Witco announces $588.1M in profits

PROFIT before taxation for the West Indian Tobacco Company (WITCO) declined a little more than three per cent, as it announced $588.1million in profits for 2020.

In an annual report released to the public last Thursday, managing director Laurent Meffre said in 2019 WITCO $607.8 million in profits. Revenue for 2020 also reduced by 3.8 per cent or $35.4 million.

Covid19 took the blame for the reduction in revenue and profits.

Higher facility costs associated with covid19 was also to blame for the increase in cost of sales for the company which increased from $207 million to $211 million, an increase of 1.9 per cent.

Meffre said consolidation and containment were the primary objectives ensuring the company maintained its level of performance.

“Even with many obstacles occurring due to the pandemic there were still some bright spots during the year.”

The Broadway brand proved the most resilient of the WITCO portfolio, making a 10 per cent growth in 2020, but Mt d’or remained the market leader in the low-priced segment.

Meffre said the heart of WITCO’s strategy for 2021 is to continue its focus on transformation through innovation, focusing on recapturing lost market shares in the low-priced segment and ensuring the sustainability of the company.

“Our commitment to our stakeholders for 2021 remains to ensure a greater and expanded innovation pipeline adequate to protect the business from competition, a sharpening of our overall business model to become more agile in the market and robust training and development programmes to develop our teams.”