Cigarette company Carreras Limited has expanded its cigarette offerings with the addition of Matterhorn Rhythm, a new watermelon-flavoured product. This, as the company continues to push innovation and transformation of its brand.

After a complete brand refresher some two years ago in which the company changed its logo and tag line, it has been on a transformative journey with hopes to bring a wider range of tobacco products to market.

“In addition to the new variant, the company made the decision to adjust the price of the Matterhorn family stock-keeping unit (SKUs) which will give our revenue stream boost in the quarters,” a signed report from Managing Director Franklin Murillo accompanying its latest report to shareholders stated.

Highlighting the challenges of the illicit trade, which continues to plague the industry, the company’s management said it remains committed to working towards improving the landscape as it partners with government, regulators, and other stakeholders to drive awareness.

“We are also committed to supporting and complying with such regulations set out for governing our marketing and distribution of our products. We are working hard alongside stakeholders of the industry to ensure that future tobacco regulations are balanced, practical, and fair,” Murillo stated.

“We continue to improve on our route-to-market model to ensure that we drive our strategic and operational plans to achieve all the efficiencies in delivering our products to our consumers,” he added.

Following a 33 per cent increase in first-quarter revenues at the end of June, total sales for the company climbed to $4.3 billion, with net profits of over $1 billion. The company is also set to change its financial year to run from January 1 to December 31 this year after recently securing approval from the commissioner general of the Tax Administration Jamaica to do so. Its financial year previously ran from April 1 to March 31 the following year.

Bullish on the plans for increased growth, the company, through a ramping up of its marketing strategy, said it has, during the three-month period, been actively working to strengthen customer engagement as it looks to service the demand of various consumer segments.

“We are optimistic about being able to take the business to new heights. We are confident in the current portfolio we provide to meet the needs of our consumers, and the strategies in place to achieve positive results and improved shareholder value,” the director’s report further stated, noting the upcoming payout of over $945 million in dividends due on September 12, 2023.