Lasco Manufacturing shelling out $1b to improve efficiency
Published:Friday | October 10, 2025 | 12:07 AM
Lasco Manufacturing Limited, LASM, will invest $1.1 billion by the end of 2026 to improve the efficiency of its operations.
This investment is in addition to the $425 million spent on improvements in the year ending March 2025, aimed at boosting the company manufacturing capacity by 40 per cent.
“Capital investments continue to be an important part of our growth strategy. Thus, we have already committed to, and have begun the process of, installing new processing and filling lines for our refreshing beverages,” said LASM’s Deputy General Manager, Lisa Watts, at the company’s annual general meeting in Kingston.
“This move will increase our productive capacity by 40 per cent and is expected to be completed within three months,” she said.
Watts said the new capital investments projected between 2024 and 2026 will include the installation of compressors, pumps and the expansion of the company’s ozonation operation, the latter being a water treatment process that utilises ozone gas to oxidise various contaminants in water, including organic matter and pathogens.
“All of these moves are designed to improve efficiency,” Watts told shareholders at the meeting.
Lasco Manufacturing is a producer of powdered and liquid beverages under the Lasco, LaSoy, iCool and Lyrix brands.
Both revenue and net profit were down for the company for the first quarter of its new financial year.
Sales revenue was down 10 per cent to $2.92 billion in the April-June period, while profit fell to $618.3 million from $701.7 million in the corresponding June 2024 quarter.
Watts also noted that for the financial year ending March 2025, there was a three per cent increase in sales, which was lower than the previous year’s growth of 7.2 per cent.
“This was largely due to a contraction we observed in the market, among other factors. Nonetheless, our net profit grew eight per cent due to gains in efficiency,” she said.
Noting that Lasco Manufacturing did well during the COVID pandemic due to increased consumption of the products at home, Watts said the company was able to continue that momentum post-pandemic, and remains a profitable company.
“In the current environment of uncertainty with respect to supply chain factors and geopolitical instability, Lasco Manufacturing has maintained a relatively stable gross profit margin over the five-year period,” she reported.
“Our operating profits over the past five years have seen steady growth,” she added, citing an annual growth rate of 16.3 per cent.
“Fast-forward to financial year 2024-25, which is the period under review, Lasco Manufacturing recorded an operating profit of $3.32 billion, translating to an increase of 82 per cent over the past five years,” the deputy GM reported.