Business Briefs
Published:Wednesday | June 16, 2021 | 12:12 AM
● PROComm appoints GM from within
PRO Communications Limited, which trades as PROComm, has promoted Errol Howlett to the position of general manager, effective June 1. He has worked with PROComm for 22 years, since 1999, and was described as a mainstay of the company by Executive Chairman and founder Jean Lowrie-Chin.
● Trade gap narrows
Although exports fell in the first two months of the year, Jamaica’s trade gap with the rest of the world has narrowed, as imports fell at a pace that was four times faster. Exports declined 3 per cent, but imports fell 12.6 per cent. The trade gap narrowed, year-on-year, from US$708 million to US$586 million for the months of January and February, of which US$24 million related to trade with Caricom partners.
● Kingston Properties renames St Lucia subsidiary
Kingston Properties Limited’s subsidiary Carlton Savannah REIT (St Lucia) Limited has changed its name to Kingston Properties (St Lucia) Limited, effective May 31. Kingston Properties itself was once known as Carlton Savannah REIT (Jamaica) Limited, and traded under the symbol CREIT on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, but changed its name in October 2009, the year after its listing on the stock market.
● Proven closes acquisition deal
Proven Investments Limited’s acquisition of a 50.5 per cent shareholding in Roberts Manufacturing Company Limited from Massy Properties (Barbados) Limited has closed.
The Barbados-based company is in the business of manufacturing edible fats and oils, and supplying consumer goods to various markets in the Caribbean, Central America and the United States. It’s Proven’s first investment in a manufacturing outfit and continues its push to diversify its private equity portfolio.
● More concrete
A newly paved farm road in the community of Denham Farm in Manchester was officially commissioned on June 10. The 600-metre stretch of road was constructed with concrete at a cost $13 million. It will facilitate the movement of the agricultural crops produced by the Denham Farm community’s 50 farmers to market.
Cement maker Caribbean Cement Company Limited has been promoting the use concrete in road construction as an alternative to asphalt, and has spent $20 million on three farm roads in Manchester, the other two located at Kraal and Litchfield. Minister of Industry, Investment & Commerce and Member of Parliament for Manchester North East, Audley Shaw, who was present at the Denham road commissioning, argued for the embrace of concrete for farm roads.