Despite reduced earnings in 2010, Banks Holdings Limited (BHL) has been able to maintain its employment levels.
BHL chief executive officer Richard Cozier said yesterday that in 2010 the company’s profits were down about $1.5 million on the prior year.
“We did what we said we would do in terms of holding our employment numbers but it was a very challenging year,” Cozier told employees during the 2010 CEO Awards of Excellence at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.
Fell behind
Cozier added that some operations fell behind performance predictions but BHL was hoping to turn most of them around this year.
“Locally there were challenges with the product upgrade at Pine Hill Dairy last year that dragged on through the second half of the year and there were challenges with the juice operations in Belize,” he pointed out.
Cozier explained to employees of the conglomerate that the delays in construction and shipment of equipment resulted in a buildup of finished goods as the company had produced additional products anticipating that the plant would be down for a period while equipment was installed.
However, the delays were extensive and this affected the supply of PHD products on the market .
Small profit
Cozier reported that the problems experienced last year in Belize, where the BHL subsidiary company is Citrus Products of Belize Limited, had largely been dealt with and he was expecting a small profit this year from the company.
“Commodity prices are good and they have a much better crop,” he explained.
Cozier said that this year had seen a recovery and strong performance in pricing and the initial reports on the ground were that the crop was a bumper one.
The BHL chief said the local company would increase its export efforts to include continental Europe, South Carolina and more Canadian cities.
