Two additional subsidiaries were also created — Tropical Energy Limited and Tropical Finance Limited, – to better serve the needs of the renewable energy market, and to provide financial products and services that help expand access to EVs and renewable energy systems, respectively.
Furthermore the company also established a partnership with one of North America’s largest lithium-ion battery recyclers, positioning Tropical Battery as the go-to, end-of-life solution for lithium-ion batteries for EVs and consumer electronics, thereby extending the scope of the company’s existing recycling activities beyond lead acid automotive batteries.