AS Bryden records $48.7m profit
AS Bryden and Sons Holdings Ltd has recorded an after-tax profit of $48.7 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2024, marking a 41.5% decline compared to the $102.8 million earned during the same period in 2023.
“Profit before tax closed at $92.3 million compared to $116.3 million in the prior year, a reduction of $24.0 million. This was driven by higher finance costs in 2024 ($12.9 million), reversal of the medical plan liability in 2023 ($22.6 million) and reduction in income from an Associate investment in 2024 ($1.1 million). If adjusted for the reversal of the medical plan liability in 2023, the profit before tax in 2023 would be $93.7 million, 1.5% higher than the current year,” ASBH stated in its interim report September 30, 2024.
ASBH also noted that an increased effective tax rate in 2024 contributed to the reduced profits.
These results for ASBH included the performance of Caribbean Producers (Jamaica) Ltd (CPJ) a company in which the Group acquired a 44.8% ownership in July.
On December 6, ASBH acquired an additional 334,308,668 CPJ shares, bringing its holdings to 75.28% of CPJ’s issued ordinary shares.
ASBH has now issued a take-over bid offer circular.
“In keeping with Regulations 12(1) and 26(1) of the Securities (Take-Overs and Mergers) Regulations of the Laws of Jamaica, ASBH, hereby makes an offer to purchase a maximum of 51,782,469 Shares which ASBH does not own. In the event the Offer is taken up in full, the total consideration paid for the Shares will be an aggregate of 14,695,025 ordinary shares This would result in ASBH holding 79.99% of the total issued share capital of CPJ,” it stated.
The offer price is set at ten newly-issued ordinary shares in ASBH for every 35.23 shares in CPJ.
“For the avoidance of any doubt, the Offeror will limit its acquisition of Shares pursuant to this Offer so that the total number of Shares held by the Offeror will carry no more than 79.99% of the total voting rights of the shares issued by CPJ,” it stated.
CPJ, a distributor of global food and beverage brands in Jamaica and St Lucia, posted a pre-tax loss of US$27,730, a decrease of US$1.65 million compared to the prior year’s pre-tax profit of US$1.62 million.
CPJ attributed the loss primarily to:
• Downturn in tourist arrivals in the Jamaica market between July and September 2024
• Rising operational cost which increased by 20.6% from US$7.7 million to US$9.3 million. This was due to higher selling and administrative cost as the company gears up for oncoming business opportunities by employing additional staff.
• Significant costs were incurred as we embark on a US$3 million manufacturing upgrade that is in progress and slated to go live by end March 2025.
• Significant inventory loss in the St Lucia subsidiary’s retail business. Management has identified the gaps and changes have been made to correct this.
Despite these challenges ASBH remains optimistic.
“While there is significant headwind in the Trinidad market leading to revenue and margin compression challenges, we are optimistic of a strong Christmas and Carnival season. The Group has also been expanding its export business and we are seeing robust growth in Guyana and Jamaica while Barbados is holding its own. CPJ will deliver positively to the bottom-line as Jamaica and St Lucia enter the winter tourist season. So overall, despite the challenges, we expect to deliver growth,” it stated.
On June 6, 2022 regional manufacturing and distribution company Seprod Ltd acquired a majority shareholding in ASBH.