By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Caribbean Bottling Company (Bahamas) is poised to create 10 extra jobs as it goes ‘Full Throttle’ to launch a new energy drink and add three new flavours to its Minute Maid brand within the next six weeks.

Walter Wells, the Coca-Cola distributor’s president and chief executive, told Tribune Business that the product expansion came as a result of its philosophy that it “can’t remain in one spot”.

Acknowledging that the overall economic environment meant Caribbean Bottling was having to “work harder to generate the same amount of business”, Mr Wells said ever-rising utility costs had eroded some of the benefits gained from the reinstatement of Industries Encouragement Act duty exemptions.

Revealing to Tribune Business that Caribbean Bottling’s electricity bill was now 50 per cent higher than just two years ago, Mr Wells also expressed concern about the potential impact Value-Added Tax (VAT) would have on consumer demand and buying power.

Still, indicating confidence in the immediate future, Mr Wells detailed the plans to further grow Caribbean Bottling’s existing 150-strong workforce.

“We’re going to be adding 10 additional bodies here in Nassau with the restructuring we’re doing and the new products we’re rolling out,” he told Tribune Business.

“That’s going to happen within the next six weeks, three new flavours of Minute Maid. And in two weeks we will begin production of our Full Throttle energy drink.”

Caribbean Bottling had initially targeted the July/August period last year for the launches, with Mr Wells conceding that it “took longer to get it together” than planned.

He said initial sales volumes for both Full Throttle and the new Minute Maid flavours would be low, as with all new products, until consumers became accustomed to them and distribution increased.

“You keep growing it, keep testing it and eventually get to where you want to be,” Mr Wells added.

“We can’t stand in one spot. If you do that you die. Everybody has to be innovative, be creative, do more with less and that’s the only way of keeping your head above water.”

Mr Wells said he had been “pleasantly surprised” by the performance of Caribbean Bottling’s ‘single serve’ range of Desani water products, now featuring four bottle sizes from 12 ounces to one-and-a-half litres.

“That was done as a strategy to combat a lot of imported products in the marketplace today,” he added. “It’s tough on local products. They’re competing against huge companies selling product overseas at rock bottom prices.”

Mr Wells described Caribbean Bottling’s overall business as steady, and said: “We are the same as we were a year ago, but I’m finding you have to work a lot harder to get it.

“The economy generally is still a little soft. You have to be totally focused on serving your customers, providing product whenever they need it. We just seem to have to work harder to generate the same amount of business.

“Inflation is catching up. Everything we consume, or everything significant we consume, is increasing.”

Mr Wells praised the Christie administration for eliminating the 10 per cent import duties that manufacturers had been required to pay on raw material and equipment imports, restoring the long-held Industries Encouragement Act exemption.

He explained that the reduced taxation had offset other input cost rises, especially utility bills, enabling Caribbean Bottling to avoid increasing its consumer prices.

“It was significant,” Mr Wells said of the Christie administration’s reversal of the former Ingraham government’s policy. “It was especially good that the Government saw the wisdom in doing that.

“On the other side of the coin, where we have utility bills increasing every month, that has eroded some of the benefits we got from the roll back of some of the duties.

“My light bill today is 50 per cent more than it was two years ago. It’s killing everybody.”

And, looking ahead, Mr Wells described the potential impact from the Government’s proposed VAT, set to be implemented exactly one year from now, as “the million dollar question”.

“I think it goes without saying that it’s going to be a significant impact to all of us, particularly at the consumer level,” Mr Wells said of the Government’s tax reform centrepiece.

“Unless a rebalancing can be had on import duties concurrent with VAT, it’s going to be a hit to consumers. With less disposable income, they will have less money to buy our products and other people’s products.”