Expressed in Trinidad and Tobago Dollars unless otherwise stated.

Guardian Holdings Limited (GHL) for the first quarter ended March 31, 2024, reported a 9% increase in net results from insurance activities totalling $181.88 million compared to $166.16 million in the corresponding three months last year.

Net income from investing activities amounted to $533.31 million (2023: $494.51 million), this represents an 8% increase year over year. Consequently, net insurance finance expenses were $213.55 million compared to $152.77 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023.

Net income from all activities was valued at $556.08 million relative to $558.01 million recorded a year prior.

Operating expenses increased by 1% from $207.74 million in 2023 to $209.61 million for the three months. Finance charges for the first quarter amounted to $44.04 million relative to $44.56 million reported in 2023.

As a result, operating profit for the first quarter amounted to $302.43 million, a 1% decline relative to $305.72 million reported in 2023.

Share of after-tax profits of associated companies totalled $3.75 million a 257% increase from the corresponding period last year. (2023: $1.05 million).

Profit before taxation for the three months was $306.18 million (2023: $306.77 million). Taxation for the three months amounted to $69.51 million, a 39% increase from the $49.84 million reported in 2023.

Net Profit decreased by 8% to $236.67 million (2023: $256.92 million). Net profit attributable to equity holders of the company for the first quarter totalled $233.83 million, relative to the $255.67 million reported twelve months prior.

GHL noted the decline in profit was mainly due to higher net insurance finance expenses partially offset by improved net insurance service result and net investment income.

Consequently, Earnings Per Share for the three months amounted to TT$1.01/J$23.02 (2023: EPS: TT$1.10/J$24.76). The twelve-month trailing EPS was J$67.85 and the number of shares used in these calculations was 232,024,923. Notably, GHL’s stock price closed the trading period on June 12, 2024, at a price of $367.44 with a corresponding P/E ratio of 5.42x.

Balance Sheet Highlights

The company’s assets totalled $36.28 billion (2023: $34.78 billion). The uptick in assets resulted from a 5% increase in ‘Investment securities’ closing at $25.41 billion.

Shareholder’s equity was $4.03 billion (2023: $3.29 billion), representing a book value per share of TT$17.37/J$396.74 (2023: TT$14.20/J$318.98).

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