MONTREAL, Feb. 19 /CNW Telbec/ - BMTC Group Inc. announced that, for the year ended on December 31, 2008, revenue increased by $14.7 million to $856.2 million, from the $841.5 million recorded in the corresponding 2007 period. Net income for the fiscal year ended December 31st, 2008, stood at $69.9 million compared with $49.0 million, for the previous fiscal year. Earnings per share ("EPS") increased going from $1.54 in 2007 to $2.36 in 2008.
Results from the costing of options had the effect of increasing net earnings by $0.20 per share, compared to a reduction of $0.20 per share for the previous year. While the Company costs options as either an expense or revenue in the net earnings calculation, the Company believes it is preferable to inform readers of its financial statements of the impact of this element, which is outside the Company's control and which varies along with the course of the Company's share price in any given time period. An increase in the Company's share price incurs an expense, while a decrease in the Company's share price incurs revenue. Of particular concern is that the reader could be made to believe that the Company's profitability had risen in the context of a major decrease in the Company's share price. It is for this reason that the Company includes net earnings in absolute dollars and per-share dollars excluding this costing of options effect, even though doing so does not conform to GAAPs, it is therefore unlikely that we can compare them with the same type of measures presented by other issuers. It is worth noting that the Company offers a stock option program that allows the holder to exercise his options in lieu of cash therefore being one of few public companies to expense options on an ongoing basis.
The sale of fixed assets resulted in an increase in net per share earnings of $0.17 compared with $0.06 for the corresponding period. The Company records its investments at market value. However, due to the liquidity issue with respect to ABCP, there is currently no market for the Company's ABCP investments. Therefore, a charge of $3,004,000 before tax or $2,535,000 after tax or $0.8 per share was recorded as an additional provision for the estimated lost in value, which brings the provision to 75% of its nominal value, last year for the corresponding period the Company recorded a charge of $1,525,000 before tax or $1,288,000 after tax or $0.04 per share. Last year the Company recorded an extraordinary charge in the amount of $1,731,000 or of $0.05 per share on an after-tax basis representing the full amount of an award by the Superior Court in relation to a class action. The Company has since appealed this judgement and is confident that it will ultimately succeed in reversing this judgement. The share repurchase program contributed $0.13 to net per-share earnings.
Excluding all these effects, net earnings would have increased by $5.0 million or $0.17 per share for 2008.
The adjusted $5.0 million increase in net earnings breaks down as follows:
2008 2007
($ in thousands,
except for per
share amounts)
Net Earnings 69,908 49,033
Cost (gain) of options (after-tax) (6,014) 6,345
(Gain) resulting from the sale of fixed assets
(after-tax) (4,992) (1,958)
Provision for judgment (after-tax) - 1,731
Provision for ABCP (after-tax) 2,535 1,288
--------- ---------
Adjusted Net Earnings 61,437 56,439
MINUS : Adjusted Net Earnings for the 2007 period 56,439
---------
Increase 2008 4,998
Annual Financial Information
2008 2007 2006
--------- --------- ---------
($ in thousands, except
for per share amounts)
Revenue $856,229 $841,544 $835,681
Net earnings 69,908 49,033 45,633
Total Assets 244,532 284,939 284,963
Net Earnings per share
Basic $2.36 $1.54 $1.35
Diluted 2.27 1.48 1.30
Dividends per share 0.35 0.29 0.24
Quarterly Results (unaudited)
($ in thousands, except for
per share amounts)
Quarter Ended Quarter Ended
March 31 June 30
2008 2007 2008 2007
--------- --------- --------- ---------
Revenue $181,744 $178,452 $225,508 $216,109
Net earnings 11,569 2,055 17,094 14,878
Net Earnings per share
Basic 0.37 0.06 0.55 0.46
Diluted 0.35 0.06 0.54 0.44
Quarter Ended Quarter Ended
September 30 December 31
2008 2007 2008 2007
--------- --------- --------- ---------
Revenue $232,129 $216,731 $216,848 $223,628
Net earnings 19,389 16,666 21,856 16,130
Net Earnings per share
Basic 0.65 0.49 0.79 0.52
Diluted 0.62 0.47 0.76 0.50
The result from costing of options had the effect of increasing the earnings per share by $0.03 compared to a reduction of $0.01 for the corresponding period. The sale of fixed assets resulted in a increase in net per share earnings of $0.06 for the quarter, no amount where recorded in the corresponding period of 2007.The Company records its investments at market value. However, due to the liquidity issue with respect to ABCP, there is currently no market for the Company's ABCP investments. Therefore, a charge of $3,004,000 before tax or $2,535,000 after tax or $0.08 per share was recorded as an additional provision for the estimated lost in value, which brings the provision to 75% of its nominal value. Last year, the Company recorded a charge of $1,525,000 before tax or $1,288,000 after tax or $0.04 per share for the corresponding 2007 period. The share repurchase program contributed $0.06 to net per share earnings for the quarter ended December 31st, 2008. Excluding all these effects, net earnings would have increased by 4,6 M$ or $0.15 per share for the three-month period ended December 31st, 2008.
The adjusted 4,6 M$ increase in net earnings breaks down as follows for the three-month period ended December 31st, 2008:
2008 2007
($ in thousands,
except for per
share amounts)
Net Earnings 21,856 16,130
Cost (gain) of options (after-tax) (568) 129
(Gain) resulting from the sale of fixed assets
(after-tax) (1,726) -
Provision for ABCP (after-tax) 2,535 1,288
--------- ---------
Adjusted Net Earnings 22,097 17,547
MINUS : Adjusted Net Earnings for the 2007 period 17,547
---------
Increase 2008 4,550
During the fiscal year, the Company paid eligible dividends of $0.35 per share to holders of Class A Subordinate Voting Shares and Class B Multiple Voting Shares.
The number of outstanding shares of the Company changed yet again since December 31st, 2008, due to the share redemption program implemented in September 2008 and the conversion of Class B Multiple Voting Shares. Accordingly, 48,100 Class A Subordinate Voting Shares were redeemed by the Company and cancelled in 2009, while 55,824 Class B Multiple Voting Shares were converted into as many Class A Subordinate Voting Shares. As a result of these changes, the Company had, as of February 19th, 2009, 10,414,667 Class B Multiple Voting Shares and 16,337,233 Class A Subordinate Voting Shares outstanding.
BMTC Group Inc., which Class A Subordinate Voting Shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, is an important retailer of furniture, electronic goods and household appliances in the Montreal, Quebec City, Laval, Ste-Foy, Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivieres, Rimouski, St-Georges, Riviere-du-Loup, Chicoutimi, and Gatineau regions through its affiliates Brault & Martineau Inc. and Ameublements Tanguay.