August 2, 2024

RADIO JAMAICA LIMITED (RJR)

Audited financials for the year ended March 31, 2024:

Radio Jamaica Limited (RJR) for the year ended March 31, 2024, reported a 1% increase in Revenue totalling $5.49 billion compared to $5.44 billion in the corresponding period last year. Revenue for the fourth quarter had an 8% increase to close at $1.35 billion compared to $1.25 billion for the comparable quarter of 2023.

Direct expenses amounted to $2.95 billion (2023: $2.86 billion), this represents an increase of 3% year over year. Consequently, gross profit decreased by 1% to $2.54 billion compared to $2.57 billion for the twelve months ended March 31, 2023. The company booked gross profit of $246.29 million for the fourth quarter versus $225.54 million reported for the similar quarter of 2023.

Administration expenses increased by 24% to close at $1.66 billion (2023: $1.34 billion), while Selling expenses decreased by 4% from $677.74 million in 2023 to $653.39 million in the period under review. As a result, total expenses for the year ended March 31, 2024, amounted to $3.23 billion, a 10% increase relative to $2.93 billion reported in 2023.

Operating Loss for the year ended March 31, 2024, amounted to $531.21 million, a 168% increase relative to the Operating Loss of $198.15 million reported in 2023. Operating Loss for the fourth quarter amounted to $528.79 million (2023: $114.22 million). Finance Costs totalled $49.81 million a 6% decrease from the corresponding period last year. (2023: $52.93 million).

Pre-Tax Losses for the twelve months ended March 31, 2024, amounted to $566.95 million, a 332% decrease relative to the Pre-Tax Profit of $244.61 million reported in 2023. Pre-Tax losses for the fourth quarter amounted to $521.94 million (2023: $77.62 million).

Tax credit for the year ended March 31, 2024, had a 567% increase to reach $38.20 million (2023: $5.73 million). Net Loss for the twelve months amounted to $528.75 million, a 311% decrease from the Net Profit of $250.34 million reported in 2023. For the fourth quarter, Net Loss was $482.38 million (2023: $89.15 million).

Consequently, Loss Per Share for the twelve months amounted to $0.18 (2023: EPS: $0.08), while Loss Per Share for the quarter totalled $0.16 (2023: LPS: $0.03). The number of shares used in these calculations was 3,023,506,931.

Notably, RJR’s stock price closed the trading period on July 31, 2024, at a price of $0.97.

Balance Sheet Highlights

The company’s assets totalled $6.39 billion (2023: $6.82 billion). This increase was attributable to ‘Retirement Benefit Asset’, which equated to $172.22 million for the year ended March 31, 2024 (2023: $93.90 million). Additionally, “Investment Properties’ also contributed to the increase in total assets amounting to $274.90 million for the year ended March 31, 2024 (2023: $213.25 million).

Shareholder’s equity was $4.14 billion (2023: $4.72 billion), representing a book value per share of $1.71 (2023: $1.95).

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