Banks DIH will spend $1.3 billion on a state-of-the-art soft drink bottling plant as the company seeks to adopt modern technology to enhance its business operations, Chairman Clifford Reis says.
Speaking at the company’s 55th Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Saturday, Reis said that the new plant will form part of the company’s $3.2 billion capital expenditure for the year. The company will be decommissioning its soft drink glass line and will be installing a Krones 1500 BPM Soft Drink Plant.
Funding for these projects would be drawn from the company’s cash reserves and from loans from commercial banks, Reis said.
The company’ will also be purchasing additional vehicles and replacing the CO2 Generating Plant. Capital expenditure will also include the installation of a new Electronic Bottle Inspector (EBI) and Checkmat System for the Beer Bottling Plant. Reis also announced that the company will be drilling another well at its Thirst Park premises. A previous effort had been unsuccessful, he told the gathering.
The Banks DIH Group recorded a strong financial year in 2010, notching up an after tax profit of $1.6 billion up from the $1.2 billion recorded the previous year. The company’s net profit moved from $1.2B last year to $1.36B this year – an increase of 21%. The company benefited from higher sales of its products and robust performance by its key subsidiary Citizens Bank Inc. The financial statements were for the year ended September, 30 2010.
Citizens Bank – a 51% owned subsidiary of the company grew its revenue from $1.78 billion to $1.93 billion (8%) percent. After-tax profit pegged at $535M, skyrocketed from the previous year’s figure of $391M, an increase of 37%. Total assets rose by $6.2 billion from $20.9 billion to $27.2 billion or 30%. Loan assets rose by 18% over the last year to $12.3 billion. Deposits jumped from $17.9B to $23.4B or 31%.
Earnings per share were $8.99 compared to $6.57 in the previous year. Demand deposits at Citizens Bank slid from $3.5B to $2.8B while savings deposits rose from $8.2B to $10.6B and term deposits from $4.4B to $7.9B. Accrued interest payable moved from $164M to $182M. Reis said that the bank is looking to establish two new branches shortly, including one in Linden. He said too that the company is looking at ways to improve its services so that it could continue to hold its own in a highly competitive banking sector.
Meanwhile, Reis also said that Banks DIH is committed to have all its operations meet the ISO 22000:2005 standards by 2012. The ISO 22000:2005 programme is an international standard which specifies the requirements for a food safety management system.
Speaking about the company’s pension funds that had been tied up in Clico (Guyana) , Reis said that the bank recently received a cheque for $30 million from the company which is currently being liquidated. It is unclear how much was invested in Clico.
During Saturday’s AGM, Reis presented cheques to four schools: Chateau Margot Primary School, FE Pollard Primary School, Friendship Secondary School and Bladen Hall Multilateral School.
Thirty-nine employees who completed 20 to 25 years of service were also presented with long service awards.
Surprisingly, there were no questions from the floor although hundreds were in attendance at the AGM. Reis, however, read and answered three questions that had been submitted to him by shareholders.
One of the questions was whether the company’s new Waste Water Treatment Plant had been a necessary investment. Reis responded that this was a request made by the Coca Cola Company, which requires each bottler of Coca Cola products to put measures in place to ensure that activities do not compromise the environment in any way. He explained that Coca Cola Company had helped to fund this investment.
