Just shy of five years since listing on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE), digital and creative outfit iCreate Limited is preparing to migrate to the Main Market index.

Having exceeded the $500-million threshold of paid up share capital for Junior Market-listed companies after its shareholders voted during an extraordinary general meeting on November 28, 2022, to convert debt totaling $650 million to equity at $1 per share, which triggered communication from the JSE, iCreate is now in the process of applying to the JSE for graduation to the Main Market.

“So the stock exchange has written to us, obviously, about the fact that this is the rule and your issued paid up capital should be $500 million or less and… we would need to communicate our move. So we have since expressed to them that we will be migrating to the senior market of the stock exchange,” iCreate founder and CEO Tyrone Wilson shared with the Jamaica Observer in an interview.

“There is the regulatory or application process and we’ve started that because we have to apply for Main Market listing as a matter of formality. So we have started that and we need to tick the boxes that are required like the committees and all of that. We’re ready and we’ve communicated with the stock exchange and we’ve communicated with our shareholders,” he continued.

While Wilson was optimistic that indications from the JSE to increase the threshold for Junior Market entities to $750 million would have materialised at the end of last year, he admitted that even after the debt conversion, iCreate would still breach the minimum paid up capital. Additionally, with shareholders granting approval for the company to exercise a rights issue to raise new capital, that “will see us going over the $750 million at some point in 2023”.

Moreover, as iCreate continues to roll out its merger and acquisition (M&A) strategy — announced at its last annual general meeting in 2022 — the company is considering issuing more shares in exchange for stakes in associate companies and subsidiaries.

Notwithstanding the increase in capital that has prompted iCreate’s pending transition, the CEO pointed out that the company’s readiness to migrate to the Main Market was as a result of restructuring for growth. To this end he said that the “ambition for iCreate that I would say is bigger than the Junior Market.

“Not that we consider ourselves to be a large company in terms of revenue and profitability as yet to be a senior market company. But based on the plans that we have on the table, we see within less than a year or two that iCreate, from a financial perspective, will be performing at that level,” Wilson stated.

For nine months ending September 30, 2022, iCreate Limited generated revenues amounting to $107.3 million, almost tripling revenues for the comparative period in 2021. Total comprehensive income for the 2022 period under review jumped to $23.4 million, up from $3.9 million in the similar period a year earlier.

Third-quarter profits also soared, up by 301 per cent to $26.4 million when compared with $7.97 million in 2021. From this iCreate recouped $6.91 million in total comprehensive income, turning around a total comprehensive loss of $536,551 as at September 30, 2021.

iCreate ended 2021 with a total comprehensive loss of $32.26 million; its main income earner, iCreate Institute, having suffered from the haemorrhaging of funds due to lockdowns occasioned by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The value of the iCreate stock has jumped from a low of $0.68 cents on February 18, 2022 to close on December 30, 2022, at $1.77, having traded at a high of $4.90.

Wilson has credited the company’s recovery to its “aggressive M&A strategy” outlined at the beginning of last year in a bid to return the company to profitability. Owing to this strategy, iCreate acquired outright ownership of advertising company Visual Vibe and a 51 per cent stake in e-commerce outfit GetPaid. In addition, it purchased a majority stake in a real estate development company.

“When you look at iCreate, we’re evolving now into a digital and creative group of companies. We currently have our institute, which focuses on training in digital and creative skills and our advertising division, which Visual Vibe will fall under and we have our creative agency, Vertical [Creative Limited],” Wilson outlined.

“So the M&A strategy has pushed our capital base but it has also pushed our financial performance as a company into the black,” he further explained.

The CEO is steadfastly bullish that as the company broaden its base and, by extension, revenue streams, it will continue to realise growth. He is more so optimistic that the digital and creative sectors represent untapped potential for revenue growth.

“Now we see huge potential — and we’ve communicated this ever since we were listing — where creativity is concerned or the digital space is concerned regionally in the Caribbean and Latin America. Globally it accounts for five per cent of GDP, like in the UK, for example. And we think that Jamaica, with Kingston especially as a creative capital, there’s a lot of potential that we see that iCreate can bring to formalise the space for investors but also for entrepreneurs like ourselves,” he told Business Observer.

For financial year 2023, Wilson said that the businesses within the advertising division will work in tandem to drive most of the group’s revenue with Vertical Creative creating content for clients and Visual Vibe as a “massive distribution channel covering key locations across the island” driving ad placements to various demographics.

At the same time, GetPaid will contribute more to the group’s top and bottom lines, having secured an SMS advertising deal with Digicel that will be aimed at boosting the growth of small and medium-sized entities.

“GetPaid has contributed almost immediately to our growth. We have some major plans for it; we are doing a lot of strategic planning now to really bring some unique positioning for the business, which we’ll speak to at a further date, but we’re confident about GetPaid’s ability to grow revenue and contribute to our profitability,” Wilson disclosed.

When asked about taking a greater stake in GetPaid, the CEO said he’s leaving room for more investors and partners to come in, but has not ruled out the possibility of increasing its interest.

With regards to plans for iCreate Institute, which contributed 65 per cent to the revenues prior to the pandemic, Wilson noted that the business model shift from business-to-consumer to business-to-business as the school engages more corporate entities such as GraceKennedy, NCB Foundation, Unicomer and Jamaica Tourist Board.

“We just got our independent licence as tertiary institution from Jamaica Tertiary Education Commission and that will see us collaborating with the Ministry of Education and their sixth form pathway programme also, offering new types of training sixth formers aren’t exposed to like cybersecurity and AI and all of that…So we’re building on that moving into 2023,” he said.

And what of a return to face-to-face delivery?

“The positives that came out of COVID, we plan to hold on to those for as long as we can. iCreate and my philosophy has always been that the Fourth Industrial Revolution is going to change how we work and add new industries, new skill sets and as a business that is not only built on that but trains individuals for that, [so] we have to be practising it ourselves and based on that, a large part of our training and the company’s [operation] is going to be digital,” Wilson shared.

However, he said the company is reviewing the reintroduction of practical programmes such as video production, graphic design, photography, and project management for creatives.

Concurrent to iCreate’s growth plans, the company has also embarked on a reorganisation with a view to beefing up its leadership and governance structure. So far, the company has onboarded the likes of Ivan Carter — a former chief financial officer of Sagicor Group Jamaica Limited and now CEO of Delta Capital Group — to head its audit committee.

In addition, the company has added Declan Tully as chief revenue officer and head of the advertising division, with Stephen Hector bring his experience in marketing sales from the ATL and Sandals Group.

“And we’re looking to add a deputy CEO/chief operating officer in the company because, as we pursue these aggressive M&A strategies, we need to have a type of skill set as the biggest part of this is execution and streamlining the operation as a group and building a certain culture across the different companies,” Wilson informed Business Observer.

This addition to the iCreate’s leadership will augur well for its transition to the JSE Main Market as Wilson expects the scrutiny will be raised to higher standard.

Asked about the company’s readiness to list on the Main Market, he noted, “Fully ready… based on our planning for the company and the thing we had outlined, this possibility was always there. We understand how the market works and what is required to operate at this level and we would have been putting those things in place over the last few months — not even if we needed to go to the senior market but as a fast-growing company, we needed to have a certain level of governance structure and a certain leadership team that can get us there and keep us there.”