Carreras Limited has advised that it will be undertaking a restructuring exercise starting January 31, which will include making some positions redundant. Managing director Marcus Steele told the Jamaica Observer that the move, while including worker separations, will result in “net positive employment” as the company’s biker fleet will swell permanent staff numbers.

The planned restructuring is a push for savings in the company’s route to market, Steele said, noting that changes in the cigarette market size from one billion sticks to about half that number has forced the company to undertake the excercise.

“What it is really is that with the change in market dynamics, we are forced to look at the way we distribute, our route to market and supply chain. There are efficiencies to be gained. We have experimented with bikers — replacing vans – with a capacity of 60 cases,” he said, noting that now further adjustments will be made.

The cost-cutting project, Carreras said in a notice to the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) , serves as part of “a bid to streamline operations and improve its effectiveness to remain viable and sustainable in the face of changing business and economic environment.”

Carreras advised that the exercise will be carried out in keeping with Regulation 11 of the Employment (Termination and Redundancy Payments) Act, 1974 (as amended) and company policies.

The company currently employs about 75 permanent staff and 30 bikers.

Steele stated, “Some of our team leaders will be leaving us,” noting that the exact number to be separated could not be given until staff members themselves were advised on Friday.

“We will have net positive employment as we will be adding more people,” the managing director said, noting that not many companies can say this after a redundancy exercise. New team members, he noted, will be additional bike staff, including youth from the inner city who will now be able to “add value to their lives and the lives of their families.”

The cost of the restructuring exercise and savings targets, Steele said, would be released at a later date.

For the six-month period ended September 30 2015, Carreras saw an eight per cent improvement in gross operating revenue from $5.25 billion for the comparative period in 2014 to $5.68 billion in September 2015. Net income climbed 19 per cent year over year from $1.17 billion in 2014 to $1.39 billion in September 2015.

Earnings per share were $285.4 for the reporting period compared to $240.17 in 2014 , an improvement the company said was due to increased revenue and reduced costs. One-off events during the period which added to income were the sale of property and a tax credit of $870 million from TAJ in settlement of a court matter.

The company noted in its six-month report that sales had been affected by an increase in product price and excise duty.