PriceSmart, which operates four membership shopping warehouse clubs in Trinidad, has taken a decision to sell its sustainable packaging plant in this country.
The information was disclosed in the company’s financials for its fiscal year ended August 31, 2024, which was published on Wednesday.
PriceSmart said it recorded a US$5.7 million impairment charge primarily related to the write down of assets in connection with its decision in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2023 to seek to sell its Trinidad plant.
The company has complained in the past about the difficulty of accessing US dollars in this market.
In its 2022 annual filings, PrimeSmart said, “The ability of the company to convert local currency into US dollars to settle US dollar invoices can be impacted in certain markets due to economic factors or government policies creating illiquidity of the local currency. This has been the case in Trinidad in fiscal years 2017, 2020, and 2021, which led us to reduce shipments from the US to Trinidad to amounts that our Trinidad subsidiary could pay for using the amount of tradeable currency that could be sourced in that market, resulting in lost sales.”
PriceSmart, which now has 54 warehouse clubs in 12 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, reported that its total revenues for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2024 increased 11.4 per cent to US$4.91 billion compared to US$4.41 billion in the prior year.
PriceSmart operates ten membership warehouse clubs in Colombia; eight in Costa Rica; seven in Panama; six in Guatemala; five in Dominican Republic; four each in Trinidad and El Salvador; three in Honduras; two each in Nicaragua and Jamaica; and one each in Aruba, Barbados and the United States Virgin Islands.
