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Infrastructure investments beginning to reap dividends, so too expansion plans

Durrant Pate/Contributor

One of Jamaica’s largest manufacturing and distribution conglomerates, Seprod, is positioning to cash in on its large land assets in St. Thomas, which is poised for growth from the billions of dollars in infrastructure that is being pumped into the once-forgotten parish.

Over the last two decades, Seprod has purchased thousands of acres of land in St. Thomas in places like Serge, Belvedere, Coley and Bowden, where it has bought estates for growing sugar cane for sugar production, mangoes, sheep and dairy cattle rearing for fresh milk and honey production. During the course of last, Seprod Chairman, P.B. Scott reports that Seprod has made significant progress on the development of its lands in St. Thomas.

With a focus on lands for development, expansion, tourism and housing in St. Thomas and further east to Portland, Seprod is optimising its land holdings to bring many benefits to shareholders in the future, with Scott promising to update them, as the company’s designs (for these properties) are developed further. 

Improving Dairy Pillar

Regarding its Dairy Pillar, Scott advises, “The implementation of new production lines at our Bog Walk dairy facility, which caused some disruption in 2024, has now been completed. We are already seeing the benefits of increased capacity in milk, juices, and new packaging formats.”

He pointed to Seprod’s farm productivity in St. Thomas, which showed improvement as he had planned, although Hurricane Melissa created additional challenges for agricultural operations in the parish, the teams worked hard to overcome. 

“I commend the dairy team for their perseverance and their delivery of continued progress under circumstances that tested everyone. We hope that we will see improvements in milk production in 2026,” Scott declared in Seprod’s just-published 2025 Annual Report. During 2025, Seprod’s investments in energy solutions and efficiency initiatives began to bear fruit, improving its competitiveness and supporting volume growth. 

Its distribution pillar, the largest by revenue, had a year defined by both achievement and transformation. The integration of Caribbean Producers Jamaica (CPJ) has progressed well with supply chain capabilities being actively replicated across Barbados, Guyana and beyond. 

The launch of ASB Guyana, a subsidiary of Seprod and the expansion of premium beverage distribution across multiple territories are beginning to show the scale benefits anticipated. 

Infrastructure investment

A critical and exciting dimension of the distribution pillar’s evolution in 2025 and into 2026 is the infrastructure investment that the conglomerate is making in Trinidad and Guyana. In Trinidad, Seprod, through its ASB subsidiary, is completing a new state-of-the-art warehouse facility that will be transformational for our operations there. 

This single facility will consolidate what are currently six separate warehouses into one unified, modern distribution centre. For the financial year, the Group delivered another year of strong financial performance, despite a challenging global operating environment characterised by inflationary pressures, supply chain disruptions, elevated financing costs, geopolitical uncertainty, and the lingering effects of extreme weather events across the region. 

Revenue increased by 14% to $152.3 billion, up from $133.6 billion in 2024, reflecting the continued contribution from acquisitions completed in prior periods, strong execution across our distribution businesses, and growth across several key product categories. 

Pre-tax profit increased by 14% to $6.3 billion, up from $5.6 billion in the prior year. The results also benefited from a one-time gain arising from the revaluation of certain land assets. Net profit attributable to shareholders from continuing operations increased by 58% to $4.2 billion, while earnings per share from continuing operations increased to $5.09, up from $3.62 in 2024.