The Italian-owned Campari Group made a ¤5M euro gain on the sale of its local-based Federated Pharmaceutical division to the Glen Christian-controlled Kirk Distributors Ltd, just released data indicates.

It forms part of efforts by the Campari Group, the parent company of J Wray & Nephew, to rid itself of non-core assets in Jamaica. The sale price of the company at US$14.4 million was previously known but not its gain on the sale.

“The sale of the business, whose net assets had already been classified as ‘assets available for sale’ at 31 December 2014, generated a capital gain of ¤ 5.0 million, which was classified as non-recurring income in the first quarter of 2015,” said Campari in its financials released this week.

Campari Group completed the sale of Federated Pharmaceutical Division to Kirk Distributors in March 2015 following an agreement to sell in December.

The pharmaceutical company, founded in 1958, currently employs more than 73 people and manufactures 95 products. It exports to Antigua, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Guyana, St Vincent, St Kitts, St Lucia, Trinidad, Turks & Caicos, and the United Kingdom, according to its online company profile. Campari indicated that the transaction underlines its “strategy of strengthening its focus on its core high-margin spirits business via streamlining of non-core businesses”.

The sale announcement follows a series of earlier divestments by the group in its financial year. Specifically, Campari previously announced that it would exit the consumer agency brand business within the merchandise business in Jamaica during 2015.

Last August, Campari sold a property by the wharf in Kingston for ¤2.4 million (J$350 million) in order to focus on core activity. The financials avoided listing the purchaser. Concurrently, it announced that it sold a detergent brand for a ¤200,000 euro loss. In its previous financial year, the group terminated its distribution arrangement for Kimberly-Clark products, which included household names like Kleenex, Scott, and Huggies. That distributorship was acquired by T Geddes Grant.

Campari acquired Lascelles deMercado (the holding company of Wray & Nephew) in December 2012 for US$409 million from Trinidad-based majority shareholder CL Financial, and local shareholders. In September 2012, details of the acquisition indicated that Campari would nearly double Campari’s workforce from 2,300 to 4,300. Since that time, the company embarked on restructuring and announced that it laid off some 200 workers.

Kirk Distributors, incorporated in 2005, took over the operations and distribution of the Colgate-Palmolive portfolio which includes household names like Colgate toothpaste, Protex, Castile, Carib Carbolic and Refresh bar soaps. They also distribute Ajax, Fabuloso, Soflan, Suavitel and Blue Bomber.