05092019 BUSINESS

business@tribunemedia.net

THURSDAY, MAY 9, 2019

$4.90 Nassau/PI resort room revenue up 37% in Q1

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net ALL performance indicators for major Nassau/ Paradise Island hotels increased by double digit amounts every month in the 2019 first quarter, with room revenues ending the period up 37 percent.

Ministry of Tourism data released yesterday confirmed that the resort industry maintained its soaring growth throughout the three months to

end-March, with room revenues up 48 percent, 41 percent and 28 percent for January, February and March respectively.

March’s year-over-year growth was lower by comparison with the first two months because March 2018 contained the peak Easter holiday weekend, which fell in April this year.

And, while the 2019 first quarter numbers will have been aided by Baha Mar’s Rosewood property, which

SEE PAGE 5

Anti-WTO activist: study makes case for joining tougher

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net AN ANTI-WTO activist yesterday said a Chamber of Commerce-commissioned study had made it harder for The Bahamas to join by highlighting the economy’s “anomalies and deficiencies”.

Paul Moss, a member of Bahamians Agitating for a Referendum on Free Trade (BARF), told Tribune Business that the Oxford Economics report had exposed how Bahamians will be “at greater risk of being marginalised in their

PAUL MOSS own country” by highlighting the labour force skills gaps and poor educational achievement.

While the report’s co-authors concluded that full World Trade

SEE PAGE 7

Super Value chief: ‘cut our own path’ outside the WTO

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net SUPER Value’s owner yesterday said he still believes The Bahamas should “cut its own path” despite trade experts finding it would be “moderately positive” to join the WTO. Rupert Roberts, pictured, told Tribune Business he was “no more convinced” about the merits of becoming a full World Trade Organisation (WTO) member than he was before reading the Oxford Economics study

that suggested the “net impact” would be beneficial to the Bahamian economy.

Arguing that the rulesbased trading system overseen by the WTO threatened to “infringe”

SEE PAGE 5

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BTC is owner’s ‘most inefficient’ subsidiary

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

T

HE Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) was yesterday branded “our most inefficient business” by its owner despite mobile customer losses dropping to a record quarterly low.

Balan Nair, Liberty Latin America’s (LiLAC) chief executive, nevertheless voiced confidence in the group’s ability to turn around its ailing Bahamian subsidiary by saying it had identified “strong possibilities” for transforming it into

• But LiLAC chief confident of turnaround • Quarterly mobile client loss at record low • Admits Aliv rival has ‘schooled’ its team a growth business.

He did not identify what these “possibilities” were during a conference call with investment analysts to discuss LiLAC’s 2019 first quarter results, and admitted that BTC was likely to lose “another four to five points” from its top-line revenues as a result of its mobile market share loss “bottoming out” around 35 percent.

BTC HEADQUARTERS

SEE PAGE 6

Nassau property tax crackdown eyes $21m

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE government is targeting a minimum $21m in extra annual revenue through a “world class” real property tax system that captures every home and commercial building on New Providence.

Marlon Johnson, the Ministry of Finance’s acting financial secretary, told Tribune Business that

MARLON JOHNSON

door-to-door calls will be made on all New Providence properties over the next 18 months in a bid to create a modernised tax system that delivers improved revenue yields together with greater taxpayer equity and fairness.

Confirming the government’s belief that this exercise will increase the number of properties on the tax roll by 30 percent, Mr Johnson said it would ultimately develop an

“objective basis” for valuing real estate that would enable owners to challenge billings and tax assessments they believe are over-valued.

Revealing that its estimates were “not plucked from the sky”, he disclosed that the $21m extra annual revenue target was a “base case scenario” with the Ministry of Finance believing the actual yield could be

SEE PAGE 4

PAGE 2, Thursday, May 9, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

Software no substitute for photography skills I N today’s highly competitive marketplace, the role of digital photographs is critical to the marketing success of any business. Properly edited photographs and images convey a company’s message in the best possible manner, which is why photo editing an essential part of any marketing, communications or branding activity.

I spoke recently to several very disgruntled beginners who had signed up, and paid, to attend a course in “digital photography”. On arrival at the first class, they were told to put their cameras away as they would not need them. This was not a course in photography; it was a course in photo editing. So instead of being taught how to take better photos, they were being taught how to edit their mistakes.

Although this was not exactly what was advertised, it introduces us to image manipulation - anything that changes an image from its original state. And if the photographer further decides to change elements of the image - adding a skyline from a different image; removing light poles and unwanted shapes in the image; eliminating

The Art of Graphix

BY DEIDRE M BASTIAN

blemishes from a person’s face; or changing the features of a person’s body - the photographer is basically manipulating the image to match his imagination.

With the appropriate software you can achieve amazing things. You can do everything from tweaking the contrast in an image to moving objects around and making photos appear like a painting. But there are also essential things you cannot do.

Creativity and a welltrained eye are important.

So is a solid foundation in

photography and art history.

No one expects you to be a professional photographer, but it helps to have a basic knowledge of colour balance, lighting and even some film techniques. You will also need attention to detail and organisational skills to surmount the logistical challenges that inevitably arise when producing even the smallest photo shoot.

“Editing” images is less time consuming than “manipulating” them. Since not every picture needs to be manipulated, a photographer can choose between basic editing software such as Adobe Light room, Adobe Camera RAW, Aperture by Apple or Capture One Pro by Phase One. This is different from software designed for manipulation, such as Adobe Photoshop, which uses layers and masking techniques to fine tune the image as per the photographer’s vision. Thus photo manipulation is more to do with the category of redesigning a photo to a new version or design.

When we correct, manipulate and enhance digital images in software such as Adobe Photoshop, we must deal with questions of ethics and aesthetics. Ethics are a set of rules that that define

what we think is good and bad. Aesthetics, on the other hand, deal with the nature of beauty, art and taste, and things that are pleasing in appearance.

With digital processing, there are almost no limits to what can be done to an image, and many things are done to images with the best intentions. In some advertising industries, the only thing that matters is the image; how it is done is irrelevant as long as it produces the result.

But, for the average Joe, photography is about capturing memories to revisit and share with others. I am not suggesting that software has no place in photography.

In fact, even devoted digital fans recognise that most images need a little tweaking to bring them up to print quality.

The point is that software is no substitute for camera skills. It is great, perhaps even essential, to know how to work on a photo after the event. But that cannot take the place of learning how to use a camera, how to appreciate light, and how to compose a great image.

In fact, by learning these photography essentials, you will develop skills that will reduce your reliance on computers to fix mistakes.

Until we meet again, fill your life with memories rather than regrets. Enjoy life and stay on top of your game.

NB: Columnist welcomes feedback at deedee21bastian@gmail.com ABOUT COLUMNIST: Deidre Bastian is a professionally-trained graphic designer/ marketing co-ordinator and certified life coach with qualifications of M.Sc., B.Sc., A.Sc. She has trained at institutions such as Miami Lakes Technical Centre, Success Training College, College of The Bahamas, Nova Southeastern University, Learning Tree International, Langevine International and Synergy Bahamas.

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED EXPOSES BAHAMAS TO 70M READERS

PHOTO: Janine Berey THE Bahamas will be showcased to more than 70m consumers by the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit (SI) edition that was released yesterday.

Much of the issue was filmed in Nassau and Great Exuma, which played host to producers, crew and models during a two-part project that will feature across SI’s print and digital platforms.

“We’re incredibly honoured that Sports Illustrated Swimsuit chose The Bahamas for its 2019 swimsuit issue shoot that highlights not one, but two of our remarkable islands, The Exumas and Nassau & Paradise Island,” said Joy Jibrilu, the Ministry of tourism and aviation’s director general.

“Our country features the most beautiful beaches in the world, offers exotic experiences and is easily accessible from the US, and

they keep coming back to The Bahamas for just that.”

“Nothing beats the beautiful beaches of The Bahamas,” said SI Swimsuit editor, MJ Day. “The Exumas and Nassau & Paradise Island’s serene and pristine beaches are one of our favourite spots to shoot.”

In Exuma, the crew and models stayed at Grand Isle Resort & Spa on Emerald Bay beach. They participated in activities including snorkeling, Thunderball Grotto’s underwater cave, playing dominos with Bahamians, and a visit to Big D’s Conch Spot.

The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model search competition also took over The Cove at Atlantis for the 2019 edition. The models sampled local cuisine, a Junkanoo parade, toured Nassau and interacted with dolphins and sea lions.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, May 9, 2019, PAGE 3

BICA CHIEF: DON’T FEAR COMPETITION UNDER WTO

By NATARIO MCKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas must not fear competition in a postWTO environment, a top accountant argued yesterday, as it now has an “issues checklist” to help prepare itself.

