Montego Bay-based Caribbean Producers Jamaica Limited (CPJ), which sells food, beverages, wines, and spirits to hotels expects a profitable 2024 amid its US$7 million in capital investments.
“The company is now in the process of investing in growth and development projects and capital investments within our manufacturing plants, solar installations, and other operational areas designed to expand capacity and deliver improved efficiency for our businesses, in Jamaica,” according to the June 2023 year-end report.
CPJ is worth US$32.2 million in equity to June 2023. The group is chaired by Mark Hart the executive chairman and co-chairman Thomas Tyler.
For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023, the CPJ Group made revenues of US$143 million, marking a 19 per cent increase from the previous year’s US$120 million. Despite the rise in revenue, the company was hit by a US$2.0 million one-off expense that resulted in lowering profit by 19 per cent to US$6.3 million from the US$7.7 million a year earlier.
CPJ is channelling more than US$3 million into expanding its manufacturing plant. Another US$1 million is geared towards enhancing the company’s solar energy capacity.
With an eye on the future, CPJ is also partnering with an international consultant to implement a new management software that has some amount of artificial intelligence-enabled capabilities. The selection of this new system is slated for the second quarter of 2024.
Beyond local borders, CPJ St Lucia is gearing up to inaugurate a 16,000-square-foot flagship supermarket in the prime Orange Grove Centre. With a projected investment of US$3 million, financed with debt and cash.
During the year the group suffered from global supply chain challenges but it still increased sales while reducing its inventory by US$1.2 million or 3.0 per cent without understocking or overstocking items, the company said.
