Jamaica Teas nearly tripled its third quarter profit when compared to the three months to June 30, 2010.

The company posted net profit of $21.3 million for the review quarter, which was an increase from the $7.4 million posted for the third quarter of 2010.

Revenue rose year on year by 31 per cent reflecting improvement in sales in both its local and foreign markets as well as its retail segment.

“We enjoyed increased sales volume of 12.8 per cent in our core business — manufacturing — over the nine months of the prior year, even as we contended successfully with both tight domestic and overseas economies,” said Jamaica Teas chairman, Adeeb Mahfood, and its CEO, John Mahfood in a joint statement accompanying the financial statements. “Our JRG Shoppers Delite supermarket in Kingston had sales of $173.2 million for the nine months and $62.8 million for the quarter. The revenue performance to date reflects continuing improvement since the start of business in April 2010. Revenues and profit for the latest quarter bettered the results of each of the previous quarters. This business has been consistently profitable during this financial year.”

“We enjoyed increased sales volume of 12.8 per cent in our core business — manufacturing — over the nine months of the prior year, even as we contended successfully with both tight domestic and overseas economies,” said Jamaica Teas chairman, Adeeb Mahfood, and its CEO, John Mahfood in a joint statement accompanying the financial statements. “Our JRG Shoppers Delite supermarket in Kingston had sales of $173.2 million for the nine months and $62.8 million for the quarter. The revenue performance to date reflects continuing improvement since the start of business in April 2010. Revenues and profit for the latest quarter bettered the results of each of the previous quarters. This business has been consistently profitable during this financial year.”

Sales at its other supermarket located in Montego Bay, which is jointly owned, continued to show steady improvement and continuing reduction in losses in keeping with our forecast for this fiscal year.

“We recorded a loss of $3.5 million as our share of the investment in the third quarter and a loss of $11.8 million for the nine month period,” said the statement. “The result for the third quarter is an improvement on the loss of $4.5 million recorded in the second quarter. We expect that this positive trend of reduced losses will continue into the fourth quarter as revenues subsequent to the quarter continue to grow.”

Jamaica Teas acquired a new packaging machine at a cost of US$40,000 ($3.4 million) in order to keep up with the increased demand for its products, which has been commissioned, while the company is nearing completion of an off-site storage warehouse on which it spent $16 million in this financial year.

The Mahfoods added: “The business environment remains challenging with many of the major countries of the world still faced with uncertainties in their economies. We still see opportunities to expand our product line and continue to grow existing lines. We are pleased that subsequent to June sales continue to track our forecast. We launched a new product under the Caribbean Dreams Jamaica Blue Spring Water brand in June to take advantage of our distribution network. The product now adds to the growing list of products we sell. The product Caribbean Dreams Jamaica Blue Spring Water is being sold locally and in the export market. Our jointly owned Bay City supermarket in Montego Bay recorded encouraging increase in sales in July over June. Management is cautiously optimistic that this trend will continue and expect the operation to become profitable during the December quarter if the current trend in sales and cost continue. We expect to see a continuation of the positive performance for the fourth quarter as the performance for the various companies continue to be in line with our forecast.”