Slower-than-expected progress on the construction of Stationery and Office Supplies Limited’s (SOS) SEEK factory has impacted the company’s ability to fully capitalise on the traditionally busy back-to-school season, which concluded recently.

Work on the new Collins Green, St Andrew facility, which faced several delays due to a range of factors, is now steadily progressing.

Despite the challenges, Managing Director Allan McDaniel recently told the Jamaica Observer that the company is pushing to complete the factory in time with an intention to double down on upcoming sale periods.

“The building is now up, but we’re facing challenges getting power connected, and there have also been delays from the construction company. Notwithstanding these hiccups, we continue to push ahead and expect the factory to be fully operational by around October,” he further told the BusinessWeek.

The 8,000-square-foot factory is being developed to significantly ramp up production of SEEK-branded notebooks. With substantial investments already made in new manufacturing equipment, SOS plans to triple notebook output once the facility is complete.

“It was really the completion of the factory that would have allowed us to increase productivity and to realise a major uptick in sales. Even without it, we, however, remain in line with our usual growth trends,” McDaniel added while noting that, “So far, the year has been going well with things remaining on track.”

For the first six months of this year, SOS’s revenue rose by 3 per cent to $985 million. However, net profit declined to $93 million, primarily due to increased expenses and the impact of currency devaluation.

“As we move further in the year, we look forward to delivering stronger results for our shareholders. Our growth for the year is now at about 5 per cent above that last year and we want to continue to work at increasing that,” he said.

Having missed the full potential of the recent back-to-school sales period, SOS is now shifting its focus to the upcoming January season and the 2026 school year. The company believes the successful commissioning of the factory will play a key role in boosting future sales performances.

As part of its strategy, the company plans to resume production of previously discontinued items, such as full scap exam papers, ruled pads and 20-page double-line exercise books.

“We’ve been operating at full capacity, which meant we had to scale back or hit pause on production for some products. But once we can produce more, we’ll be returning to many of those items — and at a much larger scale,” McDaniel said.

“As we prepare for this, we also want to engage more of our local suppliers who offer back-to-school products, and bring them onboard early next year. The goal is to help reduce the importation of books, especially once our factory is online and we can expand our capacity to supply the local market,” he added.

As a distributor of products for global brands such as 3M and Pilot Pen, the company though currently not in talks with any other major dealers, McDaniel said may in the near future benefit from additional partnerships.

“There is one label company that we will be meeting with towards the end of this year. We’re hoping to distribute a standard office product for them, but I can’t disclose too much on that right now,” he said.

Operating through its Kingston-based operations and Montego Bay warehouse, SOS continues to leverage its national distribution network to maintain efficient islandwide product movement.

“Right now, we’re managing our logistics well and don’t foresee the need for opening another location anytime soon. As we progress through the rest of this year, we have a number of things in front of us and so we are not stagnant — internally we continue to look at different ways to expand and improve,” McDaniel said.

MCDANIEL…it was really the completion of the factory that would have allowed us to increase productivity and to realise a major uptick in sales. Even without it, we, however, remain in line with our usual growth trends