LASCO Distributors Ltd (LDL) will increase its distribution of Unilever Caribe products by adding five personal care brands, including the VO5 line.

Lasco began distribution on December 29 last year, according to a release to the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

The products include VO5, Just for Me, Motions, Tresemme and St Ives.

In November, Unilever appointed LDL as the non-exclusive distributor of a range of popular food and ice cream products. These included Lipton, Red Rose, Knorr Side Dishes, Hellman’s, Blue Band, Flora, I Can’t Believe it’s Not Butter, Country Crock, Ben & Jerry’s, Popsicle, and Breyers.

LDL currently manages 3,000 notable local and international consumer and pharmaceutical brands from its Red Hills Road and White Marl facilities.

In late September, LDL announced plans to increase its warehouse space by roughly one-third to 340,000 square feet which equates to one of the largest in the country. It would accommodate increased inventory in order to facilitate the plans to double annual sales to $20 billion in three years.

In 2012, Lasco Manufacturing Ltd (LML) spent US$25 million to expand its White Marl, St Catherine location.

Lasco’s three publicly listed companies are under the chairmanship of its founder Lascelles Chin. Each stock earned multiples for investors since listing on the Jamaica Stock Exchange Junior Market in 2010.

The three companies have roughly $10.4 billion in market capitalisation as at December 31, 2014. It’s based on LML’s four billion ordinary shares at $1.12, followed by LDL, with 3.3 billion ordinary shares at $1.45 and Lasco Financial Limited with 1.2 billion ordinary shares at $0.98.

At the 2013 AGM, Chin initially made the challenge to double profits at the three affiliated companies in three years. The projection would double LDL profits to roughly $1 billion; LML profits to $1.2 billion and Lasco Financial Limited profits to roughly $320 million, based on the 2013 projection.

— Steven Jackson