Sandals to stock Red Stripe in Jamaica and TCI hotels
Published:Wednesday | December 8, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Sabrina Gordon, Business Reporter
Red Stripe, the Jamaican brewer, has landed a contract to supply its lager to more than 3,000 rooms/suites in the Gordon 'Butch' Stewart's Sandals hotels in Jamaica and the Turks and Caicos Islands, the companies have announced.
The agreement was signed in August, to take effect this month, but has only now been disclosed.
Adam Stewart, chief executive officer of Sandals Resorts Interna-tional was not immediately available for comment on either the value or volume of the deal. His aides said he was travelling.
Neither was Red Stripe willing to provide specific details of the transaction, which is potentially lucrative to a company that has been facing a slide in demand at home and slower growth in exports because of the global recessions.
"We are not prepared to disclose this information," said Red Stripe's sales director, Brian Pengelley.
Sandals has 15 couples-only properties of which eight are in Jamaica, three in St. Lucia, one in Antigua, two in the Bahamas and another in Varadero, Cuba.
Already Red Stripe is served in the hotel bars across the sandals properties. Under the new deal the product will now be stocked in the room bars of 2,500 of Sandals' rooms and suites in Jamaica as well as 633 at the group's Beaches Resort in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
"The synergistic collaboration between two of Jamaica's iconic brands augurs well for a more robust marketing platform for the Jamaican brand on an international scale," the companies said in a joint statement.
Red Stripe, a subsidiary of the UK drinks company, Diageo, would almost certainly wish the arrangement to expand to include all Sandals/Beaches properties - a likely issue that the parties did not address.
In the first quarter to September 30, the listed Red Stripe posted net profit of J$115 million, a 34 per cent drop compared to the corresponding period last year. Sales of J$2.6 billion in the quarter was two per cent less for the corresponding three months in 2009.
To combat the ongoing weakness on the domestic market, Red Stripe has been increasing shipment to the United States market, a move the company said has paid off.
The drink manufacturer and distributor in recent times has been ramping up exports while reducing cost. The company with market value of J$9.8 billion, last traded at J$3.50 on the Jamaican Stock Market.