Ice cream and novelties manufacturer Caribbean Cream (Kremi) posted $2.4 million in profits during the third quarter of its financial year, which ended November 30, compared to the over $25 million it incurred in losses during the similar period of 2021.

The out-turn pushed the company’s profit for the longer nine months period from March to November to $10.9 million. That was, however, just under a third of the $36 million Kremi earned for the corresponding nine months to the end of November in 2021.

Challenges such as higher raw material prices and other costs were highlighted as the chief reasons for the lower profitability last year.

Despite the challenges, the management at Kremi remains upbeat about the future, indicating that the company’s financial position remains strong.

“The company continues to invest in its capital base with work on its combine heat power [CHP] plant and the much larger cold room and blast freezers as we strengthen our infrastructure,” the company said in the recent report to shareholders.

“The implementation of the cold room continues to be on track and we expect that to play a part in impacting our ability to meet the demand of the market. We expect these to be in operation by the next financial year,” Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Christopher Clarke told the Jamaica Observer on Monday.

“We’re continuing with our strategies, some of which are taking longer to bear fruit. We also continue to have good supply of our main ingredients and with the rapid inflation that we’ve had for the last year seeming to have eased up — we are hoping that we’ll be able to catch up with our margins,” he further said to the Business Observer.

The addition of its Koni Kone subsidiary, which the company bought for $45 million back in 2021, has also continued to drive additional revenues for the company.

“The business has been going well but since Koni Kone is a much smaller operation, those revenues are not as significant so the contributions are not as heavy,” Clarke said.

Revenues for the nine months increased to $1.8 billion or 19 per cent above the previous year’s period while that for the reporting quarter also increased by $75 million to total $575.6 million or 15 per cent more than of the prior year.