Hardware and building outlet Lumber Depot said that as its core business continues to witness positive growth, the company could venture into new products as it engages new strategies to further drive revenues.

“In terms of our future strategies we have a very healthy balance sheet and we so we are looking at the commercial opportunities that are now available to us. This could be in the form of a new start-up operation or through mergers and acquisitions or a combination of both,” said the company’s managing director, Major Noel Dawes.

Dawes, who was giving an investor’s briefing at this week’s Mayberry Forum, also said that the advancement of digital transformation programmes along with an expansion of its current warehouse space were some of the other strategies given focus by the company.

“We want to continue to build out the opportunities at our Papine location, we don’t feel that this is fully maximised as we have challenges with space. The area is a large hub which services a wide cross section of large communities of which we want to be able to supply the level of demand. Therefore, we want to continue to build out and make adjustments as we move along in the pandemic,” he stated.

The over two-decades-old company, which carries a wide range of household and building materials among its inventory, said that while it will continue to capitalise on its key market strengths including lumber and plyboard, they have not ruled out the possibility of venturing into other areas ripe for import.

“We haven’t looked at this indepth, but it’s something that we would want to do [but right now] the demand is so high for the current products we are carrying so it’s going to take some time and research. However, we are in that growth mode now in terms of what there is and so nothing is off the table.

“I believe that the market is going to continue to be very bullish in terms of the development and growth as there are new concepts that are coming which we are looking at holistically,” Dawes said.

He cited the growing use of new interior finishes such as drywall sheetrock, an area he said his company was willing to tap. “We not only want to carry sheetrocks but the full range of products including joint compounds, tapes and all other materials.”

The Junior Market listed company, which in 2019 was demerged from the Blue Power Group during its nine-month period ended January, saw total sales climb to just a little over a billion dollar coupled with an almost 72 per cent increase in net profits which totalled $100.9 million and shareholders’ equity of $279 million. Earnings per share at the end of the period also moved to $0.14 up from $0.05 in the same period last year.

“We believe that we are on a very positive growth path, we are at the end of our financial year due to ongoing audits, but in an overview, I believe that the trend will definitely continue into the fourth quarter,” Dawes said of his projections for the last quarter’s results.