Wray and Nephew, the manufacturer of Jamaica's famed Appleton rums, will today formally open an upgraded ageing and blending facility at its Kingston headquarters, one of a series of enhancements by the distillers that were partly financed by the European Union (EU).

Wray and Nephew has in recent times raised an estimated €4 million from a special EU facility for Caribbean rum producers, which requires the firms that access it to themselves fund at lease 50 per cent of the cost of the project being undertaken.

It was not immediately clear precisely how much Wray and Nephew has spent on its various projects, including improving water treatment systems and powerhouses at its factories in Clarendon and St Elizabeth, environment management processes and market penetration efforts in Europe.

Matching to gain

The EU is ponying up €2 million (J$236 million) to cover the cost of the infrastructure and other programmes associated with the project.

However, under the financing arrangement, Wray and Nephew would have to match the portion of the funds to be invested in the blending and ageing facility.

According to Greta Bouges, who heads the company's corporate affairs division, the enlarged storage/ageing facility will now hold 35,000 barrels of bulk rum, 10 per cent, or 3,500 more barrels, than previously.

"The facility is being officially opened and what we are doing is recognising the European Union, who actually co-funded this particular facility for us," Bogues told Financial Gleaner.

This specific facility, Bogues said, cost €1 million, which Wray and Nephew financed 60 per cent.

The project is being financed by the EU under a facility established six years ago.

The EU in 2003 provided a €70 million funding facility to CARIFORUM countries (CARICOM and the Dominican Republic) for use by regional rum industries, keen on moving away from bulk exports to building brands.

It is that facility, administered by the region's rum lobby, the West Indies Rum and Sprit Producers Association, that Wray and Nephew - a subsidiary of the Lascelles de Mercado Group - has tapped.

In addition to the €2 million accessed from the fund for the infrastructure upgrading, Wray and Nephew got a similar amount for its brand-building foray in Europe.

"We looked at marketing projects in Spain, the United Kingdom and also in Italy and what those projects did was to get the consumer to better understand and to take our products out to the consumers in these countries," Bogues said.

dionne.rose@gleanerjm.com