May 2007 Financial News

UCL Releases First Quarter Results

May 29, 2007

Results for the First Quarter Ended March 31, 2007

Unilever Caribbean Limited (UCL) reported Earnings Per Share (EPS) of 31 cents for the First Quarter Ended March 31, 2007. This was up 14.81 per cent or 4 cents on the comparable quarter in FY06.

Revenues for the period under review amounted to $96.307 million and was up 11.14 per cent or $9.656 million on Q106. Expenses also increased by a similar margin of 11.48 per cent or $8.756 million to $84.999 million. Thus, Profit from Operations increased $0.900 million or 8.65 per cent from $10.408 million in Q106 to $11.308 million in Q107.

For the first three months of FY07, Finance Income increased by a significant 60.61 per cent or $0.020 million to $0.053 million compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year. Q107 on Q106, Finance Expense fell a considerable 42.88 per cent or $0.467 million to $0.622 million. As such, Profit Before Taxation stood at $10.739 million, up 14.83 per cent or $1.387 million on Q106.

The Effective Tax Rate for the First Quarter was 25 per cent which is the same Tax Rate for the corresponding period of the last financial year. Ultimately, Profit for the Period increased from $7.014 million in Q106 to $8.054 million in Q107, up 14.83 per cent or $1.040 million.

Currently, the shares of UCL are trading at a price of $21.23. At the current price and our forecasted EPS of $1.45 for FY2007, these shares are trading at a price/earnings ratio of 14.64 times. UCL usually trades in the band of 12 to 16 times and as such based on this fundamental analysis we continue to recommend a SELL on this share.

Nancy Chen
WISE Equity Research Team