Jamaica Teas Limited recently detailed its first-quarter financial results for the period ending December 2025 during a virtual investor briefing hosted by Mayberry Investments Limited.

Despite a temporary contraction in export revenues resulting in a slow start to the 2026 financial year, the company outlined a robust recovery currently underway in Q2, alongside a strategic realignment to exit the real estate sector and aggressively expand its core manufacturing and regional footprint.

For the quarter ending December 2025, Jamaica Teas reported a total income of $876.5 million, a marginal decline from the $913.5 million recorded in the corresponding period of the prior year. The company recorded an operating loss of $12.7 million for the quarter, down from an operating profit of $93.7 million in the prior year. While the Group reported an overall net loss of $21.6 million—impacted heavily by unrealised losses in its investment subsidiary, QWI Investments—profit attributable to shareholders remained positive at $3.46 million.

The decline in overall revenue was primarily driven by a roughly $100 million drop in export sales, which fell from $421 million to $303 million. Conversely, the company saw growth across its other segments: local manufacturing increased to $233 million, retail sales grew to $254 million, and real estate/rental income reached $86 million.

Despite all that, Jamaica Teas maintains a healthy balance sheet, with total assets growing by 3 per cent to $5.6 billion and equity increasing by per cent to $4.4 billion. The Group continues to operate with exceptionally low leverage, with total liabilities at just $1.1 billion, meaning equity outstrips debt by more than 3.5 times.

Group CEO John Mahfood addressed the specific challenges that impacted Q1 export revenues, citing severe disruptions with two major US distributors. One distributor suffered a major facility fire, halting purchases from June through December. Concurrently, a newly imposed US tariff—which recently increased to 15 per cent—rendered specific contract products less competitive, leading a second distributor to accumulate 12 months of inventory and temporarily halt orders.

However, Mahfood emphasised that this downturn was temporary. “That situation has changed. The inventory levels have come down to acceptable levels, and we have started production again,” Mahfood stated. The company is already experiencing a strong rebound, with January and February sales pacing ahead of last year. Jamaica Teas projects its manufacturing division will generate approximately $80 million in profit for the second quarter, up significantly from the $20 million generated in Q1.

In a major strategic shift, Jamaica Teas announced it will discontinue its real estate development arm to focus entirely on its highly profitable manufacturing business and its investment arm, QWI. The company is actively selling off the remaining 12 units of its 30-unit Belvedere apartment project. Selling these units is expected to inject over $300 million in cash back into the business over the current year.

Coupled with an existing $400 million cash reserve, the capital freed from the real estate exit will position Jamaica Teas for potential mergers and acquisitions, as well as significant capital expenditure to upgrade manufacturing equipment and improve productivity.

Furthermore, in response to the challenging 15 per cent US tariff environment, the company is actively restructuring its supply chain. 

“Every Jamaican company needs to source elsewhere than the US. They must go to China, they must go to the Far East because the prices are a lot less,” Mahfood noted. By resourcing raw materials outside of the United States, Jamaica Teas aims to substantially reduce production costs and improve gross margins.

While the US market navigates tariff adjustments, Jamaica Teas’ regional strategy continues to pay dividends. Mahfood highlighted that the company’s Caribbean export business—which remains highly stable and is currently growing—now represents a larger share of sales than its domestic Jamaican business. To further mitigate risk and drive top-line growth, the company has appointed a new distributor in Canada, driving increased sales in that market, and is actively exploring new export opportunities in the French Caribbean islands, Aruba, Curacao, Ghana, and Nigeria.

“Because of our focus on exports from the very beginning, we have three strong legs to our business: domestic, Caribbean, and the US. The downturn in one element does not produce a disaster, and that is why we are going to get through this,” Mahfood added. “Our focus for the remainder of the year is to continue to source differently to bring costs down, secure new customers, and strengthen our core manufacturing business.”