08162017 business

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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16, 2017

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Private sector jobs offers road to success

By NATARIO MCKENZIE Tribune Business Reporter nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net GOVERNMENT was yesterday urged to facilitate greater growth in private sector employment, with a governance reformer warning: “We can’t be stagnant in our thinking.”

Robert Myers, a principal with the Organisation for Responsible Governance (ORG) told Tribune Business the Minnis administration appeared to be taking the right approach to reducing the burden on the public sector but encouraged the government to create an environment to facilitate growth in private sector employment.

The new administration has implemented a public sector hiring

freeze, decided not to renew contracts for emoluments exceeding $100,000 annually and implemented a crackdown on the number and usage of government vehicles. The Minnis administration has also let go a number of temporary hires recruited just prior to the general election.

“I think that’s the right approach,” said Mr Myers.

“I guess I am saddened by the fact that political parties chose to make this a political issue because the fact is that we have to start acting as responsible Bahamians if we are truly going to see our country succeed. It’s disappointing to see it turn into a political football.

The government should expand where and when needed but to do

CHANGING THE DIALOGUE BETWEEN CUSTOMER AND CLIENT

By NATARIO MCKENZIE Tribune Business Reporter nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net AN interactive Bahamian web-based services directory is aiming to ‘change the way Bahamians do business’, its chief executive told Tribune Business yesterday.

Benjamin Fox, chief executive and operations manager of The Island Shopper said his company’s interactive directory would expand business opportunities for local entrepreneurs and businesses by creating an interactive link with potential customers.

Mr Fox noted the platform, which officially launched in January of this year, is seeking to attract local businesses to its online directory, similar to the American home services website Angie’s List which allows users to read and publish crowd-sourced reviews of local businesses and contractors.

“We have been getting the word out about Island Shopper and a lot of persons are interested in getting to know more about it. A lot of people have

said they don’t want a static directory. People have told us they want an interactive page where they can call in and communicate with businesses and that is what we are offering,” said Mr Fox, who noted the company currently has five employees.

He explained the Island Shopper platform offers businesses free accounts - with limited-privilegesand paid packages with added benefits to allow for greater visibility and business opportunities.

“We want to connect businesses with clients and clients with businesses,” said Mr Fox, who explained that the platform operates a ‘lead system’ which ultimately allows businesses to interact directly with potential clients.

“Once a person goes to the site and they send a request for a service or product we would get that request via email in minutes,” he said.

“We would then look at our database and look for the relevant businesses. We would send the request to the group of interest and See PG B2

so without accountability and is just irresponsible.”

According to the result of the latest Labour force survey, conducted between April 24th and April 30th, the country’s unemployment rate is now at 9.9 percent – a 1.7 percent decrease from the results of October’s survey. The decline came as 7,770 people gained employment while there was a decrease of 3,485 unemployed people. No sector experienced a greater increase in employment than the civil service.

During the budget debate in May, the Minnis administration decried the substantial rise in civil service employees in the lead-up to the election and has pledged to take a much See PG B2

‘BUY BAHAMAS’ - FORBES RANKS ISLANDS FIRST FOR INVESTORS

By NATARIO McKENZIE Tribune Business Reporter nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas has been listed as ‘hands down’ the top international area real estate investors should examine, according to Forbes Magazine.

The Bahamas was ranked number one out of nine jurisdictions by Forbes’ Real Estate Council which is comprised of experts and executives in the real estate industry. In an August 3, article, “Nine International Areas Real Estate Investors Should Give a Look”, Forbes Real Estate Council The Bahamas came out ahead of Belize, Columbia, Great Britain, Lisbon Portugal, Puerto Rico, Pune India, Tijuana Mexico and Vancouver Canada.

“The ‘hands down’ answer here is The Bahamas,” said Engelo Rumora of List’n Sell Realty and a member of the Forbes council.

“During the global financial crisis, the first thing ‘Mr. Wall St.’ sold at a loss was his holiday home in the Caribbean. Not just that, but the area has been devastated with two pretty big hurricanes during the last 10 years. Common sense real estate practices indicate buying low and selling high.

