Group office of Lascelles deMercado and Company Limited, Dominica Drive, New Kingston. The conglomerate made $849 million of profit in its first quarter to December 30, 2006. - FILE

Conglomerate Lascelles deMercado and Company Limited made net profit $849 million in its first quarter to December 30, 2006, a 55 per cent or $303 million improvement on the matching quarter year on year.

Lascelles clawed $928 million of operating profit from $4.8 billion of revenues by trimming its production, distribution and marketing costs by $148 million.

Finance income from investments, net bank charges and foreign exchange gains boosted pretax profits to just over $1 billion.

The company's improved performance was reflected in its net profit margin of 17.6 per cent relative to the 11.8 per cent in the matching year-ago period.

Earnings per share was $8.85 compared to Q1-2005's $5.69.

The majority of the company's non-current assets remain in investments, representing $7.8 billion or 36 per cent of total assets of $21.4 billion.

Lascelle's 'spirits and sugar' business segment continues to dominate more than half of total revenues, recording sales of $2.9 billion; followed by general merchandise $975 million; insurance $668 million; transportation $300 million and investments $76 million.

The top segments, spirits/sugar and merchandise, were the only two recording higher sales relative to the December 2005 quarter.

business@gleanerjm.com

Stock Symbol: LAS

Revenue	$4.8b (Q1)
Net profit margin:	17.6% (Q1)
EPS:	$8.85 (Q1)
Share Price:	$280
Market Cap:	$26.9 billion (Feb 12)