CARIBBEAN Producers Jamaica (CPJ) bought all the shares in a subsidiary which will hold its joint venture activities in St Lucia.

“CPJ St Lucia will begin its food service operations by the first-quarter of the next fiscal year,” according to financials released to the Jamaica Stock Exchange this week.

CPJ executives Mark Hart and Tom Tyler were out of office when contacted.

“During the period the company acquired 100 per cent interest in a subsidiary called CPJ Investments Ltd which owns 51 per cent interest in CPJ St Lucia. Both companies are incorporated in St Lucia,” stated CPJ in its financials.

Concurrently, the company earned US$1.1-million net profit for its March third-quarter or 12 per cent less than year earlier levels. The reduction was due in part to the “losses incurred in the operations of the joint venture Caribbean Egg Processors and increased operating costs”.

CEP recorded a US$46,000 loss and operating costs jumped 9.4 per cent to US$3.6 million. The company however experienced better results earlier in the financial year which was reflected in its nine-months net profit up 52 per cent year-on-year to US$2.7 million.

CPJ announced in February that it formed a joint venture in St Lucia with Du Boulay’s Bottling Company which currently bottles coca-cola drinks. CPJ holds a 51 per cent controlling stake in the joint venture, while the remaining 49 per cent is held by Du Boulay’s Bottling Company Limited. Initially, the joint venture will service its key hospitality customers on the island with our dry goods and food, both refrigerated and frozen. CPJ started operations in 1994 and in July 2011 listed on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange. The company holds total equity of some US$15.4 million which equates to one of Jamaica’s leading food-service distributors.

Du Boulay, the official bottler and distributor of Coca-Cola products in St Lucia distributes to over 2,200 active accounts, including the major hospitality and institutional customers.