ANSA McAl records $243m profit

THE ANSA McAl Group of Companies achieved a significant milestone in 2002 by recording an after-tax profit of $243, 470 million, an increase of 13.7 percent from the $214,132 million achieved in 2001.

When the Group held its 74th Annual General Meeting yesterday at the Ansa McAl Training Room on St Vincent Street, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer A Norman Sabga said earnings per share showed an increase, from $1.10 in 2001 to $1.24 in 2002, an improvement of 12.7 percent. “Shareholders should note that the level of earnings per share achieved in 2002 is a record for the Ansa McAl Group,” he said. Sabga said in 2002, the company spent in the region of $200 million improving its capital assets and there are plans for significant expenditure in many of its key subsidiaries in 2003.

Capital expenditure already incurred in 2002, or to be incurred in 2003, he said, include a new furnace for Carib Glassworks, the world’s largest concrete block manufacturing plant at Bestcrete and a new state-of-the-art match line at Trinidad Match. Sabga said 2002 also marked the Group’s return to a controlling interest in Grenada Breweries Limited, which means that the company now has 100 percent control of the Carib brand in all major markets of operation. Additionally, the company has also signed a licensing agreement with Carlsberg beer. This, he said, provided the Group with an internationally recognised brand that can be marketed throughout the Caribbean. “The growth potential of the Carlsberg should bring excellent value to shareholders,” Sabga noted. Ansa McAl has also signed a brewing contract for Smirnoff Ice — a vodka based drink — for export throughout the Caribbean, with the exception of Jamaica.