Now is the time to invest in See PG B2

ROBERT MYERS

BTC’S HELPING HAND IN FREEPORT

By NATARIO McKENZIE Tribune Business Reporter nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The company has partnered with the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) for ‘Back to School Fridays’ and will provide FREE Area WiFi for parents and the children to enjoy as they take advantage of savings offered at all their favorite local stores.

Representatives from BTC will also be on site

THE Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) is helping spur economic activity in Downtown Freeport ahead of the busy Back to School shopping season.

providing discounts and deals on popular mobile devices as well as giveaways.

BTC Marketing Manager Leteasha Lord (Left) is pictured alongside Lashawn Dames of the GBPA (Center) and DJ Skye of ZNS Northern Bahamas following a radio promotion for the upcoming event.

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PAGE 2, Wednesday, August 16, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

CLUB MED EXECS PAY COURTESY CALL ON PRIME MINISTER

Bimini to join ALIV stores chain

By NATARIO MCKENZIE Tribune Business Reporter nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

ALIV, The Bahamas’ newest mobile network, has announced the opening of a flagship store in Bimini will take place this Friday, August 18.

Chief ALIV Officer Damian Blackburn said the company remains committed to quickly delivering on its mandate to provide superior products and services in The Bahamas.

“We are excited to deliver ALIV’s world-class service to the people of Bimini, offering them the opportunity to now choose the best mobile network in The Bahamas,” he said.

“Our teams have been working judiciously on the island of Bimini to ensure required infrastructure is fully installed and secure

key elements for a successful service launch on the island.

“We are proud to have more than 70,000 subscribers to date and look forward to these numbers growing as we welcome Bimini and other Family Islands to the ALIV network. Critical steps have been taken to ensure financial viability in the long term and in line with service roll-outs. We have received a total funding of $135 million from shareholders and have invested $120 million in our network system and infrastructure.”

ALIV currently has retail stores and authorized dealers on the islands of New Providence, Grand Bahama, Abaco and Eleuthera and currently a total of 142 live sites throughout these islands. ALIV also expects to launch in Exuma and Andros later this month.

ALIV Tower going up in Bimini.

Changing the dialogue between customer and client From pg B1 the businesses would reach out to the potential client and they go from there.

We would also conduct a follow up to determine whether a person’s got a good contact. We would

also follow up with businesses based on the reviews they receive as a means of quality control.”

Island Shopper has other features including a classified section, a coupons feature as well as job and property listings.

EXECUTIVES of Club Med North America paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister, Dr. the Hon. Hubert Minnis at the Office of the Prime Minister on Monday. Club Med North America Vice-President Xavier Mufraggi, left, shakes hands with Prime Minister Minnis in photo. (Photo/OPM Media Services)

GRIM PRESENT BUT BRIGHT POTENTIAL FOR OUR CAPITAL MARKET OUR Bahamas International Securities Exchange (BISX) has sent me a press release about the courtesy call they and closely linked Bahamas Central Securities Depositary (BCSD) paid on the Minister of Finance.

These two organizations form the structural backbone required for our capital market to function.

The press release was bare of hard news, so I wonder what they found to talk about. Surely not the recent movement of the market, which has been abysmal.

In most countries with an operating stock exchange, the various valuation indexes and price quotations give a rough approximation of the health of the economy. GDP (gross domestic product) often moves in tandem with share prices.

If we look only at BISX information, we would conclude that our economy is in terrible shape, far worse than the S&P and Moody’s ratings tell us. Consider these hard facts: The ordinary shares of only 20 companies are listed on BISX, and thus are the sole visible proxy for our entire profit-oriented commercial economy of hundreds of businesses. Not included are the many strong enterprises that refuse to list on BISX, for reasons they consider entirely rational. We have no way of knowing how household names like Kelly’s, John Bull, Asa Pritchard, AID, SuperValue, and Marathon Mall contribute to the national wealth—except

that their earnings accrue to a small group families rather than the wider public.

