The group, which comprises more than 40 companies operating in Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean and North America, saw its revenues slide five per cent to $5 billion last year amid a challenging economic period, group executives said on Thursday.
Its before tax profit stood at $861 million in 2009.
Its after tax profit increased by $10 million, and even though these results were described as ’flat’ by group finance director Aneal Maharaj, he pointed out that profit margins were up one per cent and the group repaid more than $400 million in debt last year.
ANSA McAL also has more than $800 million in cash on its balance sheet, putting it in its ’strongest cash position in its history’, Maharaj said during a press conference at the Tatil building on Maraval Road, Port of Spain. Group chief operating officer Gerry Brooks said ANSA McAL’s beverage sector performed well with its flagship company Carib Brewery increasing its case sales of Carib beer and already meeting its 2010 targets. The group’s manufacturing sector declined by 11 per cent.
These results were influenced by the sector’s close association with the construction industry but group chairman A Norman Sabga said ANSA McAL companies, which supplied the industry, were being paid for the goods.
Brooks said the group’s distribution sector grew by $29 million in 2009 while its automotive division experienced a sharp 32.4 per cent decline as customers bought fewer cars amid the downturn in the economy.
Its financial sector turned a profit of $227 million but its media sector revenues were down six per cent to $170 million.
Sabga said the group was ’building a war chest’ in light of the strong results and identified one or two opportunities for acquisition in the region this year.
