AS part of its multimillion-dollar capital expenditure plans, Berger Paints Jamaica Limited (BPJL) said it is looking to bring a new line of mosquito-repellant paint to market shortly.

Chairman Adam Sabga, speaking with the Jamaica Observer following the company’s annual general meeting held at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel last Thursday, said work is being done to ensure that the product comes to market quickly.

“We are always engaging research and development (R&D), and in our latest wave of innovations we are looking to come to market with a mosquito-repellant product. It’s a coating which, once you put it on your property, it will help to repel mosquitoes for up to two years. We’re still in the testing phase but so far it has been about a year and a half of work that has already gone into this,” he told Sunday Finance.

Having significantly expanded its colour systems and product line in the last three years, updating its colour scheme from just under 800 to over 2000 options, Sabga said the focus is to not only bring environmentally safe products to market but also those having high quality and demand, especially at this time when the business moves to double down on some emerging opportunities in new areas. This, as it also positions to extract more revenues from development projects, after a fall in the volume of products sold across its hardware channels continues to choke earnings.

Witnessing growth of more than 17 per cent in its textured coating segment when compared to last year, the chairman highlighted this area as one of those from which it is looking to carve out a greater portion of sales. Pointing to an active local construction sector and the heightened demand for trowel-on and other industrial-type finishes, being the preferred choice for developers of large real estate projects, he regards the potential for growth in this and other industries as being very promising.

“We have some very ambitious targets to grow in the projects channel, combined with deeper partnerships with contractors, hoteliers and other players in the space. There is also growth opportunity in automotive and industrial coatings to supply and cater to the needs of the manufacturing industry as well,” Sabga said.

Challenged by some prolonged supply chain constraints associated with the cost of goods and raw material availability, along with increased competition in the market, the company which now controls a decent size of market share said it intends to remain a dominant player locally — especially as it continues to undertake a series of capital expenditure projects. Within the next five years it is seeking to invest in excess of $500 million in capex as it moves to improve operational efficiencies and improve route to markets, while boosting consumer contractor engagement.

The introduction of new, automated filling lines — including a four-head filling machine commissioned in May this year — along with the expected roll-out of a new plant in October, General Manager Shashi Mahase said will all help the business to significantly double its operating capacity. These will also help with strengthening its business in other markets across the Caribbean, particularly Guyana which has been witnessing significant growth year on year.

“Berger has been around for 70 years and we are very committed to ensuring that there is another 70 years to come; much of our investments now around retooling, rebranding, repackaging are geared towards ensuring our sustainability for the future,” he told shareholders, noting that despite the flat earning performances seen in the last few quarters the business continues to maintain healthy cash reserves and a strong balance sheet.

For the first quarter ended March, revenues for the company stood at $718 million followed by a loss of $39 million to which management, in notes accompanying the financials, said it expects the incurring of additional charges over the next two quarters as it continues to support the long-term growth agenda aimed at improving operations.

With ambitions to double the group’s financial performance by 2027 the Trinidadian-based ANSA McAL conglomerate, of which Berger Jamaica is a subsidiary, has set this as a widescale strategy aimed at pushing growth across the more than 70 companies in some eight territories operating under its umbrella.

“Investing now for what is to come in the future is where our mindset is. As we continue to build up our foundation we will be increasing the focus on people, technology and new markets,” Sabga said.