Like most local business houses contemplating the implications of the January 1, 2007 introduction of the new Value Added and Excise Tax, Bryden and Fernandes Inc, one of the country’s largest distributors of household and food products is cautious about its business projections for the year ahead.
“Some of the implications of VAT are particularly challenging for us,” says Phillip Fernandes, the Company’s General Manager.
For Fernandes and Market-ing Manager Beverley Harper, however, VAT is a concern rather than a preoccupation.
Both told Stabroek Busi-ness that in the increasingly competitive local distributorship business Brydens has recorded steady growth and market recognition since its establishment here in August 2000.
Originally a single regional distribution entity with business interests in several Caribbean territories the Brydens’ “conglomerate” is now owned by separate regional business interests in Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, St. Lucia, St Vin-cent, Grenada and Antigua. Locally, J.P. Santos & Com-pany Ltd. – in which the well-known John Fernandes Group of Companies is the major shareholder – owns 51 per cent of the Brydens shares. The remaining 49 per cent of the local company’s shares are owned by A.S. Bryden & Sons (Trinidad) Ltd. and A.S. Bryden & Sons (Barbados) Ltd. Since its launch more than six years ago Brydens has secured the distributorship for several international brand leaders including Kellogs, Campbell’s and Tetley. The company’s Marketing Manager says that while business has been boosted by the acquisition of these brands the company is especially proud of its acquisition of distributorships for locally produced Demerara Gold sugar and Caricom Pride Extra Long Grain Rice. “We regard our relationships with local manufacturers as an important element in our overall mission of distributing quality brands,” Harper says.
From behind his cluttered desk in the company’s modest Water Street office Phillip Fernandes talks animatedly about the challenges of running a ,major local distributorship. “Guyana is a particularly challenging market, he says. “Whereas in other markets people will try new products, brand loyalties are particularly strong here. New products are, invariably, successful only if prices are below that product that it seeks to challenge,” he says.
The company’s distributorships focus on household care and food products and Fernandes says that Brydens success in securing “brand leaders” in household care products has had the effect of steadily boosting its clientele among local suppliers. The current focus is on boosting the company’s smaller Foods Department.
“We expect most of our company’s growth in the near future to be the further development of our Food Department,” Fernandes says. One of the keys to the success of the company since its establishment has been its linkages with the experienced and reputable John Fernandes Group of Companies. Brydens occupies 21,000 square feet of space within sprawling John Fernandes seafront complex including 920 square feet of freezer storage and 320 square feet of refrigerated storage.
Shipping and delivery services, so often one of the biggest “headaches” for importers are also rendered considerably easier by the company’s John Fernandes “connection.”
In the wider and increasingly competitive local distributorship environment, however, Philip Fernandes is under no illusions about the need for the company to struggle to secure and expand its market share. He ponders the effects of the complexities of the local commercial environment including the phenomenon of “smuggling” which, he says, is always “bad news” for legitimate distributors.
“Some distributorships can be risky since smuggling and other methods of evading taxes and duties can place distributors in a ‘no win’ competition with illegally imported goods,” he says.
This year the company is seeking to acquire new distributorships, particularly in its Foods Department and Fernandes told Stabroek Business that Brydens is presently engaging a number of suppliers in the United States following his visit to a Food Show there last November. New distributorships, he says, may be on the horizon.
Both Fernandes and Harper say that the company is keen to sustain the John Fernandes Group tradition for supporting the development of sport in Guyana. Apart from the Group’s sponsorship of the Bounty Colts basketball team Brydens – and Fernandes and Harper, personally – both have an interest in supporting the development of hockey in Guyana. Fernandes says that support for sport is a “family tradition” and that it is one of the best ways in which the corporate community can “give back” to the development of the country.
