Blue Emerald SEZ hits snag
Published:Wednesday | November 3, 2021 | 12:09 AM
The registration of Blue Emerald Limited as a special economic zone, SEZ, has hit a snag due primarily to problems associated with the leased property from where it operates.
FosRich Company, the majority shareholder in Blue Emerald, leased the complex which sits on 25 acres and its two buildings, each spanning 60,000 square feet each, from state-run Factories Corporation of Jamaica. One of the buildings houses two PVC manufacturing plants and the other is dedicated to transformer repair.
FosRich CEO Cecil Foster says he expects the matter will be sorted out soon, but was imprecise about what caused the snag.
“It’s really a technical matter between the owner, FCJ, and our legal representatives. Things are now in train, documents should pass, and we expect a resolution of the matter in very short order,” he told the Financial Gleaner, adding that a resolution was expected by the end of November.
Foster says for the time being, the operations continue at the plants under the auspices of FosRich as parent company and 80 per cent owner of Blue Emerald, and that the production of PVC fittings and transformer repairs have not been affected.
The Blue Emerald operation is part of a three-year expansion programme at FosRich, which entered the PVC pipe market three years ago to strong market reception.
Year to date September, the sale of PVC products is up 50 per cent year-on-year; hardware is up 79 per cent; control devices, up 66 per cent; and solar system components, 116 per cent, according to FosRich’s nine-month financial report.
Third-quarter revenues rose to $593 million from $534 million for the similar period in 2020, pushing nine-month revenue up 21 per cent to $1.7 billion.
With this performance, the company has already outstripped its full-year 2019 performance, while closing in on the record $1.9-billion revenue for all of 2020. Net profit of $179 million is up $104 million, or 138 per cent, from the $75 million for the similar period in 2020.
The company is pointing to increases in sales volumes, commodity prices and greater availability of the products required by the market as the cause of the revenue bump.
At the same time, FosRich says the increase for the third quarter was achieved despite the reduced number of days that its stores were opened in August, due to more government-enforced lockdown days as part of the COVID-19 strategy.
“Sales for August were $100 million below the amount achieved for July. Gross profit for the quarter was $236 million, compared to $216 million for the prior reporting period,” FosRich said.
The lighting and electrical company, which went public and listed on the stock market in late 2017, sells a range of lighting and electrical fixtures, switchgear, hardware products, along with electrical and solar panels.
FosRich was established in 1993 with three employees. It now has a staff complement of 84 persons across seven locations in Kingston, Mandeville and Montego Bay. About 60 other persons are employed at its two manufacturing locations in Kingston and Hayes, Clarendon.