Analyzing the 20 companies that have chosen to list, four of them are zombie enterprises that do not pay dividends or earn net income and rarely trade: two so-called real estate companies, one bank (the notorious BoB), and one closed-end investment company. The logic for de-listing them seems inescapable.

Of the 16 remaining companies, only one has enjoyed any appreciable increase in its share price—Freeport Oil Company, up about 40 percent so far this year.

One bank, concentrating on mortgages, is down about 35 percent. Two strong companies, Cable Bahamas and Commonwealth Brewery, have suffered sharp price declines that proper analysis would show are unjustified and will probably be reversed.

The majority of the listed companies, 12 firms, have essentially traded flat. Even where trades do occur, they hardly demonstrate true liquidity, as sometimes weeks pass before a buyer and seller can be matched.

These negative or stagnant price movements are reflected in BISX’s own price index for all ordinary shares, which this year has registered a drop from 1,925 to 1,825.

The only reason to buy the typical ordinary share has been the dividend yield, which in some cases exceeds 5 percent, far higher than the pitiful return on bank

deposits and even higher than the interest rate on no-risk Government bonds.

But the whole purpose of a stock exchange is to provide an attractive “total return” to investors, combining current dividend yield with capital gains from rising share prices. Without capital gains, a stock exchange for trading shares has little point.

This unhappy state of affairs cannot be charged to faults of BISX itself but stems from deep-seated Bahamian skepticism about minority equity ownership.

The minority fear being ignored, and the majority fear loss of control.

These negative views can be revised.

The digital revolution has transformed how business and financial information is publicized instantaneously.

Our educational systems, combined with ever-changing hardware and software applications, assure that the percentage of our citizens without computer literacy will soon approach the vanishing point. In the United States, the UK, Asia, and Latin America, many of these rapid changes have already occurred and are sharpening daily. Investment knowledge is becoming ever more transparent.

Members of our small industry of financial analysts in pension funds and broker-dealers must pull their heads from the sand and wake up to the

RICHARD

CoulsoN inevitable trends. When do you see our brokers express an opinion about a stock, as happens every minute in more active markets? Government can be persuaded to take supporting steps by opening up our equity investments to foreign buyers and cutting red-tape for local ones.

Gradually, we should see more local companies finding good reasons to list on BISX, and more investors to hold their shares, the essential features for a dynamic capital market.

It’s estimated that 52 percent of adult American citizens are now shareholders in publicly traded companies. You can bet they would not be following this habit if it were causing them to lose money.

Eventually, Bahamians can indulge the same habit, but only if we adopt modern capital markets practices of on-line investor education and aggressive marketing.

Private sector jobs offers road to success From pg B1

more conservative approach to public sector hiring Mr Myers argued the government, while reducing public sector hires, must facilitate more growth in private sector employment.

“We have to get those jobs in the private sector.

There is a dire need for education and workforce development. The Bahamas has got to empower our people to power our businesses and our country. Youth unemployment remains a challenge and we have to focus on how to get them productive and what we can do to incentivise the private sector and entrepreneurs to be more productive.

If we can’t get the youth productive they are going to be a horrible drain on our society and we can’t afford that.”

According to the Labour force survey, the unemployment rate among youth (15-24) remained “considerably higher than any other

‘BUY BAHAMAS’ - FORBES RANKS ISLANDS FIRST FOR INVESTORS From pg B1 waterfront Bahamas real estate.”

Local realtors told Tribune Business last month there was a significant increase in business for the 2017 first half. John Christie, H. G. Christie Ltd’s chief executive, said the company was enjoying “one of our best years ever” after two election results - one in the US, the other in the Bahamas boosted market confidence.

His optimism was shared by fellow realtors. Mario Carey,

age group” although “there was a slight decline in the rate from 25.1 per cent in November 2016 to 24.1 per cent.”

Mr Myers called for improvements in the ease of doing business.

“We have to remove some of the complexities to doing business in this country,” he added.

