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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2025
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‘No blow-out’: But RF says funds to beat 2024 returns By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMIAN investment bank yesterday predicted its mutual funds will beat 2024’s returns even with “no blow-out” as it bids to slash investor redemptions from one month to a week by mid-year. David Slatter, RF Bank & Trust (Bahamas) vice-president of investments, told Tribune Business he is forecasting investor returns for its two Bahamian-dollar flagship funds - the Prime Income Fund and Targeted Equity Fund - will jump closer to historical performance in 2025 with the former “hitting the halfa-billion dollar mark for sure” in assets under management. He projected that the Targeted Equity Fund, which has around $130m in assets under
t -BSHFTU GVOE UP IJU N BNJE 5SVNQ GFBST t &RVJUZ GVOE UP TISVH PGG ATVC QBS TUPDL NBSLFU t *OWFTUPS QBZPVUT UP CF DVU GSPN NPOUI UP XFFL management and is weighted heavily towards investments in stocks and shares, will grow by between 7-9 percent in 2025 to come close to its five-year average of 9.7 percent annual returns. Disclosing that the fund delivered just a 5.7 percent return to investors in 2024, Mr Slatter explained
LPIA’s $200m expansion not until ‘‘26 and beyond’ By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net THE proposed $200m expansion of The Bahamas major aviation gateway is unlikely to start until “2026 and beyond” as its operator first need to complete the “refinancing” of existing debt. Vernice Walkine, Nassau Airport Development Company’s (NAD) president and chief executive, said plans for the overhaul of Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA also remain to be finalised along with the financing for the project. “We haven’t finalised all of our plans yet. We’re actually actively planning now. It will require some refinancing. So, we’re probably talking about 2026 and beyond for anything to get started. We haven’t finalised the refinancing yet,” she said. Ms Walkine added that the expansion will seek to reduce airside congestion among aviation traffic, and integrate technology to
its net asset value (NAV) increase by between 4.2-4.4 percent in 2025 as opposed to 3.2 percent growth for 2024. The expected improvement will be aided by further reductions in its cash holdings earning zero returns. “I don’t think it’s going to be a blowDAVID SLATTER out year. I think it’s going to be a good it had been weighed down by a year for the funds,” Mr Slatter “sub par” stock market. told this newspaper. “I hope for And the Prime Income Fund, which is primarily invested in the Targeted Equity Fund that fixed-income securities such as it’s incredible, and I hope we have government debt, preference another 15-17 percent growth shares and corporate bonds, is year, but my expectation is a forecast by RF Bank & Trust little more subdued - between 7-9 (the former RoyalFidelity) to see percent.”
Record $4.27bn trade deficit gives ‘no cause for alarm yet’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
VERNICE WALKINE process travellers and cargo faster. Speaking to reporters at the Routes Americas conference, she said NAD will use the event to discuss its LPIA expansion plans and ensure airlines consider the destination when making plans for their limited capacity. “We will be talking to them a little bit about our plans for expansion, because we know that the peak is pretty stressed, but we’re managing through it and we’ll be using more forms of technology to help
Acknowledging that this fund’s investor returns will largely be determined by how Bahamas International Securities Exchange (BISX) listed stocks perform, he added that this will be heavily influenced by a wider national economy which - like the rest of the world - is dealing with the considerable uncertainties surrounding US economic policy as a result of Donald Trump’s tariff impositions and threatened global trade war. “There’s a fair bit of uncertainty out there at the moment,” the RF Bank & Trust investments chief added. “Is it going to be 25 percent tariffs on everything? Will other countries retaliate? There’s a one-time price increase as a result of tariffs but an ongoing reduction in demand. Basic economics. Higher prices lower
THE Bahamas’ record annual $4.274bn trade deficit for 2024 is not something “to be alarmed about as yet”, a local economist told Tribune Business yesterday. Rupert Pinder, assistant professor of economics at the University of The Bahamas (UoB), told Tribune Business that the deficit - which measures by how much physical goods imported to the country exceed this nation’s exports - only becomes worrying if the external reserves are being drained to finance it and there are no signs this is occurring.
