RBTT wins ‘GiltEdge’ Award

In November 2003, RBTT Financial Holdings Limited was announced winner of the inaugural GiltEdge Golden Award for Excellence by the GiltEdge publication, a joint venture between Mona School of Business and the Financial Gleaner newspaper in Jamaica. To be published annually, GiltEdge recognises the “best-of-the-best” companies listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) and pays tribute to those companies that are exceptional performers. This ranking serves as an objective guide to investors in gauging company performance.

“The assessment was based on hard data, and companies listed on the JSE were the natural choice for the exercise because they had to provide the data needed to carry out proper analysis,” said Executive Director of the Mona School of Business, Professor Gordon Shirley. GiltEdge winners were determined using information obtained from audited annual reports. For analysis, a linear model was established that could rank the corporations on 26 measures and on any combination thereof. These combinations allowed for analytical creativity, providing an option for mixing and matching of data — that is, companies could be ranked based on raw data such as revenue or market capitalisation or they could be ranked based on ratios such as return on equity and revenue per dollar of asset. This flexibility ensured “robust and definitive” results. Thirty-nine companies were judged on four major criteria selected from 10 reputable international rankings. The local and international business and economic climates were taken into consideration. Also, there were consultations with local securities analysts, academics and business persons. The four criteria were: size, market capitalisation, profitability, and productivity.

According to the GiltEdge, the following points were considered in determining the criteria. Size: “Larger companies are more likely to be resilient in the face of the turbulent economic and social environment. Their superior access to financial and social capital enables them to defend their industry positions and to attract, motivate and compensate competent managers. Revenue was selected as the appropriate measure of size.” This is consistent with international rankings and with the recognition that the customer base is a true measure of a quality firm.

SIZE — Revenue

Rank Company
1 Cable and Wireless (Jamaica) Limited
2 RBTT Financial Holdings Limited
3 Grace, Kennedy & Company Limited
4 Bank of Nova Scotia Jamaica Limited
5 National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited

Market Capitalisation: “It would not be complete to rank Jamaica’s best performers without considering some measure of value to shareholders. By incorporating market capitalisation growth over the course of the calendar year, we captured the increase in the valuation of the firm by the investing public.” Newly listed companies for 2002 such as RBTT, would not have been included in this measurement as they would have had no market capitalisation data for the previous year.
Profitability: “This year we have decided to use an after-tax measure of profitability since tax planing is an important corporate function reflecting managerial skill. In selecting a profit measure we evaluated firms on several rates of return measures (Return on Investments, Return on Equity and Earnings per Share). However, to remain spare, we chose the simplest measure — absolute after-tax profits.”

PROFITABILITY — After-Tax Profits

Rank Company
1 RBTT Financial Holdings Limited
2 Bank of Nova Scotia Jamaica Limited
3 Cable & Wireless (Jamaica) Limited
4 Carreras Group Limited
5 National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited

Productivity: “Recognising the human capital is a key asset for organisational success, we selected a performance measure that takes human resources into account — after-tax profit per employee.”

PRODUCTIVITY — After-Tax Profits/Employee

Rank Company
1 Carreras Group Limited
2 RBTT Financial Holdings Limited
3 Jamaica Money Market Brokers JMMB
4 Pan Caribbean Financial Services/(TDB)
5 First Life Insurance Limited

According to GiltEdge, the overall winner of the Golden Award for Excellence is the single firm with the best all-round year 2002 performance, in an equally weighted scoring on size, value, profitability and productivity. RBTT was the standout firm that showed the balance of qualities that defines an exceptional organisation, the exemplar of the best of 2002.” GiltEdge acknowledged RBTT as a blue-chip performer large enough in revenue and profits to prosper despite any social and economic volatility. Additionally, GiltEdge noted the value of the human resource and shareholder factors stating that performers like RBTT attract and motivate the finest workers and provide substantial capital gains for shareholders. RBTT’s impressive performance has also commanded international recognition, with RBTT being awarded the prestigious Banker Award for three consecutive years, The Banker, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Financial Times is one of the world’s most respected financial magazines.

The Banker presented this award to RBTT (Trinidad & Tobago) in 2001, 2002 and 2003 and RBTT Bank Jamaica in 2002. Additionally, in the November 2003 issue, LatinFinance magazine announced RBTT as Bank of the Year for the Caribbean 2003. RBTT Group Chairman, Peter July was also honoured in October 2003 with an International Service Award from the National Coalition on Caribbean Affairs (NCOCA) at a gala ceremony held in Maryland, USA. In his message at the Awards Banquet, Patron of the 6th Annual NCOCA Awards, Dr Norman Girvan, former Secretary General, Association of Caribbean States, said that under July’s watchful chairmanship “RBTT has made a significant impact in the promotion and development of international trade and related services within the region. Moreover, as a shining example of a good corporate citizen, RBTT has given back to the community over the past two decades through the establishment and development of the RBTT Education Foundation, the Young Leaders programme and the ROYTEC educational institute.”