CPJ optimistic that virus will be conquered
Published:Friday | September 4, 2020 | 12:26 AM
Food and wine distributor Caribbean Producers Jamaica, CPJ, is holding on to optimism that the fight against the coronavirus will soon yield results.
The company, seen as the largest supplier of goods to the tourism and hospitality sector, suffered one of its greatest declines in revenue since listing in 2011, coinciding with the fallout in the hospitality market caused by the pandemic.
“We are optimistic that a solution to the virus will be available soon, and restore confidence in travel in the usual busy tourist season from December 2020 to March 2021 and beyond,” said directors and co-founders Mark Hart and Thomas Tyler in a statement appended to the company’s audited results for year ending June.
The group earned US$91.7 million in revenue for the full year, down from US$109.6 million a year earlier. The company made a loss of US$4.35 million compared with a profit of US$1.17 million a year earlier.
Despite the loss and depressed revenue, CPJ managed cash meticulously, growing it to US$6 million, from US$3.1 million a year earlier.
“The company is prepared for what we are certain will be a full recovery of the travel industry. We remain committed to our strategic goal of achieving long-term shareholder value by creating scale and implementing strategic business transformation initiatives,” the directors said.
CPJ’s stock price remains depressed with the tourism sector in flux. It started the year at $4.95 but declined to $2.34 when the overall market bottomed out in late March. CPJ closed Wednesday at $2.32.
The group operations performed creditably for the majority of fiscal 2020, prior to the onslaught of the pandemic, which curbed the flow of tourism travel from major metropoles to Jamaica. The Jamaican Government imposed a travel ban that was lifted in June, paving the way for the tourism market to reopen.
CPJ said the group has seen an some uptick in demand for products and services at the start of its fiscal 2020 year, which kicked off July 1.
The company’s closed the review year with a smaller capital base, which moved from US$22.1 million to US$17.8 million, due to the losses it sustained.