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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2020
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‘Beer we go’: Sands in full return by June By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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AHAMIANS can look forward to Sands Beer and its fellow beverages returning by “early summer”, the brand’s founder revealed yesterday, as he predicted a “massive” effort to rebuild market share. Jimmy Sands, the Bahamian Brewery and Beverage Company’s founder, told Tribune Business it “has to basically start all over again” with its homegrown labels despite being able to draw on the inroads made with consumers pre-Dorian. Revealing that the Freeport-based brewer is targeting a phased return to full production some nine months after the category five storm hit, Mr Sands said business will “not just fall into our laps” once Sands Beer and the other brands come back to bars and shelves. The Bahamian Brewery
• Brewer to ‘start all over again’ post-Dorian • Faces ‘massive’ market share rebuilding • Pernod Ricard deal ‘feather in our cap’
EXECUTIVES from the Bahamian Brewery & Beverage Company celebrate the beginning of a new relationship that will see it carry Pernod Ricard brands such as Martell Cognac, Jameson Irish Whiskey, Absolut Vodka, and Kahlua Liqueur. Photo: BBB/Barefoot Marketing and Beverage Company is set to resume “kegging” by the end of March 2020 as the first stage in resuming production, with drinkers who “favour bottles” likely to enjoy Sands’ return by “the end of May and early June”. And Mr Sands said the company had gained
DPM predicts $130m economic output fall By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE government is forecasting that Bahamian economic output may be slashed by a full percentage point due to Hurricane Dorian, the deputy prime minister revealed yesterday. K Peter Turnquest, pictured, launching the House of Assembly debate on the government’s extra $508m financial needs, said it had no choice but to borrow as the alternatives were to either “starve the economy” or
“break the back of taxpayers”. “We have $540.7m in new and necessary financing requirements and only $32.8m in offsetting income,” he added, referring to the monies
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Digital dollar to have ‘monumental effect’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Chamber of Commerce’s chief executive yesterday predicted that the Bahamian digital currency will “have a monumental effect” on the transparency and safety of local financial transactions. Jeffrey Beckles, speaking after the Central Bank introduced Project Sand Dollar to 162 businesses at a Chamber breakfast, told Tribune Business that the initiative “sets the tone” for entrepreneurs to develop multiple spin-off
JEFFREY BECKLES products in this space for the benefit of both consumers and businesses. Calling for the Sand Dollar’s national roll-out to be accompanied by a robust education campaign, he
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“another feather in our cap” through the just-signed deal with Pernod Ricard to become the exclusive distribution agent and representative for its wines and spirits brands in this nation. Describing the tie-up as “a vote of confidence” in the vertically-integrated
brewer’s resilience and operating model, he added that it would provide a “valuable injection” of revenue to coincide perfectly with the company’s post-Dorian restoration efforts. The Bahamian Brewery and Beverage Company founder said the addition of Pernod Ricard will “make it a much stronger and all-around company”, complementing other existing distribution deals with AB InBev (Budweiser) and Phillip Morris (tobacco company) to give it a full liquor product menu and range. “Now we’ve just got to the brewery back up and running,” Mr Sands told Tribune Business. “It’s coming on well. As I speak there’s workers installing the new equipment, and we expect
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Taxpayer interest bill to jump $50m By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHAMIAN taxpayers face a $50m post-Dorian hike in debt servicing costs that a former finance minister yesterday described as “very troubling” for fiscal sustainability. James Smith, pictured, who held the post under the first Christie administration, told Tribune Business that the revised budget estimates show the government is spending more to service its debt than on each of the “essential public services” provided to those who pay its taxes. His comments came after this newspaper’s research revealed the impact of Hurricane Dorian’s deficit and national debt blow-out on what the government pays just to service the interest on a direct debt mountain that is projected to hit $8.204bn by end-June 2020 and still continue climbing. The forecasts published by the government in the May 2019-2020 udget projected that its debt servicing (interest) costs would be placed on a declining trend, falling from $381.351m in 2018-2019
to $371.552m this fiscal year. That momentum was to continue with further falls to $345.338m in 2020-2021, and $327.552m in 2021-2022. However, the recovery and restoration costs associated with Dorian have totally reversed this picture based on the estimates contained in the supplementary Budget presented to the House of Assembly in late January. While debt servicing costs are forecast to increase by a modest $5.5m on the initial 2019-2020 projection to $377m, the impact of the $540.5m deficit increase postDorian only starts to be properly felt in coming Budget years. Instead of dropping to $345.338m in 2020-2021, the government’s interest bill is instead forecast to surge
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