Logicom Public Co. Ltd. (LOG) hiked its dividend for 2004 to 0.90 cent per share from 0.70 cent per share in 2003 on the back of a satisfactory increase in results.
Based on the most recent closing price, the dividend yield amounts to 3.8%, according to Financial Mirror calculations. The dividend will be paid on June 10, after shareholders ratify the Board decision during the forthcoming AGM, to be held on June 1, 2005.
Following the audit of the results, Logicom said its final net after tax profits for 2004 amounted to CYP 1.431.571 compared to CYP 1.197.509 in 2003 and slightly above the preliminary 2004 reported profit of CYP 1.39 mln. The company said the increase in the final audited profits by CYP 33.279 was due to deferred taxation changes.
Earnings per share thus improved to 2.32 cent in 2004 from 1.94 cent in 2003. Based on the most recent traded price of 23 cent per share on the CSE, the price to earnings (p/e) ratio of Logicom is 10.0 times on the historical earnings of 2004. The book value per share amounted to 0.26 cent per share for a price to book value (P/BV) of 0.89x.
Total turnover for 2004 improved to CYP 87.92 mln compared to CYP 62.4 mln a year earlier, of which CYP 69.7 mln or 79.2% originated from overseas operations in Greece, the UAE and the Levant.
Gross profit of the Logicom Group improved by CYP 1.27 mln or to 27.1%, but margins were squeezed to 6.8% from 7.6% previously due to the expansion drive abroad.
The company plans to raise CYP 5 mln through a bond issue to be first offered to shareholders, details of which will be announced later. The proceeds of the bond issue will be used mainly for new expansions and to refinance its bank loans on more favourable terms.
At the end of 2004, cash balances amounted to CYP 9.6 mln compared to CYP 5.9 mln in 2003, while total bank debt amounted to CYP 14.83 mln compared to CYP 9.8 mln in 2003, of which CYP 1.5 mln were long-term, CYP 3.69 mln were short term and CYP 9.6 mln were bank overdrafts.
In another development, the completion date for the agreement signed between Netvision Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary of LOG) and Global Consolidator Ltd (GLC) and other GLC subsidiary companies Global IT (Cyprus) Ltd, Global Consolidator (Consultancy Services) Ltd and GlobalSoft Ltd to acquire their business units engaged in the design, development and support of software programs, the provision of training services in IT-related issues and various other IT consulting services in Cyprus and abroad, has been extended to 22 April 2005.
