KINTYRE Holdings, a Jamaican investment firm formerly known as iCreate, reported its first annual net profit of $81 million in 2024, reversing a $154 million loss in 2023, with the improvement partly masked by a $16.2-million accounting adjustment to prior-year figures, according to unaudited financial statements released recently.

Kintyre Holdings’ financial recovery in 2024 was anchored by strategic divestments of non-core assets, which streamlined operations and redirected capital to high-growth subsidiaries.

These moves contributed to a 55 per cent revenue surge year-over-year to $217 million — 43 per cent of which was generated in the fourth quarter alone — with its newly launched Parallel RENO renovation unit matching the revenue of its flagship Visual Vibe advertising arm within two months, signalling a strategic pivot toward high-margin sectors under CEO Tyrone Wilson’s restructuring efforts.

“It’s really just the beginning of an overall strategy that we have in the business to grow our bottom line and bring in cash for the company,” Wilson told the Jamaica Observer as he reflected on the company’s first profitable year. He said since the rebranding and repositioning of the company from iCreate to Kintyre last year, “a lot more opportunities” have opened up outside the digital creative field that was its root.

The company’s financial statements point to operational restructuring which played a critical role in the turnaround, with administrative expenses slashed by 45 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2024 and finance costs reduced by 79.7 per cent. The rebranding from iCreate to Kintyre Holdings in 2023 facilitated a pivot to an investment-focused model, enabling acquisitions like Parallel Real Estate Ventures and the launch of Parallel RENO. This renovation division generated revenue comparable to Visual Vibe within two months and is projected to contribute 30 per cent of 2025 revenue.

“It’s growing at a very fast pace,” Wilson said of the recently launched Parallel RENO — the renovation division launched last year. “Month by month, this year January and February, the business is really delivering same level of revenue like VisualVibe,” he continued.

“We have a pipeline of projects that we’re looking to bring on stream. So, we are bullish as it relates to Parallel RENO, and we think it is a new growth frontier for us at Kintyre.”

Still, its cash cow, the Visual Vibe subsidiary drove most of the growth last year. Visual Vibe’s 18.7 per cent pre-tax profit increase stemmed from digital display upgrades at high-traffic Kingston locations and the successful pilot of mobile V-Pack Backpack Billboards, which paired street-level promotions with synchronized screen ads.

“We have upgraded two of our main locations, Manor Park and Half-Way-Tree, those are two of the biggest in terms of revenue generation. We moved to digital indoor advertising… and we introduced the backpacks. We call it the V-Packs, which is the Visual Vibe backpacks, and that is just another way of allowing customers or advertisers or partners to get their brands in front of people.”

Wilson said the V-Packs were launched during the Christmas period with individuals wearing them in promoting GiftMe products. He said a similar activation was done on behalf of the ATL Group in Montego Bay earlier this year.

“So, it’s tapping into the core of our network to be able to introduce new services or diversification in terms of how brands connect with their customers. So, we believe that these types of new advertising methods will definitely drive revenue, 15-20 per cent for 2025,” Wilson added.

The company indicated that the two divisions will be the growth drivers moving forward, with plans to increase Parallel RENO’s market presence and sales initiatives, drive diversification in Visual Vibe’s revenue streams, and pursue further investment opportunities “whether through a private raise, public raise, or reinvesting its profits as done in 2024.”

Yet, the two projects are part of five strategic areas the company has identified for growth. Burnt by years of missteps, Wilson said he is now more focused on continuing on the path of improved corporate governance.

“I think our biggest threat right now as a company is not necessarily the ability to grow revenue and all of that, but, proper governance,” he told BusinessWeek.

“We’ve seen in the past where it has dent shareholder confidence and investor confidence. And I think now that we have a good angle on the growth plans of the company and so forth, we’re able to invest more time and resources in building our corporate governance. And I think we have a lot of work to do to continue to restore that confidence,” he noted.

He said it is even more critical now to get corporate governance right as he seeks to woo investors to Kintyre.

Its legacy iCreate training assets remain on the cards, Wilson said, though he could not give a clear timeline on when it will start offering courses again. The Kintyre CEO said that is down to an evaluation process now underway, to ascertain the best course to offer, as artificial intelligence (AI) render previous courses such as creative writing or certain graphic designs course obsolete.

Already he said the company has been adopting AI overall and has seen productivity increase internally, while the tool is also used to help prepare financial reports and help it monitor its governance framework and to build out sales plans.

Meanwhile, tax incentives under Jamaica’s Junior Market rules reduced the effective tax rate to 17.3 per cent, preserving $16.87 million in profits.