Pine Hill Dairy (PHD) has reduced its financial losses but remains in the red.
Last year Barbados Dairy Industries Limited lost $4.27 million and by the time its latest financial year ended on August 31 this year, it had reduced that amount to $1.56 million.
This was reported in the company’s summary financial statements for the period reviewed, which quoted chairman Anthony King and director Richard Cozier.
“The company improved its operating performance in 2013 but still recorded a loss from operations of $1.56 million as compared to a loss of $4.27 million in 2012. Sales were virtually identical to those of the previous year, thus improved performance was derived through better efficiencies and lowering of production costs,” they said.
“At the close of the year the company took the decision to decommission one of the packaging lines as a result of its higher operating costs. The costs associated with this decommissioning are recorded in the results for the year as disclosed. however, the benefits will accrue in the future.
“The loss after tax has been impacted through the provision of a partial impairment of the deferred tax asset to provide for accumulated tax losses that may expire prior to utilization,” the duo added.
The officials believed that while Barbados’ economic environment is not expected to improve in the coming year, “the benefits from the decisions taken during the year coupled with new product launches will make a positive contribution to the operating results”.
This is the second consecutive year that PHD officials are reporting reduced financial losses.
In the company’s 2012 annual report, management said while overall performance showed an improvement over 2011, “budgeted expectations were not met”.
“Sales revenue, aided by a price increase on both milk and juice during the year exceeded that of the prior year by 2.4 per cent, however fell short on budget by 6.1 per cent. The net loss after tax of $4.69 million compared to the 2011 loss of $6.65 million is, however, indicative of the improving overall performance,” the PHD explained.
Production costs, while an improvement on the previous year, exceeded budget largely as a result of the additional production overtime incurred during the final stages of the Ultra Pasteurization upgrade project commissioning.
Despite the losses, PHD officials said “significant improvements to operational efficiencies were made during the year”.
“The tetra pak upgrade project was completed and the issues with the 500-millilitre production on the TGA [Tetra Brik Aseptic] filling line were resolved. The one litre TBA
. . . filling line was also completely overhauled and both lines are performing at much higher levels of efficiencies,” the 2012 report said.
“At the time of writing this report the A3 Compact Flex filling line had been commissioned and was delivering substantial line efficiencies and product yields. This equipment facilitates the production of 200 millilitre and 330-millilitre packages in addition to the regular 250-millilitre offering.” (SC)
