KREMI-MAKER Caribbean Cream has hiked its inventory by $22.3 million in anticipation of increased sales over the next quarter.

The company in its third quarter financial report ending November said it increased its inventory by 22 per cent to position itself to meet the required demand for the Christmas season. The rise in inventory comes amid negative cash flows at the fast-rising ice cream company.

Kremi, however, managed to squeeze a 19 per cent increase in net profit for the quarter, moving from $11.1 million in 2013 to $13.3 million. “The increase was aided by the continued growth of our retail line of ice cream products along with strong sales both in novelty items and the bulk market segment,” chief executive officer Christopher Clarke stated in the report.

The company showed assets of $404 million, an increase of $55.3 million or 16.5 per cent over the last year. This was attributable to the introduction of the new blast freezer which began operating last November.

“With the introduction of the new blast freezer it is expected to reduce the turnaround time in production by saving on utility cost whilst producing more volumes to meet the demand of the market, therefore favourably affecting our profit margin,” Clarke stated.

“As a result, the company will be in a position to meet the increased demand for 2014 Christmas season,” he added.

Currently, Kremi holds 50 per cent of the bulk distribution market and plans to take another 15 per cent of the retail market by June 2016. In 2013, the company embarked on a $300-million expansion project, installing a cold room and improving its production floor to double the capacity of the company to 40,000 cases of ice cream per week.

Kremi was the first ice cream company to go public after listing on the junior stock market back in 2013.

The company showed an increase in revenues of 26 per cent or $48 million for the quarter which resulted in an increase in gross profit margins for the nine months by 46 per cent.