Income
LASCO Financial Services Limited (LFSL) is reporting consolidated income of $1.083 Billion for the first six months of the 2024-2025 Financial year. This represents a 6.0 % decrease or $67.4 million less income, when compared with the corresponding 2023-2024 period.

Expenses
Consolidated expenses for the quarter totaled $1.003 Billion, a reduction of 1% or $7.8 million.

Operating Profit for the period is $79.5 million, $59.5M less than previous comparative period.
Administrative expenses declined by $30.1 million, a result of the ongoing efforts to control expenses, whereas Selling and Promotions increased by $22.0 million reflecting increased marketing support to launch our MoneyGram Direct to Card service.

Half year Profit after Tax for the period is $9.2 million, a significant fall off from the comparative 2023- 2024 period, which was $56.0 million.

Three Months Results
During our second quarter, LFSL faced several headwinds. Firstly, in July, there was business disruption due to Hurricane Beryl which impacted our ability to provide service to our customers and also impacting our customers’ ability to access our service, particularly in the South Coast of the country. We are however grateful for the committed agents who were able to do limited business under very difficult circumstances to open to the public. Just as we were recovering from the impact of the hurricane, we were further impacted by the events which led to MoneyGram International proactively taking their systems offline to contain and remediate unauthorized activity. There was a full shutdown of transactions for 5 days which significantly impacted our earnings from Remittance, Cambio and Card services. Since the restoration of services, transactions have progressively improved but not normalized.

The revenue for the Quarter is $546.2 million and a loss of $8.6 million compared with $575.9 million and $37.2 million for revenues and profit respectively for the comparative period.

Management continuously assesses its opportunities for growth and cost savings and within the second quarter we closed an underperforming branch to reduce operational costs and we are directing our focus on our new service which will result in improved margins and will be beneficial to our bottom line.

Jacinth A. Hall-Tracey Managing Director LASCO Financial Services Limited (LFSL)

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Income
OMNI is reporting quarterly revenues of $427.5 million for the three‐month period ending September 30, 2024, compared to $488 million in the same period in 2023, reflecting a 12% decrease quarter‐over‐quarter. Year‐to‐date revenue declined marginally, totaling $1.512 billion for the nine‐month period in 2024 compared to $1.572 billion in 2023. This decline is largely attributed to adverse weather conditions, including Hurricane Beryl in early July and ongoing heavy rains impacting the island. Additionally, a cement shortage has affected the construction industry, which directly impacted our revenue streams.

It is worth noting that the overall economy is experiencing a slowdown, with the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) estimating negative GDP growth for the July quarter, particularly in the construction industry. Despite these challenges, quarterly gross profit reached $217 million, an increase of 21% from $180 million in the prior year’s corresponding quarter. Year‐to‐date gross profit rose to $717 million, compared to $590 million in the same period in 2023. This improved gross profit performance is primarily driven by a reduction in key components of our cost of sales, including demurrage costs. Construction supplies remain the primary revenue driver, accounting for 53% of total revenue.

Expenses
Administrative, Selling, and Factory expenses for the reporting quarter totaled $170 million, up from $137 million—a 24% increase over the corresponding period ending September 2023. This rise in administrative costs was primarily due to higher professional fees, marketing, and other expenses related to our IPO on June 11, 2024. Selling expenses year‐to‐date were driven mainly by haulage and export‐related costs, while the 9% increase in factory expenses resulted from increased repair and maintenance costs. With our ongoing strategic retooling and new equipment acquisitions, we anticipate a reduction and improved optimization of these expenses in the near term.

Finance Costs
Finance costs for the quarter totaled $9.8 million, reflecting a 20% decrease compared to the same period in 2023. Year‐to‐date finance costs amounted to $29 million, a 32% reduction from the prior year. This decrease primarily stems from the company’s proactive debt reduction efforts, resulting in lower interest expenses for the period.

Net Profit
Net profit for the quarter ending September 30, 2024, was $38 million, a 58% increase from $24 million in the same period in 2023. Year‐to‐date profit reached $146 million, up from $129 million in the previous reporting period, resulting in earnings per stock unit of $0.027 for the quarter and $0.104 year to date. This year‐to‐date increase was primarily driven by reductions in cost of sales and finance costs, partially offset by expenses associated with the IPO.

