GOOD BUSINESS FOR JAMAICA: Honey Bun's rum fruit cakes now available in UK's ASDA....Honey Bun posted $23.4 million in profit from $741 million in sales for its September year-end or one-third less profit year-on-year.

BY STEVEN JACKSON Business reporter jacksons@jamaicaobserver.com  Wednesday, December 17, 2014  

HONEY Bun Ltd started selling its rum fruit cakes in the United Kingdom-based ASDA Groceries which supported the tripling of its exports year-to-date.

The company also plans to test the market with two new undisclosed products in 2015.

"For the first two months of this fiscal year (October and November), exports have already increased by over 350 per cent. The Buccaneer Jamaica Rum Fruit Cakes were exported to the UK in November and are available in ASDA this year for the first time and we plan to continue on our increase in exports," Michelle Chong, co-founder and chief executive at Honey Bun, told the Jamaica Observer in an e-mailed response to Business Observer queries.

ASDA, owned by Walmart, is the second largest UK supermarket chain by marketshare and operates in over 550 locations. The Honey Bun export explosion for its first quarter 2015 comes within the context of exports increasing 62 per cent in 2014 over 2013.

Honey Bun, which received the Jamaica Manufacturers' Association award for Champion Exporter in the small category, indicated the growing exports would offset challenges faced in an austere local environment.

Honey Bun posted $23.4 million in profit from $741 million in sales for its September year-end or one-third less profit year-on-year. more