4 months ago
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Barita Investments Limited earnings climbed towards a billion dollars in the third quarter ending June, nearly doubling the results achieved the prior year.
The company made $980 million in profit, compared to $504 million in the April-June period in 2023.
The improvements reflected “the effects of management’s strategy, which is focused on driving improvements in operating revenue”, said Chairman Mark Myers.
Over nine months, profit was up six per cent to $2.9 billion.
Like others, Barita did not foresee a shift in Jamaica’s policy on interest rates until around the end of 2024 into 2025. That’s when Bank of Jamaica was expected to start cutting interest rates, but the central bank pulled off a surprise on Tuesday, with a rate cut announcement after market close. The policy rate dipped from 7.0 per cent to 6.75 per cent.
For the April-June third quarter, Barita’s net interest income improved by over 200 per cent to $193 million. Total revenue rose to $2.1 billion, up $206 million from $1.89 billion in the third quarter of 2023. This was primarily due to the performance of the treasury trading and brokerage segment, which offset declines in the alternative investments business line.
Nine-month revenue declined by five per cent to $7 billion, with the fall-off attributed to a lower contribution from alternative investments.
Barita anticipates further improvement in net interest margin “driven by a continuation of the upward repricing on our earning assets, combined with a fair degree of stability in the cost of our liabilities in the coming quarter,” Myers said in the earnings report.
“Additionally, we anticipate more favourable market conditions ahead, with the potential for further uplift in our trading gains. Furthermore, deal-making may also accelerate to higher volumes, which will bode well for the support of robust results,” he said.
Barita’s assets were estimated at $135 billion at the end of the quarter, while its capital dipped slightly to $36.2 billion.
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