Shareholders’ Equity
Shareholders’ equity has reached $946.3 million, an increase of $371.9 million from $574.2 million as of December 31, 2023. This growth is primarily attributed to a year‐to‐date increase in retained profits of $121.9 million, along with additional paid‐in capital of $250.0 million from the IPO.

Patrick Kumst Managing Director Omni Industries Limited.

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Revenues for the quarter of $14.6 billion represent an increase of 6.6% above the $13.7 billion achieved in the corresponding quarter of the previous year and represents our highest quarterly sales in the history of the company.

With the expansions for our beverage lines being primarily completed we have been able to meet the demand of our products as well as improve the service levels to our customers. With Hurricane Beryl impacting Jamaica on July 3, 2024, the start of our first quarter we experienced decreases in demand for frozen and chilled
products as some customers had storage challenges which was, however, more than compensated for by the increase in demand for our beverage portfolio.

Additionally, the softening of visitor arrivals, the reduction in remittances, and some inflationary effects all seemed to have resulted in lower than expected overall consumption during the quarter.

Gross Profits of $5.3 billion were 10.7% greater than the $4.8 billion of the prior year’s quarter, and, Gross Margins at 36.3% were 140 basis points higher than the 34.9% for the same quarter last year. The higher Gross Margins resulted primarily from the greater production output and the resulting reduction in unit cost.
Selling, Distribution & Administrative expenses (SD&A) for the quarter totaled $3.6 billion or 23.6% more than the $2.9 billion for the corresponding quarter of the prior year. Our SD&A expense to sales ratio was 24.8% for the quarter, compared to 21.4% in the prior year. These greater expenses are the result of us building the scale in our Operations, (warehousing and distribution), as well as our Sales, and Marketing Teams to meet the anticipated increase in demand.

Profit before Taxation for the quarter was $1.7 billion or 9.5% lower than the $1.9 billion of the comparative quarter for the prior year.

After provision for taxes, Wisynco recorded Net Profits Attributable to Stockholders of $1.5 billion or 40c per stock unit when compared to $1.6 billion or 41c per stock unit for the first quarter of the prior year.

Our Balance Sheet remains strong with a current ratio of 2.2, compared with 2.8 for last year’s quarter. Since the start of this new financial year, FY2025, we have added $1.0 billion of equipment to our company’s property, plant and equipment.

Our new factory expansion and product lines, which will yield new innovations, should have commenced production within the second quarter but due to unavoidable delays, we now see this starting in our 3rd quarter.

Andrew Mahfood Chief Executive Officer Wisynco Group Limited

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Financial Performance
The Group recorded consolidated revenue of $1.7 billion for the nine-month period ending September 2024, a marginal increase over the corresponding period of 2023.

The Group’s adjusted EBITDA on a year-to-date basis for 2024 was $451 million, a 14% increase compared to the prior year period. Throughout this year, the Group has generated accumulated net income of $211 million, an increase of 24% when compared to the same period in 2023.

The Group recorded consolidated revenue of $522 million during the third quarter of 2024, a decrease of 6% when compared to the same quarter of 2023. The Group’s
adjusted EBITDA of $100 million in Q3, reflected a decrease of 34% compared to the same period of the previous year.

This quarter’s turnover drop was largely due to the negative effect of Hurricane Beryl and other adverse weather conditions in Jamaica, along with a major kiln overhaul and increased maintenance costs. As a result, the Group’s net income fell by 48% to $35 million compared to the same quarter in 2023.

During Q3 of 2024, the Group generated net cash of $129 million from operating activities and invested $65 million in capital expenditure, made net payments of $35 million to revolving facilities, and paid dividends totalling $49 million to shareholders.

Sustainability
We continue to execute key actions aligned to our aim of becoming a net-zero CO2 company by the year 2050. Our “Future in Action” programme, through its six key pillars:

Sustainable Products & Solutions; Decarbonising our Operations; Circular Economy; Water, Biodiversity & other Emissions; Innovation & Partnerships, and Promoting a Green Economy continues to be instrumental in our achievement of a lower carbon footprint.

