Devonshire Industries recorded a slight increase on net income for the first half of this year.

The parent company of Bermuda Paint reported net income for the first six months ending September 30 at $247,528. This is up 1.2 percent over the same period in 2003 when net income was $244,586.

General manager Richard Moulder said the slight increase looked “pretty good” to him and proved that the building boom was still having a dramatic impact on the paint business. He says he would not have expected an increase at all since his major customers including the hotels had just repainted following Hurricane Fabian.

He said: “With Hurricane Fabian of last September 5, with the amount of painting that was done, I figured our next year would not be that great of a year. It seems that is not true and it has been affected more so with the building boom that is still happening on the island.”

Devonshire Industries operating expenses rose 3.86 percent in the first six months of 2004 to $664,552 compared to $639,882 in the same period of 2003. Mr. Moulder says this increase reflects cost of living as well as the fact that his company had an extra staff member. That person has now left and they are now “at a proper level”.

The company's net revenue for operations prior to discontinued operations was $211,891, a 23.11 percent increase over the $172,117 recorded in the 2003 period. Other income declined by 50.82 percent from $72,469 in 2003 to $35,637 this year.

Mr. Moulder said: “We did sell assets in the company and that is where we get our extra income from so that is why you're going to see our income being around a more realistic $30,000-$40,000.”

Earnings per share increased 1.2 percent to $1.13 this year over $1.12 last year. Book value per share in 2004 was $13.89, a 0.99 percent increase over 2003. Total Assets stood at $3,041,935, a 0.99 percent increase over the 2003 period.

Looking forward to the future, Mr. Moulder says that his company will continue to diversify its paint business.

“Our retail sector is pretty level so what we have done within the last years is we have basically developed products for other companies with their name on it,” he said adding that his company has the ability to manufacture products here on island cheaper than it is to get them from overseas.

Mr. Moulder says the company will also be able to offer more products within its retail space in the coming months as it plans to double its space on Watlington Road by rearranging the layout of the store.