The ANSA McAL group yesterday declared profit before tax of $568.11 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2024, which is 21 per cent more than the 468.26 million the company reported for the same period in 2023.
The group's profit after tax for the period January 1, 2024 to September 30, 2024 increased by 26 per cent, rising to $408.96 million compared to $$323.78 million for the same period in 2023.
ANSA McAL's generated revenue of $5.13 billion for the nine-month period in 2024. The disclosures came at an analyst meeting at the Tatil building in Newtown Port-of-Spain.
In presenting the unaudited financials for the period, ANSA McAL's group chief financial officer, Nicholas Jackman, noted the group's gearing ratio, which is its debt divided by its equity, was 14.9 per cent as at September 30, 2024. That was up from 7.7 per cent as at September 2023.
Jackman said the acquisition of Ohio-based, chlor-alkali company, Bleachtech, for US$327 million, in a transaction that closed on November 1, 2024, would push the group's gearing ratio to 29.5 per cent.
The acquisition was partially funded with a US$200 million, five-year tenor, syndicated loan from US-domiciled lenders and a US$127 million equity injection from parent ANSA McAL.
Jackman said with the acquisition, ANSA McAL's two chemicals subsidiaries will become the group’s second largest profit pool, and its largest hard currency earner.
Asked what was the group's comfort level with a gearing ratio of 29.5 per cent, ANSA McAL group CEO, Anthony Sabga III, said, "We believe that a gearing ratio of just under 30 per cent is a healthy one and is certainly a manageable one...Our earnings are more than capable of covering the interest payments from our cash flows and more than capable of covering the principal as well."
On the issue of foreign exchange availability, Sabga said it is clear that T&T has a shortage of incremental generation of foreign exchange in T&T.
"Our reserves are still fairly healthy and the reserves have been utilised in a prudent manner to give us that level of buffer.
"But we do have the ongoing challenge and one that is not going to be solved simply and overnight. It is going to require manufacturers and other like ourselves seeking to make investments into other jurisdictions where hard currency can be earned."
The ANSA McAL group CEO also spoke about "the ongoing possibility of diversification of our own economy so that we may attract hard currency and economic participation outside of oil and natural gas."
Sabga said T&T has had to navigate hard times before.
"We are in a far better reserve position than I think we have been historically, but the prudent and sensible use of foreign exchange is important and necessary."
About Bleachtech
Bleachtech LLC is a vertically integrated, market-leading producer of high purity bleach, hydrochloric acid and caustic soda. The Company serves the municipal and industrial potable and wastewater treatment sectors across the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic. The company’s chlor-alkali facilities in Virginia and Ohio are two out of only twelve “brine-to-bleach” facilities in the US. This process produces a higher-quality, lower-cost bleach than the industry standard Powell process plants
