Salada to refresh and relaunch Mountain Peak brand
Published:Tuesday | May 17, 2016 | 12:00 AMSteven Jackson
Salada Foods Jamaica Limited will relaunch its flagship Mountain Peak instant coffee, and add a lower caffeinated alternative to shore up falling revenues.
The coffee producer's March quarterly net profit was slashed by nearly half amid falling local and international sales.
"In the upcoming months Salada will continue to focus on growing its exports and will also launch a number of new products into the local market," the company advised shareholders in a statement appended to the quarterly earnings report.
Salada will roll out a Mountain Peak instant coffee with 25 per cent less caffeine than the original instant coffee. It will also relaunch the Mountain Peak brand with a "bold new look" but the same taste.
Its quarterly profit declined to $15.5 million after tax or 46 per cent less profit than a year earlier. Quarterly revenue dipped by just over one-quarter year on year to $159.5 million.
Salada's resources continues to weigh on its $309 million inventory, which actually declined by $100 million below the figure a year earlier. The company previously acknowledged buying more coffee than required in the short term.
"Our continuing focus on inventory reduction will see further reduction by the end of the financial year," the company explained.
Unprofitable
The performance of Salada subsidiaries also remain challenging with the Roberts brand remaining "unprofitable despite showing improved performance", while its Pimora subsidiary suffered from "persistent" equipment issues which slowed marketing efforts in order to focus on improving production reliability to meet demand, the company said.
The planned refreshment of its product line and new marketing campaign comes two years behind the coffee maker's last big push to boost sales.
In January 2014, Salada switched distributors from T. Geddes Grant, a subsidiary of Musson Jamaica, to Lasco Distributors Limited. That year, annual sales spiked from $595 million to $743 million but dipped back to $715 million in 2015.
Salada turns 58 this year. The coffee producer is now owned primarily by Donovan Lewis through various companies.