Cave Shepherd & Company Ltd recorded a $0.5 million net loss for the six-month period ended June 30, 2012, unlike its $0.9 million net income for the comparable period last year.
According to recently published consolidated financial highlights, the group recorded a $0.8 million loss attributable to equity holders instead of the $0.4 million profit for the same period in 2011.
The directors’ statement signed by chairman Geoffrey Cave and chief executive officer John Williams said that this represents earnings per share of negative $0.04 compared to a positive $0.02 in the prior year.
During the period, income declined from $8.2 million to $7.6 million while expenses increased from $8 million to $8.5 million.
The directors noted that the group’s six-month results included $0.9 million unrealized losses on investments held for trading compared to a $0.3 million loss in the prior year.
“This resulted from the decline in the stock market value of our overseas and local investments, including the complete write-down of our investment in Almond Resorts Inc.
“As noted in our last report, we decided to close our retail operations in Tortola due to the economic downturn affecting that territory and as a result we have recorded $0.6 million in closing costs,” Cave and Williams said.
The directors noted that Duty Free Caribbean Holdings which has locations throughout the Caribbean experienced a modest decline in sales due to reduced visitor numbers and low domestic activity.
As part of an ongoing process of containing expenses, the company undertook a voluntary redundancy programme – most of the cost of which was expensed in June.
“The outcome of these combined factors was that this business recorded a lower result and this is the main reason for the share of results of associates’ reflecting a profit of $0.9 million compared to a prior period profit of $1.1 million,” the statement said.
Cave and Williams noted that the group’s financial services businesses continued to perform well, showing acceptable results for the period.
Although visitor spend and economic activity in islands where the group does business remain subdued, the directors said they were hopeful of an upturn in the winter season. (NB)