Speaking after the Bahamas National Statistical Institute (BNSI) unveiled the 20204 annual and fourth quarter trade data, he pointed out that the statistics only relate to one aspect of The Bahamas’ balance of payments which is called the current account. This measures the country’s trade in physical goods, and how much imports exceed exports, resulting in a deficit that broke through the $4bn mark for the first time last year. This represents a 22.6 percent, or close to $750m year-over-year increase, on 2023’s trade deficit. However, it does not incorporate the capital account, which measures The Bahamas’ services
export earnings from its two largest industries, tourism and financial services. These inflows are what finance an annual Bahamian multi-billion dollar trade deficit created by the country’s economic model, which sees it import virtually all of its consumption needs. And Mr Pinder told this newspaper that the trade deficit is further offset by foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into both real estate purchases as well as resorts and other projects. He added that the trade deficit also includes the importation of capital goods by both Bahamian and foreign investors, with the largest import category for the 2024 fourth quarter being ‘machinery
SEE PAGE B4 t &DPOPNJTU /P TJHO JU DBVTJOH FYUFSOBM SFTFSWFT ESBJO t %FmDJU KVNQT PS N BT JNQPSUT OFBS CO t #VU PGGTFU CZ UPVSJTN FYQPSU FBSOJOHT BOE '%* nPXT and transport equipment’ valued at a total $287m. Still, the $4.274bn trade deficit for last year sets a new annual record, exceeding the six-year high of around $3.487bn in 2023 which was itself a 7 percent or $233m jump on the figures for 2022. The Bahamas in 2024 imported close to $5bn worth of goods, the actual number standing at $4.944bn, while exports in comparison stood at a relatively meagre $669.949m.
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US ‘watchdog’ backs Sarkis over CCA examiner probe By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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SARKIS IZMIRLIAN
SARKIS Izmirlian’s bid to appoint an examiner with powers to investigate the business dealings of Baha Mar’s main contractor yesterday received a boost from a watchdog attached to the US Justice Department. Andrew Vera, the US trustee covering federal bankruptcy courts including that in New Jersey,
where China Construction America’s (CCA) US arm has sought Chapter 11 protection from Baha Mar’s original developer, suggested that the circumstances could well meet the qualifying threshold for an examiner to be appointed. In legal filings with the New Jersey court yesterday, he pointed out that the bankruptcy code mandates that an examiner be appointed where a debtor’s “total fixed, liquidated and unsecured debt” - other
than sums owed for goods, services and taxes, or to company insiders - exceeds $5m. Mr Vera said this fits CCA Inc’s Chapter 11 case, where it lists debts/ unsecured creditor claims worth $1.769bn. Of this sum, some $1.642bn - or 92.8 percent of the total - represents the damages awarded to Mr Izmirlian and his BML Properties vehicle by the New York
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Bahamasair slashes losses 20% to $24m By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net BAHAMASAIR’S managing director yesterday said the airline had slashed its annual losses by 20 percent to $24m for the 2023 financial year as it moves to launch new airlift into Grand Bahama. Tracy Cooper, the national flag carrier’s managing director, said the airline will introduce
TRACY COOPER a new direct flight from West Palm Beach in the 2025 second quarter to
accommodate increased demand for the island. Speaking to reporters at the Routes America 2025 conference, which is being held on Paradise Island, Mr Cooper said that Bahamasair will support the Government’s bid to drive increased tourist traffic and economic activity to Grand Bahama through foreign direct investment (FDI) by expanding airlift and travel connectivity. “Especially as the Government is concentrating
on Freeport, with the hotel and other areas, so Bahamasair will be concentrating on that as well. I believe it’s in the second quarter we should be starting a new route from Freeport to West Palm Beach,” said Mr Cooper. He added that Bahamasair has also recently acquired a 70-seat ATR 72 aircraft to expand domestic inter-island services, and is working with the
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