Gowon Bowe, pictured, the Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA) president, told Tribune Business that this nation must avoid being seen to promote “anti-competitive and protectionist behaviour” given that the Oxford Economics report on has provided a road map for creating a business environment that boosts local companies.

Speaking to the findings of a study commissioned by the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC), Mr Bowe said: “I think the main message coming out of it is that we should not be afraid of WTO (the World Trade Organisation) because we are afraid to compete. We should be focused on how we make ourselves more competitive.

“We should always be

willing to compete. As a small nation, a large part of our ability to grow and expand is going to be the ability to penetrate other markets, and what we do not want is them having a similar attitude we see expressed - that it is fine if we want to go into a new market as Bahamians, but we don’t want a new market to come into The Bahamas.”

The BICA chief added: “We have to be very careful that we are not seen to be promoting anti-competitive and protectionist behaviour. We should be focused on how we enhance and encourage competition that allows local businesses to service their own market in a high-value manner with very competitive prices.

“For those industries

saying what the barriers are that make them uncompetitive, then we have to look at the reforms necessary for removing those barriers.”

Mr Bowe said The Bahamas must now carefully assess the advantages and disadvantages associated with full WTO membership, with the Oxford Economics report providing what he described as an “issues checklist” of internal reforms that must be implemented to enhance this nation’s competitiveness in a liberalised, rules-based trading environment.

“I think ultimately, at the end of the day, we have to look and say: ‘Do the pros outweigh the cons, or do the rewards outweigh the risks?’,” he told Tribune Business. “We have to do a better job of aggregating benefits and risks between commercial entities or businesses and consumers.

“When we talk about improvement in prices, the consumer is always going to be in favour of that while not necessarily appreciating that commercial entities provided employment.

There has to be a balance between appreciating that if I give consumers all the

best prices, and businesses go out of business as a result, then you won’t have anything to consume as a consumer.”

Mr Bowe added: “I think the report provides an issues checklist. How do you improve foreign currency earnings? We have to look at the cost of doing business, the ease of doing business, the energy reform and the structural reform necessary to have a more competitive price per kilowatt hour in terms of running a business.

“We have to look at our capital infrastructure, our tax infrastructure, our social programmes to ensure that all these are being meshed to where actually we are achieving a common goal.

We have been an economy that has benefited from our proximity to the US, our time zone and tax system, which made us a magnet for businesses of the past.

“Now we have to develop our value proposition in all industries, and there are those industries that we may have not fully taken advantage of in the past because we may have not wanted to redeploy resources.”

Mr Bowe said the private

sector must have the right environment to be competitive. “When we talk about the industries most greatly impacted, are we saying the end consumer is getting the best price and, if not, how do we help businesses become more competitive to provide a high-quality product at competitive prices?” he asked.

“The argument should not

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POST OFFICE RELOCATION TO COMPLETE NEXT WEEK

By NATARIO MCKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net THE General Post Office will open at its new Town Centre Mall location next week, Tribune Business was told yesterday, as staff complete the move from East Hill Street.

Jennifer Johnson, the acting post master general, told Tribune Business that customers should temporarily use its various sub-post offices for services after several irate businesses contacted this newspaper to report that the former head office was closed.

One senior executive, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the closure had made it impossible for their company to bill clients via the mail, thereby disrupting their cash flow and operational viability. “It’s ridiculous and an embarrassment,” they told this newspaper.

Emphasising that such problems should soon become a thing of the past, Mrs Johnson said: “We began moving since last Thursday and we are

GENERAL POST OFFICE AT EAST HILL STREET winding down much of it [East Hill Street], getting our records and the rest of that while not realising that we have as much as we do.

“All of our machinery is already relocated.

About 90 percent of the staff are now setting up at the new location, getting themselves sorted out. We hope to be completed with all of that by the end of this week and we should be in the new location next week.”

Mrs Johnson added: “We haven’t shut down our systems here [East Hill Street] as yet as there are some things that we do internationally, and we still need some folks here. We

still have to maintain some things behind the scenes.

“We have persons here still, but as soon as all of our IT systems, our Internet and other connections are up and running at our new location then we can completely shut down. We have a total of 90 persons stationed at the General Post Office.

We may now have about 20 here currently just to maintain the flow of operations on this end while the majority of our staff are trying to get moved in or set up their stations.”

Mrs Johnson said postal services can still be accessed at the various sub-offices.

“The savings bank services are still being offered at the

Shirley Street post office,” she added. “Persons can still clear their boxes until they are in receipt of new keys.

“They can send out mail through the sub-stations.

By next week we expect to be operational at the Town Centre Mall. The move is absolutely welcome. It’s an understatement to say that we are happy to move.”

Issues at the run down East Hill Street location have impacted the Post Office’s revenue generation capability, reducing its contribution to the consolidated fund to around $2m from about $6m in 2012.

be for businesses to want to protect, if you will, their industry, but it should be how do we ensure that we have an environment that allows us to be competitive so that the strongest survive but not from a disadvantageous position where local businesses may feel like they’re fighting with one arm behind their back.”

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THE TRIBUNE

Nassau property tax crackdown eyes $21m FROM PAGE ONE “substantially higher” and more than justify the project’s $7.2m cost.

While declining to reveal the government’s most optimistic forecast, Mr Johnson added that the government planned to check the valuations and other data it obtained with recent appraisals and sales conducted in the same area by professional realtors to ensure its numbers were “realistic” and “on track”.

His comments came as the government warned all New Providence home and business owners to brace for a visit from “data collectors” during the 18 months between June 2019 and year-end 2020 as part of its latest tax crackdown.

While owners do not have to give these

“collectors” access to the interior of their property, they will be taking photographs of all properties and measuring their exterior dimensions. They will also determine the current property owner’s identity, and seek information including the year the building was built; occupancy type and size of building; number of rooms and type of construction.

“We want to capture every single residence and commercial property on the island,” Mr Johnson told Tribune Business. “It’s going to be a very intense effort, but all the data we capture - the photos, the measurements - will be digitised so that we have an up-to-date, current and world-class appraisal of properties on New Providence. Going forward, we will just have to update it.”

The initiative, which will see the government hire 40 Bahamians to act as “data collectors” on behalf of the Department of Inland Revenue (DIR) and its consultant, Tyler Technologies, aims to modernise and update a property tax roll and land register it described as “woefully outdated”.

Mr Johnson acknowledged that the government was required by law to conduct revaluations and assessments for real property tax purposes at regular intervals, but this had not been carried out for quite some time.

As a result, real property tax bills often fail to reflect a property’s true value, resulting in both under and over-payment of tax. New constructions, and building improvements, especially in gated communities are often completely missed or not captured in the valuations used to determine tax assessments.

Besides an inadequate system facilitating tax evasion and avoidance through poor administration, the lack of consistent valuations - and a defined appraisal methodology - leaves taxpayers unable to challenge billings with like-properties often assessed for two different sums.

Branding the real property tax modernisation initiative as “absolutely critical”, Mr Johnson said: “We believe there are a substantial number of properties not on the roll.

“It’s critical to our revenue enhancement objectives, and just as important is to create an objective basis on which to assess properties. There’ll be an objective basis on which taxpayers can appeal

any decision or assessment method.

“If you wish to challenge it, you will understand the criteria on which it is based.

This is something that will benefit the taxpayer as well as it will determine an objective criteria to validate assessments.”

Mr Johnson described the targeted $21m increase in annual real property tax revenues as “our base case scenario”. He added: “I don’t want to tell you the number on the upper end.

We believe that’s a very reasonable assessment, and the yields could be even greater than that.

“The fact a full assessment has not been done for a long time, and property values will have gone up, we believe the yields could be substantial. It’s not a number plucked from the sky; it’s based on the results of the initial pilot done in 2016 and models we’ve done. We feel $21m annually is very much attainable.”

Some estimates place real property tax compliance rates as low as 30-40 percent, with owners taking advantage of numerous system loopholes, poor administration and recordkeeping and a culture of poor to non-existent enforcement to evade tax liabilities due to the government.

The latter’s recent ninemonth fiscal “snapshot” showed that real property tax revenues for the period June 2018 to end-March 2019 stood at $93.7m, a slight $4.7m improvement on the sum collected in the prior year, and amounting to 70.9 percent of the fullyear $132.2m projection.

Mr Johnson, meanwhile, said the data collected

during the 18-month exercise will be cross-checked with appraisals and sales prices involving Bahamian realtors to ensure they are in line with market values.

“Part of the side work as this data comes in is to test it against property sales in the same areas,” he revealed. “It’s not an academic exercise or exercise purely driven by some abstract sense of what property values are.

“It will be driven by the real time value of properties. As information comes in, the team will consult with the community of realtors and appraisers so we’re on track to confirm the market value of properties.”

