BUSINESS MONDAY: Cave Shepherd Group reports half-year profit

THE Cave Shepherd Group, a leading Barbados retail entity, has recorded a profit attributable to equity holders of $2.4 million or Earnings per share (EPS) of 13 cents for the half year to June 30, 2021.

This performance, say two officials of the Group, compared to a loss of $37.7 million or EPS of two dollars per share for the prior half year.

Chairman Sir Geoffrey Cave and CEO John Williams said that shareholders will recall that at the time in the previous year, the Group wrote off investments and shareholder loans of $39.6 million in Duty Free Caribbean (Holdings) Limited (DFCH) as a result of the negative impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on that business.

“Excluding the DFCH write off, the Group would have made a profit from continued operations of $1.9 million in the prior year,” they said.

They said further that during the first half of 2021, their financial services businesses continued to perform creditably amidst the challenging economic environment from the global pandemic.

The two officials noted that Cave Shepherd Credit Card operations were initially impacted by the COVID lockdown-related depressed economic activity, as well as the disruption by the volcanic ashfall in the earlier part of the year.

However, they have since recovered in the latter months.

SigniaGlobe Financial Group has also been affected by the same factors which impacted their new business and loan loss provisions.

According to the Chairman and CEO, “The DGM Financial Group continues to perform well, COVID having minimal impact on its business. Fortress Fund Managers recorded a strong performance and during the period the Group increased its shareholding from 60 per cent to 68.57 per cent.”

They pointed out that the Group’s remaining retail associates GCS Limited (Ganzee) is still impacted by the pandemic, but with the limited improvement in tourism arrivals, its situation is improving.

“With our cash and liquid assets of over $52 million, our balance sheet remains solid, which means that the Group has more than sufficient resources to both support and expand the existing businesses through these difficult times while seeking out new investment opportunities as they arise,” they pointed out.

Considering the improved results, Directors of the Group took the decision to increase the interim dividend from 0.05 cents to 0.07, which will be paid at the end of this month.