Goddard Enterprises Limited (GEL) has had its rating reaffirmed by regional rating agency Caribbean Information and Credit Rating Services Limited (CariCRIS).
CariCRIS reaffirmed the ratings of CariAA- (foreign currency rating) and CariAA (local currency rating) on its regional rating scale, and bbAA on the Barbados national scale to the debt issue of US$16 million.
GEL is Barbados’ third-largest conglomerate based on asset size and comprises 72 subsidiaries and 19 associated companies employing over 4 400 people.
According to the Trinidad and Tobago-based agency, the ratings indicated that the level of creditworthiness of this obligation, adjudged in relation to other obligations in the Caribbean and within Barbados was high.
Despite the challenging economic environment, GEL’s financial performance remained strong in FY2010, albeit lower than the prior year, as revenue and profit after tax declined by 1.3 per cent and 4.9 per cent respectively while profits attributable to shareholders rose by 21.5 per cent.
For the first six months of financial year 2011, the group’s performance improved relative to the year-earlier period as revenue increased by 5.6 per cent, profit after tax by 30.5 per cent and profit attributable to shareholders by 27.8 per cent.
CariCRIS said it believed GEL’s capacity to service its debt obligations continued to be high when compared to its regional peers.
“The ratings continue to reflect GEL’s successful diversification across industries and geographies with a dominant market position in most of its operations and strong operating efficiencies in the fiercely competitive airline catering business.
“These business strengths, supported by management’s adoption of a fairly conservative financial policy, are reflected in a very strong financial position for the group.
“The ratings are constrained by the many distinct disadvantages faced by manufacturers in Barbados, the moderate business prospects for some of its associated companies and low margins for its largest business activity – trading,” CariCRIS noted.
