JC&C underlying profit more than doubles to US$346m YoY in H1

This comes from an underlying profit of US%138m from last year.

Jardine Cycle & Carriage Limited's underlying profit for the first half more than doubled to US$346m, a 152% increase from US$138m in the same period last year.

“The group’s underlying profit improved in the first half of 2021, compared with the same period in 2020, when the second quarter of 2020 was particularly affected by significant pandemic-related business restrictions,” JC&C Chair Ben Keswick said.

Astra contributed US$293 million to the underlying profit, a 71% increase from US$171m in the same period last year due to the improvement in its automotive business. Direct Motor Interests, meanwhile, also contributed US$24m, coming from a loss of US$0.3m in the same period last year. 

Other Strategic Interest also contributed US$66m to the underlying profit from US$28m in the same period last year, mainly due to the continued recovery of THACO’s automotive and real estate operations.

“Although business conditions have since improved, the Group remains cautious about performance in the second half of 2021, given the worsening COVID-19 situation in a number of countries across the region,” he added.

However, the Group’s profit attributable to shareholders was 25% lower at US$226m, “after accounting for non-trading items which included unrealised losses arising from the revaluation of the Group’s equity investments and a gain on disposal of Astra’s investment in Permata Bank in 2020.”

JC&C’s consolidated net cash position was at US$40m, excluding the net borrowing from Astra’s financial services subsidiaries, compared to net debt of US$854m at the end of 2020. 

“The change from net debt to net cash was mainly due to strong trading cashflows, together with low capital expenditure and improved working capital management. Net debt within Astra’s financial services subsidiaries increased slightly to US$2.9 billion. JC&C parent company’s net debt was US$1.6 billion at the end of June 2021,” the chairman said.