Polaris Holding Company Ltd has reported a loss of $482,000 in the 2023 fiscal year ending March 31.

That compares with a profit of $1.13 million in fiscal year 2022.

Polaris is the parent company to Stevedoring Services Limited, the terminal operator of Hamilton docks, East End Asphalt Company Limited and Mill Reach Holding Limited.

It also operates Equipment Sales and Rentals Limited, a company that owns and leases heavy operating machinery and equipment to Stevedoring Services Limited.

All entities are wholly owned by Polaris, with consolidated results incorporated in the company’s unaudited March 31 financial statements.

Polaris said it reflected softness in its East End Asphalt division in fiscal 2023, the result of limited capital redevelopment on island.

East End Asphalt booked a loss of $285,000, compared with the fiscal 2022 gain of $185,000.

Polaris said the long-term forecast for East End Asphalt continues to be positive, and the acquisition of its operating property will ensure that the division can control its destiny.

The company said Stevedoring Services continued to prove financially productive, generating a $710,000 net profit in fiscal 2023 (fiscal 2022 net profit: $690,000), a 2.9 per cent increase from the prior fiscal year.

The company said dividends, temporarily suspended during the Covid-19 global pandemic, were re-established in June 2021 at $0.08 that quarter.

They increased to $0.10 per quarter in September 2021 where they have remained for the past 11 quarters, including the budgeted September 2023 dividend, providing fiscal 2023’s shareholders an annual dividend of $0.40 per share, a 5.7 per cent dividend yield based on Polaris’s last trading price of $7 per share.

The company said: “At the end of fiscal 2023, Polaris negotiated the acquisition of 8 Duck’s Puddle Drive, Hamilton Parish, a 2.55-acre waterfront property which houses the operations of its wholly owned subsidiary East End Asphalt.

“In addition to Stevedoring Services and East End Asphalt, Polaris had owned and operated two rental properties located at 7 and 11 Mill Reach Lane under its wholly owned division Mill Reach Holdings Limited.

“To finance the purchase of 8 Duck’s Puddle Drive at the start of fiscal 2024, the two rental properties were sold, giving rise to a $601,000 gain on the sales, net of legal and other closing costs.

“As part of the above transactions, East End Asphalt’s long-term lease at 8 Duck’s Puddle Drive ceased, which resulted in a $456,000 gain in April 2023.

“This gain, in combination with the sale of the two rental properties, triggered over $1.0 million in net profits in April 2023, just following our year-end.

“For the year ended 31 March 2023, Polaris wrote down $1.1 million in goodwill, which was associated with East End Asphalt, but due to a timing issue, the $1.1 million charge reflected in fiscal 2023 was unfortunately not offset by the over $1.0 million in net profits booked at the start of fiscal 2024.

“While Polaris reported a loss ($482,000) in fiscal 2023 (fiscal 2022: $1.13 million), or a loss of $0.41 per share (fiscal 2022: $0.95 per share), after backing out the non-cash goodwill adjustment, consolidated net profits were $618,000, or $0.52 per share.”