Cocoa fix boosts GEL earnings
Goddard Enterprises Limited’s (GEL) annual profit has surged by $24.3 million, driven by a major turnaround in the Barbados conglomerate’s cocoa processing company in Ecuador.
With net income of $76.8 million, and earnings per share reaching 27.9 cents during the financial year ended September 30, the group’s shareholders will be paid a final dividend of three cents per share at the end of February.
Chairman Charles Herbert and managing director Anthony Ali reported on GEL’s performance in the board review accompanying the published consolidated financial highlights for the year.
“For the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025, Goddard Enterprises Limited recorded net income of $76.8 million, compared to $52.5 million in the previous year,” they stated.
The boost in profitability came mainly from the manufacturing division “as Ecuador Kakao Processing Proecuakao S.A. (Ecuakao) reported a strong result following a significant loss in the prior year”.
“This turnaround in Ecuakao’s performance resulted in the division posting a net income of $16.7 million compared to a net loss of $21.2 million in the prior year,” Herbert and Ali said.
“The company benefitted from increased production and sales volume, along with a higher gross margin resulting from favourable purchase differentials on its main raw material, cocoa beans.
“Additionally, Ecuakao’s results were reduced by an $8.5 million call option expense purchased to limit the exposure on unmatched cocoa futures from 2024, along with a $4.1 million expected credit losses (ECL) provision for an amount due from one of its customers.
“The year-on-year change in the market value of our commodity futures and foreign exchange contracts of $9.1m is included in other comprehensive income/loss (OCI) as a cash flow hedge loss,” Herbert and Ali added.
Their review of GEL’s other divisions revealed a mixed performance.
For Acado Limited, the rebranded consumer products joint venture with Trinidad and Tobago’s Agostini Limited, they said this entity “had a solid year and once again stood out as one of the top contributors to our group’s performance”.
“Most markets performed well except for St Lucia, which faced operational challenges. Included within the currency translation gain in OCI of $11.1 million is an amount of $8.3 million related to our share of the net assets of the joint venture.”
Herbert and Ali said Goddard Catering Group’s (GCG) strong revenue performance “was adversely affected by year-end adjustments”.
“GCG recorded ECL provisions totalling $10.8 million for amounts due from two of its associates in Costa Rica as both entities continue to incur losses,” they noted.
“The division also recognised goodwill impairment of $5.4 million related to its subsidiary, International Meals Company Panama, which suffered from a significant increase in competition from newly opened concessions in Tocumen International Airport.”
The building supplies division achieved an 8.5 per cent increase in revenue “resulting in an operating profit comparable to the previous year. Higher finance costs and taxation expense, however, led to reduced net income in comparison to the prior year”.
The chairman and the managing director said that the automotive division “faced a challenging year characterised by low vehicle sales in our two main markets, Barbados and Jamaica”.
They explained that this performance “was also impacted by efforts to reduce inventory levels, increased finance charges associated with the launch of the GAC brand of vehicles in all our markets and a $1.3 million revaluation loss on investment property in Barbados”.
GEL’s smaller divisions, shipping and services, “both performed as expected”, Herbert and Ali said without elaborating.
Indicating that the group’s continued resilience was based on its diversity, the officials said that “despite ongoing global uncertainty, we remain focused on prudent cost management and enhancing operational efficiencies to sustain growth, improve overall profitability and create economic value for our shareholders”.
“To support these goals, we are investing in various capital projects across the group. Cyber security continues to pose a significant risk to our operations; therefore, we are prioritising investments in training and infrastructure upgrades to mitigate this threat,” they said. (SC)
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