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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For the nine months ended September 30, 2024, Angostura Holdings Limited’s international markets, regional markets, duty-free segment, and bulk and co-packing segments collectively increased by $12.8 million or 4% over the prior period.

International and regional markets performed well with branded revenue growing by $7.4 million or 3% compared to the same period in the prior year. This growth was driven by increased sales in Bitters of 28% in Australia, 18% in Latin America and 1% in North America.

In the Caribbean, Angostura® Chill continued to expand, achieving strong revenue growth of 31% year over year. The duty-free business recorded growth of 31% in the Premium Rums segment.

The bulk and co-packing business achieved growth of $5.4 million or 23% year over year, mainly driven by increased revenue from the co-packing of the Zaya Gran Reserva rum.

Consequently, the year-on-year growth in the international, regional, duty-free and bulk and co-packing segments contributed to the Group generating $697.9 million in revenue.

This year-on-year growth was offset by declines in concentrated segments of the local market, resulting in an overall decline of $22.2 million in revenue or 3% over the comparative period in 2023.

The Standard Rums segment declined during the first nine months of 2024 contributing to an overall decrease of $35 million or 8% in the local market when compared to the same period in the prior year. This decline was partially offset by the growth in the international, regional, duty free and bulk and co-packing segments.

There were, however, positive trends in the local market, with Premium Rums growing by 9% and Bitters by 10% year over year. In response to the decline in the Standard Rums segment, the Group introduced the new Correia’s range of rums in July 2024, featuring Hard Rum, Coconut Flavoured Rum, and Real Hard Puncheon. A new flavour of Angostura® Chill, Pear and Bitters, was also added to the Angostura® Chill family.

As part of our strategy to reinvigorate growth in the Standard Rums segment and the local market, the Group has planned a number of innovations for the next quarter.

Selling and marketing expenses increased by $7.3 million or 5% year over year as we continued to invest in our brands by hosting the Global Distributors Conference, the 200th Anniversary Gala, the launch of limited-edition products, and the redesigned Premium Rum range packaging, which will soon be released locally and internationally.

The Group implemented measures to ensure that there was no increase in total operating expenses, as evidenced by a $13.3 million or 6% reduction when compared to the prior year, reflecting prudent overall expense management.

Profit After Tax was $94.4 million, a decline of $10 million or 10% compared to the same period in 2023.

The Group maintained a stable financial position with a low Debt Ratio of 0.17 when compared to 0.18 in 2023, and total assets of $1.8 billion, representing a 4% increase year over year.

The fourth quarter is historically a period of heightened activity, and the Group is focused on maximising revenue generation during this period

Mr. Terrence Bharath S.C.
Chairman Angostura Holdings Limited

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