UTC reports ‘robust year’ despite economic downturn

This was reported on Tuesday night at the UTC 35th Annual General Meeting held at Queen’s Hall, St Ann’s.

UTC Executive Director Ian Chinapoo reported that total revenue was TT $1.1 billion compared to TT $812.4 million a year ago “reflecting an impressive” 29.5 per cent improvement and their customer base grew by 1.2 per cent from 595,706 a year ago to 602,728.

“Let us also take cognizance of the fact that these results were achieved amid what can only be described as very difficult domestic and regional economic conditions. Fortunately for us, we benefitted from stronger than expected results in financial markets of the United States and other international markets,” he said.

He noted the recent ratings downgrades of this country by international rating agencies Standard and Poor’s and Moody’s.

“I must stress, however, that, notwithstanding the significantly weaker economic fundamentals such as sub-par economic growth, burgeoning fiscal deficit, rising debt to GDP level, weakening external balance of payments position and the slow pace of economic diversification, TT still has a strong financial position with Net Official Reserves totalling US$9.1 billion as at March 2017 representing 10.1 months of import cover, and over US$5.4 billion in the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund.” UTC Chairman Krishna Boodhai reported that in 2016 their distributions to unit holders increased by 45 per cent from $165 million to $239 million which is “testimony to our commitment to deliver positive returns even in a challenging economic environment.” He reported that in May 2017 they increased their payout rate on their largest fund, the TT dollar Income Fund, to 1.20 per cent annualised rate compared with one percent in May 2016 representing a 20 per cent increase year on year payout rate.

Boodhai said that some unitholders have accessed their savings under the corporate saving plan to mitigate the impact of the economic downturn. He reported that the overall rating for their 2016 customer satisfaction survey was 80 per cent which represented a 2.4 per cent increase from 2015.

Boodhai also reported that they completed their benchmarking exercise to assess their governance practices and have met all the compliance requirements of the Central Bank’s Corporate Governance Guidelines for Financial Institutions and all the National Code for Corporate Governance of Trinidad and Tobago.

He said that despite protracted economic challenges they are pleased to report “a very robust year” and amidst increased stakeholders’ expectations and amplified regulatory requirements they achieved a total comprehensive income of $92 million compared with $20 million for 2015.