The government, in its statement yesterday, said the initiative was designed to improve tax yields and efficiency while also helping with the drive to digitise all government services. Once New Providence is completed, the exercise will be rolled out to the Family Islands.

KP Turnquest, deputy prime minister, said: “This exercise is long overdue to help address known challenges with the real property tax system and general inefficiencies in the government’s tax administration.

“It will help to reduce further revenue leakage caused by dated, incomplete and inaccurate data currently stored in the system, and allow for fair and timely assessments, using quantifiable and objective criteria.”

He added: “It is in line with the prime minister’s mandate on modernisation and digitisation, for which Department of Inland Revenue (DIR has been

fully committed.

“As the government’s largest tax collection agency, DIR continues to drive the reform process forward. The data collection exercise commencing in June is only one part of a larger project, but it will set an important foundation for the entire real property tax modernisation.”

The government said it plans to give the public online access to a database of property values using information collected from this exercise. The project will establish a fully integrated and digital process for the DIR to keep property values up-to-date, and create an open, transparent and objective basis for tax assessments to be made, queried and challenged.

“We are working hard to bring more accurate and objective data into the real property tax valuation system; this data collection exercise is the foundation. At the end of the project, we will finally be able to establish rate parity across the country, which means two neighbours will no longer have dramatically different rates on what seems like an arbitrary basis,” said Gaynell Rolle, acting comptroller of Inland Revenue.

“We are asking the general public to support the Department of Inland Revenue and its data collectors as we go into the field to meet with property owners and collect vital information that is mandated by the Real Property Tax Act. This is an important project to bring more integrity and fairness into the system; we are counting on the public to support our workers in the field.”

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THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, May 9, 2019, PAGE 5

Nassau/PI resort room revenue up 37% in Q1 FROM PAGE ONE did not open until end-May 2018, the figures still suggest significant growth is taking place.

Revenue per available room (RevPar), a key measure of hotel performance, was up 32.7 percent for the 2019 first quarter as a whole, standing at an average of $232.24 compared to $174.99 in 2018. The gap between 2019 and 2018 RevPar data was around $60 for each of the first three months.

Nassau/PI occupancy rates were also up by double digit percentage points in each of the first quarter months, averaging 77.8 percent for the period compared to 63.8 percent last year. Room nights sold were ahead by 36 percent, 27 percent and 17 percent for January, February and March respectively, closing the quarter up by an average of 26 percent.

Meanwhile, Nassau/Paradise Island air arrivals were ahead year-over-year by 33 percent, 24 percent and 14 percent for January, February and March respectively, closing the 2019 first quarter up an average of 22 percent at 369,926 compared to the prior year’s 303,825.

Including sea arrivals, total visitors to Nassau/ Paradise Island for the 2019 first quarter were up by 27 percent at 1.238m compared to 974,816 in 2018. “One of the major reasons for this increase in air arrivals to Nassau/Paradise Island was due in part to the opening of new resorts on the island

in 2017 and 2018, which increased room inventory on the island,” the Ministry of Tourism’s report said.

“The increase in air arrivals to the island was also due in part to the ‘solid’ performance made by the other large hotels on the island which attracted business to their properties. Air arrivals to Nassau/Paradise Island also increased significantly because of the stellar marketing efforts done by the Ministry of Tourism, its industry partners and the hotels themselves.”

The report added: “Air arrivals to Nassau/Paradise Island began to soar in the last quarter of 2017, and this trend continued throughout 2018 and into March 2019. By the end of 2018, air arrivals to Nassau/ Paradise Island were up by 19.2 percent.

“In March 2019, air arrivals to Nassau/Paradise Island were up by 14.1 percent compared to March 2018, and by the end of March 2019 year-to-date they were up by 21.8 percent. The air arrivals to Nassau/Paradise Island continued the upward trend that had begun in 2018 as they moved full speed ahead.

“In March 2019, air arrivals to the Bahamas were up but did not have the really significant growth in the early months of 2019 because the Easter Holiday did not fall during the month. In March 2019, air arrivals to the Bahamas were up by 9.5 percent and by March 2019 yearto-date it was up by 17.3 percent.”

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SUPER VALUE CHIEF: ‘CUT OUR OWN PATH’ OUTSIDE THE WTO FROM PAGE ONE on Bahamian sovereignty, Mr Roberts also expressed alarm at the report’s findings that full membership could result in increased demand for foreign currency that may place pressure on the country’s external reserves.

He added that it would be “a major disaster” if The Bahamas had to give up its fixed exchange rate regime that supports one:one parity with the US dollar as a result. The Oxford Economics report warned that such “trade imbalances may force a reappraisal of the costs and benefits” associated with maintaining the fixed exchange rate.

Nevertheless, Mr Roberts praised the research commissioned by the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) for at least providing the Government with a “guide” to the broadbased economic reforms it needs to undertake regardless of whether this nation joins.

And he said he took encouragement from assertions by Brent Symonette, minister of financial services, trade and industry and Immigration, and Zhivargo Laing, The Bahamas’ chief WTO negotiator, that the government would not join the WTO unless the accession terms benefited the economy.

“I still feel that it would be better for The Bahamas to cut its own path without the WTO,” Mr Roberts told Tribune Business. “If the government joins the WTO we will have to make the best of it and make it work; we have no choice. If it was my choice I just wouldn’t join.

“The Oxford study I respect, I helped pay for it, but I’m no more convinced because they’re [the WTO] a big organisation and they’re not going to pay attention to a little pimple on the world. I don’t think we should give up part of our, and I hate to use the word, sovereignty, but it’s infringing on that.

“With all I’ve read I get the impression the Oxford study is saying there may be a slight advantage, or they think there will be a slight advantage to joining. So be it. That’s their opinion, but I think and I hope the Oxford study is a guide that will help government’s decision on what to do,” he added.

“I’m glad the report is not saying The Bahamas should rush to join or not join. It looks like a close call to me.

I’m not surprised by Oxford Economics’ study. If you

go through item by item, there’s a disadvantage here, an advantage here. They believe the total bottom line is slightly advantageous, but there may be slight disadvantages as well.”

Mr Roberts expressed doubt as to whether The Bahamas will achieve the accession terms it is seeking, adding that the increased 60-100 percent tariff rates sought by members of The Bahamas Light Industries Development Council (BLIDC) would not receive “buy-in” from the WTO and its members.

The Oxford Economics study also warned that widening merchandise and current account deficits post-WTO could impose pressure on The Bahamas’ external reserves, and force this nation to reassess its fixed exchange rate regime, although it made no

recommendations and did not definitively say it would have to give up the one:one US dollar peg.

Expressing concerns about the potential inflationary impact, Mr Roberts added: “If the Bahamian dollar were to lose its footing and go up by ten percent, that would be a ten percent tax on the Bahamian consumer.

“If you have to pay $1.10 in Bahamian currency to make a $1 US purchase, that would increase prices by ten percent and that would be a major disaster. I have concerns about replacing the duties.”

Mr Roberts, though, said he was against holding a referendum on whether The Bahamas should join the WTO because it was “an unnecessary expense”.

PAGE 6, Thursday, May 9, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

BTC is owner’s ‘most inefficient’ subsidiary FROM PAGE ONE Mr Nair also praised BTC’s mobile competitor, the Cable Bahamas-controlled Aliv, and conceded that the upstart which entered the market in 2016 had “taught our team a number of things”. He added, though, that BTC was now “responding correctly” to its rival by seeking to “preserve value” and avoid discounting.

The LiLAC chief executive, though, indicated that BTC still has much work to do in completing its transition from a monopoly to an agile communications provider better able to respond to evolving market need and competitive threats.

“There are two areas

where we are challenged on mobile - in The Bahamas and Panama. In The Bahamas we can also see strong possibilities, and we are working with our partners in the government and the unions to turn that business around,” Mr Nair said yesterday.

“It has been in structural decline due to being a monopoly that has not adjusted to competition. It is our most inefficient business, but we know how to turn it around and make it a growth business.”

Mr Nair’s comments are unlikely to inspire enthusiasm among BTC’s staff, especially since they reveal that its Bahamian business ranks as LilAC’s worst performer among the

multiple communications interests it owns throughout the Caribbean, Central and South America.

LiLAC has operating subsidiaries in countries such as Chile, Panama, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Barbados and multiple other Caribbean islands, and yesterday’s conference call places BTC at the bottom despite Mr Nair’s optimism about growth opportunities.

His remarks also come at a delicate time given BTC’s recent trumpeting of its industrial agreement with the Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union (BCPOU), which represents the company’s line staff, and the start of talks on a similar deal with its managers’ union

counterpart union.

