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MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2022
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Bank to ‘double’ dividend on pre-Dorian profit return By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net COMMONWEALTH Bank will this month “double” its quarterly dividend payment, and return more than 27 percent of year-to-date profits back to shareholders, as it forecasts returning to pre-Dorian annual profits of $50m-$60m for 2022. Tangela Albury, the BISX-listed bank’s vice-president and chief financial officer, told Tribune Business that its 2022 earnings performance and the improving outlook for both tourism and employment had given it the necessary confidence to return quarterly dividend payments to two cents per share. That first such payment, due to be paid on September 30 to all shareholders of record as at this Thursday, September 15, will be the first twocent dividend in more than two years. And the total $5.9m payout will take total capital returns to Commonwealth Bank investors to around $11.7m for 2022 to-date and, potentially, $17.6m in regular dividend
• Commonwealth eyes $50-$60m bottom line • $5.9m payout to take return to 27% of profit • COVID loan loss reversals won’t go into ‘23 payments for the full year if the same is repeated for the fourth quarter. “We have changed our dividend payment to now two cents per share. We’ve doubled the quarterly dividend payment this quarter back to where we were pre-COVID and pre-Dorian,” Ms Albury told this newspaper. “For the last two years we’ve been at one cent per quarter.
This quarter we’ve moved back to two cents, consistent with pre-COVID. “The dividend payment will be TANGELA ALBURY made on September 30, 2022, to shareholders of record on September 15, 2022. The total third quarter dividend proposed to be paid will be approximately $5.9m. Total dividends paid to shareholders up to September 30, 2022, will be approximately $11.7m compared to the total profit of $42.8m up to June 30, 2022, and will represent 27.3 percent of the total profit to that date.” Maintaining a two cent quarterly dividend for the full year would take total capital returned to Commonwealth Bank shareholders to around $23.6m in 2023. The BISX-listed
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Pigs out as Adelaide planning appeal looms By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMIAN entrepreneur yesterday pledged that swimming pigs will “not be part” of his Adelaidebased tourist attraction as he prepares to battle the authorities’ rejection of a proposed beach bar and grill. Charles Johnson, principal of Beyond Da Village Pig Experience, told Tribune Business that while he is still “taking care” of the animals they will no longer feature at the site given the strong opposition mounted by Adelaide Beach Drive residents prior to the bar and grill’s March 2022
rejection by the Town Planning Committee. Supported by his attorney, Bjorn Ferguson, Mr Johnson is set to appeal the Committee’s decision to the Subdivision and Development Appeal Board, headed by Callenders & Co attorney and partner, Dawson Malone, on September 28, 2022. However, the move is again meeting fierce resistance from residents in south-western New Providence, who have told this newspaper that the entrepreneur is “beating a dead horse”, adding: “We’re not going to stand for it.” Leslie Vanderpool, principal of the Bahamas International Film Festival,
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Politicians urged: ‘Preach the lessons’ of hard work By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE BAHAMAS is suffering from “a shortage” of political leaders who “preach the lessons” of hard work as opposed to offering hand-outs and giveaways, an outspoken businessman is arguing. Sir Franklyn Wilson, the Arawak Homes and Sunshine Holdings chairman, in a recent interview told Tribune Business that The Bahamas must stop seeking “short cut” solutions to the problems it faces as he blasted calls for the creation of a National Lottery. That suggestion, made last week by former Democratic National Alliance
SIR FRANKLYN WILSON (DNA) leader Branville McCartney, was branded as “very unwise” by Sir Franklyn, who instead backed the message delivered by businessman Ethric Bowe that increased productivity was the only way to “save
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Court asked to decide Cavalier’s $54k VAT bill By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE SUPREME Court will be asked to determine if a Cavalier Construction affiliate must pay an outstanding $54,161 VAT bill owed by the insolvent contractor, it has been disclosed. Liquidators for Bobcat Bahamas, which is also being wound-up, disclosed in a July 31, 2022, report to the Supreme Court that the fate of the Government’s VAT claim will be critical to deciding how much termination pay and associated benefits the construction equipment supplier’s employees will recover. Andrew Davies and Kendrick Christie, the Crowe Bahamas accountants and partners, said the Department of Inland Revenue/ Ministry of Finance had submitted the VAT claim in the Bobcat Bahamas liquidation - even though the sum was owed by Cavalier on the basis of joint liability.
The Government’s argument is that, since Cavalier and Bobcat were part of the same tax-paying group under the VAT Act, all become liable to pay outstanding taxes if one entity fails to make the necessary payments that are owing. The liquidators, though, have yet to approve and accept the Government’s claim, and will instead seek the Supreme Court’s direction on the matter. “The joint official liquidators received a preferred creditor claim from the Government for VAT relating to unpaid VAT due from Cavalier Construction in the amount of $54,161. The basis of the claim was that as Bobcat Bahamas and Cavalier Construction were part of a VAT group, as allowed under the VAT Act, each member is jointly and severally liable for any amounts owed where the a member of the group contravenes or fails to comply with a provision or requirement of the VAT
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