business@tribunemedia.net
TUESDAY, JULY 25, 2023
$5.75
$5.63
$5.80
$5.71
Super Value in halt over ‘reached the limit’ orders By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net SUPER Value will stop buying products whose prices have “reached the limits” of Bahamian affordability, its owner disclosed yesterday, while revealing that soaring energy bills have “siphoned off 5 percent of our sales”. Rupert Roberts told Tribune Business that suppliers must
realise “there’s only so much the public are prepared to pay” as he revealed that the 13-store supermarket chain had stopped purchasing one-gallon bottles of Hellmann’s mayonnaise because consumers had stopped buying it because of the price. Keenly aware of the impact escalating food prices, and the ongoing cost of living crisis, are having on Bahamian families, he added that Super Value’s buyers can no longer raise prices “without my consent or joint
agreement” given the extent of post-COVID hikes. Mr Roberts also said Bahamas Power & Light’s (BPL) soaring electricity rates, which are projected to peak this summer as the utility seeks to reclaim at least $90m in previously under-recovered fuel costs, are taking an ever-increasing bite of consumer incomes and spending power as shown by a recent dip in Super Value’s sales which he attributed to rising energy prices.
Away from BPL, international developments are threatening to further increase food costs for already hard-pressed Bahamian consumers. With Russia once again refusing to permit Ukrainian grain exports through the latter’s Black Sea ports, India late last week sparked fears of a global rice shortage by banning exports of its largest export category, non-basmati rice.
Insurance cuts ‘false economy’ despite 26year high premiums
NASSAU CRUISE PORT
Cruise port ‘not unreasonable’ over tenant expansion plans By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net NASSAU Cruise Port will “not unreasonably withhold” permission for any of its Marketplace tenants to expand their business by opening another outlet in a New Providence resort, its top executive has pledged. Michael Maura, addressing concerns that a clause in the vendors’ lease agreement with Nassau Cruise Port is tantamount to a
‘restraint of free trade’, told Tribune Business in a recent interview that the Prince George Wharf operator only wants “to understand” what a vendor’s expansion plan may be so that it does not detract from the overall effort to downtown Nassau’s waterfront. He spoke out after concerns were voiced over a lease clause that stipulates marketplace tenants cannot open a “competing retail shop” at any other New Providence
or Paradise Island resort without the cruise port’s permission. “The tenant agrees that, during the term of this lease agreement, it shall not own or operate, whether on its own, or in partnership, or other form of association with another, any competing retail shop in any other resort on Paradise Island or New Providence without prior written consent of the landlord, save and except those currently so owned and/or operated
as listed” in an annex to the agreement, the lease document said. Those exceptions and the annex were not enclosed. Yvette Prince, president of the Nassau Cruise Port Tenant Association, which includes Marketplace vendors, voiced strident objections to this clause. “One of the things that they want us to sign on the lease says if we signed the lease, if we have an existing business, they want to know where it is. And if we want to have another business, we have to get permission from them. There was no way that I would put my signature on something like that,” she said last week.
SEE PAGE B3
Contractors chief: No to permit double standards By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE BAHAMIAN Contractors Association’s (BCA) president yesterday called for “greater transparency and management” in the work permit process amid the ongoing controversy over “irregularities” involving Chinese construction workers.
LEONARD SANDS
Leonard Sands told Tribune Business it was vital that the Immigration laws are applied evenly, and that there are no double standards where the rules are different for certain developers and contractors, after it emerged that only three of the 65 Chinese workers found at the British Colonial could produce identity documents when asked by officials.
Speaking after it was revealed that Immigration officers were instructed to “stand down” less than one hour after they began an enforcement operation to determine whether the Chinese were in The Bahamas legally, and had the necessary work permits, the BCA chief said the revelations
SEE PAGE B4
Fidelity chief’s ten-point plan to $50m profitability By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net FIDELITY Bank (Bahamas) president has set out what he describes as a ten-point plan to seizing market share and more than doubling annual profits to $50m by its 50th anniversary. Gregory Bethel, writing in the BISX-listed
SEE PAGE B4
t 3PCFSUT A/P TFOTF UP CVZ JG TIPQQFST SFTJTUBOU UP DPTU t #1- IJLFT ATJQIPO PGG PG 4VQFS 7BMVF T UPQ MJOF t 'FBST ASJDF TPPO CF MJLF PJM PWFS *OEJB T FYQPSU CBO
institution’s just-released 2022 annual report, said the bank has identified its “priorities” as greater automation for account opening, loan applications and deposit administration as well as total digitisation so that customers can interact with it via virtual platforms. Besides upgrading the existing digital platform, which includes automated
teller machines (ATMs), online and mobile banking applications and its website, Mr Bethel said opening offices in Exuma and Eleuthera is another core focus. Employee share ownership, as a means to attract and retain the best staff, is also an element in the plan. Finally, Mr Bethel said Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) is exploring the launch
of corporate and private banking units, as well as the introduction of a client relationship management (CRM) tool “to enhance the ability of the bank to ‘mine’ and ‘harvest’ customer data and facilitate targeted marketing”. Mr Bethel added: “Digital banking, credit cards, business loans, merchant
SEE PAGE B2
t *$# DIJFGT XBSO SFTVMU NBZ CF AmOBODJBMMZ DSJQQMJOH t *ODSFBTFE EFWFMPQNFOU UP QSFTTVSF NBSLFU DBQBDJUZ t )PNFPXOFST BOE CVTJOFTTFT GBDFE XJUI SFDPSE SBUFT By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHAMIAN homeowners and businesses have been warned that cutting, or dropping, property catastrophe coverage will be “a false economy” in the face of 26-year record-high insurance costs. Tom Duff, who is retiring as Insurance Company of The Bahamas (ICB) general manager after 26 years in the post, warned clients in the company’s just-released 2022 annual report that while they may save premium dollars they run a huge risk of becoming
“financially crippled” if their property assets are devastated by a Hurricane Dorian-style storm. Acknowledging that the affordability of insurance is becoming an increasing concern, with reinsurance costs at their highest-ever level during ICB’s existence, Mr Duff wrote: “The cost of catastrophe reinsurance has risen quite dramatically for 2023 and, as a result, customers will be faced with an unwelcome increase in their renewal premiums. “Although some may be tempted to cancel or reduce cover, doing so may
SEE PAGE B5