By Andrew Green, Staff Reporter
Spaulding
RADIO Jamaica Limited now has 90 per cent of the cash needed to finance the development of its new television studios, says its special projects manager Sean Mason.
This comes after good performances in the first two quarters was followed by an even better performance of the third quarter of its current financial year, ended December 31. The $247 million in revenue earned by the Group in this quarter reflected a $47.7 million or 24 per cent increase over the same quarter last year.
The group year-to-date revenue of $688.6 million reflected increases of $145.2 million or 26.7 per cent over the $543 million recorded in the same period in the prior year. This was contained in the unaudited interim report to stockholders issued by the directors for the third quarter and the nine months ended December 31, 2002.
"We are in our budget process now in terms of looking at the year ahead," Mr. Mason said. "That will guide us in filling the gap between the 90 per cent, where we are now and the other 10 per cent needed to complete the project."
The group comprises of a commercial television station - TVJ, three radio stations RJR 94 FM (formerly RJR Supreme 94), Fame FM, Radio 2 and a wholly owned subsidiary Multi-Media Jamaica Ltd.
The group is building a new television centre at its Lyndhurst Road headquarters to house TVJ. It currently rents television studios from the government for TVJ.
Managing director Lester Spaulding last July estimated the construction cost of the new studios at $120 million. He said it would cost another $150 million to equip the studios.
"The new building should be handed over by the end of February," Mr. Mason said. He said, the "harder part of the project," is the equipping of the building, and that should take another six months
Apart from advantages stemming from the new equipment that will be acquired, consolidating its operations at Lyndhurst Road will boost efficiency and cut rental charges, Mr. Mason said.
The group is in a position to substantially fund the project due on its own due to its strong financial performance. Expenditure as a percentage of revenue continued to reflect a downward trend with the exception of cost of sales, which reflected the additional costs of associated coverage of the elections of 2002.
The result was an operating profit of $64.9 million for the December quarter last year. This was more than twice the $29.8 million earned in the December quarter of 2001.
The year-to-date profit before tax and exceptional item of $155.5 million reflected an improvement of $85.7 million or 123 per cent over the $69.8 million recorded for the corresponding nine-month period.
This improved profitability resulted from increased revenue, and the continued cost containment plan, has led to an improved earnings per share before the exceptional items of 43.74 cents compared to 22.40 for the corresponding nine-month period.
In December 2002, based on the performance achieved during the nine months the company issued to its shareholders fully paid bonus shares on the basis of one share for every four stock unit held by such shareholders. This was achieved by the capitalisation of $25,873,274.50 from current year's profit and the same being applied in making payment in full at par for 51,746,549 ordinary shares.
