Knutsford Express Services Limited (KEX) continues to maintain a focus on innovation as it readies itself for the opening of two new locations and improving the customer experience with technology.

This was the update provided by Chief Executive Officer Oliver Townsend at the company’s twelfth annual general meeting at the Grand-A-View Restaurant & Event Place in Montego Bay, St James on Thursday. The transportation and courier company has a location in every parish has been moving to further buttress its income base by developing properties into commercial and hub spaces for its operations.

The company began passenger services at its Drax Hall Business Centre in St Ann in May 2020 and slowly began to gather steam as businesses flocked to the units available to lease in the fast-growing area. This investment property venture has paid dividends for the company as it generated $60.52 million in rental income from its Drax Hall location for its May 2025 financial year (FY).

“Our strategy to diversify income streams continues to bear fruit. The Drax Hall business centre remains a strong contributor providing steady revenue from property leasing and food and beverage operations, while simultaneously enhancing the experience for travellers using that hub,” Townsend said in his opening remarks.

The company will now move forward with the completion of a new commercial centre and hub in Mandeville, Manchester. The company purchased the property for $67.11 million in the May 2023 FY and spent $61.56 million in 2024 and $131.96 million in 2025 on construction work for this property. Knutsford Express is now looking to capitalise on the benefit from the phase 1C (May Pen to Mandeville) part of Highway 2000 East-West. Its Drax Hall location benefited from the North South Highway which has transformed the economic value of Drax Hall and the surrounding area.

“Through MVL Greenvale Limited, we’re transforming our Mandeville property into a modern, commercial and transportation hub. We’re pleased to project the opening of this Mandeville location and our Morant Bay [St Thomas] location within the current financial year. These developments will extend the Knutsford Express footprint, create new jobs, support local commerce and provide another high-quality node in our islandwide network,” Townsend said with beaming pride.

The company even spent $60.83 million on a freehold building at its Angels, St Catherine location as it seeks to address the demand in that area. While the company has ceased its international package business, it continues to see additional demand for its courier service which moves packages and items across the island. The company currently has five locations offering only courier services while its other 14 locations offer passenger and courier services.

“One of the cultural things that we’re trying to shift is to see how our customers can integrate our [mobile] app to allow them to do more in terms of pre-entering packages and able to spend less time with us,” Townsend said on the move to leverage technology in optimising its operations.

KEX had a record 2025 financial year as its consolidated revenue surpassed the $2-billion mark for the first time in its 19-year history. Although its profit before tax contracted by a quarter to $289.72 million, the company reported $236.95 million in consolidated net profit despite its tax remission ending in January 2024.

KEX spent more than $113 million on five new buses as it seeks to meet the demand of intra-island travel. It even introduced an express service on September 15 to allow customers to move between Kingston and Montego Bay with only one stop at Drax Hall.

However, Hurricane Melissa has hit the business’ outlook for the May 2026 FY. The company has not reopened its Luana, St Elizabeth location due to the damage and has about 70 per cent of its pre-hurricane fleet in operation as well. KEX is also seeking to support its staff who were displaced in the west while trying to restore commerce quickly across the affected areas.

“In this period, we’ve been adversely impacted, and the second quarter will be impacted by the hurricane. It’s probably since our inception, just under 20 years, that we’ve had to cease our operations for the longest,” the CEO said on the second major disruption since COVID-19.

He continued, “We had to reformulate our schedule in light of the realities that existed right after the hurricane. We’ve been updating and getting closer to reality, of course, some of the considerations are the time, safety, operating too early or too late.”

KEX’s second quarter ended on November 31 with the quarterly numbers due by January 14. The company’s first quarter (June to August) showed that its consolidated revenue climbed nine per cent to $599.71 million, but net profit marginally declined to $66.38 million due to higher operating expenses and taxes.

KEX’s asset base improved nine per cent to $2.37 billion during the quarter with $370.26 million in short term investments, $98.20 million in cash and $1.60 billion in non-current assets. Total liabilities and shareholder’s equity was $827.22 million and $1.54 billion, respectively.

KEX’s stock price declined ten per cent on Thursday to $10.16, leaving the stock down 28 per cent year-to-date with a market capitalisation of $5.08 billion. The company’s board has not considered a dividend so far in 2025. The company had a pause between 2019 to 2023 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its operations and paid two consecutive dividends of $0.13 each in 2024 and 2025, each worth $65 million.

Four of KEX’s directors were re-elected to the company’s board. Larren Peart, who was appointed a director on October 1, was elected to the board by shareholders at the AGM.