Having sold its majority stake in Lumber Depot in August 2019 to take the company public that said year, Blue Power Group is buying back large blocks of shares on the open market.

This has been occurring over the past few days. Interestingly, Stony Hill Capital, an investment vehicle involving Musson Group executives Paul “PB” Scott and Melanie Subratie, recently acquired a large block of shares in Lumber Depot Limited, giving them seats on the board of the hardware company, which was announced on December 13.

The amount of shares purchased by Stony Hill Capital is unknown, but it has been noted a block of 141 million Lumber Depot shares exchanged hands on December 3, 2021. That was the largest block of shares traded since the stock was listed in 2019. The second largest was 28 million units on September 6, 2021.

However, on December 17, 2021, just over 13.1 million shares held by Stony Hill Capital were sold to Blue Power Group. In a notice posted last week, the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) advised a connected director of Lumber Depot Limited was a party to the transaction.

A week later, on December 24, 2021, a director of Lumber Depot sold just over one million shares to Blue Power Group Limited. Before these transactions, Blue Power Group was the second-biggest shareholder in Lumber Depot, with just under 114 million shares representing 16.14 equity interest.

The biggest shareholder is Mayberry Jamaican Equities Limited, with 178.88 million shares, representing a 25.33 equity stake. Lumber Depot has capitalised on the commercial opportunities arising from the ongoing development of Jamaica’s construction sector.

For the year ended April 30, 2021, Lumber Depot grew revenues by 14.7 per cent to $1.43 billion and more than tripled its profits. Profits for the 2021 financial year were $145 million.

Lumber Depot grew shareholders equity by 68 per cent and quintupled its cash position during the year. The company operates a full-service hardware store in Papine, St Andrew, serving the needs of large and small-scale building contractors and homeowners doing construction projects, renovations, and repairs.

The business has been in operation for over two decades. During this time, it has established a market-leading position in the communities it directly serves and has a strong reputation for excellent service, good value, and strong availability in essential hardware items across the wider corporate area.

Lumber Depot Limited acquired the assets and liabilities of the Lumber Depot business from the Blue Power Group Limited with effect from August 1, 2019. The company was then listed on the Junior Market of the JSE with effect from December 16, 2019.