Shareholders of Jamaica Teas Limited at its March 16 annual general meeting by ordinary resolution voted in favour of each share in the capital of the company to be subdivided in two shares.

As a result the authorized share capital was increased from 250 million shares to 500 million shares and the issued shares was increased from 168,708,365 to 337,416,730, the company revealed this week.

Details of the stock split have not yet been provided, however, earlier this year, company CEO, John Mahfood had indicated that he intended to spin off the company’s real estate subsidiary and list it separately on the Junior Market of the JSE.

The company says the stock split is to improve the available pool of tradable shares. A rights issue is also on the table as a means of increasing capital available for investment.

Jamaica Teas is managed in three main business segments; manufacturing which includes packaging and distribution of teas and other consumable items; retailing which involves supermarket subsidiaries; and rental and development including rental income and the development of properties for resale .

For the first quarter ended December 31, the company saw a 54 per cent jump in net profit year over year, from $27.45 million in 2014 to $36.56 million in December from sales of total $387.55 million, also improved 21.6 per cent over 2014.

Most of the sales – $204 million – came from the manufacturing arm, of which exports accounted for 53 per cent or $109 million.

The split, is aimed at increasing activity on the market.
Jamaica Teas listed on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) in 2010 at listing price of $3.37 per share.

On Monday the split stock traded for J$4 per share.