The board of Angostura Holdings has finally wielded to a change in government and resigned as directors of the Trinidad and Tobago rum and bitters maker.
Angostura’s six-member board (cut from seven since Ingrid Lashley’s term expired in July 2024) had remained in place despite Kamla Persad-Bissessar and her United National Congress (UNC) party winning a landslide victory in a snap election in April to become prime minister.
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Publicly-listed Angostura is part-owned by National Investment Fund Holding (NIF), the state investment agency, which holds 30% of the company’s shares. Under Trinidad and Tobago protocols, government or government-related employees are expected to resign or leave office upon a change of administration.
However, as reported by local media, including the Trinidad Express, Angostura’s board had refused to resign even though they were appointed under the previous administration of the People’s National Movement, led by former prime minister Keith Rowley.
Trinidad Express suggested their refusal to step down was based on a commitment to continue to serve on the Angostura board in the ‘best interests of the majority of shareholders’.
Angostura’s largest shareholder ahead of the statement investment fund is Rumpro Company with a 45% holding. The business is controlled by Corporation Sole, the liquidators of CL Financial, which collapsed in 2009. Its shares were then transferred to NIF.
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By GlobalDataThe board of Laventille-headquartered Angostura appear to have succumbed to government pressure amid threats from new prime minister Persad-Bissessar and is now left without a seat of directors nor, it seems, a permanent CEO.
According to the UK’s Guardian newspaper, Persad-Bissessar last week urged state board directors to resign.
“This is the most shameless type of behaviour I’ve ever seen exhibited during a change of government,” the publication reported the prime minister as saying. “I tell them every contract they’ve entered into will be sent straight to the Anti-Corruption Investigation Bureau. So every person and every company involved will be investigated.”
The resignations came in two waves this week, with the first batch led by Angostura chairman Terrence Bharath on 3 June, joined by Maryam Richards, Gerard Cooper and Tricia Coosal, according to a filing with the Trinidad and Tobago Securities and Exchange Commission.
The next day, Franka Costelloe and Dr Sterling Frost followed, a separate Commission filing showed.
Just Food has approached Angostura, which owns rum brands such as Angostura 1824, Angostura 1919 and White Oak, to confirm when a new board might be appointed. And if there has been any progress on the CEO front.
The company’s previous chief, Laurent Schun, left the business in January after his term as CEO expired that month. Rahim Mohammed, previously Angostura’s manager of business efficiency and shared services, was appointed as deputy CEO in April.
The same month, Angostura reported its first-quarter results (in Trinidad and Tobago dollars), signed off by then-chairman Bharath.
Revenue increased 17% to TT$221 million ($32.6m), while operating profit rose 16% to TT$29.6m. Net profit climbed 10% to TT$23m, while earnings per share were up by the same magnitude at TT$0.11.
In 2024, Angostura reported revenue of TT$1.06bn, flat with the previous 12 months. Operating income fell 11.8% to TT$175.2m, while net income dropped 5% to TT$144.3m. EPS was delivered at 70 cents versus 74 cents.