“We have to improve the ease of doing business. The harder it is to do business, the less likely people will want to get into business or stay in business. We have to start seeing the unions working together as opposed to against the private sector.

The unions play a major part in this. They have to work with labour to improve productivity. My biggest plea is that we put our political differences aside and focus on how to improve our product.

We have to get the socioeconomic boat back afloat.

We have got to move those jobs from the public to the private sector.” president and chief executive at Better Homes & Gardens MCR (Bahamas), urged potential buyers to move quickly as increased demand was beginning to drive prices upwards.

Peter Dupuch, head of ERA Dupuch Real Estate, agreed that “people sitting on the sidelines are coming to the table to pull the trigger” on potential real estate purchases, especially since the May 10 general election. He added his firm was ahead of 2016’s performance although he was unable to say by how much.

Mike Lightbourn, Coldwell Banker Lightbourn Realty’s president, told Tribune Business: “This has been a good year as far as numbers are concerned. I’m sure we’re up, I don’t know what percentage, but hopefully it will get better.”

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, August 16, 2017, PAGE 3

RHETORIC OVER: DRIVE TO EASE NAFTA IMPACT ON WORKERS BEGINS

By PAUL WISEMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Of all the trade deals he lambasted on the campaign trail as threats to American workers, President Donald Trump reserved particular scorn for one: The North American Free Trade Agreement.

The NAFTA agreement with Mexico and Canada was “the worst trade deal in history,” candidate Trump declared.

He accused NAFTA of having swollen America’s trade deficit with Mexico, pulled factories south of the border and killed jobs across the United States.

Trump promised to renegotiate the 23-year-old deal — or walk away from it. Now the time has come.

Five days of talks aimed at overhauling NAFTA begin Wednesday in Washington, with negotiations to follow in Mexico and Canada.

The United States has never before tried to overhaul a major trade agreement. So analysts aren’t sure what will emerge from the talks.

But it’s clear that delivering on Trump’s campaign promises will be difficult.

A new version of NAFTA would require approval from a divided Congress.

And even an improved NAFTA might not deliver the payoff Trump and his supporters are hoping for: The restoration of millions of lost manufacturing jobs.

Economists and trade analysts do see opportunities to improve NAFTA, which eliminated most barriers on trade among the United States, Canada and Mexico. If nothing else, the pact could be updated to reflect the growth of the digital economy.

But a technocratic rewrite is unlikely to satisfy Trump supporters and NAFTA critics who want a revamped agreement to shrink America’s trade deficit and return jobs to the United States.

A more aggressive approach — demanding more made-in-America content for products that qualify for NAFTA’s dutyfree status, for example — risks imperiling some benefits that Americans think the trade deal provided to them.

American farmers, for example, fear losing easy access to the Mexican market. Manufacturing companies have built supply chains that crisscross NAFTA borders; they worry about having investments jeopardized.

And Canada and Mexico are sure to respond to any harsh American demands with their own.

Plus, the clock is ticking.

Next year brings a presidential election in Mexico and congressional elections in the United States. Forging a complex agreement will be even tougher if the political temperature is running hot.

CANADA’s Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, center, holds a roundtable consultation on the North American Free Trade Agreement with labor stakeholders, yesterday, in Toronto. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP) Last month, the Trump administration listed its objectives for the renegotiation. Some of them will meet fierce resistance from Canadian and Mexican negotiators.

The administration has riled Canada, for example, by saying it wants to eliminate a dispute-resolution process established under NAFTA. That process lets Mexico and Canada appeal unfavorable rulings by U.S. courts and agencies in trade cases. They can appeal to five-person NAFTA panels, composed of two members from each county in

the dispute and a fifth that usually alternates between them. The panels’ rulings are binding.

But the panels have a reputation for overturning U.S. trade decisions.

That is especially so in cases involving Canadian softwood timber imports to the United States — a long-standing source of conflict. America complains that Canada subsidizes its loggers, allowing them to dump cheap timber in the United States.

