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Somers reports $5.8m profit for quarter

Warren McLeland, chairman of Somers Limited (File photograph)

Somers Limited has reported a profit of $5.8 million for its third quarter, which ended on June 30. This brings its net loss for the year-to-date down to $14.6 million.

The financial services investment holding company announced its quarterly and nine-month results this evening.

The loss per share for the nine-month period was 72 cents, compared to net earnings of 91 cents per share in 2018.

Somers reported a decrease in its net value per share to $17.09 at the end of June, compared with $18.15 at the end of September.

Shareholders’ equity was $348.9 million at the end of June, down from $364.1 million nine months ago.

In listing highlights for the quarter, Somers said Resimac Limited had updated expectations that its normalised net profit after tax was likely to be between A$30 million and A$32 million for the year ended June 30; while Waverton Investment Management Limited had $6 billion in assets under management at the end of June.

Also, PCF Group plc reported an increase in profit before tax of 57 per cent to £3.3 million, and an increase in the loan portfolio of 54 per cent to £276 million for the six months ended March 31.

Warren McLeland, chairman of Somers, said: “The investee companies continue to excel in an increasingly challenging economic environment. The strong financial performance and assets under management growth at Resimac and the growth of PCF’s loan portfolio are two examples of businesses that continue to report excellent results and grow in their respective markets.

“The sale of BCB [Bermuda Commercial Bank] is still awaiting regulatory and governmental approval, but we are hopeful it will complete during the current quarter.”

During the quarter ending June 30, Somers made a $10.3 million gain on its investment portfolio, reducing its investment losses for the year-to-date to $8.5 million.

About 74 per cent of Somers’ investment portfolio is denominated in foreign currencies, primarily sterling and the Australian dollar, and it said the main driver of its third-quarter currency losses was a 2.5 per cent depreciation of sterling to the greenback, while the Australian dollar depreciated 1.2 per cent

Net foreign exchange losses were $4.2 million for the quarter, and $5.9 million for the nine-month period. The company said those losses are primarily unrealised.

Somers’ total assets at the end of June were $412.1 million, while its total borrowings were $61.7 million, compared to $41.5 million at the end of September.