QWI Investments Limited

What it is

QWI Investments Limited has been listed on the Main Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange since September 2019; it is a subsidiary of the Jamaican Teas Group, incorporated in 2018 and built around the investment portfolios previously owned by KIW International Ltd. and Jamaican Teas Ltd.

Its entire business is holding publicly traded shares — it buys and sells stocks on the Jamaican and US markets, with Jamaica commanding the majority of the portfolio, plus a small number of positions on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange.

All back-office work — accounting, securities records, compliance, payments — is performed by Jamaican Teas under an Administrative Management Agreement, meaning QWI carries no employees of its own. That keeps costs minimal but ties QWI tightly to its parent’s management priorities.

Who owns it

Jamaican Teas directly holds 22.6% of QWI; its associated holding company KIW International holds a further 18%, giving the Jamaican Teas group combined control of roughly 40.6% of the investment company.

KIW International is itself 18%-owned by Jamaican Teas and forms part of the Jamaican Teas group structure alongside QWI. Jamaican Teas was acquired by the father-and-son team of Adeeb and John Mahfood in 1995, making the Mahfood family the ultimate controllers of the group.

The remaining roughly 59% of QWI is free-float, held by approximately 4,700 public shareholders acquired at the 2019 IPO.

Who runs it

John Jackson serves as Chairman, representing KIW International, and John Mahfood — also CEO of Jamaican Teas — serves as executive Director and CEO of QWI.

Cameron Burnett is Chief Financial Officer of the Jamaican Teas Group, overseeing accounting and financial operations across all member companies; he is a Chartered Accountant with more than 30 years of financial experience in food processing and hotel groups. Burnett also serves as Company Secretary and Director of QWI.

The money, in plain words

For the year ended 30 September 2024, total income jumped 405% to J$297.9 million (US$1.9 million), driven by gains from selling and holding investments that rose 1,423% to J$244.6 million (US$2 mn) — a dramatic reversal from the thin J$59 million (US$377 k) the prior year.

The bottom line — what owners actually kept — was J$133.1 million (US$0.85 million), a net profit margin of 44.7% (our calculation): for every dollar of income earned by the portfolio, nearly 45 cents flowed to shareholders as profit. Total assets reached J$2.24 billion (US$14.3 million), while shareholders’ equity — the owners’ net stake — was J$1.82 billion (US$11.6 million), or J$1.33 (US$0.01)per share in book value.

The single biggest driver of asset growth was overseas quoted investments, which rose 56% to J$805.7 million (US$5 mn) — meaning US-listed shares now represent the fastest-growing part of the book. Return on equity came to roughly 7.3% (our calculation): for every J$100 (US$0.64)of owners’ capital, the portfolio earned about J$7.30 (US$0.05)that year — modest by regional standards but a sharp improvement on recent losses.

The share price closed at J$0.86 (US$0.01)on 18 October 2024, implying a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.82×.

What it is doing now

QWI closed its 2025 financial year (ended September 2025) on a strong fourth quarter, with pre-tax profit reaching J$115 million (US$736 k) — a marked improvement over the prior year’s J$22 million (US$141 k) for the same quarter.

Shareholders’ equity at the interim March 2025 period stood at J$1.68 billion (US$10.7 million), down from J$1.81 billion (US$12 mn) in September 2024, partly reflecting J$34 million (US$217 k) in dividends paid in December 2024 — the first dividend QWI had paid in some years. During that interim period, the Jamaican portfolio produced unrealised losses of J$67.5 million (US$432 k) and the overseas portfolio incurred unrealised losses of J$73.3 million (US$469 k), reflecting broader emerging-market and US equity turbulence.

What to watch

• Portfolio direction: When markets rise, buying shares with borrowed funds is profitable; when markets decline, borrowed funds magnify trading losses — QWI’s use of leverage makes it more volatile than its net asset value suggests.
• NAV discount: The share price has traded well below book value (J$1.33 (US$0.01)/share at end-FY2024 vs. the J$0.73 (US$0.00)–0.86 trading range). A sustained narrowing — aided by the approved share buy-back programme — is the key upside case.
• Dividend continuity: The board’s stated position is that dividends will continue only while profits are made on a sustained basis; the FY2025 interim losses put the next distribution in question.
• Parent concentration: All operations are provided by Jamaican Teas under a contract; any change in that relationship — financial stress at the parent, leadership change, or fee renegotiation — flows directly into QWI.

This is news, not investment advice.