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Businessuite 2021 #1 Jamaica Junior Market Company by US$ Profit after Tax |
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NR |
NR |
NR |
NR |
NR |
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US$000 |
US$000 |
US$000 |
2021 |
2020 |
2019 |
2018 |
2017 |
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Company |
2021/2020 |
2020/2019 |
2019/2018 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
JA |
Lasco Manufacturing Limited |
$6,882 |
$8,122 |
$8,431 |
The Business
LASCO Manufacturing was incorporated in October 1994.
The Company was formed by the merger of LASCO Foods (Successors) Limited and LASCO Foods Limited. The registered office of the Company is located at 27 Red Hills Road, Kingston 10, while the manufacturing units are located at White Marl, St. Catherine.
The Company was listed on The Jamaica Stock Exchange’s Junior Market in October 2010.
The Company has a long history of being the dominant Nutritious Powdered Beverage Company in Jamaica. Its scope was expanded in 2014 with entry into the Liquid Refreshing Beverages and Water segment of the market with a range of Juice Drinks and Water under the iCool Brand. The Company has grown in this latter segment to become a major player with an expanded range of products that enjoy wide distribution and consumer acceptance.
The brands in both the Powdered and Liquid segments are well established in export markets as well.
The powdered portfolio includes:
Food Drink
LaSoy Lactose Free
Porridge Mixes
Enriched Milk Powder
Readi-Milk Powder (Skimmed Milk)
Nutrify (High protein meal supplement)
The liquid portfolio includes:
iCool Juice Drinks
iCool Water
iCool Flavoured Water
iDrade (Re-hydration drinks)
Lyrix (Carbonated drinks)
Konka (Energy drink)
Business Strategy
Over the years the Company has consistently invested in plant, technology and people development to provide the capacity and know-how to expand its range of food and beverage products that are relevant to consumer needs and trends. As a result, the Company is well equipped and has the capability and flexibility to supply not current demand, but as well, to meet anticipated growth in the various market segments with affordable, innovative, high quality and nutritious products. This is well supported by an active and focused Research and Development programme, informed by consumer and market trends.
The strategy is underpinned by continuous improvement in operational efficiencies, organizational adaptations and waste elimination with application of technology, and people development being at the core.
Financial Results
The year ended March 31, 2020 was one of progress in which the underlying operational and financial metrics continued to improve in line with expectations and our strategic objective of long term sustainable and profitable growth year on year.
We adapted well to the increasingly competitive environment focusing on speed and agility in all areas with continued strong internal focus on simplifying and streamlining the organization thereby reducing structural costs, relentlessly driving improvements in operational efficiencies through process redefinition, application of appropriate technology, ongoing training, and development of our people.
We continued to invest heavily in our brands, both locally and in the export markets; sharpened our consumer focus, and in particular consumer communications on all media platforms, while emphasizing strong point of sales presence.
Our investment in product innovation and renovation, informed by consumer trends and market developments, remained strong as we positioned ourselves
to provide appropriate solutions for the future. In this regard, we introduced a number of new products and formats during the year, which are developing positively.
Revenue for the year was $7.88B, an increase of $320M or 4% over the prior year.
Gross Profit was $2.92B and increase of 9% over the prior year (2019: $2.68B).
Gross margin increased to 37% up from 35% in the previous year. This margin improvement was fuelled mainly by gains in efficiencies in the manufacturing operations.
Selling and Administrative Expenses, inclusive of marketing and promotional support for the various brands, were $1.65B or 16% above the expenses in the previous year. The significant increase above prior year was primarily due to the inclusion of charges for stock options granted during the year under the Employee Stock Option Plan.
Excluding the effect of this non-cash charge the increase in the Selling and Administrative Expenses would have been 3.30% over prior year.
Operating Profit for the year stood at $1.29B, an increase of 3% on the previous year’s $1.25B. Excluding the charge for the Employee Stock Option Plan, the Operating Profit would have been $1.477B or 17.5% above prior year.
Net Profit was $981.67M compared to $1.07B in the prior year. Net profit was impacted by deferred tax charge of $101M.
Capital investments amounted to $196M (prior year $588M) — the main area of investment being continued work on the powder manufacturing facility expansion which when completed will generate considerable operational savings. Completion is foreseen for August 2020.
Total Assets at year-end were $9.73B an increase of 11% over prior year with Non-Current Assets increasing by 1.3% to $5.14B.
Current Assets were $4.59B or 24% above prior year while Current Liabilities were $1.78B.
An interim dividend of $0.0611 per share, totalling $250M, was paid to shareholders on June 28, 2019. Shareholders’ Equity at yearend was $6.75B or 15% above prior year.
Return on equity was 15% compared to 18% in the prior year. Earnings per stock unit were $0.24 (2019: $0.26).
Extracted from Managing Director report
James E. D. Rawle
Managing Director
More information
https://www.jamstockex.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/LASM-Annual-Report-2020.pdf