3 months ago
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A downturn in the local and international equities markets and dogged sluggishness in the real estate market hurt both the top and bottom lines of Jamaican Teas Limited.
For the second quarter ended March 2025, JamTeas reported a net loss of $74.49 million. For the year to date it shows a net loss of $9.4 million. This was despite a three per cent increase in total revenues for the quarter which was posted at $826.28 million, with zero real estate sales in the quarter.
JamTeas’ real estate division has been struggling to off-load the 30 units at its Belvedere development in St Andrew that was completed in early 2024. Previous reports indicated that the units were selling at a rate of about two per month, but activity has stalled, with JamTeas having already declared that it is walking away from the real estate business.
“We have sold 11 units and (another) five are under contract, so basically, you would say that we have sold half of the 30 – very, very slow sales of real estate,” Mahfood told the Financial Gleaner.
He said real estate broker Coldwell Banker have said that the prices of the units, which run from $27.5 million up to about $29 million, put the property, dubbed Three Belvedere, in the ‘sweet spot’ for new residential developments.
“They say they are very competitive and they’re on the on the lower end of the prices for one-bedroom apartments,” Mahfood said.
Still, sales have not been robust.
“The real estate market in Jamaica is very, very slow,” Mahfood reaffirmed.
The two units sold in the first quarter contributed to earlier revenue, the company said, in the report accompanying the second financials.
Meanwhile, Jamaican Teas’ manufacturing division experienced robust growth, particularly in export markets, contributing significantly to overall revenue increases. Domestic sales also showed positive growth, albeit at a slower pace, the company said.
“Manufacturing revenues increased 19 per cent in the quarter and the half year, driven principally by a strong performance in the export market where revenues grew by 22 per cent in the quarter and 29 per cent for the half year,” the company said.
“If you look at the results for the manufacturing division, you’ll see that the division made a profit before tax of $115 million compared to the prior year of $15 million,” Mahfood said.
Domestic sales rose by 13 per cent in the quarter and three per cent for the half year.
Still, it was the investment division that savaged JamTeas’ bottom line, due to significant unrealised losses from the declines in stock prices, particularly in the United States market. This resulted in a notable reversal from the previous year’s profits. Subsidiary company QWI Investments Limited therefore reported a net loss of $130 million for the quarter.
“The investment division, which is QWI, made a loss of $160 million, compared to a profit of $111 million in the previous year. Of that $160 million of losses from QWI, only a part of that, about 45 per cent, relates to the shareholders of Jamaican Teas,” Mahfood said.
He noted that QWI holds big positions in companies like Dolphin Cove which had taken a battering, plunging from $19.60 to about $11 per share, as parent company World of Dolphins, through its parent company, Dolphin Discovery, is facing bankruptcy proceedings in Mexico.
JamTeas also has a big position in Jamaica Broilers Group Limited, which reported a massive $1.15 billion loss for the first time in its history.
“We had other local investments, including Access Financial, (which) dropped quite a bit, and two or three others that each had a specific reason” for faltering. “So, half of the loss came from the Jamaican investments and half of it basically came from the foreign investments,” Mahfood said.
English (US) ·