Nov 2012 Financial News

CCFG legacy owners lose J$117m ondebt wager - JMMB gains J$1.6b from acquisition

Nov 23, 2012

Jamaica Money Market Brokers Limited (JMMB) has gained J$1.61 billion from its acquisition of Capital & Credit, a minor portion of which was cash reclaimed from funds held in escrow account for CCFG legacy shareholders.

JMMB concurrently reported to shareholders that it has now acquired the remaining 6.86 per cent of CCFG shares and is now in full possession of 100 per cent of the group.

For the six-month period ended September 30, 2012, JMMB recorded net profit of J$2.54 billion, representing a J$1.18 billion or 86 per cent improvement year-over-year.

JMMB also disclosed that it gained a net J$117 million in cash that was previously set aside for founding CCFG shareholders, representing a portion of their take from JMMB's J$4.55 per share offer.

The refund indicates that the former owners were not entirely successful in recouping all of the targeted J$1.5 billion or half of CCFG's non-performing loans ahead of the July 2012 deadline. Ryland Campbell, Andrew Cocking and Gregory Shirley had stood to lose as much as J$288 million, JMMB's chief financial officer, Patrick Ellis, told the Financial Gleaner.

JMMB has since recouped more of the bad loans, but Ellis said "any collections beyond July would not have been counted" in the performance of the legacy debt collection agreement.

It will take another 12 to 18 months to realise the value of the assets backing the remaining loans, but the financial officer said JMMB has no plans for any fire sales.

The CCFG gain pushed JMMB's earnings per share to J$1.55, up from 92 cents per share at HY 2011.

Without the one-off gain, JMMB's pre-tax profits would have fallen more than J$450 million below the HY 2011 mark.

JMMB Group's balance sheet was also boosted J$31.6 billion by the acquisition to total assets of J$156.9 billion, inclusive of a loan portfolio that has tripled to J$9.2 billion.

Its capital base also expanded to J$14.5 billion in September from J$11 billion in March.


Source:
busines@gleanerjm.com
Jamaica Gleaner
Friday November 23, 2012


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