Proven Investment’s Net Profit Falls By 61.5% Due to One-off Gain on Sale of AFS Shares in 2020

• For its financial year ending March 2021, Proven Investments Limited reported a net profit attributable to shareholders of US$11.53Mn (EPS: US$0.018) which translates to a 61.5% decline when compared to the US$29.98Mn (EPS US$0.048) earned over the same period last year. 
• This was mainly due to the $24.93Mn gain on the disposal of most of its shares in Access Financial Services, which would have inflated its 2020 earnings when compared to 2021. Adjusting for this one-off gain would result in net profit attributable to owners of the company amounting to US$11.04Mn in 2020. This would mean that net profit grew by 4.5% on a normalized basis when compared to the US$11.53Mn earned in 2021. 
• In spite of a 40.5% reduction in total income, owing to lower interest income and fee and commissions, the improvement in normalized net profit can be credited to a 45.2% decline in operating expenses. Opex fell due to reductions in staff costs, impairment reversals on loans, and lower investment and property expenses. There were also lower preferred dividend payments which also influenced the outturn. 
• Proven Investments’ JMD stock price has declined by 1.0% since the start of the year and currently trades at a P/E of 14.3x earnings, which is below the main market financial sector average of 17.7x earnings. Meanwhile, its USD issuance has appreciated by 2.8% and currently trades at P/E of 13.8x earnings which is above the USD market average of 10.8x earnings.

(Source: Company Financials)