Paramount doubles down on changes to counter loss

Paramount Trading returned to profit following changes at the chemicals manufacturing and distribution firm.

CEO Hugh Graham said the profit of $9.27 million for the February 2025 third quarter signals a recovery for Paramount. Its profit is however down by half compared to the $18.4 million made a year earlier.

“The movement that you've seen is really a relook at how we do things. That is to say sharpening our pencils, cutting some of the costs and really doubling down as we had to do,” Graham said.

Graham said that changes were necessary to address the company's first loss in its history. The company reported a year-end loss of $14.4 million in May 2024, and despite a third-quarter profit in 2025, it still has a nine-month loss of $43 million.

“So, if it's 34 years of profit, after operating for 35 years, and there's a loss trend developing, you have to reverse that; which means changes. So, we had some reorganisation of people and, of course, processes,” Graham said.