FOLLOWING a challenging 2023 marked by setbacks from the COVID-19 pandemic, air- conditioning company CAC 2000 is in the final stages of securing several lucrative projects, some of which are expected to bear fruit in the final quarter of 2024.

The company which largely earns from commercial contracts — which it terms projects — in the industry fell into losses for the second quarter ending April 2024. However, CEO of the company Gia Abraham is banking on incoming business to return the business to profitability by the close of the 2024 financial year.

“We have been awarded some very lucrative projects so now it’s just a matter of getting everything in place to be able to execute those projects,” Abraham told the Jamaica Observer.

CAC 2000 reported losses of $40.9 million for the second quarter ending April 30, 2024, against a profit of $6.5 million a year earlier. Revenues also dwindled to $232 million, 10 per cent down year on year.

Much of that, Abraham said, is to be blamed on contract fallout and shipping delays the company experienced last year into early this year.

“[The year] 2023 into 2024 was really the rebuilding of the business because of the impact COVID-19 had on us with shipping and back orders. Some projects were stalled and some of the tenders that we went after were retendered after COVID,” she said.

“A lot of that had to do with people restructuring their business to deal with changes from the pandemic, as well the fact that prices had changed after COVID-19,” the CEO continued.

Abraham said that despite steps taken by the company to diversify its revenue stream with the addition of two retail stores, it wasn’t enough to keep earnings intact.

Since then the company has been working to rebuild its project portfolio, resulting in the acquisition of several significant contracts. She declined to name the companies associated with the upcoming large projects but CAC 2000 has previously worked with The University of the West Indies, Scotiabank, hotel chains such as Melia Braco Village, and various government institutions.

“At this point in time we have a very healthy projects portfolio. In order to execute on the project’s portfolios it means that you need a lot of cash — and that is one of the areas we have been struggling with,” Abraham said.

“Right now, everything is being directed towards the projects side of the business, because in order for us to do claims we have to get a certain level of each project,” she added.

As at April 2024 CAC 2000 held cash resources of $35 million, down from $74.6 million a year ago. Last year the company raised $250 million to refinance maturing preference shares but $50 million of that went into working capital to allow CAC 2000 to complete ongoing projects — including the expansion into the retail business.

So far, retail sales of the air conditioning supply company have been going “pretty well” for the Kingston store but just “okay” for Montego Bay, which opened last November. It has prompted the hiring of a sales manager for its Montego Bay office to boost sales in the western end of the island.

“There is an impact because of the money being funnelled into projects but we are doing pretty decent in the Village [Plaza] store. It has done what I wanted it to do from the standpoint of us being more evident in the marketplace. The location could still be better — meaning downstairs instead of upstairs — but in general, customers are much happier with the location than with Marcus Garvey Drive,” Abraham said.

“Mobay has taken us a little longer but that has more to do with getting the right staff in place. We have some in place and we just added another person and so we expect to see some changes soon,” she added.