In its quest to achieve the objectives of its 2030 vision, in which it is positioning to become a global consumer company, GraceKennedy (GK) Limited has plans to venture into more markets, with its latest focus fixed on Europe.

The food and financial conglomerate, which already has a presence in countries across Latin America and the Caribbean as well as the United States, said it continues to scan all available opportunities as it looks to earn 70 per cent of its profits outside local borders and $US2.1 billion in revenues within the next six years.

“We’re seeing opportunities in Europe from which we can grow the GK Group in that market. There is an acquisition that we are looking at there and I’m very excited about that one,” Group CEO Don Wehby vaguely disclosed to shareholders during the company’s annual general meeting held on Wednesday.

Europe, the second smallest of seven continents, is made up of more than 40 countries, having a population of about 740 million (about 10 per cent of global count) while holding about one third of the world’s wealth.

The food and financial conglomerate, as it further pushes to realise another of its 2030 vision objective — that is to list its food business on an overseas stock exchange, said that work in this area continues to progress as management courts investors for a possible listing.

“We’ve had discussions with Citibank and Broadspan but we have some more work to be done. In terms of the size issue, we’ll have to look at an acquisition primarily in North America or the UK for us to become a size that will make sense to an international exchange. Another main objective of this push is to also look at our balance sheet, and the company’s Chief Financial Officer Andrew Messado has been working with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to see how best we can reconstruct this area to ensure that we become worthy of international listing,” Wehby said, as he noted that proceeds from the listing will be used to propel the group’s ambitious growth plans.

“As we move forward we want to make sure that the structure of the balance sheet on the food side is appropriate and attractive to an international investor. We’re looking at the options right now, as the food companies are now owned by the parent, to see what will be the best structure to bring that segment on its own and we are now looking at some of those structure proposals with PwC,” Messado said.

Wehby said that despite the international listing objective being a more medium to long term one, talks so far with a number of investment bankers have so far been positive, backed by what seemed to be a high interest for food businesses listing on the international stock exchange.

“We will continue to monitor the market to ensure that the time is right when we list,” he added.

With its strategic mergers and acquisitions (M&A) department now said to be pushing a robust pipeline of deals, the company in pursuit of its inorganic growth, continues on the hunt to secure greater value added in new and existing markets.

Speaking to some other available opportunities, Wehby said a demand for its Catherine’s Peak water has also emerged as export possibilities spring up in parts of the southern Caribbean and in other territories such as The Bahamas and Cayman Islands.

“We just need to work out the logistics and the shipping, but I believe this will be another opportunity for Catherine’s Peak going forward,” he stated.

Despite the high interest rate environment which continues to plunder gains under some segments of its business, particularly in its money services division, Wehby said the more than a century old company remains on track to deliver on its promised shareholder value.

Already surpassing the US$1-billion revenue mark, which it had set to achieve by 2025, the company said it will also continue to work on adding more value to the bottom line. This, as it pushes for greater efficiency and sustainability across its entire operation.

Up to the end of its first quarter, the period from January to March, revenues for the conglomerate grew to $42.3 billion and net profit to $2.3 billion. The lion’s share continues to flow from the heavily weighted food division which accounted for $34.1 billion or 81 per cent of the total sales.

“Our projections for revenues for 2024 is looking positive despite the challenging economic environment and concerning our profit, we are also moving in the right direction. Based on our latest estimates, it is our expectation that we’re going to meet our budget for 2024 and also surpass our numbers in 2023.

“Our 2030 vision targets are very ambitious but we believe we can make them and we are already on target to doing so,” Wehby said.