Feb 2012 Financial News

Mailpac owner mulls flotation

Feb 22, 2012

NORBROOK Caribbean Investment Company (NCIC) is seriously considering an initial public offering (IPO) in 2012, says NCIC head Khary Robinson.

“The capital markets in Jamaica have evolved significantly in the past two years and have created greater access to growth capital for well-positioned businesses. As we continue to expand our infrastructure to better serve our clients, we think that partnering with public market investors may be an ideal way to enhance document, package and inventory delivery — a key segment of the economy,” Robinson told the Business Observer yesterday.

Robinson said NCIC would either list its newly-created full-service logistics umbrella, The Package Company, or one of its eight subsidiaries acquired through a series of purchases within the last two years.

According to a NCIC press release, The Package Company is now Jamaica’s largest and most advanced delivery platform, delivering over 600,000 packages annually for approximately 50,000 clients across its eight subsidiaries. Among the subsidiaries, operating in the various niches of delivery, are Mailpac Express and Global Courier online shopping delivery services, Airpak Express and Speed Courier in same-day islandwide delivery, Mailpac Ocean Freight in sea freight delivery, Supply Chain Solutions in inventory distribution and Airpak Round-Town (created through the merger of Swoop and Zippy) which were the leaders in round-town express delivery.

The company claims to manage approximately 70 per cent of all personal air freight into Jamaica and 40 per cent of all delivery around the island, and is the exclusive delivery partner in Jamaica of UPS, the world’s largest courier company.

While the investment company mulls going public, it added in a statement that it is focused on enhancing the group’s customer experience.

“We have reached our target scale to best serve clients and now our sole focus is creating an enhanced customer experience and introducing customers to our unique platform”, said Darlene Johnson, the group’s customer service manager.

The company is also aiming to educate the market on the value of efficient delivery and to introduce a new level of technology to the market.

“We spent the last two years building the company. This year, we start our campaign of educating the market on our solutions and the ways that it will make everyone more efficient. In our economy, we move a significant volume of assets daily and we want to ensure that everyone does that in the way that saves the most time and money,” said Candice Kerr, Airpak’s General Manager.

Although NCIC’s operating team is focused on efficiency and service in the delivery market, the investment team is already working to replicate its success in another industry — transaction processing. NCIC has partnered with solutions developer Epay Group to deliver unique transactional systems to Jamaica.

“We want to make it easier to do all types of transactions, from the way you pay for items at a remote location to the way you buy phone credit. Total’s gas card and Burger King’s loyalty card program is the latest of a myriad of solutions that we aim to utilise in making the economy more efficient. The way we see it, if we can move assets and money more efficiently, everyone wins,” said Alissa Forrester, a member of NCIC’s investment team.

The inception of the Jamaica Stock Exchange Junior Market has stimulated interest in the equity market over the last several years.

A listing on the Junior Market provides small and medium-sized enterprises a 10-year tax incentive, in addition to the equity financing to fund expansion and growth. During the first five years of the listing the companies pay zero corporate tax, while half of the current rate is charged for the last five years.


Source:
BY JULIAN RICHARDSON Assistant Business Co-ordinator richardsonj@jamaicaobserver.com
Jamaica Observer
Wednesday February 22, 2012

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/Mailpac-owner-mulls-flotation#ixzz1n7SgrpVF