Caribbean Money

  For the six months ended April 30, 2025, Main Event Entertainment Limited  (MEEG) reports that it was impacted by the still recovering economic environment in Jamaica. As a business closely tied to consumer activity and discretionary spending, Management noted that MEEG’s performance was influenced by prevailing economic conditions. “ In times of reduced disposable income, demand for entertainment, events, and promotional services often comes under pressure. This context has framed many of the challenges and opportunities we faced during the quarter,” they stated, The company generated revenue of $306.368 million for the second quarter ended April 30, 2025. This represents a decline of $112.207 million or 27 per cent compared to the second quarter of 2024. For the half-year,   MEEG earned revenue of $891.395 million, reflecting a reduction of $94.932 million or 10 per cent relative to the corresponding period last year. This contraction in revenue is primarily a...

  For the six months ended April 2025, media and advertising company Limbers and Bards saw profit dip. Net profit for the six-month period stood at $20.6 million, a 58.3 per cent decline compared to the same period in the prior year. The decrease was primarily attributable to lower gross margins and a reduction in second-quarter revenue which was largely due to seasonal variations and the timing of project deliveries. Operating expenses, comprising administrative, selling, and distribution costs, increased by $14.4 million or 10 percent compared to the same period last year. For the period under review, Management said that the Group’s consolidated balance sheet remained sound with a stable cash position, providing the financial flexibility to support ongoing operations and strategic initiatives. Revenue over the 6-month period of $460.2 million, represented a 3.3 per cent increase compared to the corresponding period in 2024. This growth was driven primarily by increased activity ...

    VM Wealth Limited has introduced a slate of new appointees in   bid to re-energise leadership. Among them are the appointment of Chief Operating Officer Allison Mais has been promoted to the role of Chief Operating Officer (COO) for VM Investments Limited and VM Wealth Management Limited effective April 1, 2025. In this expanded role, Mais reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer and assumes strategic oversight of critical operational areas across the business. VM said that this appointment underscores the organisation’s “focus on operational agility and execution, with Mais’ leadership pivotal to scaling service delivery, improving internal processes, and supporting enterprise-wide efficiency.” Stock price volatility was noted as a challenge for VM during the year. Profit before taxation for the twelve months ended December 31, 2024, amounted to $398.93 million, a 130 per cent increase relative to $173.30 million reported in 2023. Loss before taxat...

  Dolla Financial Services Limited  advises that it has received a notice that Widebase Limited  has acquired a further  seven per cent of DOLLA thereby bringing its total holdings to 21.00 per cent of DOLLA. Widebase stated in its notice that it is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mayberry Group Limited (MGL). Widebase further advised that it intends to seek approval to hold 20 per cent or more of Dolla from the Bank of Jamaica, the regulator of micro-credit institutions. In February 2025 Kenroy Kerr, Chief Executive Officer of Dolla Financial Services Limited said   that the company’s collateral-backed model for loans has delivered consistent improvements in company performance. For the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2024. Reports that total income reached $1.5 billion, representing a year-over-year (YoY) increase of $363 million or 24 per cent. Net interest income (NII) before expected credit losses (ECL) totaled $1.2 billion, an increase of $238 milli...

  Scotia Group reports net income of $9.2 billion for the six months ended April 30, 2025, representing an increase of $665.6 million or 7.8 per cent over the prior year. Net income for the quarter of $5 billion reflected an increase of $797.9 million or 19 per cent over the previous quarter. The Group’s asset base grew by $87 billion or 12.9 per cent to $763.5 billion as at April 2025 supported by loan and investment portfolios.   In furtherance of our objective to continue to return value to our shareholders, the Board of Directors has approved a dividend of 45 cents per stock unit in respect of the second quarter, which is payable on July 17, 2025, to stockholders on record as at June 25, 2025. Commenting on the Group’s performance, Tugwell Henry said “Our Scotia Plan loan portfolio grew 14 per cent over the previous year and our mortgage portfolio grew by 24 pr cent over the same period. “The Corporate and Commercial Banking unit continues to provide significan...

  In   March, Scotia Investments Jamaica Limited was the lead arranger for a $950 million bond raise for Fontana Pharmacy. Total assets for this Fontana   at the end of the March   quarter stood at $6.9 billion or 21.8 per cent   above the $5.7 billion recorded in the same period last year. This increase resulted primarily from increases in inventory, fixed assets and goodwill due to the acquisition of the Monarch chain of pharmacies, which was financed by a   bond issue in the amount of J$650 million.   Fontana in its report for the third quarter ended March 2025 stated, “During this (March) quarter, we continued the implementation of our new integrated POS system for our pharmacy department as well as additional modules of our new HR software coupled with payroll integrations which will result in improved efficiencies in our operations. We executed our due diligence exercise for the Monarch acquisition proficiently and were able to open the fir...