business@tribunemedia.net
MONDAY, JANUARY 20, 2020
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Top contractor terminates 54 By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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EARS were growing last night that one of The Bahamas’ largest and best-known construction companies has shut down permanently with some 54 employees already terminated. Cavalier Construction, which was founded 64 years ago, was said by multiple construction industry sources to have closed its doors last week and laid-off all staff after it was unable to win a sufficient volume
Bahamians trapped in ‘double dependency’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net MANY Bahamians “lack the means to live” and are caught in a “double dependency syndrome” that relies on the government to provide growth and jobs, an economic observer argued yesterday. Dr Johnathan Rodgers, pictured, the well-known eye doctor, told Tribune Business that too many economists had bought into the “fallacy” that Bahamians are “living above
their means” and need to save more to improve their financial well-being and prospects. Instead, he suggested that the root cause of The Bahamas’ low savings levels was simply that too many households and individuals earn insufficient income to put money aside once all daily living costs are met. And Dr Rodgers added that too many Bahamians have “misunderstood the role of government”,
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BPL staff must know ‘the customer is king’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
ALL Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) staff “must know the customer is king”, a union leader has charged, arguing: “We’ve got to make this utility a lean, mean, fighting machine.” Paul Maynard, the Bahamas Electrical Workers Union’s (BEWU) president, told Tribune Business that BPL’s plans to invest in staff training were “spot on” but he questioned why it had taken the board and
management so long “to come to this epiphany”. Responding after Dr Donovan Moxey, BPL’s chairman, branded the utility’s customer service as “terrible” at last week’s Bahamas Business Outlook conference while admitting that it had lost the trust of most customers, Mr Maynard backed his comments but warned: “Talk is cheap.” Disclosing that he had warned Dr Moxey and his Board that they were facing their “worst nightmare”
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process now. The minister was notified more than a week ago,” he said. “They only said they let go 54 due to lack of business. They didn’t say that [they were closing] in the letter, but that’s what I have heard; that they have gone out of business.” Martin Todd, Cavalier’s managing director, last night confirmed to Tribune Business that 54 employees have
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BPL cuts bond to $580m raise JOHN PINDER
• Fears mount for Cavalier’s future • Top executive does not deny closure • 64 year-old firm blames ‘lack of work’
of high-value, large-scale projects to support its significant overhead costs. John Pinder, director of labour, said his department had been notified by Cavalier that it was terminating 54 persons “due to lack of business” although he said the contractor had made no mention of any plans to close in its letter to Dion Foulkes, minister of labour. “They’re starting the
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been terminated. He would, though, neither confirm nor deny that the contractor had closed its doors for good, instead promising to issue a statement today. “To be honest, I’ve not got too much to say today,” he told this newspaper, dancing around the closure question. “There’s a few things going on that I need
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By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
BAHAMAS Power & Light (BPL) has cut the target for its upcoming bond issue to $580m as it places reliance on “selling our turnaround strategy” to obtain the credit rating it needs. Desmond Bannister, pictured, minister of works, confirmed to Tribune Business that the sum sought has been reduced by just over ten percent from the original $650m because BPL has already received some of the necessary financing through the Ministry of Finance for post-Dorian restoration projects in Abaco. “That’s the most likely
figure right now,” Mr Bannister said of the $580m. “Because of the money we’ve injected through the Ministry of Finance and a number of projects in Abaco, the amount we need is not as high as initially projected.” The $70m drop in BPL’s borrowing requirement comes as the state-owned utility monopoly still awaits a credit rating for its socalled Rate Reduction
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