The Limners and Bards Limited (LAB)

Unaudited financials for the first quarter ended January 31, 2025:

The Limners and Bards Limited (LAB) for the first quarter ended January 31, 2025 reported a 30% increase in operating revenue totalling $286.13 million compared to $219.41 million in the corresponding three months last year.

Year to date, Cost of operating revenue amounted to $185.58 million (2024: $130.42 million), this represents an increase of 42% year over year. Consequently, gross profit increased by 13% to $100.55 million compared to $88.99 million for the first quarter ended January 31, 2024.

Selling and distribution increased by 275% to close at $1.81 million (2024: $481,767), while administrative expenses increased by 9% from $68.76 million in 2024 to $75.13 million for the three months. As a result, Total operating expenses for the first quarter amounted to $76.94 million, an 11% increase relative to $69.25 million reported in 2024.

Profit before net finance cost and taxation for the three months amounted to $23.24 million, a 10% decrease relative to $25.77 million reported in 2024. Net finance costs totaled $1.96 million, a 349% increase from the corresponding period last year. (2024: $437,552).

Profit before taxation for the first quarter ended January 31, 2025, amounted to $25.25 million, a 4% decrease relative to $26.18 million reported in 2024.

The tax charge incurred for the three months amounted to $3.65 million (2024: Tax credit of $42,774). Net profit for the three months amounted to $21.60 million, an 18% decrease from the $26.23 million reported in 2024.

Consequently, Earnings Per Share for the three months amounted to $0.02 (2024: EPS: $0.03). The twelve-month trailing EPS was $0.08 and the number of shares used in these calculations was 945,690,252. Notably, LAB’s stock price closed the trading period on March 17, 2025 at a price of $1.09 with a corresponding P/E ratio of 13.16x.

Balance Sheet Highlights

The company’s assets totalled $1.09 billion (2024: $909.30 million). The movement in total assets was mainly attributed to the addition of content assets – development cost, amounting to $165.64 million (2023 – nil) and 48% increase in ‘Accounts receivable’ amounting to $364.22 million (2023: $245.85 million).

Shareholder’s equity was $660.15 million (2024: $624.10 million), representing a book value per share of $0.70 (2024: $0.66).

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