“We lose lots of sales,” says Jason Brochu, copresident of Pleasant River

Trump signs order to speed infrastructure construction

By JOAN LOWY AND MICHAEL BIESECKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday he has signed a new executive order intended to make more efficient the federal permitting process for construction of transportation, water and other infrastructure projects without harming the environment.

Trump’s order includes revoking an earlier executive order signed by President Barack Obama concerning projects built in flood plains, White House officials said. The Obama order required that such projects built with federal aid take rising sea levels into account. Trump has suggested the predicted risks from sea level rise driven by climate change are overblown.

A copy of Trump’s executive order wasn’t immediately available.

Describing his action, Trump said projects will still be subjected to environmental safeguards.

PRESIDENT Donald Trump holds a flowchart of highway projects as he speaks to the media in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York yesterday. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) “It’s going to be quick, it’s going to be a very streamlined process,” Trump said. “And by the way, if it doesn’t meet environmental safeguards, we’re not going to approve it. Very simple.

We’re not going to approve it.”

Building trade groups had urged Trump to revoke the flood plain order, saying it was overly bureaucratic and increased the cost of projects. The Obama order was

The Bahamas Public Services Union

Special General meetinG for nomination of officerS to Serve for 2017-2020 The Bahamas Public Services Union in accordance with Article 21-(i) of the Union’s Constitution will hold a Special General meeting, for the nomination of officers to serve for the year 2017 - 2020 on Thursday, August 17th, 2017 beginning at 6:00pm at the Bahamas Communication and Public Officers Union located Farrington Road, Nassau Bahamas.

Nomination forms may be collected at the Union’s Administration Office, Wulff Road between the hours of 9:30am to 4:40pm Monday through Friday commencing Thursday, 3rd August, 2017 Candidates for all positions are urged to collect and return the completed forms to the Secretary General on or before 5:00pm Wednesday, 15th August 2017.

especially unwieldy because it didn’t standardize across the government how sea level rise was to be taken into account, which left each federal agency to come up with its own standards, said Jimmy Christianson, an attorney with the Associated General Contractors.

A recent draft of an upcoming report from scientists representing 13 federal agencies say sea levels along U.S. coastlines could rise

by more than one foot on average by 2050, potentially more in the Northeast and western Gulf of Mexico.

A projected increase in the intensity of hurricanes in the North Atlantic will increase the probability of “extreme coastal flooding.”

Environmentalists said Tuesday that ignoring the reality of the Earth’s changing climate is shortsighted.

“What this order will do is ensure that we will waste more taxpayer money because federal agencies will no longer have to consider long-term flood risks to federally funded infrastructure projects,” said Jessica Grannis, who manages the adaptation program at the Georgetown Climate Center.

The president, speaking at a news conference at Trump Tower in New York, said it can cost hundreds of millions of dollars and 17 years to approve an ordinary highway project because of burdensome regulations. Under Trump’s order, agencies must complete environmental reviews of projects within two years on average.

Lumber in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine. “It’s not fair to have subsidized lumber come in unchecked.” The ruling panels, he says, lack “a proper dispute-resolution process.” He’d like to see them eliminated.

That idea causes heartburn in Ottawa. Before they could rely on the panels, Canadians “felt they were not getting a fair shake” in U.S. courts and administrative proceedings, says Daniel Ujczo, a trade lawyer with Dickson Wright in Columbus, Ohio. “They

see (the panels) as something they earned.”

The United States also wants more leeway to slap tariffs on imports that are found to hurt American industry. For now, NAFTA limits America’s ability to use that power in cases involving Canada and Mexico. If America imposes taxes on their exports, would Canada and Mexico retaliate with their own tariffs?

In another attempt to ensure that any revamped pact promotes U.S. manufacturing, the Trump administration wants tougher rules requiring that goods that qualify for NAFTA benefits are actually made mostly inside the three-country free-trade bloc — and don’t include too many components from, say, China. Manufacturers, which have built supply chains that straddle NAFTA borders, worry that a NAFTA redo will disrupt their operations.

