While Demerara Tobacco Company Limited raked in $2.5b in profits before tax for 2017 that sum still represented a 9.5 per cent decline compared to 2016 and the after-tax profit for 2017 was $1.41b compared to $1.56b in the preceding year.
The after-tax profit was the lowest over the last five years. The after-tax profit in 2013 was $1.85b.
The board’s new chairman Marcus Steele. who replaced Felicio Feraz, told the Demerara Tobacco Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on Tuesday at the Pegasus Hotel that gross revenues for the cigarettes seller also declined by four per cent in 2017 when compared to 2016. The decline in 2016 from 2015 was five per cent.