Date: September 17, 2018
Seprod Limited (SEP) held its Annual General Meeting today, which was hosted by Chairman, Mr. P.B. Scott. The meeting began with the usual welcoming which was subsequently followed by the review of the financial year 2017.
Seprod’s revenues increased by 5% or $730 million to $16.5 billion for the year end which was driven primarily by the addition of new products to the portfolio and the increase in the company’s export business. There were also upticks in Seprod’s operating and net profit by 8% and 26% respectively. This gain in profits was as a result of a one-off experience in 2016 from the sale of the company’s equity securities portfolio in that year. In addition Total assets grew by 16% to $20 million and equity attributable to shareholders rose to $9.9 million (2016: $121 million).
The upcoming financial year seems to be bearing fruit as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for the Group, Mr. Richard Pandohie, commented that, “Our half year results reflected 25% growth in revenues, 36% increase in operating profits and 25% increase in net profits over the same period last year.”
Despite the overall positive performance, there remains some challenges that will have to be addressed soon, namely the Golden Grove Sugar Company (GGSC). Mr. Pandohie stated, “Management has put in the efforts to achieve a break even position by reducing cash burn. Also, management can confidently say to its Board and shareholders that the haemorrhaging will not go beyond the next twelve months.”
The CEO made mention of the “transformation” of the company from milk to diary and as of January 2018, the former Jamaica diary operations of Nestle, Bog Walk has been integrated within Seprod. This he said, will not only bring a fit for purpose factory operations for diary business but also two amazing brands, ‘Betty’ and ‘Supligen’. The next stage of this integration is to consolidate the two diary factories which is expected to drive productivity, improve economies of scale and build international competitive operations. The estimated time for completion of this process is the end of the first quarter of 2019. This will give the Company the opportunity to be the regional diary supplier, as diary operations in CARICOM has seem to disappear.
After almost 2 years of construction, the company is proud to say that their Grains Mill has also been completed. This Mill, a joint venture partnership with Seaboard Corporation, represents one of the largest manufacturing investments in Jamaica in the last three decades and plays a pivotal role in increasing exports and import substitution, not only for Jamaica but the entire Caribbean community. Lastly, management has listed the following key initiative going forward:
- Export to Caribbean countries
- Product innovation and renovation
- Invest in quality systems
2018 and Beyond
- Continue to drive growth by innovations throughout all operations
- Maximize synergies in the diary businesses
- Significantly expanding distribution capacity to improve footprint and gain more control of supply chain from factory to retail shelves.
- Significantly restructuring the sugar operations as they move to eliminate losses
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