Today, we publish the 14th of 15 stories on the nominees for the Jamaica Observer Business Leader Corporate Award. To be considered for nomination, all companies had to be at least 50 years old, or be able to trace their roots to 1962 or before. The award presentation and announcement of the Business Leader Corporate will take place on Sunday, December 2 at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston.

WITHOUT any offence to J Wray & Nephew’s sister companies, not many Jamaicans gave much thought about their fate when it was announced in September that some Italians had acquired their parent.

It was the future of the 187-year-old rum segment and the potential loss of this revered brand — long considered part of our national heritage — that was uppermost on the minds of people.

It’s not only because J Wray & Nephew Ltd, having generated $15.1 billion in sales for the nine months leading up to the acquisition, was the most robust division within the multifaceted Lascelles deMercado family.

This firm is so steadfastly moored to the country’s agricultural industry, and has been such a source of national pride as a leading-edge manufacturer, that any talk of a potential re-domiciling of its production base is cause for immediate concern.

Though the new owners, Campari, have to date shown no such inclination, there would be context and precedence for Jamaicans to worry that such a course of action was not altogether improbable. The earlier decision by another transnational spirits producer, Diageo, to relocate the production of Red Stripe that it sells in America to facilities within that country would have fuelled public anxiety about whether a similar fate could befall Wray & Nephew.

Lascelles, and by extension J Wray & Nephew Ltd, will be delisted from the exchange in Kingston. Local investors can still buy into the future of the Jamaican rum manufacturer by acquiring shares in the publicly listed Campari.

The entire Lascelles transaction deal was worth US$415 million.

Here is why J Wray & Nephew Ltd is so important to Jamaica — not just its world-renowned brands, but the company and all its physical assets:

It cultivates sugar cane, makes sugar, distils rums, wines and other spirits; ages some, blends others, bottles them, and markets many of them abroad. Some of these are manufactured on behalf of Lascelles Wines and Spirits, its sister company.

This manufacturer operates three sugar estates — Appleton Estate in St Elizabeth, Holland Estate also in that parish, and New Yarmouth Estate in Clarendon. Collectively, they comprise 21,900 acres of land, and are responsible for 63 per cent of all spirits produced in Jamaica.

J Wray & Nephew employs 448 individuals at its Spanish Town Road, Kingston operations. This is the site of its corporate headquarters. The complex also houses its laboratories, ageing warehouses, and the blending and bottling facilities.

There are another 885 people who are employed at the firm’s agricultural division — the three sugar estates and two distilleries. One of the distilleries is located at Appleton Estate and the other at New Yarmouth.

Additionally, some 700 contract farmers are able to make a livelihood by producing and selling cane to this company.

One almost gets punch-drunk just from looking at the dizzying list of alcoholic beverages that roll off the J Wray & Nephew production line. These are the brands that it both owns and produces including, of course, the wines it makes for its sister company. They are:

* Appleton Estate Jamaica Rum

* Appleton Jamaica Rum

* Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum

* Coruba Jamaica Rum

* Cocomania Coconut Rum

* Kirov Vodka

* Wray & Nephew Rum Cream

* Wray & Nephew Jamaica Brandy

* Wray & Nephew Old Tom Gin

* Wray & Nephew Liqueurs

* Red Label Wine

* Sangster’s Original Gold Jamaica Rum Cream

* Magnum Tonic Wine

* Charley’s Black Label Rum.

There are tons more that the alcohol manufacturer either produces under licence or distributes on behalf of other brand owners.

J Wray & Nephew is perhaps Jamaica’s most prolific exporter of tradable goods. Its exporting and marketing division makes sure that the brands reach the 68 countries for which it has supply contracts. They span the entire globe — from the Asia Pacific Rim to countries within the African continent, USA, Europe, the UK, New Zealand, and Mexico, to name a few.

In fact, the Mexicans have developed a particular fondness for Appleton — the product after all has a unique way of engendering customer loyalty.

This rum is the leading imported rum and spirit in the Central American nation. The Canadians, too, are right behind the Mexicans, making the Jamaican brand their favourite imported rum. In Peru, Appleton is the leading imported aged premium rum; while another brand from the distillery, Coruba Jamaica Rum, is number one in New Zealand.