“In The Bahamas, as I indicated on previous calls, it’s really us being a monopoly and suddenly a competitor shows up on the mobile front in 2017,” Mr Nair said yesterday, tracing the cause of BTC’s present difficulties. “I think we’ll lose subscribers and bottom out at about 35 percent, as we’ve said before, and remain stable on the mobile front there.

“In The Bahamas, you know it’s a duopoly market on mobile and our competitor [Aliv] is good. They’ve taught our team a number of things. It’s really up to us how we want to respond, and I think we’re responding correctly in trying to preserve value in that market.

“But we will see still another four to five more points of top-line challenged on the mobile front. We’ll bottom out at 35 percent or so as I indicated.”

LiLAC can point to positive signs that BTC’s subscriber churn is slowing down to the point where it may “bottom out” in the battle for subscribers with Aliv. “In The Bahamas, we recorded our best quarterly result since the introduction of a new mobile competitor in 2016, with 2,000 subscribers lost in the quarter,” it said of BTC’s performance for the three months to end-March 2019.

Data released by LiLAC yesterday showed it lost a net 1,500 mobile customers during the 2019 first quarter, with the total falling from 224,300 at year-end 2018 to 222,800 at end-March.

The figures show subscriber losses were confined

to the 2,000 decline in prepaid subscribers, which ended the quarter at 198,000.

The 500 “gain” occurred on the higher-value, highermargin post-paid side, where customer numbers grew by 500 to 24,800.

While this suggests that BTC is having some success in slowing the rate of subscriber attrition, given that losses in the previous three quarters ranged from a low of 4,000 to a high of 12,400, Mr Nair’s estimate that the carrier’s market share loss will “bottom out” at 35 percent is likely to be challenged by its rival.

Damian Blackburn, Aliv’s top executive, told Tribune Business in February 2019 that the mobile operator had already grown its market share to 38 percent - some three percentage points higher than Mr Nair’s estimate - after its subscriber base grew by a further further 11.2 percent - from 125,000 to 139,000 - during the final quarter of 2018.

Aliv’s customer numbers are likely to have increased subsequently, while data recently released by sector regulator, the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA), suggests BTC’s market share may have dropped to 58.4 percent - almost seven percentage points lower than Mr Nair’s “bottom out” number.

URCA estimated that total mobile voice subscribers in The Bahamas equalled 381,591 at year-end 2018, with BTC’s market share calculated using its latest 222,800 subscriber number.

Meanwhile, Chris Noyes,

LiLAC’s chief financial officer, blamed reduced margins and subscriber losses in The Bahamas and Panama for the two percent yearover-year declines in Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) rebased revenues and operating cash flow during the 2019 first quarter.

CWC, which purchased the controlling interest in BTC in 2011, now functions as its immediate parent and a LiLAC subsidiary after being acquired by the latter several years ago.

“Our top-line performance continues to be impacted by declines in mobile revenue driven by reductions in ARPU (average revenue per unit) and mobile subscriber base, principally in Panama and The Bahamas,” Mr Noyes added.

“However, as Balan highlighted, we’ve begun to see signs of stabilisation in those markets.” LiLAC’s results announcement said of CWC: “Mobile revenue attrition of 13 percent on a rebased basis was partly offset by rebased revenue growth of five percent in residential fixed-line and two percent in B2B (business to business).

“The reduction in mobile revenue was primarily attributable to lower ARPU in Panama and The Bahamas, and reduced subscribers across our markets as compared to the prior-year period.”

Inge Smidts, CWC’s chief executive, yesterday said BTC now had the right management team and “the right proposition”, together with the correct marketing plan, “to be much more ahead of the game”. She added that it had to leverage the quality of its network infrastructure with the right commercial tactics - something the carrier is now poised to do.

BTC was shown as losing 300 TV, and 400 broadband Internet subscribers, during the 2019 first quarter. It increased its fixed-line voice subscribers by 900, though, and added 700 telephony customers.

With 128,900 homes now passed by its fibre-to-thehome network, BTC was shown as having 48,200 fixedline customers, 6,600 TV subscribers and 26,200 Internet clients.

Mr Nair added that the “refreshed” advertising campaign rolled-out during the 2019 first quarter was “expected to drive financial momentum” for BTC in the coming months.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, May 9, 2019, PAGE 7

Can fines rein in Big Tech? Privacy regulators spur a debate

Anti-WTO activist: study makes case for joining tougher FROM PAGE ONE

FEDERAL Trade Commission Chairman Joseph Simons WASHINGTON Associated Press AS THEY negotiate a record fine against Facebook, federal privacy regulators sparked a debate in Congress yesterday over how effective such penalties can be in preventing future abuses by big companies.

Members of a House consumer protection subcommittee also gave a sympathetic hearing to the Federal Trade Commission’s request for greater powers and funding to police privacy.

“A large fine in a single case does not solve the problems that consumers face,” said Rep Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill, chairwoman of the Energy and Commerce subcommittee, at a hearing with the five members of the FTC. She said the agency needs more funding and authority “at a minimum to restore consumers’ confidence”.

Rohit Chopra, one of the FTC commissioners, said that for some big companies, fines alone are a mere “parking ticket”.

“We cannot change behavior without finding out who at the top caused those problems,” Chopra said.

Although Schakowsky and Chopra didn’t specifically mention Facebook, the giant social network was top of mind for lawmakers as the FTC appears close to ending its yearlong investigation of the company’s privacy practices and looks to punish Facebook for alleged violations of users’ privacy.

The question is whether big fines can be just a cost of doing business for huge companies, failing to deter bad conduct. The fine against Facebook is expected to run as high as $5bn — stacked against the company’s revenue of $55.8bn last year.

Rep Michael Burgess, R-Texas, said even a large fine “is inconsequential for a company the size of Facebook”.

The FTC is considering a rare action to hold Facebook CEO Mark

Zuckerberg personally accountable for Facebook’s alleged failure to honor a 2011 agreement over privacy lapses.

The agency also may limit how Facebook targets advertising to its massive user base — potentially making the action far more than a regulatory slap on the wrist.

Beyond the fine, comprehensive action by the FTC could mark a watershed in federal action against the tech industry in the name of consumer privacy.

By usual practice, the FTC — an independent agency — is split with three Republicans and two Democrats. FTC Chairman Joseph Simons has advocated tougher enforcement action against tech companies and must obtain the agreement of at least two other commissioners for any action on Facebook.

In his testimony, Simons urged the lawmakers to enact privacy and datasecurity legislation to be enforced by the FTC. The agency has brought more than 65 data security cases and 60 general privacy cases and helped return more than $1.6bn to consumers in the fiscal year ended in October, Simons noted.

Lawmakers have started work on a new national privacy law that could sharply curtail the ability of the biggest tech companies to collect and make money off people’s personal data.

The role of the FTC as an enforcer of privacy protections is a key issue in the debate over legislation. Consumer privacy advocates and Democratic lawmakers say the agency currently lacks teeth and have pushed for expanding its powers and funding.

The FTC doesn’t have the authority, for example, to levy civil money penalties for first violations for most unfair or deceptive practices. It can only issue orders halting the conduct, as it did with Facebook in 2011.

The agency would be expected to write new privacy rules should Congress pass a new law.

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Behind the momentum for a new law is rising concern over a string of scandals and the compromise of private data held

by Facebook, Google and other tech giants that have reaped riches by aggregating consumer information.

The industry has traditionally been lightly regulated and has resisted closer oversight as a threat to its culture of free-wheeling innovation.

Republicans have generally opposed an expansion of federal authority, but in the wake of the Facebook and other privacy scandals, some have taken a more open view toward the FTC’s powers and funding. Some business groups are also proposing an expanded role in privacy protection for the FTC. The 2011 consent decree with the FTC bound Facebook to a 20-year privacy commitment.

Violations could subject the company to fines of $41,484 per violation per user per day.

The agreement requires that Facebook users give “affirmative express consent” any time that data they haven’t made public is shared with a third party.

The agency started investigating Facebook’s privacy practices more than a year ago after reports surfaced that the British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica had improperly accessed the data of as many as 87 million Facebook users without their consent.

Organisation (WTO) membership would be “moderately positive” for The Bahamas, increasing medium and long-term GDP growth rates if accession was accompanied by broad-based reform that transformed the domestic business climate, Mr Moss said it had actually made the case for joining more difficult.

“I don’t think the report generally gives them [the government] free access to do as they wish because the report points out all the anomalies in the economy,” he argued, “like how the education rate is not up to scratch, and that points to a serious deficiency.

“If The Bahamas is to benefit it ought to benefit Bahamians, and if Bahamians are not ready it makes no sense to me by putting them at further risk of being marginalised in their own country.”

