Chairman of Fontana Limited, Kevin O’Brien Chang says that the company’s recent growth by 11 per cent in sales, which translates to 50 per cent in profits, was achieved while the company was significantly affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

“These recent numbers indicate that the company is thriving while its major stores are operating below peak performance, namely due to curfew restrictions limiting the hours in which they can facilitate customers,” Chang said.

Chang strongly believes that Fontana, with its pharmacy chain across the island, will sustain its earnings, saying that the company has been fortunate to be bin the business that it is n at the moment.

“We have been very fortunate to be in this industry. We’ve all seen other industries that, through no fault of their own, have seen earnings collapse to zero. The positive thing here for us is that in light of the 11 per cent increase in sales, and a 50 per cent increase in profits, we have still been impacted by COVID-19 in terms of our opening hours. This means there is potentially plenty of room for additional growth once things start returning to normal,” said Chang at a recent Mayberry’s Virtual Investor Forum.

He continued, “If we look overseas at companies like Target and Walmart, they have bounced back significantly, following the introduction and implementation of vaccines. One can assume it will be a similar case in Jamaica,”

Chang pointed out the parish of Montego Bay in particular, where one of their larger stores is currently in operation which the dip in tourism has affected business there.

“Once tourism makes a comeback, we believe the results will be favourable, though we still cannot speak directly to how this might translate into sales and profits,” the Fontana chairman said.

When asked if the company had any plans for local or regional expansion, Chang explained that “We are a company that is always willing to look and listen and evaluate. When a good opportunity presents itself, we have to do our due diligence, but we remain open-minded always,”

In closing, Chang shared that the Fontana board has declared that an interim dividend of eight cents per share will be paid on Monday, June 28, 2021, to shareholders registered at the close of business on Friday, June 11, 2021. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 10, 2021.