September 8, 2020

Stationery and Office Supplies Limited (SOS) reported outstanding financial performance for 2019, with over $1.2B in revenues and a 60% increase in pre-tax profits. In recent years, the company’s increased emphasis on local production, supply and storage has proven to be successful, as it has seen a 16% rise in inventories. Furthermore, sales of the SEEK brand doubled within the year, moving the SOS’s profits from a loss in 2018 to an $11M profit in the 2019 financial year.

SOS noted that, “this performance had laid the foundation for even greater financial performance for 2020, with plans to dominate the local market with SEEK products, warehouse expansion for the Kingston and Montego Bay locations and other partnerships and deals in the pipelines for SOS.” Nevertheless, the unavoidable effect of COVID-19 has affected the company, causing a readjustment of their goals. This led to a 26% decrease in revenues for the six months ended June 2020 to $472.12 million relative to $638.55 million in 2019 to result in a 76% decrease in net profits to $21.83 million relative to the $91.65 million earned in 2019.

Furthermore, Allan McDaniel, Deputy Managing Director & Director of Warehousing & Logistics spoke on SOS’ strategy for 2020. He stated that, “the new warehouse is one of the ways that the company intends to achieve continued growth despite the continued economic threat of COVID-19.” As a result, SOS continues its mission to ensure that they have the largest inventory in Jamaica and eventually ensure that they can fulfill all consumers’ demands.

Mr. McDaniel also spoke to SOS’ pivot in product management so that the company now carries the relevant products to help their customers retrofit their spaces to ensure they adhere to the best health and safety practices. These include acrylic screens built to customers’ specifications, vinyl and plastic chairs, sanitation products and home office units with its own built in storage.”

McDaniel also spoke about the company’s biggest addition to SOS’ product line up- industrial racking. The new warehouse of SOS also serves as a sample showroom and is equipped with the racks that the company is now selling. This was something that the company had previously done on a limited basis, but it has secured a partnership with the manufacturer to provide a consistent supply of these shelves. Each shelf has a storage weight capacity of 5,000lbs and comes with uprights that can go as high as 36ft.

Management also noted that, “these new product offerings, along with SOS other business lines will allow the company to consistently meet customers’ demands. the company continues to work towards generating sales that will amount to $1.35B in revenues by the end of the year.”

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