Aug 2007 Financial News

L.J. Williams Releases Half Year Results

Aug 16, 2007

Results for the Half Year Ended June 30, 2007

For the Half Year Ended June 30, 2007, L.J. Williams Limited (LJWB) reported Earnings Per Share (EPS) of 8 cents, up a commendable 60 per cent or 3 cents on the comparable period for fiscal 2006.

Sales for the Half Year period amounted to $63.72 million, up 12 per cent or $6.83 million when compared to the Half Year period in fiscal 2006. Operating Profit increased an outstanding 41.23 per cent or $0.67 million to $2.30 million while Finance Costs was up 10.97 per cent or $0.06 million to end the Half Year at $0.61 million.

Half Year on Half Year, Profit Before Taxation increased a substantial 56.59 per cent or $0.61 million from $1.08 million in fiscal 2006 to $1.69 million in fiscal 2007. The Effective Tax Rate for the period under review was 9.95 per cent compared to a Tax Rate of 13.45 per cent in the previous year. Thus, Profit After Taxation rose a considerable 62.92 per cent or $0.59 million to $1.52 million.

The Chairman has stated that the Group is expected to continue this upward trend and to show a solid performance at the end of the year. Additionally, the Board decided to forego an interim dividend.

Currently the shares of LJWB are trading at a price of $1.40. At the current price and our forecasted EPS of 20 cents, these shares are trading at a price/earnings ratio of 7 times. Based on this analysis, we recommend a BUY on this share, however, we do caution investors that this share may prove difficult to acquire as approximately 57 per cent of the issued share capital is held by substantial interests.

Nancy Chen
WISE Equity Research Team