Mr Moss continued: “In fact, I think the opposite is true. It [the Oxford Economics report] makes it more difficult to join the WTO as it points out all the latent defects in the economy that ought to be corrected before they join WTO. “Don’t fix them as you join; fix them before you join. You fix them in the right order. If you join now this economy will be absolutely wide open as the WTO will not accept what is being put forth by the government. I know the government is trying to have its cake and eat it by joining and having reservations on things, but this is about opening up where one size fits all.

“I would say it [the report] makes the case

more difficult for joining WTO because of the structural deficiencies pointed out, and to join with these defects you risk losing the economy of The Bahamas if you do so. They need to be fixed before you venture into this WTO. The government has not really spoken up on this issue.”

Mr Moss said the Oxford Economics report’s findings had come as little surprise to him, adding: “I certainly knew what they’d say before they finished.

I’m not surprised by it at all.

It’s what I expected them to say. Nothing new.

“I have the view that the government simply does not have a clue what it’s doing, and is going along because they want to be in the same organisation as other countries. They want to be part of that group.”

The Oxford Economics report recommended that joining the WTO be part

of a much broader restructuring and repositioning strategy that created a much-improved business and investment climate in The Bahamas.

“WTO Accession can form part of a successful strategy of structural reform to modernise and liberalise the economy,” it said. “But there are legitimate concerns amongst the local population around the potential impact of increased international competition on relatively small Bahamian businesses, as well as negative effects on existing trade imbalances and the public finances.

“Decision-makers should manage the levers of market protection and competition in an effort to maximise national economic growth and avoid business and/or sector complacency and inefficiency.”

PAGE 10, Thursday, May 9, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

Google’s privacy push gets a mixed reception MOUNTAIN VIEW Associated Press GOOGLE announced new privacy tools on Tuesday intended to give people more control over how they’re being tracked on the go or in their own home, part of a broader effort by big tech companies to counter increasing scrutiny of their data collection practices.

The updates give people some much-needed sway over how Google saves personal information and what

apps constantly track location, privacy advocates say.

But other experts aren’t ready to celebrate Google’s moves.

CEO Sundar Pichai kicked off the company’s annual developer conference by noting that the company wants to do more to stay ahead of “constantly evolving user expectations” on privacy.

That focus echoed throughout the day, with the company demonstrating how many of its artificial intelligence capabilities — including some

GOOGLE’s Alexander Hunter gives a demonstration of the Nest Hub Max at the Google I/O conference. facial recognition and voice searches — are beginning to be processed on devices, rather than by constantly sending information to company servers.

Some critics, however, say Google’s privacy updates sidestep more substantial changes that could threaten its ad-driven business model.

“They’re sort of marginal improvements,” said Jeremy Tillman, president of Ghostery, which provides ad-blocking and anti-tracking software. “They are not bad, but they almost seem

like they’re designed to give the company a better messaging push instead of making wholesale improvements to user privacy.”

Google also announced updates for its artificially intelligent voice assistant as well as a cheaper Pixel phone and a rebranding of its smart-home products.

Data privacy and security at Google and its Big Tech counterparts have been under the microscope for more than a year now.

Facebook dedicated much of its own conference last week to connecting people

though more private channels rather than broadly on the social network.

Google announced smaller but tangible changes across many of its products.

The company makes billions of dollars annually by selling digital ads that are targeted at the interests people reveal through their search requests and data collected by Google apps and services.

For instance, the company said it will extend an “incognito mode” feature to its Google Maps and search apps.

When activated, the app won’t record user searches or movements, analogous to how the same feature works in its Chrome browser and YouTube now.

The latest version of Google’s Android phone software will also alert users when apps may be exploiting access to phone location data, which Stephanie Cuthbertson, an Android senior director, called “some of your most personal information”. Android Q, as the new operating system is currently known, will also let users restrict apps’ access to location more generally — for instance, by only allowing apps currently in use to gather the data.

(Some apps record location data continuously in the background.)

Location data has been a sore subject for Google. In 2018, an Associated Press investigation found that Google continued storing phone location data even when users turned off a “location history” setting in Android.

The breadth of Google’s changes is “impressive”, said Joe Jerome, a policy counsel with the Center for Democracy and Technology, a nonprofit backed by industry that advocates for an open internet and user privacy.

He pointed especially to the controls that allow people to manage which apps can access location data. Google’s updates seem more tangible and less aspirational than what Facebook announced last week, Jerome said, largely because many of Facebook’s updates are still aspirational with no release dates.

Google also revealed plans to overhaul Chrome to let users rein in so-called tracking cookies, which are bits of software that follow people around on the web.

The move, which could have major repercussions for the digital advertising industry, would require companies to identify cookies used by third-party websites and advertisers to track users.

“Unimpressive,” declared Princeton computer scientist Jonathan Mayer, who said the scheme would

be easy for advertisers to evade. “This is not privacy leadership — this is privacy theater.”

In coming months, Google said that change will enable users to clear most of those tracking cookies without disturbing others that keep users logged into sites or that personalise website settings. Chrome currently only allows people to clear all cookies.

Competing browsers such as Apple’s Safari and Mozilla’s Firefox already build in privacy tools to block sites from tracking online activity.

Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, also found the privacy measures lacking. “Unless the Federal Trade Commission is prepared to bring enforcement actions against companies, these promises to protect privacy matter very little,” he said.

On the AI front, Google said its digital assistant will get a series of updates this year, including one that lets it book rental cars and movie tickets.

Google says its assistant will be able to make the bookings using online forms on Android phones later this year. The technology behind this, called Duplex, was announced with much fanfare last year when Google demonstrated it making a call to book a restaurant reservation.

The Google Assistant will get shrunk down so that it can work directly on a phone, eliminating the need to communicate with Google’s cloud servers to understand and act on certain commands. The phone-only capability will be available on new Pixel phones later this year.

Google also announced a new, cheaper Pixel phone and a larger smart home display called the Nest Hub Max. Both are packed with AI capabilities, including many that take place on-device without sending information to servers.

That might give Google slightly less information about its customers, said Gartner analyst Werner Goertz. But Google collects information across its many products, and it might not even greatly miss the data it foregoes, he said.

The Nest Hub Max signals the integration of Nest into Google. The $229 display screen is similar to last year’s Google Home Hub, now renamed the Nest Hub, although the new product adds a camera made for video calling that can be turned on and off.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, May 9, 2019, PAGE 11

TRUMP’S TARIFF HIKE MENACES STRONG ECONOMY WASHINGTON Associated Press

WHAT trade war?

For months, the US economy has shrugged and chugged along as America and China slapped tariffs on tens of billions of dollars of each other’s goods in the fiercest trade fight since the 1930s.

Growth was steady.

The unemployment rate dropped to 3.6%, a 50-year low. Stocks soared to record levels.

But President Donald Trump’s decision to hike import taxes on $200bn worth of Chinese imports from 10% to 25% could upend all that.

“A game changer,” Steven Cochrane, chief Asia-Pacific economist at Moody’s Analytics, said of the tariffs slated to take effect at 12.01am tomorrow. He called the move a “worst-case scenario” that after one year will slash 1.8 percentage points from US economic growth, which was a healthy 2.9% last year. (And it could get even worse. Trump has threatened to extend 25% tariffs to another $325bn in Chinese imports, covering everything China ships to the United States.)

Other economists saw milder consequences.

“The new tariffs will drive up prices on a broad range of American goods, although the overall impact on (economic) growth and inflation is likely to be modest,” said Eswar Prasad, an economist at Cornell University. That’s because the United States, with a huge domestic market, is

far less dependent on trade than most countries.

“A bigger concern is that the escalation of the trade war will dampen business sentiment, which in turn would negatively affect investment and long-term growth,” Prasad said.

Whatever pain there is won’t be distributed evenly.

Companies that depend on imports from China are especially vulnerable.

In Clearwater, Florida, the information technology company Source 1 Solutions is bracing to pay more for electronic components from China, and may have to take on more debt to cover the rising costs. “Every month we get hit with tariff money, we have to pay out,” said Robert Hessel, who owns Source 1 Solutions. “Tariffs aren’t good for the small businesses that are trying to do what we’re doing, importing equipment.”

Other tech companies are also likely to feel the squeeze.

These include Apple, which manufactures its flagship iPhone in China, as well as tiny startups just bringing new products to market and mid-size companies who’ve had to contend

with absorbing the existing tariffs even as they compete with Chinese rivals.

Tim Bajarin, president of consultancy Creative Strategies and a longtime Apple expert, said companies have two choices: Eat the cost of the tariffs and absorb a hit to profits — or raise their prices and risk scaring off customers.

“There are no other options,” he said. “The companies are being used as a bargaining chip.”

