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Carreras ceasing cigarette manufacturing in Ja
Observer Reporter
Friday, May 20, 2005
The Carreras Group is to close down its cigarette manufacturing operation in Jamaica and begin importing its entire range of products from Trinidad & Tobago - a decision that deepens the five-year-long retreat of this British company from the island.
About 40 of the 120 employees, mainly those directly on the production line, will be affected - some opting for early retirement, while others will be made redundant, the company said in a press statement yesterday.
"An attractive termination package will be offered to employees and counselling, development and outplacement programmes of support will be implemented to assist with the transition," said Carreras.
The company also stressed that the mothballing of its plant was driven purely by economic considerations, and would have no impact on product availability, or its numerous community and charitable programmes to which the firm stressed, it remained committed.
Carreras already imports some of the brands it sells on the Jamaican market from the plant operated by its T&T sister firm -West Indian Tobacco Co Ltd. This company is a subsidiary of British Tobacco (BATCO), which is the principal shareholder in Carreras.
At present, Carreras produces two brands at the Twickenham Park, St Catherine factory - Craven A and Matterhorn. It imports Rothmans and Benson & Hedges from the twin-island republic, for sale in the Jamaican market.
The closing of the factory, which will be effected over the next few months, represents the final stage in the scale back of the once vertically integrated cigarette manufacturing process, and more generally, one of the final steps towards the de-conglomeration of the Carreras Group.
During the heyday of cigarette manufacturing, Carreras operated tobacco farms - one in St Thomas, on land it owned, and the other in Clarendon on land it leased.
It also supplemented its tobacco needs through procurement arrangement with independent farmers.
But the company got out of the farming business in 2001, and gave away part of the land in Coley, St Thomas to residents of the community while leasing the rest to vegetable farmers. It also began importing the raw material - a pre-processed tobacco - from Trinidad.
By then, the factory in the twin-island republic had emerged as the preferred facility around which BAT would consolidate its manufacturing operation for the region, according to Patrick Smith, corporate communications executive at Carreras.
Manufacturing was then discontinued in Guyana and Suriname, with the factory in T&T supplying those markets - the Embassy and Bristol brands in Guyana and Tacoma in Suriname. duMaurier is the brand that is popular in T&T.
Yesterday Smith told the Observer that the Jamaican market lacked the size to justify running more than one shift at the St Catherine plant.
"We do not have the volumes to drive three shifts," he said.
Smith added that some 80 staff members would remain at the company - many of them to operate the distribution arm.
"Carreras' manufacturing operations has been heavily under-utilised for many years now due to the reduction in demand for cigarettes in Jamaica," Smith also said in a prepared media statement yesterday. "Carreras has now decided to take advantage of the opportunities available from within the BAT global supply chain, as further investment in Jamaica's cigarette manufacturing plant could not be justified by the historical declining volumes."
Carreras, a cash-rich company that makes most of its profit from interest income has been flogging its non-tobacco subsidiaries over the past few years.
. In 2000 it sold its highly profitable Jamaica Biscuit Company - a manufacturer and marketer of biscuits to NABISCO.
. In 2000 it closed Jamaica Flexographic Limited, a company that was involved in printing packaging materials.
. In December 2001 it closed its Graphic Arts Limited - a producer of packaging material.
. Last year it sold Twickenham Insurance Company a general insurance underwriter, to Lascelles Group.
It now has for sale its Sans Souci hotel located in St Ann.
In the early 1980s Carreras had the franchise to bottle Coca Cola, but sold that business in 1984. It also operated a coffee plantation which it divested after Hurricane Gilbert in 1989.
Carreras ceasing cigarette manufacturing in Ja
Observer Reporter
Friday, May 20, 2005
The Carreras Group is to close down its cigarette manufacturing operation in Jamaica and begin importing its entire range of products from Trinidad & Tobago - a decision that deepens the five-year-long retreat of this British company from the island.
About 40 of the 120 employees, mainly those directly on the production line, will be affected - some opting for early retirement, while others will be made redundant, the company said in a press statement yesterday.
"An attractive termination package will be offered to employees and counselling, development and outplacement programmes of support will be implemented to assist with the transition," said Carreras.
The company also stressed that the mothballing of its plant was driven purely by economic considerations, and would have no impact on product availability, or its numerous community and charitable programmes to which the firm stressed, it remained committed.
Carreras already imports some of the brands it sells on the Jamaican market from the plant operated by its T&T sister firm -West Indian Tobacco Co Ltd. This company is a subsidiary of British Tobacco (BATCO), which is the principal shareholder in Carreras.
At present, Carreras produces two brands at the Twickenham Park, St Catherine factory - Craven A and Matterhorn. It imports Rothmans and Benson & Hedges from the twin-island republic, for sale in the Jamaican market.
The closing of the factory, which will be effected over the next few months, represents the final stage in the scale back of the once vertically integrated cigarette manufacturing process, and more generally, one of the final steps towards the de-conglomeration of the Carreras Group.
During the heyday of cigarette manufacturing, Carreras operated tobacco farms - one in St Thomas, on land it owned, and the other in Clarendon on land it leased.
It also supplemented its tobacco needs through procurement arrangement with independent farmers.
But the company got out of the farming business in 2001, and gave away part of the land in Coley, St Thomas to residents of the community while leasing the rest to vegetable farmers. It also began importing the raw material - a pre-processed tobacco - from Trinidad.
By then, the factory in the twin-island republic had emerged as the preferred facility around which BAT would consolidate its manufacturing operation for the region, according to Patrick Smith, corporate communications executive at Carreras.
Manufacturing was then discontinued in Guyana and Suriname, with the factory in T&T supplying those markets - the Embassy and Bristol brands in Guyana and Tacoma in Suriname. duMaurier is the brand that is popular in T&T.
Yesterday Smith told the Observer that the Jamaican market lacked the size to justify running more than one shift at the St Catherine plant.
"We do not have the volumes to drive three shifts," he said.
Smith added that some 80 staff members would remain at the company - many of them to operate the distribution arm.
"Carreras' manufacturing operations has been heavily under-utilised for many years now due to the reduction in demand for cigarettes in Jamaica," Smith also said in a prepared media statement yesterday. "Carreras has now decided to take advantage of the opportunities available from within the BAT global supply chain, as further investment in Jamaica's cigarette manufacturing plant could not be justified by the historical declining volumes."
Carreras, a cash-rich company that makes most of its profit from interest income has been flogging its non-tobacco subsidiaries over the past few years.
. In 2000 it sold its highly profitable Jamaica Biscuit Company - a manufacturer and marketer of biscuits to NABISCO.
. In 2000 it closed Jamaica Flexographic Limited, a company that was involved in printing packaging materials.
. In December 2001 it closed its Graphic Arts Limited - a producer of packaging material.
. Last year it sold Twickenham Insurance Company a general insurance underwriter, to Lascelles Group.
It now has for sale its Sans Souci hotel located in St Ann.
In the early 1980s Carreras had the franchise to bottle Coca Cola, but sold that business in 1984. It also operated a coffee plantation which it divested after Hurricane Gilbert in 1989.
Carreras ceasing cigarette manufacturing in Ja
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