ANSA McAL Group CEO, Anthony Sabga III said yesterday that the conglomerate "remains very acquisitive" and has a balance sheet that is "exceptionally strong" and capable of taking on "significantly more."
Addressing shareholders at the group's annual meeting, which was held at the Hyatt Regency in Port-of-Spain, Sabga said the group is growing and profitable and is making capital investments and acquisitions to ensure that its upward trajectory remains.
"As an organisation, as you know, we remain very acquisitive in order to continue to secure and drive that value creation."
He said the group spent $437 million on acquisitions in 2023.
Alongside its drive to grow through acquisitions, he underscored the fact that the group continues to reinvest its profits for future growth, outlining that ANSA McAL made capital investments totaling $736 million in 2023.
In reviewing the group's financial performance, the ANSA McAL CEO said its achievement of $7 billion in revenue in 2023 made that a "watermark year."
The stronger revenue corresponded "with a substantial increase in profit before tax to $842 million," leading Sabga to say, "What this all correlates to, and what is probably the most interesting aspect of all of this, is that we have a balance sheet that remains exceptionally strong and robust and that is able to take on significantly more.
"Our gearing ratio is super healthy at 7.4 per cent. So a very low leverage and a balance sheet that is very capable of doing quite a few good things. Notwithstanding, but also in support of all of these investments, there is still sufficient and substantial cash and capital to do the needful as we continue to expand towards our X2 objective."
A company's gearing ratio is a comparison of its capital to the funds borrowed by it.
On its X2 objective, Sabga said, "The group has taken on a committment to double its size, scale, profitability and impact in an endeavour that we affectionately call X2. We remain steadfastly focused on achieving that result. The path to get there is still in front of us and we still have some work to go. But we remain very, very encouraged about the achievement of that."