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Profits swelled at Regency Petroleum Company Limited last year amid growth of the business and a substantial rise in revenue.
The company, which operates gas stations and deals in LPG, posted $1.63 billion in total revenue for the financial year ended December 2024, up nearly 76 per cent from $928.76 million for the 2023 financial year. Net profit after tax was $86.66 million, an 86 per cent improvement relative to profit of $46 million for financial year 2023.
“As I always said, you will continually see an increase or significant increases in revenue when these stations are open, because we are coming from one service station when we did our IPO,” Williams said.
Williams expects that the fire that struck a warehouse close by Regency’s first gas station in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, will take a toll on March quarter earnings, but not to a significant degree.
There was no damage to the gas station, but it remains closed as the investigations continue into the February 19 fire.
“… We have to wait until the investigation is complete before they allow us to restart, because it’s actually in the zone where they cordoned off,” Williams said.
The company went public and listed on the junior market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange in November 2022.
RPL opened its newest and fifth service station at Spanish Town Road, Trench Town, Kingston, in the last week of December 2024.
Williams said he would monitoring the performance of the network for two quarters to determine how best to move forward with Regency’s growth programme.
“Then, we would know what avenue we would take in terms of further expansion,” he said, while noting that a clearer picture should emerge by July.
“Based on the profitability, we can decide if we would need to go to an APO, if we need to take a bond, if we need to go to debt; in short, whether we would go debt or equity, or whether we can finance it on our own,” he added.
The way forward has to do with “two other moves in the energy sector”, which Williams said would be on both the fuel distribution and LPG sides of the business.
“At least one of them will need major financing, so, we’re waiting to see how we’re going to approach that after we see the (mid-year) results,” Williams said.
With just over two months elapsing since the opening of the Trench Town location, Williams says the business it has generated “has been excellent in every aspect”.
“In terms of profitability, revenue and community cooperation, we’re getting a lot. The community has welcomed us; they’re happy to have us down there,” he said.
Since the closure of a Texaco gas station in the mid-1970s and that of a car wash at the present RPL location, the area between Collie Smith Drive and Maxfield Avenue has seen many shuttered businesses except for JFP Limited, another listed company.
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