The 2012 financial year of West India Biscuit Company Ltd (WIBISCO) has proven to be one of the best in the company’s 102-year history.
The Bridgetown manufacturer of cookies and crackers, part of the Trinidad and Tobago-based Bermudez?group, recorded its highest sales and third highest pre-tax profit during the 2012 financial year.
A recently released statement of comprehensive income for the year ended August 31, 2012, showed $53.8 million revenue compared to $49.7 million in 2011.
The company’s before-tax profit stood at $6.3 million, up significantly from $3.9 million in the previous year.
Income after taxes jumped to $5.5 million from $3.2 million in 2011.
Moreover, WIBISCO’s total comprehensive income moved from a $3.49 million loss in 2011 to a $6.20 million profit in 2012.
For the period under review, the board approved a special dividend of $1.50 per share in addition to the regular ordinary dividend of 55 cents per share.
Company chairman David Bynoe noted that West India Biscuit Company Ltd,?which is listed on the Barbados Stock Exchange, was able to report another good year despite protracted weakness in the regional economy and lacklustre domestic performance.
Faithful customers
“It is heartening to note the favourable market response to the new variant of our flagship brand Eclipse,” he said, noting that customers had remained faithful.
As a result of the 2012 performance, Bynoe said the board planned to invest further in the plant in order to increase efficiencies.
“This action is critical because of the inexorable rise in our raw material costs and limited [ability] to raise prices.
“The management team is focused on significantly improving our cost performance as well as raising our brand’s profile in the new financial year,” he noted.
Bynoe said it was “disappointing”, however, that WIBISCO was unable to report any new developments in its “dispute with Sagicor and the allied matters”.
In 2010 WIBISCO, which has almost three million shares in the insurance company, sought to get the Securities Commission, by order of the court, to instruct the Barbados Stock Exchange to investigate the sale of more than $39 million worth of Sagicor shares to the National Insurance Board.
The biscuit maker argued that the deal was not subject to the scrutiny of the two regulatory bodies even though lawyers for the respondents cited the full approval of the Securities Commission and contended that the Stock Exchange did not contravene any provisions of the Securities Act. (NB)
