CEO of Manufacturing and distribution company, Derrimon Trading, Derrick Cotterell says his company is trying to keep prices relatively low for consumers, despite the rising costs of doing business.

Derrimon Group owns and operates several Jamaican brands including Sampars Supermarkets, Select Grocers and Caribbean Flavour and Fragances.

Speaking on Taking Stock with Kalilah Reynolds, Cotterell said there are still some residual supply chain issues from the pandemic that have been impacting the business.

“Shipping rates are coming down but interest rates are still high and some businesses did not survive the pandemic so there’s some shifting around taking place,” he said.

He noted that the increasing prices result in a greater operating cost for the business, however, he said the company tries not to pass all of that cost on directly to customers.

“A lot of people think that business people love inflation because prices go up but what they fail to realize is that it takes more money to buy the same amount of products so your working capital increases,” he explained.

The CEO said the company has managed to stay ahead of all the issues so far and has put contingency plans in place to maintain ahead.

“We’ve not had any major disruption from suppliers but it’s not what it was pre-pandemic,” he said.

Additionally, the company’s recent acquisitions have been playing a major role in the company’s success.

Derrimon has been on an aggressive growth drive in recent years, acquiring two local companies and in US-based supermarket.

In 2021, they acquired Brooklyn supermarket, Food Savers, in New York. Then in 2022, the company brought luxury meats processing and production company, Arosa, and Jamaican soup in a pouch manufacturer and Spicy Hill Farms. 

Cotterell said those investments are paying off.

The Group reported record-breaking revenues of $9.5 billion for the six months ended June 30 and net profits of $199 million.

The CEO said that their latest Select Grocerers store in May Pen, Clarendon has also been doing very well and contributed nicely to the Group’s overall performance.