THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2016
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Miller: Union in âla la landâ over water deal By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net Leslie Miller yesterday slammed the Water & Sewerage Corporationâs management union for âliving in la la landâ, and pledged that the $8.9 million water supply deal with a BISX-listed company âwill not be rescindedâ. The Corporationâs executive chairman, defending the 15year agreement over the Windsor reverse osmosis plant with Consolidated Water, said the 18 per cent price reduction it had obtained âcannot be matched anywhere in the worldâ. Brushing aside criticism from Ednol Rolle, the Water & Sew-
BISX-listed firmâs $8.9m contract âcanât be matchedâ Water Corp chair slams unionâs outsource âfirst shotâ And admits âno needâ to invite rival bids via tender erage Management Unionâs (WSMU) president, and Don Demeritte, principal of EPS Consultants, a rival bidder, Mr
Miller said the deal with Consolidated Water was âin the best interests of the Bahamian peopleâ. And, hitting back at the union in particular, he suggested it had no cause for complaint given that the Corporationâs staff were receiving $8 million per year in pension and medical insurance benefits without contributing a cent themselves. Mr Miller, though, effectively admitted that the Water & Sewerage Management Unionâs (WSMU) industrial agreement gave its members âfirst shotâ at any outsourcing tenders and contracts - as reported previously by Tribune Business. He also conceded that the See pg b4
Realtors yesterday predicted the Bahamasâ downgrade to âjunkâ status will not impact the foreign second home market, amid âone of the busiest starts to the winter season for a long timeâ. Ryan Knowles, of HG Christie, told Tribune Business that the Bahamas appeared to be âreally close to getting over the economic humpâ despite Standard & Poorâs (S&P) action, provided Baha Mar and other investment projects came on stream in 2017. While acknowledging that the downgrade to âjunkâ status âisnât greatâ, Mr Knowles said the âfundamentalsâ that attracted foreign real estate buyers to the Bahamas were still holding and unlikely to be impacted. He was backed by Peter Dupuch, ERA Dupuch Real Estateâs president, who told Tribune Business that sales to the expatriate market were also âpicking up and things seem to be goodâ. Agreeing that the S&P downgrade would not impact second home purchasers, Mr Dupuch suggested it would have more effect on persons coming to the Ba-
See âone of busiest starts to winter for long timeâ Foreign market likely to shrug off S&P impact Despite sales âpick upâ, concern for locals, businesses hamas to invest in development projects. He expressed concern, though, for the still-flagging Bahamian segment of the real estate market, and the ongoing uncertainty that has caused many locally-owned businesses to âlose faithâ. Mr Knowles, meanwhile, said he and his HG Christie colleagues had been âincredibly busyâ dealing with potential high-end purchases of Bahamian real estate as 2016 came to a close. âMy gut feeling is that I donât think itâs going to have any major negative effect,â Mr Knowles said of the fallout from S&Pâs downgrade. âFor me, the fundamentals that make the Bahamas attractive for investor and leisure buyers alike are still See pg b5
SuperValue chief: Xmas rush âworse than for Matthewâ By NATARIO McKENZIE
Tribune Business Reporter
nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net SuperValueâs owner yesterday described Christmas sales as ââsatisfactoryâ, telling this newspaper that the consumer rush was âworse than Hurricane Matthewâ. âIt was worse than Hurricane Matthew. We were very busy,â said Rupert Roberts. âLike hurricanes, when people decided to shop all at one time it creates a problem to handle. âThere was a lot of preparation, and I guess we held our own. We got the results. So far, the Christmas period from Sunday to Sunday appears to have been good. Mr Roberts, acknowledged, though, that he has yet to do an actual yearover-year comparison of the sales performance for his SuperValue and Quality Supermarkets stores. âChristmas is a lot of stress like hurricanes,â he added. âYou have so much preparation, and so much to do during and so much to do after that. The staff have to put in overtime and
Rupert Roberts double time and so on to cope, or to keep the level of customer service there,â Mr Roberts told Tribune Business. Back in October, Mr Roberts estimated that Hurricane Matthew had resulted in an 80 per cent spike in business. He said yesterday of Christmas: âAll things considered, Iâd say that things have been satisfactory. Iâm sort of pleased with the sales we saw this period, and Iâm talking about all across the board. Some [stores] performed better than others. The inner city stores performed, and the larger stores performed.â
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
A former finance minister yesterday slammed Standard & Poorâs (S&P) âjunkâ downgrade as unwarranted and premature because the Bahamas has ânot reached the point of no returnâ. James Smith, also a former Central Bank governor, told Tribune Business that the Bahamas was ânowhere nearâ âjunkâ status because the Government was still able to service its direct $6.046 billion debt. He explained that such a rating, which had cost the Bahamasâ its âinvestment gradeâ status, indicated to global investors and the capital markets that a country was struggling to pay its debts - a position that this country is not in currently. Pointing out that the country had not been forced into an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bail-out programme, as had happened to other âjunkâ nations, such as Jamaica, Mr Smith said S&P had either âignored or jumpedâ See pg b8
Number portability puts âbig spendingâ 20% in Alivâs reach Keeping number âmore important in Bahamasâ Ease of provider switch gives upstart âmomentumâ Operator hopes âno spanner in worksâ before Feb 14 By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
Leslie Miller
Realtors: Bahamas near Ex-minister: Bahamas is top of âeconomic humpâ ânowhere nearâ junk By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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Smith: S&P move premature, unwarranted Govt not at âpoint of no returnâ on debt servicing Predicts âinvestment gradeâ reinstated by Q3 2017
James Smith
Alivâs top executive yesterday said number portabilityâs imminent arrival would enable the new operator to penetrate the âbig spendingâ segment that accounts for up to 20 per cent of the Bahamian market. Damian Blackburn told Tribune Business that number portabilityâs introduction was likely âmore important in the Bahamasâ than other nations, given the mobile marketâs maturity and the Bahamas Telecommunications Companyâs (BTC) entrenched 15year monopoly. He added that its arrival would give Aliv âmomentumâ going into 2017, and allow it to target customers wanting to keep their existing numbers when they switch to it - particularly Damian Blackburn the corporate and small business market. Estimating that this segment accounted for at least 10-20 per cent of the Bahamian mobile market, Mr Blackburn said corporate/business customers tended to be higher spenders, making them important targets for Aliv as it seeks to rapidly build a customer base and share. Tribune Business disclosed yesterday that regulators are targeting February 14, 2017, for the launch of mobile number portability in the Bahamas, which will allow consumers to keep their existing numbers when switching provider (mostly from BTC to Aliv, at least initially). Hoping that âno one throws a spanner in the worksâ, Mr Blackburn hailed the longSee pg b8