LASCO Manufacturing Limited was incorporated in October 1994 by the merger of LASCO Foods (Successors) Limited and LASCO Foods Limited. The Company was listed on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange on October 12, 2010, and trades on the Junior Market as LASM.

Business Strategy
Over the years, the company has focused on organic growth supported by heavy investments in plant, equipment, state-of-the-art technology, research and development and people development to fuel growth.

The company continues to upgrade its facilities and technology and has the capacity and flexibility to increase output for both the local and export markets with affordable, high quality and innovative nutritious and refreshing solutions.

The strategy is underpinned by programmes of continuous improvement to drive operational efficiencies, lower costs, organizational adaptations and simplification as well as ongoing research and development to deliver product innovations and renovations. Focus on quality management and certification to international standards in the areas of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), Food Safety Management (HACCP) and Occupational Health and Safety are key underlying activities of the overall strategy

For the year ending March 31, 2022, we experienced the continued impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic in addition to increased and disruptive supply chain pressures coupled with unusual raw materials, energy, and service cost inflation.

We, however, remained focused on long-term strategies and successfully navigated the challenges, delivering solid results with strong top-and bottom-line growth that resulted in improvements on previous years and in line with our overarching objective of sustainable profitable growth year-on-year.

The results reflect the laser focus on our long-term value creation strategies, excellence in execution and the unwavering commitment, responsiveness, and adaptability of our team members across all levels of the organization.

Driving operational efficiency and excellence remained a core component of our strategies. In this respect, we progressed with the re-engineering of our critical processes, simplification, and delayering of the organization and in tandem, advanced our digital transformation and continued robust investment in training, human resource development and people engagement. These initiatives were underpinned by disciplined risk and cost management and prudent resource allocation.

We continued to invest in our brands, and, in collaboration with the distributor funded a realigned approach to consumer communication and engagement utilizing a suite of available digital/online platforms with positive results and much improved efficiency of spend.

Our product innovation continued, and we have a pipeline of new products being tested for future introduction to market. Considerable focus was given to product renovation, particularly to reformulation of key products to improve their nutritional profiles. Packaging reduction was also pursued as a cost reduction strategy, but also to reduce the impact of packaging waste on the environment.

While some capital investment projects were re-phased as a result of our decision to preserve cash and flexibility in light of the pandemic, we completed several technological upgrades to the plant and equipment and placed emphasis on the effective utilization of installed capacities – a key component of the operational efficiency and productivity initiative.

Key Highlights from the year include the following:
• Revenue increased by 15% or $1.26B to $9.48B (2021: $8.22B) with gross profit growing to $3.48B or 12% above the prior year.
Gross profit margin however decreased by 120 basis points as we elected not to pass on some increased costs to consumers.

• Selling and Administrative Expenses were contained at $1.29B or 2% below prior year reflecting improved efficiencies and optimizations, resulting in an expense to sales ratio of 14% compared to 16% in the prior year.

• Operating Profit was $2.22B or a 22% increase on the previous year with operating profit margin increasing by 136 basis points to 23.4%.

• Net Profit was $1.7B (2021: $1.38B) with Net Profit Margin growing 122 basis points to 18%.

• Our Balance Sheet remained healthy. Total assets at year-end were $12B, an increase of 11% over prior year. Current assets were $7B and current
liabilities of $1.7B.

• An interim dividend of $0.0726 per share totalling $300M was paid to shareholders on July 26, 2021.

• Return on equity improved to 19.8% compared to18.8% in the previous year while return on invested capital increased to 22.6%.

We maintained our commitment to the responsible use of the natural resources and advanced several initiatives to reduce the impact of our operations on the environment. Several of our processes and practices were re-engineered in this regard, reinforced by sensitization and education of our teams. This included special attention to Water Management and packaging reduction.

We also remained fully engaged with Recycling Partners of Jamaica (RPJ) in funding, along with industry recover plastic bottles (PET & HDPE) from the environment for
recycling. Our initiative towards the use of renewable energy is well advanced as we also seek to reduce our carbon footprint.

Our Board of Directors continued to be proactive and fully engaged providing guidance and support on overall strategic direction, Audit, Risk Management, Compliance, and Governance issues.

Mr. James E.D. Rawle, CD
Deputy Executive Chairman
Managing Director LASCO Manufacturing Limited

For More Information CLICK THIS LINK