BUSINESS BRIEFS
VMFG raises $11b in private pref share offer
VM Financial Group, VMFG, has raised a targeted $11 billion from an offer of preference shares issued in three tranches on the private market.
The coupon rates on the shares range from 10 per cent to 12.5 per cent. They mature in three to five years.
The fund raise comes amid VM Group’s ongoing restructuring. VMFG, which is a newly created entity to hold the financial assets of VM Group, including the flagship building society, will replace the deferred shares previously issued by VMBS with the newly issued preference shares.
VMFG will also list the preference shares on the JSE Private Market, where they will be tradable by stock market investors.
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Apex Radiology delivers record earnings
Image Plus Consultants Limited, which trades as Apex Radiology, has racked up revenue of $1.09 billion at year ending February 2023, which CEO Kisha Anderson said was the highest in the medical diagnostics company’s 27-year history.
It’s also its first time hitting a turnover of or above $1 billion, having achieved a 41 per cent growth in business from $777 million the previous year.
The record revenues propelled record after-tax profits of $236 million.
Anderson said the improved revenue inflows were driven by the growth in case count, which ended the year 18 per cent higher at 54,840, and that the case count grew due in part to the addition of on-call services in Kingston and Ocho Rios.
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JWN quarterly rum sales top $6b
Spirits company J. Wray & Nephew Limited, JWN, generated quarterly sales of EUR38.6 million, or $6.3 billion in local currency, an improvement of 25 per cent.
The Campari-owned producer of Wray & Nephew and Appleton Estate rums also launched an “Appleton Estate boutique” in partnership with Dufry, a duty-free retailer at the Sangster International Airport.
The rise in local sales was exactly in line with the overall growth of the Campari Group, for which global sales rose to EUR668 million.
Campari Group made pre-tax profit of EUR133.6 million for the quarter, up from EUR107 million a year earlier, according to Campari’s earnings report. The earnings for Jamaica were not disclosed.