November 11, 2024

LASCO Financial Services Limited (LASF) for the six months ended September 30, 2024, reported a 6% decrease in Income totaling $1.02 billion compared to $1.08 billion in the corresponding period last year. Income for the second quarter had a 7% decrease to close at $505.20 million compared to $540.58 million for the comparable quarter of 2023.

Other Income amounted to $66.11 million (2023: $71.07 million), this represents a decrease of 7% year over year.

Admin & other expenses decreased by 5% to close at $609.03 million (2023: $639.12 million), while Selling and promotional costs increased by 6% from $372.62 million in 2023 to $394.87 million in the period under review. As a result, operating expenses for the six months ended September 30, 2024, amounted to $1.00 billion, a 1% decrease relative to $1.01 billion reported in 2023.

Profit from Operations for the six months ended September 30, 2024, amounted to $79.50 million, a 43% decrease relative to $139.09 million reported in 2023. Profit from Operations for the second quarter amounted to $27.16 million (2023: $71.01 million).

Finance Costs totalled $40.80 million a 5% decrease from the corresponding period last year. (2023: $43.15 million).

Profit Before Taxation for the six months ended September 30, 2024, amounted to $38.69 million, a 60% decrease relative to $95.94 million reported in 2023. Profit Before Taxation for the second quarter amounted to $6.41 million (2023: $52.87 million).

Taxation for the six months ended September 30, 2024, had a 26% decrease to reach $29.54 million (2023: $39.93 million). As such, Net Profit for the six months amounted to $9.15 million, a 84% decrease from the $56.00 million reported in 2023. For the second quarter, Net loss amounted to $8.64 million (2023: Net profit of $37.19 million).

Consequently, Earnings Per Share for the six months amounted to $0.01 (2023: EPS: $0.04), while Loss Per Share for the quarter totaled $0.01 (2023: EPS: $0.03). The twelve-month trailing EPS was $0.09, and the number of shares used in these calculations was 1,280,227,726.

Notably, LASF’s stock price closed the trading period on November 8, 2024, at a price of $1.85 with a corresponding P/E ratio of 20.57x.

Balance Sheet Highlights

The company’s assets totalled $4.15 billion (2023: $4.09 billion). During the period, ‘Cash & cash equivalents’ grew by $359.63 million or 50% while ‘Receivables’ declined by $290.75 million or 16% to offset the movement in total assets.

Shareholder’s equity was $2.28 billion (2023: $2.17 billion), representing a book value per share of $1.78 (2023: $1.69).

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