Higher tariffs could mean “life or death” for smaller tech companies, said Bronwyn Flores, spokeswoman for the Consumer Technology Association, an industry group that runs the annual CES gadget show. She said she is hearing from these companies the most: “They just can’t afford to absorb these costs.” She said some are resorting to layoffs or delaying or cancelling new products.

The higher duties would cover thousands of Chinese imports — from refrigerators, air conditioners and washing machines to bamboo mats, microphones and cigarette paper.

Products on the tariff hit list include infrastructure equipment, components related to the new “5G” wireless networks, the semiconductors used in all sorts of electronic devices, internet infrastructure and wireless products, data center components that are the meat, bones, hearts and brains of many tech products.

Flores said some companies are already starting to change manufacturing operations, not renewing leases in China and moving

to Malaysia, Mexico and elsewhere. This, of course, presents a whole new host of challenges, upending where they have manufactured for decades and having to hire and train people in a new country.

It’s that kind of uncertainty that paralyzes business decision-making and drains economic output.

Peter Horwitz, who owns the paper and plastics supply company Tiger Packaging in Boca Raton, Florida, said he’s been trying to dodge the tariffs — or minimise their impact. “Wherever we can, we’ve tried to offset the

tariff duty either by going to other countries or working with suppliers to absorb the costs,” Horwitz said. Shifting manufacturing away from China is also costly — and a gamble. If Trump ever withdraws the tariffs, China would once again be the cheapest source of supply.

“We’d all go back,” Horwitz said.

Retaliation from China is another worry. The official Xinhua news agency reported yesterday that the Chinese government is threatening “to take necessary countermeasures” in response to a tariff

hike. China responded to earlier US tariffs by targeting $110bn in American imports. Victims included American distillers and lobster fishermen, whose catch was put on China’s hit list. In drawing up a list of targets, Beijing focused specifically on soybeans and other farm products in a direct shot at Trump supporters in the US Farm Belt. Hit by sanctions, US soybean exports to China plunged 74% last year.

The trade war has pushed the price of soybeans and other farm products lower.

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CANDIDATES COMMITTEE REPORT April 5TH, 2019 LIST OF ENDORSED NAMES: EXECUTIVE MEMBERS: 1. Rosemary E. Burrows 2. Maralyn Genette Burrows 3. William Ingraham 4. Cyril Morris Jr. 5. Wayne Thompson 6. Kameisha Delique Wells 7. Judd T. Williams TRUSTEES: 1. Jacqueline Lorene Mckenzie 2. Bolinder Newbold – Munroe 3. Vernincha Louise Delcine Simmons 4. Lana Monique Williams-Smith 5. Haldane Alfred Stubbs COMMONWEALTH OF THE BAHAMAS

2018/CLE/gen/00780

IN THE SUPREME COURT

1. Ann Marie Bullard 2. Eldecia Shaquincha Ethlyn Thompson

Common Law & Equity Division IN THE MATTER OF property comprised in an Indenture of Mortgage dated 29th day of December, A.D., 2005 between Elvoin Vernita Storr of the one part and Scotiabank (Bahamas) Limited of the other part and of record in the Registry of Records in the City of Nassau in the Island of New Providence in Volume 9509 at pages 507 to 517.

BETWEEN Plaintiff

AND ELVOIN VERNITA STORR

Defendant

ELVOIN VERNITA STORR

TAKE NOTICE that: A Notice of Appointment to Hear Originating Summons filed on the 30th day of October, A.D., 2018 has been issued against you in the Supreme Court of The Bahamas being Action No. 2018/CLE/gen/00780 by Scotiabank (Bahamas) Limited, the Plaintiff herein and is scheduled to be heard on Wednesday the 15th day of May, A.D., 2019 at 9:30 a.m. in the fore-noon before Justice Gregory Hilton whose chambers is located in the Supreme Court Building, Ansbacher Building, Bank Lane, Nassau, The Bahamas.

2.

1. Quintin Howard Laroda 2. George Austin Trevor Mills.

NEW PROVIDENCE:

SOUTHERN BAHAMAS: 1. Ann Louise Strachan

________________ NOTICE ________________

1.

GRAND BAHAMA:

1. Vernon Jemell Rodgers

SCOTIABANK (BAHAMAS) LIMITED

TO:

AREA VICE PRESIDENTS: NORTHERN BAHAMAS:

You must attend the above-mentioned hearing otherwise an Order may be granted in your

ASSISTANT TREASURER: 1. Catherine Knowles-Stubbs 2. Katress Wells SECRETARY – GENERAL: 1. Helena Cartwright 2. Dion Damien Johnson 3. Tiffany M. Delancy-Laing ASSISTANT SECRETARY – GENERAL: 1. Juanita T. Gaitor 2. Cedricka Rolle PRESIDENT: 1. Joan Knowles-Turnquest

absence.

Dated the 9th day of May, A.D., 2019 GRAHAM THOMPSON Chambers, Sassoon House, Shirley Street & Victoria Avenue, Nassau, Bahamas.

Attorneys for the Plaintiff

VICE PRESIDENT: 1. Tiffany Burrell-Roberts 2. Jason Haley From the desk of John Musgrove Secretary-General The Bahamas Union of Teachers.

PAGE 12, Thursday, May 9, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

NYC CLOSING KUSHNER LOOPHOLE LANDLORDS USE TO DODGE SCRUTINY

To advertise in The Tribune, contact 502-2394 COMMONWEALTH OF THE BAHAMAS

NEW YORK Associated Press

2019/CLE/gen/00094

IN THE SUPREME COURT Common Law & Equity Division IN THE MATTER OF property comprised in an Indenture of Mortgage dated 30 day of April, A.D., 2012 between Jonathan L. Knowles and Kelli L. Knowles of the one part and Scotiabank (Bahamas) Limited of the other part and of record in the Registry of Records in the City of Nassau in the Island of New Providence in Volume 11599 at pages 543 to 552. th

BETWEEN

SCOTIABANK (BAHAMAS) LIMITED

Plaintiff

AND JONATHAN L. KNOWLES

First Defendant

AND KELLI L. KNOWLES

Second Defendant

________________ NOTICE ________________ TO:

JONATHAN L. KNOWLES KELLI L. KNOWLES

TAKE NOTICE that: 1.

An Originating Summons and Affidavit of Joseph Albury has been issued on the 24th February 2019 against you in the Supreme Court of The Bahamas being Action No. 2019/CLE/gen/00094

by Scotiabank (Bahamas) Limited, the Plaintiff herein. Copies of the documents may be inspected at the Supreme Court Registry situate on Marlborough Street, in the City of Nassau on the Island of New Providence, The Bahamas.

2.

It has been ordered that service of the Originating Summons and Affidavit of Joseph Albury in the said action be deemed to have been effected on you by virtue of this advertisement.

3.

You must within 14 days from the publication of this advertisement inclusive of the day of such publication, acknowledge service of the Originating Summons and Affidavit of Joseph Albury by entering a Memorandum of Appearance on the Attorneys whose name and address appear below, otherwise judgment may be entered against you.

Dated the 9th day of May, A.D., 2019

(242) 323-2330

(242) 323-2320

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BAHAMAS GOVERNMENT STOCK - (percentage pricing)

LAST CLOSE 4.07 17.43 6.00 5.39 2.47 1.98 2.01 10.94 6.16 4.47 10.00 2.58 1.79 9.18 7.00 15.57 7.25 3.50 14.00

CLOSE 4.22 17.43 6.00 5.39 2.47 1.98 2.01 10.94 6.16 4.47 10.00 2.58 1.85 9.17 7.00 15.57 7.25 3.50 14.00

CHANGE 0.15 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.06 -0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

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CLOSE 100.00

CHANGE 0.00

107.31 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

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LAST SALE 100.00 107.31 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

VOLUME 3,000

500

524 103 2,000

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10,000

VOLUME

EPS$ 0.167 0.932 -0.306 0.323 0.098 0.000 -0.431 0.708 0.480 0.154 0.627 0.102 0.209 0.000 0.636 0.834 0.950 0.205 0.631

DIV$ 0.130 1.260 0.000 0.240 0.000 0.020 0.000 0.710 0.220 0.120 0.620 0.068 0.060 0.328 0.240 0.500 0.200 0.090 0.600

P/E 25.3 18.7 N/M 16.7 N/M N/M -4.7 15.5 12.8 29.0 15.9 25.3 8.9 N/M 11.0 18.7 7.6 17.1 22.2

YIELD 3.08% 7.23% 0.00% 4.45% 0.00% 1.01% 0.00% 6.49% 3.57% 2.68% 6.20% 2.64% 3.24% 3.58% 3.43% 3.21% 2.76% 2.57% 4.29%

0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 6.25% 6.25% 6.25% 6.25% 6.25% 6.25% 6.25% 7.00% 6.50%

