Although GraceKennedy Limited (GK) has set an ambitious 2030 goal to list its food business on an international stock exchange, the company has revealed that there are still certain hurdles it needs to surpass before it can consider an international listing.

This was explained by Group Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Andrew Messado at the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) on Wednesday at its headquarters on Harbour Street, Kingston. GK announced its 2030 vision in May 2022 where it set a benchmark of US$2.1 billion in consolidated revenue and US$250 million in profit before tax (PBT), with 70 per cent of revenue and profits originating outside of Jamaica. This would also include listing GraceKennedy Financial Group Limited and GK Foods on Caribbean and major overseas stock exchanges.

“We have been meeting with investment bankers to decide where’s the appropriate market internationally to list on. One that has been talked about is an exchange in the US market, but that has to be a choice. We’ve been speaking with investment bankers about what are kind of the key milestones that need to be achieved in order for it to make sense [for] GraceKennedy and makes sense for an international investor to invest,” Messado explained in response to a shareholder query.

Some of these questions, Messado highlighted, were about having the right governance structure in place, the right operational efficiency, where revenue is earned, and if most of that revenue is earned in developed markets.

GK’s 2024 annual report revealed that it had US$1.1 billion ($160.36 billion) in consolidated revenue and US$79 million ($12.34 billion) in PBT. Forty-two per cent of GK’s revenues were earned outside of Jamaica and 41 per cent of GK’s profits were earned outside of Jamaica.

GK currently earns a combined $58.47 billion (US$373.78 million) in revenue from the United States of America, United Kingdom, and Canada, which are considered developed markets. Most of this revenue comes from the food segment of GK, which generated 79 per cent of GK’s consolidated revenue or $131.34 billion during 2024.

“So we need to be above 50 per cent overseas before an international investor would be really interested in us as a global company. So that’s one of the milestones that we’d need to reach. So I’d say we have a checklist in terms of key items and we’re going through them, but really, the key thing is to make sure that we hit those 2030 targets that were announced because those are the primary ones that need to be achieved in order for an international listing to make sense,” Messado added.

GK’s move to list on an international market comes after Caribbean-based firms like National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited, CIBC Caribbean Bank Limited (formerly FirstCaribbean International Bank Limited), and Digicel Group sought to list on the Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

GK has been on a continued acquisition push over the last five years, which has mainly been concentrated in the Caribbean markets. It acquired the remaining 30 per cent of Catherine’s Peak Bottling Company Limited for $504 million on January 25 and is currently seeking to complete the takeover of the remaining 26.7 per cent of Key Insurance Company Limited for $403.71 million. That takeover bid is set to close on July 11 after two extensions.

GK’s last major acquisition in North America was the acquisition of the operating assets and business of La Fe Foods Inc in the USA in July 2014 for $2.85 billion. GK is currently engaged with a BroadSpan Capital LLC and has an active mergers and acquisitions (M&A) team looking at numerous deals to grow the business.

“Our focus right now is really getting the financial numbers to a level that would be interesting to the market based on the feedback that we’ve gotten from our investment bankers. We are seeing M&A as a continued area of focus and those M&A’s, as I mentioned, will look at markets outside of Jamaica as well. So, in the same way that some years ago we saw a very big acquisition in La Fe, we do think that there are going to be opportunities, whether in US, Canada, UK, Europe, or even Central America, Latin America, South America. We will be looking at [those] areas for opportunities,” stated recently minted Group CEO Frank James.

GK’s first quarter (January to March) consolidated revenue grew four per cent to $42.42 billion, with operating profit marginally down to $2.97 billion. This decline in consolidated operating profit was largely due to the 31 per cent dip in the Money Services segment, which had reduced remittance flows and transaction volumes in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. After accounting for higher interest income and share of profit from its associates and joint ventures, GK’s PBT improved to $3.16 billion. Consolidated net profit grew to $2.31 billion, with net profit attributable to shareholders at $2.22 billion.

GK’s asset base grew three per cent to $242.60 billion, with cash and deposits rising to $26.33 billion. Total liabilities rose two per cent to $148.62 billion, with deposits at $68.90 billion and consolidated equity of $93.97 billion, with $89.72 billion attributable to shareholders.

GK spent $498.22 million between 2023 and 2024 to repurchase 6.41 million ordinary shares, which was less than one per cent of its issued shares. When asked about renewing the share buyback to revitalise the stock price, Messado responded, “At this point, especially in line with our 2030 vision, what we’re really looking for now are acquisition targets and we are trying to ensure that we can use our resources to acquire additional businesses, and those businesses will further unlock value in terms of accretive to the group and grow our profitability. So, at this point in time, our focus is more towards redirecting the funds to future investments rather than the share buyback.”

GK’s stock price closed Thursday at $74.39, which left it up 3.40 per cent for the week, but the stock still remains down 5.76 per cent for 2025, with a market capitalisation of $74.04 billion. GK’s stock price on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange (TTSE) remains up 5.14 per cent year-to-date at TT$3.89 ($91.22).

James was elected as a director of GK on Wednesday, having previously serving on the board between September 2012 to April 2019 when he was group CFO. GK also had a tribute to former CEO Donald “Don” Wehby who retired on February 14.