Consolidated Finance’s ‘steady’ FY 2019

Consolidated Finance has described its performance in 2019 as “stable” even though the company registered a sizeable drop in pre-tax profits when compared to the previous year.

Chairman Gregory N. Hill used his report to express concern about the impact which COVID-19 was having on humanity generally. He did not comment on how the pandemic might affect the company going forward.

In the company’s latest financials, Hill commended the “proactive measures” being taken by the Barbados Government in response to the disease.

Consolidated Finance, a subsidiary of the Trinidadian conglomerate ANSA McAL, earned operating income of $13.4 million during the financial year ending December 31, 2019, which Hill said was on par with the corresponding period in 2018.

Noting that this performance occurred “despite challenging macroeconomic conditions”, Hill reported that the non-bank financial institution recorded a ten per cent drop in interest income compared to the previous year. It fell from $7.7 million in 2018 to $7 million last year.

Consolidated Finance, which has a sizeable auto loan portfolio, saw its income before tax fall from $4.4 million in 2018 to $2.0 million for the current reporting period.

Hill said in the accompanying commentary to the financial statement: “We remain one of the best-capitalized operations, as our capital base closed strong at $53.0 million, with a capital adequacy ratio of 30 per cent which is well above the regulatory requirement of eight per cent. This reflects the strength of our business.”