Rising Jamaica Stock Exchange company, Medical Disposables and Supplies Ltd (MDS), has taken on a significant acquisition in its bid to spread its wings in the pharmaceutical, medical supplies, and consumer products business.

Now, the 21-year-old organisation, listed on the Junior Stock Exchange since December 2013, has bought a 60 per cent stake in smaller competitor, Montego Bay-based Cornwall Medical and Dental Ltd (CMDL), its Chief Executive Officer Kurt Boothe stated and emphasised by a notice on the Jamaica Stock Exchange website.

MDS has a pharmaceutical division which, among other things, supplies pharmacies islandwide with drugs; a medical division that provides hospitals, doctors, and health centres with disposable items; and the recently launched consumer division, which markets general items for supermarkets, wholesales, and other such enterprises, among them cleaning, household and beauty supplies; confectionery; and snacks.

“Medical Disposables and Supplies Ltd is pleased to announce the entry into an asset acquisition agreement to gain control of the operations of Cornwall Medical and Dental Supplies Ltd,” the news release to the Jamaica Stock Exchange confirmed.

“Located in Montego Bay, CMDL is an islandwide distributor of medical equipment, medical disposable products, as well as a wide range of dental supplies. The company also operates three pharmacies – two in Montego Bay and one in Savanna-la-Mar – under the brand name Corn-Med Pharmacy.

“The vehicle that will be used to carry the operations is a newly formed subsidiary, Cornwall Enterprises Ltd, in which MDS will own a 60 per cent stake and CMDL will own 40 per cent. It is expected that the new company will be in full operation by September 1, 2021,” the statement went on.

Kurt Boothe, who since last November has headed the company as CEO, replacing his mother, Myrtis Boothe, the company’s founder and former managing director and now executive director, was upbeat about the latest venture when he spoke with the Jamaica Observer.

“With the deal we are not only getting three pharmacies, but also we are gaining market share and joining forces with one of our competitors. We are also expanding market share for the medical division and have now added a new area that we never did before, that is dental. So that expands our range of offerings,” he said.

Cornwall Enterprises Ltd, MDS’s first subsidiary, will see Kurt Boothe chairing its board of directors, with his father, public and private sector giant Winston “Skip” Boothe remaining as chair of MDS.

“We would have deepened our presence in the western end of the island,” Kurt Boothe told the Business Observer. “It works for us because we are very growth-oriented. Our focus has always been long-term growth, and at a point in time we enter another phase, another chapter in which we now start to grow by inorganic means. We are in acquisition mode, and the company has an appetite for taking on more now,” he continued.

“Over the last two years, the company has been spending a lot, making a lot of investments that have been evident on our books, to improve our internal infrastructure, which includes not only IT systems, improving our processes, but also in human resource capital and improving our talent pool in order to be able to facilitate moves like this.

“If we are to compete we need better talent. We are at a stage now where our direct competitors are the biggest companies in Jamaica, so we do not want to be out-resourced,” the MDS CEO stated.

Staff attached to the western Jamaica business will not be affected, the CEO stated, but was there a particular attraction, or fascination in Cornwall at this time, which led to talks, and then to the takeover stage?

“Part of the owners’ succession plan is that they sought a new role through partnership, and we saw the natural synergy,” Kurt Boothe responded.

“We welcome expansion opportunities, but the first phase of this new beginning opportunity is to improve the structure of the company and get it aligned with the structure of the new parent. So, immediately, we will be looking at IT systems and streamlining a lot of processes and procedures as we have managed to do over the years, especially at the point that we listed on the stock exchange.

“One of the benefits of the stock exchange is that it allowed us to be far more structured and improved our corporate governance structure,” stated the CEO.

MDS is located at 83 Hagley Park Road but still functions in a limited way from a space inside the nearby Domes complex, where the company was once headquartered.