AML Foods Limited

What it is

AML Foods is a Bahamian company operating across New Providence, Grand Bahama, and Georgetown, Exuma, with brands — Solomon’s, Solomon’s Super Center, Fresh Market, Cost Right Wholesale Club, and Domino’s Pizza — that are central to everyday shopping across the islands.

The business runs in three streams: a retail grocery arm of five Solomon’s and Fresh Market stores; two Cost Right members-only warehouse clubs modelled on a Costco-style format; and ten Domino’s Pizza franchise outlets, nine on New Providence and one in Grand Bahama.

The company was formerly known as Abaco Markets, and was first incorporated on June 19, 1989.

Who owns it

AML Foods is a publicly traded company with approximately 1,300 individual shareholders, listed on the Bahamas International Securities Exchange. The shares are broadly held by Bahamian retail investors with no single disclosed controlling bloc.

Not published: the BISX listing page (bisxbahamas.com/listings/AML/), the company’s investor-relations page (amlfoods.com/investor-relations/), and the 2025 Annual Report filed on BISX on September 22, 2025 do not publish a breakdown of beneficial ownership percentages in the publicly accessible extracts reviewed. The Bahamas Securities Commission does not mandate public disclosure of a shareholder register for BISX-listed companies in the same way that many larger exchanges require, and no filing containing a percentage ownership table was accessible without purchasing a third-party report.

Who runs it

Gavin Watchorn serves as Chief Executive Officer and President, a role he has held for well over a decade — he signed quarterly chairman’s reports as CEO & President as far back as 2012. Franklyn Butler II chairs the board, and simultaneously serves as President and Group CEO of Cable Bahamas Ltd. and chairs the board of Aliv Business Collective, the Bahamian mobile telecom group.

The board also includes Robert Sands, Alison Treco, Meike de Vaere-Hoorn, Tara Cooper Burnside, Jeff Gordman, and Sunil Chatrani. Not published: the CFO or Finance Director title is not named in available public filings; the company has recently advertised a Director, Finance position, suggesting that role may be in transition.

The money, in plain words

AML Foods posted record revenue of BSD $203 million (US$203 million) for its FY2025 financial year — every dollar is a dollar since the Bahamian dollar is pegged one-for-one to the US dollar. That is meaningful scale for a single-country, island-economy grocer.

In the first quarter of FY2026 (period ended July 31, 2025), sales reached BSD $49.4 million, up 8.9% year-on-year, with net profit of $4.3 million — meaning the company kept roughly 8.7 cents of profit from every dollar of sales that quarter, a net margin of ~8.7% (our calculation), solid for a grocery retailer.

CEO Watchorn attributed the result to higher customer counts across all locations and cost discipline, even as energy, insurance, and payroll costs remained under pressure, with overall costs declining as a share of sales.

The board approved an ordinary dividend of BSD $0.06 per share for Q1 FY2026, paid September 29, 2025 — AML pays quarterly, making it one of the more regular dividend payers on the BISX. Full-year FY2025 net profit was not disclosed in available public extracts, though the record revenue year and rising quarterly margins suggest the full-year result was materially stronger than the prior year.

What it is doing now

In April 2025, a fire destroyed the Solomon’s Old Trail and Cost Right Nassau locations — two of the company’s highest-traffic stores — yet all employees from the affected stores were retained. That is both a moral and financial statement: carrying the payroll through a forced closure is expensive, and the company chose not to cut.

AML expects to reopen its Old Trail facility by year-end 2026, rebuilding a combined Solomon’s supermarket and Cost Right club on the site. Even with two stores gone, the company delivered its record $203 million revenue year, crediting investments in technology, automation, and data analytics for improved efficiency and customer engagement.

What to watch

• Old Trail rebuild: Reopening the destroyed Nassau flagship by end-2026 would restore lost volume and is the single biggest near-term driver of revenue growth.
• VAT cost headwind: The Bahamian government’s change to the VAT treatment of unprepared food — which removes a cost credit AML previously received — is expected to cost the company BSD $2.5 million per year. That is meaningful against quarterly net profits currently running around $4 million.
• $250 million target: Management has set a long-term revenue goal of BSD $250 million by 2030, implying roughly 23% growth from the FY2025 record — achievable if the Old Trail store opens and same-store momentum holds, but tight if VAT costs and energy bills continue to rise.
• Transparency gap: AML discloses quarterly revenues and net profits promptly, which is commendable for a small-exchange listing. Full-year ownership structure, return on equity, and net asset figures would materially help investors price the stock.

This is news, not investment advice.