Demerara Tobacco Company Limited (Demtoco) has registered a profit of $1.28b for the first half of this year.
Its interim financial report was published in today’s Stabroek News.
In her statement, Chairman, Kathryn Abdulla said that the profit registered is down 5.6% over the corresponding period last year. Revenue and gross profit for the period were recorded at $2.7b and $1.7b respectively.
“Our performance was largely affected by the increased presence and availability of illicitly traded cigarettes throughout the market. This has negatively impacted the volume performance for the first half of the year. Demtoco continues to highlight with concern, the high incidence of illicit cigarettes in the country to the respective Government agencies. We highlight that when there is a high occurrence of illicit trade in a country, the Government’s revenue in the market is undermined. We continue to call to all enforcement agencies to apply the laws, to ensure full compliance across the entire tobacco industry”, she said.
The Board of Directors has approved the payment of a second interim dividend of $28.39 per ordinary share.
