Sterling Products Limited

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What it is

Sterling Products Limited is the largest edible fats and oil operation in Guyana and one of the largest local manufacturers of ice cream. It makes and distributes cooking margarine, reduced-fat and all-purpose margarine, ghee, shortening, butter, ice cream, soap, and powder and liquid detergents.

Incorporated as a public limited liability company on 15 October 1954, it began life making margarine, lard, ghee, and soap. Export started in 1957 with Golden Cream Margarine shipped to Dominica; detergent followed in 1967 and butter in 1969.

Who owns it

In 1998 the Beharry Group of Companies acquired a majority shareholding in SPL. A holding vehicle called Secure International Finance Company Incorporated owns 58.1% of the outstanding shares in Sterling, and Secure is in turn 100% owned by Edward B.

Beharry & Company Limited, a private family company.

The remaining ~42% of shares are in public hands and trade on the Guyana Stock Exchange; SPL is a part of the wider Beharry Group of Companies. The exact current Beharry ownership percentage is sourced from a 2012 annual-report review; the company has not published an updated breakdown in its exchange filings.

Who runs it

Ramsay Ali is Chief Executive Officer; he was re-elected unopposed as President of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association for 2024–2025, making him one of the most publicly visible manufacturing executives in the country. Ali’s career began in 1988 in sales and marketing, with stints at Colgate Palmolive and Banks DIH before moving to Sterling.

Andrew M.F. Pollard is listed as a key principal of the company in business-registry data; the board chair and CFO are not disclosed in available exchange filings.

The money, in plain words

The GASCI exchange publishes earnings per share and the share price every trading session, letting us work backwards. In February 2026 the directors proposed a final dividend of GYD 9.25 (US$0.04)per share for financial year 2025 — up from GYD 8.50 (US$0.04)for 2024 and GYD 7.35 (US$0.04)for 2023, a dividend that has risen every year for at least six consecutive years.

At the most recent traded price of GYD 885 (US$4)per share, that is a dividend yield of 1.0% — modest in yield terms, but the dividend itself has grown 26% in two years.

With an EPS of GYD 21.68 (US$0.10)for FY 2025 and 20 million shares on issue, net profit comes to roughly GYD 433 million (US$2.1 million) — a 27.5% jump over the GYD 340 million (US$1.6 million) earned in FY 2024 (our calculations). The market values the company at about 40.8 times those earnings — a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.8×, rich for a small consumer-goods maker, which tells you investors trust the profit growth to continue.

What it is doing now

In February 2026 the directors recommended a dividend of GYD 9.25 (US$0.04)for FY 2025 — the highest in the company’s history — signalling management confidence in the cash position. The 70th Annual General Meeting was held in April 2025 at the Guyana Marriott Hotel in Georgetown.

The brand portfolio stretches from Igloo Ice Cream to Mighty Foam cleaning products and Golden Cream margarine, and the company is actively expanding its retail footprint. Despite earlier challenges, SPL opened a new Igloo Ice Cream Parlour and Play Park at Providence, East Bank Demerara, pursuing direct-to-consumer retail alongside its wholesale business.

What to watch

• Revenue disclosure. GASCI filings show EPS and dividends but not revenue or total assets for SPL; until the company publishes full financials online, the net margin — what fraction of every dollar of sales becomes profit — cannot be verified by outside investors.
• Ownership concentration. With ~58% held through a private Beharry vehicle, the free float is thin and the stock trades infrequently; liquidity risk is real for any investor trying to buy or sell a meaningful position.
• Guyana’s oil boom. The country’s GDP is expanding rapidly on the back of offshore oil; rising consumer incomes should lift demand for SPL’s food and cleaning brands, but so will competition from imports now easier to afford.
• Earnings momentum. EPS has grown from GYD 11.11 (US$0.05)(2022) to GYD 21.68 (US$0.10)(2025) — nearly doubling in three years (our calculation). Whether that rate is sustainable as input costs and the labour market tighten is the key question for the next annual report.

This is news, not investment advice.