Wisynco Group recorded strong performance in its fourth quarter, the period from April to June, which helped it reverse lower profits up to the end of its third quarter. At the end of its financial year, the manufacturing and distribution company posted profits which were up 14 per cent from 2020 at $3.1 billion. At the end of March, profits for the group were down 5%.

Andrew Mahfood, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Wisynco Group, said the turnaround in the last quarter of the company’s financial year can be attributed to the opening up of the economy during the period.

“We started to see growth with the resumption of tourism and it started primarily with the vaccination of Americans and Europeans. So the tourism sector really started to rebound and at the same time, April-May- June, we noticed our [COVID] cases in Jamaica started to drift downwards. So that coupled with more people understanding how to live with the virus, as well as a resumption of the tourism and restaurant industry, coupled with Jamaicans getting vaccinated and moving around a little bit more….we had a very good final quarter,” he said, in response to queries from the Jamaica Observer.

Revenues for the fourth quarter jumped by 17.1%, as Wisynco experienced recovery in all its business channels during the period. However, in spite of the recovery in its business channels and 17.1% growth in revenues, overall revenues for 2021 were still flat at $31.8 billion or 1.1% less than the $32.2 billion in 2020.

Mahfood said exports helped to drive revenues during the quarter. “We notice great improvements in our exports into the US for certain products,” he said. “We are seeing full container loads being shipped into the US, good demand and very good support for the products and we are very optimistic for our exports for 2022 and 2023 going forward.”

Exports account for about 2 per cent of Wisynco’s sales and have been growing strongly. Wisynco earlier this year resumed shipments to the UK after relocating production from that company to Jamaica. Mahfood said that business is growing. Export revenues grew 37 per cent during its just concluded financial year.

The distribution group’s net profit margin for 2021 was 9.7 per cent, which was greater than the 8.3 per cent realised for 2020 and reflected an improvement of 140 basis points over the prior year. The earning per share for the year from continuing operations was $0.82 per share or 15.4 per cent more than the $0.71 recorded for 2020. The total dividend for 2021 is $0.30 per share or a dividend yield of 1.9 per cent. The management reports that it is “continuing to look for efficiency improvements as well as expansion opportunities. The return on average equity of 22 per cent was also in line with the 22 per cent of fiscal 2020”.