Blue Power considers use of cash for commercial development
Published:Friday | December 15, 2023 | 12:10 AM
Blue Power Group Limited indicates that it is leaning towards using land held for commercial development to add to the company’s investments.
Blue Power Group supplies the Jamaican market for bath, laundry, medical, antibacterial and other soaps.
The company acquired additional property adjacent to its Victoria Avenue complex in Kingston to facilitate expansion.
In a company report released on December 12, Chairman Jeffrey Hall said that the lands adjacent to core operations are intended to “allow for the expansion of our plant over time, as well as for the development of commercial buildings that can contribute in due course to our rental and investment income.
“We are also prepared to diversify the business through opportunistic investments in related industries,” Hall noted.
Company cash and investments totalled approximately $435 million at the end of October. The company, he stated, also had its eye on more exports.
For the first half of the financial year ended October 31, 2023, Blue Power Group reported revenues of $402 million and shareholder profits of $71 million.
The company has targeted soap brands and distribution enterprises for partnership, noting it has made investments in plant and equipment for increased capacity to produce a wider range of specialty soaps.
In the meantime, the company’s export market in Caricom continues to be affected by a legal battle.
“We note that some market opportunities within Caricom may be constrained by current legal uncertainties about the trade rules within the region,” Hall shared. “We do, however, remain hopeful that Blue Power Group will be able to grow in the years ahead by manufacturing and co-packing bar soaps for both domestic and export markets.
“We believe that our export prospects are directly in line with Jamaica’s stated policy goal of developing a logistics-centred economy with value-added manufacturing. We will continue to build the business on the basis that this policy framework will ultimately prevail,” he said.