INTEREST Prime + 1.75%

MATURITY 19-Oct-2022

6.95% 4.00% 4.25% 4.25% 4.50% 4.50% 6.25% 6.25% 4.00% 4.25% 4.50% 6.25% 3.50% 3.88% 4.25%

############### 30-Jul-2018 ############### 30-Jul-2020 ############### 30-Jul-2022 ############### 30-Jul-2045 26-Jun-2018 26-Jun-2020 26-Jun-2022 26-Jun-2045 15-Oct-2018 15-Oct-2020 15-Oct-2022

YTD% 12 MTH% 0.32% 3.95% 0.62% 3.20% 0.69% 2.56% 2.06% 4.97% 4.52% 0.96% 1.15% 4.41% 0.59% 4.31% 0.92% 4.16% 2.79% 4.80% -1.08% 1.77% -5.96% -3.05% 1.90% 4.59% 7.24% 11.96% 2.77% 3.88% 3.94% 4.69% -0.71% 0.16% 7.40% 2.70% 10.20% 1.30%

NAV Date 31-Mar-2019 31-Mar-2019 29-Mar-2019 31-Mar-2019 31-Mar-2019 31-Mar-2019 31-Mar-2019 31-Mar-2019 31-Mar-2019 28-Feb-2019 28-Feb-2019 28-Feb-2019 28-Feb-2019 28-Feb-2019 28-Feb-2019 30-Mar-2019 30-Mar-2019 30-Mar-2019

MUTUAL FUNDS 52WK HI 2.22 4.27 2.05 188.32 158.55 1.61 1.75 1.70 1.14 6.99 8.54 6.15 10.52 11.46 10.46 10.00 8.69 11.79

52WK LOW 1.67 3.04 1.68 164.74 116.70 1.55 1.68 1.64 1.08 6.41 7.62 5.66 8.65 10.54 9.57 9.88 8.45 11.20

FUND CFAL Bond Fund CFAL Balanced Fund CFAL Money Market Fund CFAL Global Bond Fund CFAL Global Equity Fund FG Financial Preferred Income Fund FG Financial Growth Fund FG Financial Diversified Fund FG Financial Global USD Bond Fund Royal Fidelity Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Secured Balanced Fund Royal Fidelity Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Targeted Equity Fund Royal Fidelity Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Prime Income Fund Royal Fidelity Int'l Fund - Equities Sub Fund Royal Fidelity Int'l Fund - High Yield Fund Royal Fidelity Int'l Fund - Alternative Strategies Fund Colonial Bahamas Fund Class D Colonial Bahamas Fund Class E Colonial Bahamas Fund Class F

NAV 2.22 4.27 2.05 188.32 154.49 1.61 1.75 1.70 1.14 7.54 8.73 6.65 10.66 11.79 10.48 9.92 8.68 11.38

MARKET TERMS BISX ALL SHARE INDEX - 19 Dec 02 = 1,000.00 52wk-Hi - Highest closing price in last 52 weeks 52wk-Low - Lowest closing price in last 52 weeks Previous Close - Previous day's weighted price for daily volume Today's Close - Current day's weighted price for daily volume Change - Change in closing price from day to day Daily Vol. - Number of total shares traded today DIV $ - Dividends per share paid in the last 12 months P/E - Closing price divided by the last 12 month earnings

PUBLIC NOTICE

INTENT TO CHANGE NAME BY DEED POLL The Public is hereby advised that, VERA NEWBOLD of Stanyard Creek, Andros, intends to change his name to ELVERA LAVERNE NEWBOLD. If there are any objections to this change of name by Deed Poll, you may write such objections to the Chief Passport Officer, P.O. Box N-792, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas no later than thirty (30) days after the date of the publication of this notice.

The Public is hereby advised that I, JACKSON GEORGE SWEETING of West Place, New Providence, Bahamas intends to change my name to JACKSON GEORGE RUSSELL. If there are any objections to this change of name by Deed Poll, you may write such objections to the Chief Passport Officer, P.O. Box N-792, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas no later than thirty (30) days after the date of the publication of this notice.

www.bisxbahamas.com

52WK LOW 3.50 19.17 4.90 3.50 1.00 0.19 2.00 8.85 6.11 3.54 10.00 2.30 1.60 7.25 6.10 10.10 6.20 3.01 12.51

10,000 times in the 2 ½ years through June last year. It also found that the Kushner Cos filed false paperwork at least 80 times for 34 buildings over a three-year span when the company was run

by Jared Kushner.

The city fined Kushner Cos $210,000 for false filings last year after the AP report.

The Kushner Cos has said that the paperwork was filled out by third parties and mistakes were corrected soon after they were discovered. It has said it does not use construction to push out tenants who pay low rates.

The rule approved yesterday will require regulators to check with tax records to make sure landlords are telling the truth. If the paperwork is false, the city’s investigations unit and the state attorney general’s office, among other authorities, must be alerted and all the landlord’s buildings audited.

INTENT TO CHANGE NAME BY DEED POLL

MARKET REPORT 52WK HI 4.50 20.91 7.00 5.50 2.50 2.00 3.35 11.00 6.16 4.64 12.50 2.74 1.96 9.02 7.00 15.60 7.25 4.25 14.00

JARED KUSHNER

PUBLIC NOTICE

GRAHAM THOMPSON Chambers, Sassoon House, Shirley Street & Victoria Avenue, Nassau, Bahamas.

Attorneys for the Plaintiff

WEDNESDAY, 8 MAY 2019

NEW York City lawmakers voted yesterday to close the “Kushner loophole” that critics say encourages landlords to file false paperwork with the city.

The rule approved by the City Council will require regulators to double-check that landlords are telling the truth in construction permits when they claim to have no specially protected tenants who pay low rates. Mayor Bill de Blasio is expected to sign the new rule into law.

It follows an Associated Press report last year that found Jared Kushner’s family real estate company had falsely claimed it had no rent-regulated tenants in dozens of buildings when, in fact, it had hundreds. Kushner is President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser.

Critics say many landlords file false paperwork to avoid extra scrutiny that could stop them from using repairs and construction to drive out such tenants and replace them with ones who pay more.

The AP cited a study by the watchdog group Housing Rights Initiative that found New York City landlords filed paperwork falsely claiming they had no rentregulated tenants more than

YIELD - last 12 month dividends divided by closing price Bid $ - Buying price of Colina and Fidelity Ask $ - Selling price of Colina and fidelity Last Price - Last traded over-the-counter price Weekly Vol. - Trading volume of the prior week EPS $ - A company's reported earnings per share for the last 12 mths NAV - Net Asset Value N/M - Not Meaningful

TO TRADE CALL: CFAL 242-502-7010 | ROYALFIDELITY 242-356-7764 | FG CAPITAL MARKETS 242-396-4000 | COLONIAL 242-502-7525 | LENO 242-396-3225 | BENCHMARK 242-326-7333

NOTICE NOTICE is hereby given that CHRISTOPHER BARRETT of Misty Gardens, South Beach, P.O. Box SP-64144, Nassau, Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 9th day of May, 2019 to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

NOTICE NOTICE is hereby given that NELLY BICHE of #298 Eastern Road Estate, P.O. BOX SP-61367 Nassau, Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 2nd day of May, 2019 to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

NOTICE NOTICE is hereby given that CAMILLE ETIENNE of, P.O. BOX General Delivery Rock Sound Eleuthera, Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 2nd day of May, 2019 to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, May 9, 2019, PAGE 13

Trump’s Iran policy put to test as end to nuclear deal looms

WASHINGTON Associated Press PRESIDENT Donald Trump’s Iran policy has been rooted in the idea that being tougher on Tehran would yield better results and perhaps even a new nuclear deal to replace the Obama administration pact that he pulled the US out of a year ago yesterday.

That strategy is now being put to the test as tension escalates between Washington and Tehran, even as both sides appear willing to negotiate an end to the standoff.

Iran threatened to enrich its uranium stockpile closer to weapons-grade levels in 60 days if world powers fail to negotiate new terms for the 2015 nuclear deal. It follows the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign of diplomatic and economic measures that have exacted a punishing toll on the Islamic Republic.

The effort has been a success in the view of the president and senior officials of his administration.

“Because of our action, the Iranian regime is struggling to fund its campaign of violent terror, as its economy heads into an unprecedented depression, government revenue dries up, and inflation spirals out of control,” Trump said yesterday as he announced yet another round of sanctions, this time targeting the country’s metals industry.

The test is whether Iran will return to the bargaining table and agree to the new terms set by the Trump administration. The stakes couldn’t be higher, as shown by the US decision over the weekend to rush an aircraft carrier group and other military assets to the Middle East to confront an unspecified Iranian threat.

