The recent increases in fuel prices will lead to a hike in the products made by Banks Holdings Ltd., the company said in its half-yearly financial statement, which was published on Sunday, April 27.

Noting that the fuel price hikes “cannot be absorbed and must be passed on through price increases,” the company said the second half of the financial year, which began on March 1, would present “serious challenges to local operations”.

The statement, signed by Chairman Sir Allan Fields and Managing Director Richard Cozier, said the group expected demand to soften somewhat for its products but remained optimistic that core local operations would produce an improvement on their 2007 financial performance.

Meanwhile, for the first half of the current fiscal year, BHL reports a $3.3 million drop in net profits, due mainly to booking the out-of-season losses in its Belize subsidiary. Last year’s losses for the period were not picked up because they occurred before the group made its investment.

BHL’s turnover for the first six months was $92m, up 4% over the same period the previous year due to the increase in the supply of fresh milk to the Pine Hill Dairy. But income from operations fell nearly 10% due to increased costs that could not be recouped, the BHL officials said. The group’s total revenue for the full financial year which ended last August was $176m and its net profit was $24.2m.