Fosrich turns up voltage on plans for growth
Fosrich company Limited, in its continued effort to grow revenues and build out a global brand, said that it will be pushing forward with a number of plans for expansion and growth across existing operations and in new areas.
Cecil Foster, managing director of the lighting, solar and electrical products distribution company, said that plans to open up some additional spaces for the company were actively underway, including the buildout of a new warehousing space at 76 Moynes Road, which is also to be used as a fulfillment centre for products.
“This will be a state-of-theart warehouse space that we will occupy starting the 28th of this month,” he disclosed during a Mayberry Investors Forum held this week, noting that the spacing capacity at its current flagship neighbouring store was exhausted.
Foster said a second phase of this development will see some 120,000 square foot of super stores — 30,000 square foot of which will be utilised by the company for its corporate offices, while the remaining floors will be used by food stores, banks and for recreational/leisure type commercial activities.
“We’re going to be using the space for even business process outsourcing (BPO) and for private offices. It will be a space that people will feel good about coming into to get most of what they want in one space. We are looking towards these projects bringing us some good results,” he added.
The company, which also signed a four-year renewable contract with the Jamaica Public Service to repair its damaged transformers from its recently opened warehousing space in Hayes, Clarendon, said that it was also in the process of awaiting special economic zone (SEZ) certification to operate as a freezone entity under its Blue Emerald registered company. The manufacturing of PVC (polyvinyl chloride fittings and conduits along with larger SDC RPC (Data Collector Remote Protocol Call) pipes, which will commence later this year, is also expected to be conducted from this location.
“The investment in the transformer business is something we think will have significant revenues and will be sustainable for a very long time. We’re looking forward to these investments returning great rewards for our shareholders,” Foster said.
The over 25-year-old company, which started out with three employees since inception, has steadily grown its business and now employs over 130 people and is proactively seeking to create 100 more employment opportunities during this year. The company, in its last nine-month period ended September 2020 saw revenues increase by 17 per cent to $1.3 billion and profits climbing to $75 million.
Through a growing partnership with international brand name companies such as Phillips, Siemens, General Electric and more recently Huawei — with which it has inked a partnership to sell its photovoltaic (PV) Fusion Solar brands in the local alternative energy market place to residential and commercial customers — as it also seeks to double down on the solar energy business, Fosrich said it was also positioning the company to capitalise on other emerging opportunities including those in the charging of electric transportation industry.
“We are in partnership with one of the global companies that is big in this space and we are at the table regarding charging stations — we are hoping that things will happen so we can make an announcement to the country but we are not going to be left behind. We figure that along with solar, this sector is going to be [another] growth sector going forward as more countries in the coming years are looking to manufacture more cars that uses electricity,” he said.
In terms of plans for regional expansion and outward outlook, Foster said that through its current participation in the Jamaica Promotions Corporation (Jampro) Export Max programme, the company was in the process of engaging Caribbean partners including government and large corporations with which it hopes to work.
“The desire to export to the Caribbean at least, is very strong, and we are looking at that with a team right now,” he stated.