PRESIDENT Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, yesterday to board Marine One for a short trip to Andrews Air Force Base, Md, to travel to Florida to visit with those affected by Hurricane Michael and attend a rally.

Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP Democrats used Iran’s announcement as an opportunity to criticise Trump for withdrawing from the deal.

Sen Chris Murphy, D-Conn, called it a sign of “blind, meandering, escalatory” foreign policy.

“Iran’s moves to restart their nuclear programme are a direct consequence of the Trump administration withdrawing from the Iran deal,” said Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Despite Iran’s announced deadline to pull out of the remainder of the nuclear deal, there have been signs that Tehran is willing to talk. Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said during a visit to New York last month that he thinks Trump wants to deal but is trying an antagonistic approach at the direction of senior aides and Middle Eastern allies.

“Try the language of respect,” he urged him, pretending to address the president directly. “It won’t kill you, believe me.”

Trump himself says he’s ready to talk. “We call on the regime to abandon its nuclear ambitions, change its destructive behavior, respect the rights of its people and return in good faith to the negotiating

table,” he said in announcing the new sanctions.

Brian Hook, US envoy to Iran, told reporters at the State Department that the US laid out 12 demands last year for a new Iran deal and an end to the Trump administration’s maximum pressure campaign. They include an end to all uranium enrichment, ceasing all support for militant groups in the Middle East and the release of all US citizens detained in Iran on what the administration considers illegitimate grounds.

The United States, Germany, Britain, France, Russia, China and the European Union signed the 2015 deal with Iran, which lifted international sanctions in exchange for Tehran limiting its nuclear programme, including restricting uranium enrichment for ten years.

On May 8, 2018, Trump pulled out of the agreement, which he called “the worst deal in history”. He said the accord should also have restrained Iran’s ballistic missile programme and curbed Tehran’s malign activities in the region and support for terror networks.

The administration then reimposed the sanctions on Iran that had been lifted

PUBLIC HOSPITALS AUTHORITY

NOTICE

TENDER FOR THE PROVISION OF HOSPITAL BEDS Tenders are invited from Vendors to provide hospital beds for the institutions of Public Hospitals Authority.

Tender documents, which include instructions to Tenderers, specifications and other relevant information can be obtained from the Public Hospitals Authority.

The Tender proposals must be submitted in printed hard copy and on a flash drive in a sealed envelope or package identified as “TENDER FOR THE PROVISION OF HOSPITAL BEDS, PUBLIC HOSPITALS AUTHORITY” addressed to: The Chairman Tender Committee The Public Hospitals Authority Corporate Centre Building “B” Third & West Terraces, Collins Avenue P.o. Box N–8200 Nassau, Bahamas Tenders are to be submitted to the Public Hospitals Authority no later than 12:00 p.m. Friday, June 14th, 2019. Late tender(s) WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. All Tender submissions must be accompanied by: (i) a current Business License that states your company is Licensed to provide medical equipment; (ii) three (3) references from current or previous clients; (iii) Value Added Tax (V.A.T) Registration Certificate; (iv) An up-to-date (not less than one (1) month old) V.A.T Compliance Certificate; (v) a copy of Insurance Policy Certificate indicating that your company is insured against loss of life, injury or damages; (vi) a letter from the National Insurance Board (NIB) stating that your company is up to date (not less than one (1) month old) and in good standing in the payment of its NIB contributions on behalf of those persons employed in your company; and (vii) a signed copy of the Public Hospitals Disclosure statement.

The Public Hospitals Authority reserves the right to accept or reject any or all Tender(s).

when the agreement went into force.

The administration sees its move as a success.

Deprived of much of its oil revenue, Iran cut its overall military spending by 28% after reaching a peak in 2017, Hook said. Inflation has risen in the Islamic Republic and the economy is in recession, forecast to shrink by 3%, while global oil prices haven’t budged even as Iranian crude has been largely taken out of the market, production at a historic low.

“We have made our focus around diplomatic isolation and economic pressure,” he said. “That policy is working.”

The other nations who signed the nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration have remained in the pact and

have tried to provide Iran with enough economic incentives to keep the agreement alive.

Complaining that it has not reaped the economic benefits it expected from signing the deal, Iran on yesterday threatened to enrich its uranium stockpile closer to weapons-grade levels in 60 days if world powers fail to negotiate new terms. Iran stopped its sale of excess uranium and heavy water as a first step — something required under the deal. In 60 days, if no new deal is in place, Iran said it would increase its enrichment of uranium beyond 3.67%, which is permitted by the accord.

“Zarif today is doing what Zarif does very well, which is setting the table for negotiations because I think the Iranians are now realizing

that they may not be able to wait Trump out,” said Mark Dubowitz, chief executive of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a critic of the deal.

“The economy is in such bad shape and getting worse that they may experience a massive economic crisis before January 2021,” when either Trump starts a second term or a new American president takes office. “I think Zarif can’t wait to get back to the table,” Dubowitz said.

The heightened tension over Iran’s nuclear program comes just after the US dispatched the USS Lincoln aircraft carrier and bombers to the Persian Gulf in response to intelligence reports warning Iran was going to strike US assets, interests or allies.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, May 9, 2019, PAGE 15

RIDE-HAILING DRIVERS EXPOSE FINANCIAL UNREST BEFORE UBER IPO NEW YORK Associated Press THE executives at Uber are working hard to design a future where the company earns billions of dollars by allowing riders to summon fully automated robotaxis.

Until then, they must rely on an army of human drivers — nearly four million across the globe — to keep the business humming. The challenge is to figure out how to make their drivers happy while also making money, and right now the company is losing on both fronts as it heads into its initial public offering on Friday — the largest technology IPO of the year.

Drivers complain about low wages and being classified as contract workers instead of employees, which cuts them off from the benefits that go with it.

Lyft, which beat Uber to the public market last month, is dealing with similar issues.

Yesterday, drivers for both companies participated in strikes across the country, pledging to turn off their apps for hours to call attention to their plight, although it’s unclear how many actually took part and the impact on customers appeared minimal.

“The drivers are the one who helped Uber to be $100bn, nobody else, and the drivers are the ones who are suffering,” said Inder Parmar, 54, an Uber driver who lives in a suburb of New York City.

“Uber and Lyft, they figured out how to exploit the drivers, and that’s what they’re doing right now.”

Uber is being challenged around the globe to treat its drivers as employees instead of contractors. Fighting those battles is expensive.

What’s more, losing those battles and being forced to classify drivers as employees would exacerbate its financial difficulties.

“That would be the nightmare scenario,” said Dan Ives, managing director of equity research at Wedbush Securities. “That continues to probably be the biggest threat to the business models.”

Although both Uber and Lyft have been growing at

ANNETTE RIBERO, left, of San Jose, and Jeff Terry, of Sacramento, hold signs during a demonstration outside of Uber headquarters yesterday in San Francisco. As Uber executives lure investors to infuse the company with billions of dollars ahead of the largest technology IPO this year, the men and women behind the wheels of the largest ride-hailing companies are pushing for higher wages and recognition for their role in building the companies.

Photo: Eric Risberg/AP impressive rates, they have also been consistently losing money. Lyft, with its 1.1 million drivers and 18.6 million active riders in more than

300 markets in the US and Canada, lost nearly $3bn since its 2012 inception.

Uber, which boasts 3.9 million drivers for its ride-hailing

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and food delivery services in more than 700 cities and 63 countries worldwide, lost nearly $8bn over a decade.

By continuing to treat

drivers as independent contractors, Uber and Lyft avoid paying for health insurance, overtime or benefits such as workers compensation, said Shannon Liss-Riordan, partner at Lichten & Liss-Riordan, who has represented drivers in the employment classification cases.

“This is basically a big giveaway to these massively successful companies, often off the backs of the workers who are fueling their success,” Liss-Riordan said.

Both Uber and Lyft say the development of autonomous vehicles will help reduce the expense the companies pay to drivers, but experts say that won’t happen anytime soon. Uber states in its IPO filing that there will be a long period of “hybrid autonomy”, where autonomous vehicles will be gradually introduced while drivers continue to serve most consumer demand. But it also acknowledges that this could lead to dissatisfaction

as drivers watch themselves get replaced by robots.

For now, the strategy is to preserve drivers’ status as independent contractors, which Uber justifies by pointing to the fact that drivers get to choose whether, when and where to provide services, are free to work for competitors and provide their own vehicles.

Daniel Danker, head of Uber driver products, said he could not comment on the driver classification cases, but said Uber is constantly looking for ways to address drivers needs and in some markets gives drivers vacation pay.

Uber rolled out a suite of benefits for drivers last week, which includes discounts on gasoline and car repairs and tuition reimbursement for Arizona State University Online for qualified drivers who log a certain number of trips.