TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO-BASED regional conglomerate ANSA McAL is planning to invest more money in its several Barbados subsidiaries this year.
Group chairman and chief executive A. Norman Sabga said that despite the delay in getting regulatory approvals for its new Trimart flagship supermarket, and the overall challenging economic climate, his group would demonstrate that it still had confidence in Barbados.
He was reflecting on ANSA’s 2014 financial year including the performance of its Barbados companies. Sabga said the group was prepared to move from consolidation to new investment in Barbados.
“With the group now on a more sound footing, we have moved from a period of consolidation to one of investment for growth, beginning with the investment in a new state-of-the-art Standard showroom, which opened in November of 2014. In 2015, we look forward to opening a world class branch of our Trimart supermarket chain, while making significant investments in our IT infrastructure at Trimart and our automotive companies,” he said.
“These investments in combination with an expectation of an improvement in the Barbados economy in 2015, position ANSA McAL Barbados Limited for still further improvements in performance for the future.”
In reporting on last year’s performance, the chairman noted that in Barbados “structural adjustment programmes and aggressive destination marketing are predicted to have a positive effect on the economy in the near future”.
“Nevertheless, we have continued our investment strategy and managed to improve performance over the prior year in spite of delays in obtaining regulatory approvals to reopen our flagship supermarket. We anticipate an even better 2015,” he said.
Sagba highlighted the performance of subsidiary BrydenStokes, and said this entity “is expected to continue to benefit from a new and invigorated management team and a brightening outlook for the economy.” (SC)
