Jul 2008 Financial News

UCL Releases Half Year Results

Jul 23, 2008

Unilever Caribbean Limited
Results for the Half Year Ended June 30, 2008

Earnings Per Share
For the Half Year Ended June 30, 2008, Unilever Caribbean Limited (UCL) reported Earnings Per Share (EPS) of $0.56, down 12.5 per cent or $0.08 on the comparable Half Year period in FY07. According to the Chairman, the business challenge continued to be at the Gross Profit level, where rising global commodity prices continued to impact on raw and packaging material costs as well as increased production costs.

Financials
• Turnover, up 10.1 per cent or $20.4 million to $223.4 million
• Cost of Sales, up 13.8 per cent or $17.1 million to $141.0 million
• Gross Profit, up 4.2 per cent or $3.3 million to $82.4 million
• Operating Profit, down 3.6 per cent or $0.8 million to $22.4 million
• Profit After Taxation, down 12.4 per cent or $2.1 million to $14.7 million

Dividends
The Board of Directors has declared an interim dividend of $0.28 per share, payable on September 5, 2008 to all shareholders whose names appear on the Register of Members as at August 15, 2008.

Recommendation
The Chairman stated that taking into account the current uncertain industrial climate, the outlook for the remainder of the year is for some improvement over the first half but significant full year profit growth over last year appears unlikely.

The shares of UCL are currently trading at a price of $20.52. At our forecasted EPS of $1.40 and the current price, this share is trading at a price to earnings multiple of 14.7 times. At this time we recommend a HOLD on this share.


Nancy Chen
WISE Equity Research Team