COVID-19 wreaks havoc on company earnings

COVID-19 has hit businesses hard resulting in billions of dollars in revenue being lost, according to financial statements filed for the first six months of 2020.

“This year has been the most challenging in living memory. We have experienced the debilitating effects of lockdowns across our jurisdictions, impacting all of our businesses and customers,” executive chairman of the ANSA McAL Group of Companies A Norman Sabga stated.

For the six months ended June 30, 2020 ANSA McAL’s revenue fell by $364 million compared to the same period last year.

COVID-19 hit T&T’s shores in the middle of March.

For the three months ended June 30, 2020 ANSA McAL recorded a profit of $52 million.

ANSA McAL’s profit for the same period last year was $146 million.

“It is inevitable that our 2020 year to date results have been impacted. However, we believe that the full brunt of the economic impact has been averted through prudent management. Your Group’s financial condition is healthy,” Sabga assured.

The ANSA McAL group comprises of 73 companies in over eight territories employing close to 6,000 people.

The group’s “insurance and financial services” sector was the only one to report an increase in revenue between the six month period ended June 30, 2020, compared to the same period last year.

Massy Holdings Limited said its revenue dropped by $577 million for the three month period ended June 30, 2020, when compared to the same period last year.

“Our Third Quarter performance reflects the resilience of the Group. During this period, in which most countries were under lockdown and curfew orders for much of the quarter, almost all companies in the Group were negatively impacted,” the group’s chairman Robert Bermudez stated.

“Notable exceptions were the Integrated Retail Portfolio in Trinidad, which was able to operate without major interruption throughout the lockdown period; Massy United Insurance, which benefited from a recovery in investment income as the US Stock Market rallied in Q3 from the decline earlier in the year; Massy Services in Guyana; Massy Motors ACL; and Massy Machinery,” Bermudez stated.

The Unit Trust Corporation’s also earned $8 million less in the gross income for the three month period ended June 30, 2020, than the three months before.

“The COVID-19 pandemic continues to define ‘the new normal’ affecting investment portfolios, markets and the broader economies. Our Corporation has maintained its deliberate and strategic approach of protecting ‘lives’ whilst continuing to focus on retaining and growing the wealth of our Unitholders,” its chairman Prof Gerry Brooks stated.

Brooks cautioned that the health and economic uncertainties associated with COVID-19 continue to be elevated.

Vincent Pereira, the Chairman of Republic Financial Holdings Limited (RFHL), the parent company of Republic Bank, stated that the profit attributable to shareholders for the nine-month period ended June 30, 2020, was $458 million less than the corresponding period last year.

The profit attributable to shareholders for the nine-month period June 30, 2020 was $774 million.

“These results reflect the financial impact so far of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the Group, mainly resulting from decreased economic activity, narrower margins due to reduced lending interest rates, waiver fees and commissions and the setting aside of additional credit provisions to cover potential future losses.” Pereira stated.

The entertainment industry was one of the worst-hit sectors by the pandemic.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic caused CinemaONE Ltd. to experience a 284.1 per cent decline in net profit for the nine months ended June 30th 2020 with an after tax loss of $1.84 million compared to a $1 million profit for the comparable period in 2019.

National Flour Mills Limited however recorded a profit of close to $3 million more than last year.

For the six month period ended June 30, 2020 NFM had a profit before tax of $13.6 million compared to $10.8 million last year.

“The good news is that NFM’s gross profit increased by nine per cent over the first six months of 2019 as a result of a three per cent increase in revenues and a lower, one per cent, increase in cost of sales,” chairman Nigel Romano stated.

“This is reflective of unintended consequences of the virus-increase in home cooking and baking and the very proactive response to this demand by our sales and marketing team,” he stated.

An increase in drinking at home also helped Angostura offset some of the financial difficulties it experienced because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The group closed the first half of fiscal 2020 with revenue of $358.5 million, 3.5 per cent ($12.1 million) over the comparative period in 2019. Revenue growth was due primarily to increase in local rum sales, up 11 per cent, and Bitters sales to the North American market, up 8.4 per cent over the same period last year,” Terrence Bharath said in his chairman’s statement.