Apart from the demonstrable persuasiveness of its formulations, there are institutional reasons why the Jamaican products do so well in Canada and New Zealand: J Wray & Nephew has subsidiaries in those markets that closely oversee the bottling of its products there.

J Wray and Nephew is the quintessential example of a Jamaican company that is living the time-honoured national mantra of ‘export or die’. This organisation is so serious about exporting that it also operates another subsidiary in the UK in addition to the ones in Canada and New Zealand.

The UK subsidiary has a different role. It imports and markets the company’s own-brand products as well as non-owned brands to British consumers.

In short, J Wray & Nephew exports 50 per cent of all the rum it produces. It is a major Jamaican exporter. The brands which are leading the export thrust are Appleton Estate Jamaica Rum, Coruba Jamaica Rum, Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum, and Sangster’s Original Gold Jamaica Rum Cream.

There is a little bit of confusion about the age of this iconic Jamaican company. It was founded in 1825 by John Wray. In 1860, he invited into the firm, his 22-year-old nephew Charles James Ward, reportedly a dynamic businessman. It was a tavern and liquor dealing operation. He made his nephew partner in 1862, and thereafter called the enterprise J Wray & Nephew.

But Appleton Estate is 263 years old — and would have been producing sugar and rum with slave labour long before Wray and his nephew were selling rum in their tavern.

The history is silent on whether Wray sourced any of his rum from Appleton Estate to sell in his tavern.

What is known is that this businessplace, which was called Shakespeare Tavern, was located at North Parade in downtown Kingston, and that Wray, with his natural affinity for mixing and blending rums and liqueurs, immediately won himself some very loyal patrons.

J Wray & Nephew Ltd did not get connected to the much older Appleton Estate until 1916. That year, Lindo Brothers & Co purchased Wray & Nephew for £200,000. The new owner then immediately acquired the Appleton Estate.

Lindo Brothers & Co owned several estates, including Bernard Lodge, Amity Hall, Monymusk, Grange and Cherry Gardens.

In 1917, the company relocated its large distillery from Grange in Clarendon to Appleton.

The Wray & Nephew rum formula was a hit from the get-go. As early as 1862 its 10-, 15- and 25-year-old rums each won gold medals at the International Exhibition in London. The success was replicated in Paris in 1878, Amsterdam in 1883, New Orleans in 1885 and Jamaica in 1891.

After a series of ownership changes, Wray & Nephew was sold in 1957 to a syndicate of entrepreneurs that included some of the principal shareholders of Lascelles deMercado. It became a subsidiary of Lascelles.

The rum manufacturer has continued on a path of product excellence. It has been at the forefront of companies within Jamaica that have worked hard to attain numerous international quality certification that underscore the integrity and traceability of its production processes.

From the ISO 9002 certification in 1996 to ISO 9001 2000 in 2002; Good and Manufacturing Practices/Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (GMP/HACCP) certification in 2005, it has to be among the most certified companies anywhere within this region.

The ISO 22000 certification in 2008 and ISO 14000 certification in February 2009 are testament to the high environmental standards that the company maintains even as it pursues its profit agenda.

In October 2012, J Wray & Nephew Limited became the only spirits company in Jamaica to achieve the rigorous Food Safety Systems Certification 22000: 2010 (FSSC: 22000:2010) for the manufacture of rums, spirits, liqueurs and wines for domestic and export markets.

The awards its products have received could literally fill several pages. From the Prime Minister’s Medal of Appreciation for Service to Jamaica in recognition of the company’s service to Industry in 2003; to Gold Certificate in Occupational Safety by the Ministry of Labour in 2008. It has won countless recognition for the quality of its products.

Importantly, in 2002 the Appleton Brand sold one million cases of rum — a very critical milestone within the global rum industry. This benchmark is indicative of the esteem in which those who consume rum hold this company and its brand.

The Italians who are now the proud owners of this company say that they will chart new pathways towards uncharted markets for Appleton.

They are confident that once consumers get a taste of the products, their loyalty will be assured.

Moses Jackson is the founder and convenor of the Jamaica Observer annual Business Leader Award programme. He may be reached at moseshbsjackson@yahoo.com