Mixed fortunes for Bermuda companies

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6: The downturn in the economy has led many businesses to cry for relief.

You can’t really divide the 13 companies on the Bermuda Stock Exchange as ‘winners’ or ‘losers’ simply by who had a profit or a loss.

Argus is a case in point. The company had a loss in 2011, but the company improved its bottom line by nearly $13 million.

The Ascendant group had an $11 million in net earnings, but that was down nearly $5 million

The Bermuda Sun took a look at the 13 companies on the Bermuda Stock Exchange to see how they fared in 2011:

Argus Group Holdings

The insurer’s revenue increased by $11 million in 2011 from 2010 from $131m to $142m but the company lost $5.7m. While that isn’t great news, it certainly was better than the $18.4 m it lost in 2010. To be fair, Argus has been hammered hard by investment losses rather than the core underwriting of its various lines.

Ascendant Group

The company, which includes BELCO and Bermuda Gas, saw its consolidated net earnings decline from $16.02m to $11.12m — down 30.5 per cent. BELCO suffered as the sales of electricity decreased by $3.22 million with less people living in Bermuda.

Bank of NT Butterfield

The biggest turnaround of any of the companies on the BSX, Butterfield posted a $40.3m profit in 2011 compared to a $207.6m loss in 2010.

The bank shed 68 jobs in 2011 from 2010.

BAS Group of companies

The company’s 2010-11 report showed net income of $2.5m, which was a 4.5 per cent improvement over the previous year, not taking into account the money it gathered from Government in settling its lawsuit.

BAS includes IBC, Zipx, Weir, CCS and ASB and Otis Bermuda.

Bermuda Commercial Bank

A positive year which saw profit increase from $1.18m to $2.6m and total assets increase by $122m to $532m from $410m in 2010.

Bermuda Press (Holding)

The firm added Emoo to its group of companies, which includes the Royal Gazette,  in 2011. Revenue fell from $30.6m in 2010 to $27.4m in 2011. The net loss in 2011 was $611,000 compared to a net income of $316,000 in 2010. 

BF&M

The company’s six month report for 2011 showed a slight increase in consolidated net earnings. BF&M had $11.4m for that period in 2011 compared to $10.7m for 2010. It also increased the gross premiums written from $122.7m to $130.6m

Keytech

The company owns Logic, The Bermuda Telephone Company and the Bermuda Yellow Pages among others.

The company had  $5.9 million in net income, but that included a gain of $10.5 million arising from the merger of M3 Wireless and CellularOne and it also had $4.3 in early retirement and redundancy costs.

The company had $6.3 in net income in 2010.

LOM (Holdings) Limited

LOM had a net loss of $1.47 million in 2011 compared to a loss of $289,000 in 2010.

West Hamilton Holdings

The company’s main asset is real estate holdings on Pitt’s Bay Road. It posted a profit of $633,130 in 2011, which was up from the $562,458 it showed in 2010.

SMALL CAP COMPANIES

Devonshire Industries

The company is engaged in the sale of paint and related products. The company’s unaudited report showed a decline in profits from $399,230 to $133,239 — its worst showing over the last five years.

Polaris Holding Company

Polaris is the parent company of Stevedoring Services, Mill Reach Holding and Equipment Sales & Rentals.

The company had a profit of $582,381 in 2011 compared to a loss of $840,430 in 2010. The difference maker was the defined pension plan was wound up and annuities were purchased for the plan by the members.

Watlington Waterworks

Profit decreased slightly from $2,107,701 in 2010 to $2,009,169.