Ice cream and frozen novelties company Caribbean Cream, which trades as Kremi, at the end of the third quarter ended November 2023, witnessed a significant boost in profits and production capabilities as its business benefited from the commissioning of new infrastructure.

The systems, which included an electronic platform, a new cold room and boiler equipment, all helped to sweeten the company’s bottom line which grew almost 10 times above that of the prior year to total $25.6 million for the quarter. This out-turn also accounted for a bulk of the $35.9 million earned during the nine-month period. Total sales for the company also climbed to $630 million and $1.9 billion during the respective periods.

“During the quarter the company completed a number of vital projects. The new cold room which was commissioned will help the company to improve stock availability as it positions the business to achieve a key strategic objective of offering co-packing for third-party ice cream brands. In addition, the new boiler installed will further increase our capacity to produce ice cream base mix,” the company noted in its recent report to shareholders.

Following the roll-out of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system which went live last November, the company said it is also now looking to consolidate more of its business through the integration and automation of its management, financial, logistics, manufacturing, sales and distribution channels. The directors pointed out that while the ERP system may have led to some delays with the release of its third quarter report, its successful implementation is expected to drive increased operational efficiencies across production, ultimately bringing more sales.

CEO of Caribbean Cream Christopher Clarke, commenting on the performance, told the Jamaica Observer that while it was still early days, the focus right now for Kremi with the addition of the new systems is to improve its manufacturing process as it anticipates more growth.

He pointed to price increases among a number of other strategies which also helped the business to rebound from downturns brought on since the pandemic.

“The cold room comes with a blast freezer which has removed one of the bottlenecks we had, allowing us to increase our production by gallons of ice cream per hour. We were also able to improve our storage, making it more possible for customers to have the products they desire and whenever they want it. The ammonia shortage challenge we had in prior quarters has also been resolved for a while, so we also have no issues where that is concerned right now,” Clarke said during a telephone interview with the Business Observer on Monday.

Notwithstanding increased expenditure of $570 million-$70 million above the previous year and driven by higher costs for administrative and other operational expenses such as salaries, security, loans and the funding of capex activities, the company said it remains committed to the growth and development of its operations.

“The company continues to invest and upgrade its property, plant and equipment (PPE) with the objective of improving efficiency and profitability. This areas has grown by $323 million or 23 per cent over the corresponding period last year,” the directors said in the shareholders report.

Not one to make future predictions, Clarke holding back on projections said he would be very grateful in welcoming milestone revenues at the end of the financial year. Total assets up to the end of the 9 months stood at $2.3 billion.

“As far as the future is concerned, I continue to refrain from offering any predictions but I would be very happy if we were to surpass the $2 billion in revenue mark,” he stated.