This quarter saw Carib Cement taking part in “International Coastal Clean-up (ICC) Day,” removing 3,088 kgs of waste from the Palisadoes Beach in collaboration with RUBiS Energy Jamaica Limited, the Rotary Club of East Kingston & Port Royal, the Jamaica Union of Tertiary Students, and the University of Technology, Jamaica among other partners.

These efforts reflect our commitment to preserving Jamaica’s natural beauty, and further cements our commitment to circularity and biodiversity, while well aligned to our Cemex circularity solutions business, Regenera. Additionally, we partnered with the Forestry Department, the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, and the National Council for Senior Citizens for phase two of our reforestation project at our
defunct quarry. A total of 450 trees (including fruit) were planted as part of the biodiversity pillar of our company’s “Future in Action” programme, signalling our dedication to enhancing local ecosystems and to building a sustainable future for our communities.

In Trinidad and Tobago, we continued our waste oil coprocessing trial at Claxton Bay, which will help us to deliver a sustainable solution for a local waste stream that can be detrimental to our environment and ecosystems. Considering that just one litre of oil could contaminate up to one million litres of freshwater, our commitment to diversification of our fuel mix in a sustainable manner (coprocessing in our kiln)
would therefore be highly beneficial to Trinidad and Tobago.

We are also continuing the use of alternative raw materials to lower our clinker factor while creating more sustainable and superior products. The collection of rainwater at our Mayo ponds continues to demonstrate our corporate social responsibility and a commitment to building water self-sufficiency in Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean.

These accomplishments, each in their distinct right, have strengthened our “Future in Action” portfolio and places us closer to our decarbonisation targets and sustainable excellence.

Outlook
We remain focused on our key strategic priorities of Health and Safety, Customer Centricity, Innovation, Sustainability, and EBITDA Growth aimed at value creation for all our stakeholders.

We are enthusiastic about our climate action initiatives and the strides being made in our journey to carbon neutrality driven by our “Future in Action” plan. We will continue to drive progress in this area, including further investments in the development of low-carbon brands and solutions, and the reception, management, recycling and co-processing of waste under Cemex’s Regenera business line.

Although our financial performance continues to show improvement over last year, an indication of potential growth, the Board and Management remain cautiously optimistic

Francisco Aguilera Mendoza
Managing Director Trinidad Cement Limited

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Consistent with our strategy, we continue to make great strides in perfecting and protecting our core across several dimensions including capital management, risk management, technology investments, operational efficiency, product development and people and culture.

The Group’s strong capitalisation and diversified business model has positioned us well to respond to the changing business landscape and to navigate the ongoing uncertainties in our investment markets and the macro environment.

For the nine months ended 30th September 2024, the Group recorded unaudited profit attributable to equity shareholders of $598 million exceeding the prior year’s restated results of $464 million by $134 million or 29%. This exceptional performance was mainly driven by improved net insurance service result, higher net investment income, higher insurance brokerage fees and commission income and lower other operating expenses partially offset by higher net insurance finance expenses and higher finance charges.

Our positive momentum continued in 2024, delivering another quarter of robust results despite third quarter profits being impacted by additional incurred claims from Hurricane Beryl.

Compared to the prior quarter this year, third quarter profits of $197 million surpassed second quarter performance by $30 million or 18% mainly due to higher net income from investing activities and lower net insurance finance expenses offset by lower insurance service results, higher operating expenses and higher taxation.

Correspondingly, third quarter profits also outperformed the prior year’s quarterly profits of $85 million by $112 million or by 132% mainly due to higher net income from investing activities and higher insurance service results partially offset by higher net insurance finance expenses.

Before presenting further commentary on the Group’s year-to-date financial performance, we highlight that in the prior year’s third quarter publication, the Group reported unaudited nine months 2023 results of profit attributable to equity shareholders of $382 million. This was subsequently updated to include the non-recurring net fair value gain of $174 million arising from the model change implemented by our Jamaican operations, thereby reclassifying financial assets supporting life and annuity portfolios from amortised costs and fair value through other comprehensive income to fair value through the profit and loss.

