Sep 2007 Financial News

BER Releases Half Year Results

Sep 11, 2007

Results for the Half Year Ended June 30, 2007

For the Half Year Ended June 30, 2007, Berger Paints Trinidad Limited (BER) reported a Net Loss of $0.68 million. This translated into a Loss Per Share (LPS) of $0.13 for HY07 compared to a LPS of $0.45 in the corresponding period in fiscal 2006.

Revenue for the period under review stood at $19.26 million, up 9.19 per cent or $1.62 million on the same period in 2006. Expenses were up 6.77 per cent from $19.80 million in HY06 to $21.15 million for HY07. The Company also had Other Income for the period in the amount of $1.57 million while there was no Other Income in the comparable period in the last financial year. Thus, Loss from Operations totaled $0.33 million compared to a Loss of $2.17 million in HY06, a decrease in Losses of $1.84 million or 85.02 per cent.

BER saw Finance Expenses of $0.29 million, up a considerable 205.26 per cent or $0.20 million on HY06. As a result, Loss Before Taxation for HY07 ended at $0.62 million down on HY07’s loss by 72.84 per cent or $1.65 million.

For HY07, BER had a Tax Credit of $0.07 million compared to a Tax Credit of $0.06 million for the same period in fiscal 2006. Thus, as stated above the Company reported a Net Loss of $0.68 million for the Half Year Ended June 30, 2007 compared to a Net Loss of $2.32 million in HY06.

The Chairman has noted that while BER is currently in a Loss position it is a significant improvement over the results for the same period in 2006. He has attributed this improvement to increases in sales volume and value which registered growths of 11 per cent and 95 per cent respectively when compared to last year. He also pointed out that the trading losses are a reflection of the seasonality of the business and that based on traditional trading patterns it is expected that the second half and particularly the fourth quarter will show appreciable growth. The Chairman also went further to state that the Company is forecasting an increase in sales activity during the next six months which should yield positive year end results.

The shares of BER last closed at a price of $3.40 on the local exchange. We have forecasted an EPS of $0.07 for fiscal 2007 and at this forecast and the current price, this share is trading at an extremely high multiple of 48.57 times. As such, we maintain our recommendation of SELL.


Gia Singh
WISE Equity Research Team