LARGE brewery, Red Stripe made $2.3 billion net profit for its June year end 2015, which meant increased volumes but one-quarter less profit than a year ago due to the prior year’s sale of its regional brewery investments.

Strong volumes pushed annual revenues to $13 billion or 14 per cent higher than a year ago, while tight management of operations pushed trading profit to just under $3 billion or 10 per cent higher year on year.

The company attributed its increased volume growth in part to its product innovation which seeks to attract new drinkers.

“Increased marketing investment also supported the launch of two new Red Stripe flavours – Sorrel which continues to deliver after a strong performance over the key Christmas period, and Lemon Paradise which is doing well as the new flavour of summer,” according to a board statement signed by chairman Richard Byles and managing director Cedric Blair. The statement accompanied the financials.

“These and similar investments are targeted at recruiting new consumers through innovation. Both Heineken and Guinness received packaging renovations and Dragon Stout continued to deliver significant growth.”

The company also reported double-digit growth in its export volumes due to what the board called its entry into new markets and growth in existing ones.

In the 2014 financial year the company made nearly $1 billion extra due to gains from the sale of shares of Brasserie Nationale d’Haiti (Brana) and Windward and Leeward Brewery. This resulted in hiking inorganic profit after tax to $3.15 billion.

“Organic profit after tax [in 2015], which excludes the 2014 financial year profit on the sale of investments of $974 million, grew by 7.0 per cent,” stated the board.

Red Stripe aims to slash its energy cost by 40 per cent and to reduce its carbon footprint with its US$7-million plant upgrade. The project reconfigures the brewery and process layout to ensure more cost-effective production. A major part of that involved its co-generation plant commissioned in April 2014. The plant will use heat created from generating electricity to produce steam. It plans to use liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to fire its dual fuel engine until liquefied natural gas (LNG) becomes available in Jamaica.

The local brewer also continued its cultivation of cassava aimed to replace import content in its beers. The project aims to replace 70 per cent of imported inputs by 2020.