MR. J. July, group chairman of RBTT Financial Holdings Limited, is reporting pre-tax earnings of US $88 million and profit attributable to shareholders of US $72 million for the six-month period ended September 30, 2005. This is 42 per cent and 38 per cent respectively higher than those in the prior year.
The group chairman said that earnings in the second fiscal quarter last year were adversely affected by the occurrence of Hurricane Ivan and its negative impact on some regional economies, particularly Grenada. This necessitated exceptional charges, which, on a net basis after tax and minority interest, amounted to US $11 million.
In the current period, the group has made an additional impairment charge of US $4 million to recognise the further loss that could result from the recent debt restructure proposal of the Government of Grenada. If the after tax earnings of both the current and prior year periods are adjusted to exclude these charges, the profit attributable to shareholders would have been US $63 million in 2004 and US $74 million in 2005, representing growth of 17 per cent which is consistent with expectations.
Group assets grew by 12 per cent or US $751 million with loans increasing by US $305 million and investment securities US $374 million. This organic growth in earning assets was reflected in all our markets, with the largest increases gained in the Netherlands Antilles and Trinidad and Tobago.
Mr. July indicated that group companies remain focused on executing their business objectives, and with the strong growth trend in evidence in the first half-year, the group expects earnings to continue to improve over the balance of the fiscal period.
