Air conditioning company CAC 2000 Limited has closed two of its retail locations less than two years after entering the consumer-facing space as the 25-year-old company moves to rein in costs and refocus attention on large commercial and government contracts amid mounting cash-flow strain.

In a notice dated December 19, the company advised that its Montego Bay retail outlet was closed effective October 1, while its Village Plaza store in Kingston ceased operations on December 1. The closures form part of what CAC 2000 described as an operational efficiency and cost-reduction programme, adding that it does not expect the move to have a material impact on financial performance.

The pull-back comes against the backdrop of deteriorating earnings and persistent working-capital pressure. For the quarter ended July 31, 2025, CAC 2000 reported a net loss of $29.7 million, extending its year-to-date loss to $73.9 million despite an improvement in operating cash flow to $51.9 million.

Revenue for the quarter declined to $222.1 million, down from $307.3 million a year earlier, reflecting softer activity outside of major projects.

In an interview with the Jamaica Observer on Tuesday, CEO Gia Abraham said the decision to shutter the stores was driven less by strategy than by necessity, pointing to delays in collections from a specific customer segment that has tied up cash and forced the company back into preservation mode.

“We are having some cash-flow issues mainly because there is a particular customer segment that makes up a fair amount of our receivables, and it has created a negative impact on the business. So we have decided that we just have to do what we have to do,” she said.

Trade and other receivables stood at $869.6 million as at July 31, up sharply from $628.9 million a year earlier, highlighting the strain collections are placing on liquidity.

The Montego Bay and Village Plaza locations were the company’s only two dedicated retail outlets. CAC 2000 continues to operate its core commercial and distribution facilities at 231 Marcus Garvey Drive in Kingston, alongside a service and project presence in Montego Bay.

The closures also draw a line under CAC 2000’s brief retail experiment. The Montego Bay store opened in September 2023 as part of an effort to broaden the company’s reach beyond its traditional commercial base, following the Village Plaza store opening, which expanded the air conditioning company’s Kingston footprint.

Abraham said the company was careful not to overinvest in the retail build-out, noting that the stores were designed with a minimalist layout and limited capital expenditure.

“We were always cognisant that retail was not our comfort zone or core area and so we did not overextend ourselves from the standpoint of getting the stores up and running,” she said.

While CAC 2000 is not exiting retail altogether, Abraham told the Business Observer that any future engagement with the segment is more likely to come through online channels or via existing commercial customers rather than through standalone storefronts. For now, the priority is shoring up cash inflows and ensuring that large projects remain on track.

That shift places renewed emphasis on the company’s commercial pipeline, led by a major energy-efficiency contract under the Ministry of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport. The project involves the solarisation and air-conditioning retrofitting of 22 government institutions, including 16 hospitals, and represents the single-largest contract currently in execution.

“We still have a healthy project portfolio, but we are having some challenges. This is really about going back to basics — taking a few steps backwards to make sure we can move forward,” Abraham said.