He did not make the 2007 List, neither did he make the 2006 and 2005 listings, but we predicted that if he continued along his current financial path, chances are he may just make his entry onto the 2008 List.

With a 126.4% growth in after tax profits for 2007 compared to 2006, Cooper missed inclusion on the list by fewer than $50 million dollars, earning were just JA$266.1 million. The qualifying mark for the list is JA$300million. Well he made it for 2008 as we had predicted at the #2 position.

For the financial year ended 30 June 2008, Pulse’s Operating Revenue increased by 72% to $1.356 billion. Net Profit Attributable to stockholders also grew, registering a 61.5% improvement over the previous year, with actual Profits of $429.89million. EPS for 2008 was 158 cents compared with 105 cents at the end of the financial year June 2007. Shareholders however have not benefited in the profits from holding these shares as no dividend payments have been made.

During the financial year, Pulse raised over $126.8 million via a rights issue, the proceeds of which were to help with the expansion of the Villa Ronai Property. It is expected that the property, which will be a new look villa and spa, will be near completion by 2010 as the company positions for global economic recovery.

Revenues climbed by more than half a billion to $1.36 billion; but, what was driving this massive growth in revenues and profitability? At the core of Pulse’s performance is a whopping 97.3 per cent of its income from “advertising entitlements”. This according to company Executive Chairman Kingsley Cooper, is what firms pay to have their brands displayed at Pulse’s events, and critically, the value of the advertising time and space it receives from media as “sponsors” of its events.

In other words, rather than collect hard cold cash for it events and media properties, the company has opted to exchange this for entitlements with the related sponsoring company. Put another way, Pulse is bartering its products and services for products and services of sponsoring companies.

For 2007, Pulse carried on its balance sheet as an asset $476.5 million in unused advertising entitlements, which is booked as income as it is used. A year later, those entitlements had doubled to $924 million. Pulse, however, did collect some cash. So while “advertising” revenues rocketed, other income streams, including model agency fees and earnings from property lease, dipped marginally from $37.8 million to $36.7 million.

Pulse’s overall balance sheet points to a strong financial position, but only if the value of advertising assets carried on its balance sheet can be easily realized or converted to cash. For the financial year ending June 30, 2008, Pulse Investments received well over $1.3 billion in sponsorship, which was nearly all of the company’s revenue during the year.

According to information published in the Jamaica Stock Exchanges’ 2008 CEO report, “Pulse is an organization built on vision, innovation and optimism, as well as an unswerving belief in the abilities of the people of the Caribbean. As challenging as the times may be, Pulse remains confident of its ability to meet its targets, partly because of the nature of its business, whose raw material is basically the tremendous talent of our people, and partly because of the innovation it has brought to the character and marketing of its products.”

Kingsley Cooper’s ambition is to make Pulse, the company he started and currently heads, a global brand. Restructured and relisted on the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) in 2006, the Pulse company and brand, with Cooper as its main principal shareholder, from all indications, is on track to achieve this goal. BM