WITCO cigarette shares fall in Trinidad amid probe
Published:Thursday | June 27, 2024 | 4:41 PMSteven JacksonSenior Business Reporter -
The share price of West Indian Tobacco Company, which makes cigarettes for traders such as Carreras, has dipped 11 per cent since the placement of its managing director Raoul Glynn on leave this week.
Shares dipped from TT$9.99 to TT$8.90 on Thursday on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange.
According to a notice from the Trinidad and Tobago Securities and Exchange Commission, TTSEC, Glynn was placed on administrative leave with pay, pending an internal investigation. The action became effective on June 24. WITCO appointed Hiram Murillo as the acting managing director during the investigatory period.
The regulator did not specify the reason for the probe and calls to Glynn’s Jamaican phone went unanswered. Glynn has been WITCO's managing director since November 2022, after a stint in Jamaica as head at Carreras, since February 2020. Both companies are majority-owned by big British American Tobacco Plc.
West Indies Tobacco's share price is down 46 per cent since April when it hit a 52-week high of TT$16.50. Glynn is the only WITCO director who holds shares in the company, some 5,475 units or 0.002 per cent.
In the quarter ending March, WITCO reported a 40 per cent dip in revenue to TT$75 million, and a 60 per cent decline in profit to TT$13 million.
The company said the decline was “anticipated”, as overseas markets were wading through existing inventories.
Last year, the made annual profit of TT$277 million, a15-per cent improvement relative to year 2022.
“In 2023, our unwavering commitment to market recovery yielded impressive results, showcasing robust performance despite the substantial efforts required to regain momentum,” Glynn said in the 2023 annual report.