The change was also reported in the Group’s audited results for the year ended 31st December 2023. This update coupled with IFRS 17 related refinements increased the year-to-date nine months 2023 comparative results from $382 million to $464 million. The succeeding commentary on the 2024 performance of your Group refers to the restated 2023 financial statements as opposed to those previously reported.

Further to highlighting your Group’s year-over-year profitability growth achievement of 29% above, we also report that balance sheet metrics remain strong, and we continue to create value for shareholders in the current operating environment.

The Group remains sufficiently capitalised and compliant with regulatory ratios.

On September 20, 2024, CariCRIS reaffirmed the assigned ratings of CariAA- on the regional rating scale and jmAAA on the Jamaican national scale for Guardian Holdings Limited with a stable outlook.

When compared to the prior year’s nine-month results, the Group’s equity / book value per share increased from $15.70 to $18.58, return on equity increased from 19% to 20%, earnings per share increased from $2.00 to $2.58 and interim dividends paid increased from $0.22 to $0.23.

Insurance revenue grew by $363 million or 9% over the prior year mainly from continued growth in core business across the Group’s diversified product offerings in the English-speaking and Dutch Caribbean markets.

The Life, Health and Pension (LHP) segment contributed insurance revenue of $2.2 billion, up from $2 billion in the prior year by $183 million or 9%. Insurance revenue increased on all lines except Group Health, as clients continued to service their policies coupled with new business growth across all territories.

This year-over-year increase in revenue was partially offset by increased insurance service expenses impacted by a higher level of health claims and directly attributable expenses. Total gross claims paid by the LHP Segment for the current period amounted to $2.2 billion compared to $1.8 billion in the prior year.

Property and Casualty (P&C) also reported higher insurance revenue of $2.2 billion, up from $2 billion in the prior year by $180 million or 9%, principally from operations in the Trinidad, Jamaica and Dutch Caribbean markets. Both the property and motor lines of business experienced revenue growth as they continued to build strong momentum.

The year-over-year growth in revenue was largely offset by higher insurance service expenses from higher incurred claim expenses. Total gross claims paid by the P&C Segment for the current period amounted to $494 million compared to $325 million in the prior year.

The impact of net claims incurred from Hurricane Beryl is reported in the above results. The P&C segment continues to closely manage the general tightening of reinsurance markets. For the reporting period, reinsurance expenses declined over the prior year benefitting from a higher level of incurred claims recovery.

Net income from investing activities increased by $51 million mainly from higher investment income and higher realized gains partially offset by lower net fair value gains and impairment losses.

Excluding the previously referenced non-recurring net fair value gain of $174 million in the prior year’s results, the Group would have achieved a normalized year-over-year increase in net fair value gains and net income from investing activities of $119 million and $225 million respectively.

Your Group continues to closely monitor volatile markets and rebalance portfolios, as necessary.

Net insurance finance expenses increased by $58 million or 11% over the prior year, mainly from our LHP segment. Among other items, finance expenses include the flow through of the portion of net income from investment activities that is associated with insurance products with an investment component.

For the reporting period, this impact was less favorable to the Group’s insurance liabilities; however, the impact was favorable for our clients as they earned higher investment income of $212 million in the current period due to growth in the policyholders’ underlying funds, which resulted in higher expenses for the Group.

The Insurance Brokerage segment recorded fee and commission income of $191 million, up 8% from the prior year. This was mainly due to increased income from our operations in the Netherlands, Dutch Caribbean and Cayman Islands.

The Asset Management segment reported a marginal year-over year decline in after-tax profit for the period of 2% from higher finance charges partially offset by improved net investment income results and lower operating expenses. The Group continues to focus efforts on developing this segment through third-party business, increased structuring, and trade activities.

Other operating expenses that were not attributable to insurance portfolios decreased by $9 million or 1% year-over-year from a reduction in controllable expenses from the active management of operating expenses.

Your Group remains focused on completing its journey to perfect and protect our core which remains at the heart of our operations, so as to increase the organization’s generation of free cash flow per share, which is essential to enabling resilience and sustainable growth.

As we continue to implement planned changes, the Group remains resolute on optimizing performance whilst building out the phases of our strategic journey geared toward further technological enhancements, exploring new markets, strengthening our product portfolio, and improving our service delivery.

Robert Almeida Chairman Guardian Holdings Limited
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