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The year 2024 was a terrible one for Mayberry as Jamaican equities, in which it is heavily positioned, continued to be insipid.

For the financial year ended 2024, Mayberry posted a net income of J$1.76 billion, operating expenses climbed to $2.71 billion, it posted a net loss of $724.7 million, and shareholders’ equity came in at J$15.7 billion.

At Mayberry Group’s AGM held last Wednesday at the AC Marriott Hotel in New Kingston, Group CEO Gary Peart explained that the main contributor to the group’s results is its 53 per cent ownership of Mayberry Jamaican Equities (MJE), where a portfolio of shares is managed. That loss of over J$700 million was primarily caused by holdings in MJE, but Mayberry Investment was able to generate very good net interest income. Its foreign exchange spread was also very good so was its trading arm. In short, Mayberry Investments performed creditably.

For some time now, both Gary Peart and Mayberry chairman Christopher Berry have talked about the company employing a diversified strategy with cash generation at the centre. This explains its forays into a number of businesses – real estate, gaming, and micro lending.

Although it wasn’t a good year for the Oxford Road-based Group, there were some promising aspects that augur well. There was growth in funds under management, with Mayberry Gold giving one of the best returns from fixed income in Jamaican dollars. It is an area that Mayberry intends to materially grow with Mayberry Investments’ new CEO, Patrick Bataille, already beginning the process. Mayberry is also expecting a notable performance from its asset management business.

The group’s total comprehensive income had fallen off from the heady days of 2022. Peart puts this down to the softness in the equities market, which has impacted the group’s operations via MJE. However, it sees positive results coming out of its private equity subsidiary, Widebase, which has completed the second building on Chalmers Avenue. It is yet to be fully rented out, but once it does, Mayberry will be in a position to earn significant income and help diversify its portfolio.

From 2020 to 2024, Mayberry’s asset base has grown from J$39.2 billion to J$63.8 billion.

“People tend not to realise the strength of Mayberry. While many think of us as a little Jamaican company, in 2022, our shareholders’ equity was J$26 billion, notwithstanding the volatility in the market. Today, we still have J$24 billion in shareholders’ equity.

“In this time of regulatory volatility and what we see internationally, having a strong equity base is very important for us to carry on our business and give good returns to our shareholders.

“We have paid out over $3 in dividends since 2020, with over J$2 billion in shares, which approximates to in excess of J$6 billion in dividends we have paid out over the period. We are realising profits, which allows us to pay out robust dividends, and our shareholders have benefited from that.

“Mayberry has also increased the pace [at] which we pay out dividends. In the past, we paid out dividends on an annual basis; now, we pay dividends quarterly. We have high unrealised gains under losses, but keep our focus on the cash generation side of the business. What does that mean? You see times where we record an unrealised loss, but we have generated significant cash. If you readjust our numbers for the unrealised losses, you will actually see realised profits being generated, and we have been declaring dividends based on that cash generation.

“As such, we have been averaging around J$350 million or just around 20 cents a share for the past four years,” said Gary Peart at the AGM last Wednesday (September 3).

The Mayberry Group posted a net profit attributable to shareholders of J$227.89 million for Q2 2025. This period saw big operating losses and unrealised losses on investments. Mayberry Investments posted a big loss of J$3.6 billion for the first half of 2025, which had a drag effect on the group. It was not all doom and gloom, though, with the Cheery Hills development, a collaboration with PB Scott’s company, together with Widebase, contributing J$1.58 billion to profits. 

Commenting on the results for Q2, 2025, Peart said: “The results for Q2 2025 have been impacted by the softness of the stock market, led primarily by Supreme Ventures, which is our largest shareholding in MJE. We also have holdings in NCB, Jamaica Broilers, etc, all whose share prices have fallen.

“We are pretty confident in the outlook for Supreme Ventures Limited and the other listed companies in our portfolio, in that, that’s how we structured MJE that way. We manage volatility. The way we see it, it doesn’t mean [that] because a very good company has a bad quarter or a bad year, for that matter, you must sell their stock. Supreme Ventures is a good example of our approach here. Yes, it had a bad 2024, but in Q1 and Q2, we have seen the profits coming back. We have seen Supreme Ventures return to the level of dividend payout that it had in the past.

“We believe going forward, the group will benefit significantly from the increased cash flow, increased dividends, plus the potential uplift in the stock price of Supreme Ventures. We can say the same thing about NCB. We believe that NCB has bottomed out at around J$28 per share, and we see it trading back up to $41. Our calculations suggest the inherent value of NCB is in excess of $120 per share. So you can see material upside for the NCB stock, and that means significant future profits for MJE and the Mayberry Group.”

Jamaica Broilers is the second largest stock in Mayberry’s MJE portfolio, and the chicken company posted an extraordinary loss in Q3. Mayberry is awaiting the full audited results to see the extent of any impairment. Jamaica Broilers has said it will be presenting some additional numbers. Mayberry is hopeful that a clearer picture on Jamaica Broilers’ position will emerge before it can make a decision on its holdings of the company’s stock.

At the AGM, Mayberry made it clear that it will not be going into the unit trust business. While MJE recorded a loss of J$1.4 billion, the greater part of Mayberry’s losses are unrealised.

Despite losses, Mayberry still has J$22 billion of capital to invest—’cash is king‘. 

Mayberry has come to market with a number of bonds this year, which have been favourably received. That has not been the case with some Jamaican companies in recent times.

Peart does not envisage the recent general election results impacting Mayberry’s plans or performance. It is anticipated that the stock market will grow and dividends will increase.