Magna International, an auto supplier based in Aurora, Ontario, for instance, has 55 manufacturing plants in the United States, 50 in Canada and 30 in Mexico. Its products, such as car-seat components, can cross NAFTA borders five or six times. If it had to pay tariffs at each border crossing or produce more paperwork to prove where parts originated, Magna’s costs would rise.

PAGE 4, Wednesday, August 16, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

China says US trade probe would violate international rules

By JOE MCDONALD Associated Press

EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, right, welcoming British Secretary of State, David Davis, for a meeting at the EU headquarters in Brussels. The British government is fighting back against criticisms that it is divided and unprepared for Brexit, announcing it will publish a set of detailed proposals on customs arrangements, the status of the Ireland-Northern Ireland border and other issues. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaer, File)

UK SAYS IT MAY SEEK ‘TEMPORARY’ CUSTOMS UNION WITH EU

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Britain might seek to remain in a customs union with the European Union for a time to avoid border chaos after leaving the bloc, the government’s Brexit department said Tuesday.

The Department for Exiting the European Union said there could be “a temporary customs union between the U.K. and the EU” to help businesses make the transition to life outside the EU. And it said a future “customs partnership” could eliminate the need for a border for goods traveling between Britain and the EU. Brexit Secretary David Davis said the transition period would likely last about two years, and would be replaced by a new deal offering “extremely slick, extremely streamlined customs arrangements.”

Some British businesses have accused the government of being vague about whether there will be economic barriers with the EU after Brexit in March 2019.

The persistent uncertainty — 14 months after Britain voted to leave the EU — is weighing on the economy.

Trade Secretary Liam Fox and Treasury chief Philip Hammond wrote in the Sunday Telegraph that in 2019 Britain will leave both the EU’s single market in goods and services and its customs union.

The single market ensures tariff-less trade in goods and services and is linked closely by the EU with other rights, such as the right of EU citizens to cross borders.

The customs union allows goods to move within the EU without checks, but also imposes tariffs on imports from outside the EU. That would prevent Britain striking new free trade deals while it remains inside the arrangement.

The British proposal says the U.K. should be free to negotiate new trade relationships during the transition period, something EU officials are likely to find problematic.

EU officials say Britain’s stated goal of “frictionless” trade is impossible outside the single market and customs union.

The British government is trying to rebuff claims by EU officials that it is has been underprepared for divorce negotiations before a new round of talks in Brussels at the end of this month.

The customs proposals are the first in a series of papers covering thorny issues in the negotiations.

Another, on the status of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, is due to be published this week.

The European Commission said it took note of Britain’s suggestions, “but we will only address them once we have made sufficient progress on the terms of the orderly withdrawal” from the bloc.

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BEIJING (AP) — China criticized President Donald Trump’s order for a possible U.S. trade investigation of Beijing’s technology policies as a violation of global rules and said Tuesday it will “resolutely safeguard” Chinese interests.

Trade groups for technology companies welcomed Trump’s order Monday but the Chinese Commerce Ministry said it violated the spirit of international trade and Washington’s World Trade Organization commitments. The ministry said Beijing will take “all appropriate measures” if Chinese companies are hurt but gave no details.

Trump told U.S. trade officials to look into whether to launch a formal investigation into whether Beijing improperly requires foreign companies to hand over technology in exchange for market access.

“If the U.S. side disregards the fact it does not respect multilateral trade rules and takes action to damage the economic and trade relations between the two sides, then the Chinese side will never sit back and will take all appropriate measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese side,” said a Commerce Ministry statement.

Beijing requires automakers and other foreign companies in China to work through joint ventures, usually with state-owned partners. They often are required to give technology to partners that might become competitors.

More than 20 percent of 100 American companies

A WORKER watches as shipping containers are loaded onto a ship at a port in Qingdao in eastern China’s Shandong province. China’s government says it will respond to a possible trade probe ordered by President Donald Trump with “all appropriate measures” to protect Chinese interests.

(Chinatopix via AP) that responded to a survey by the U.S.-China Business Council, an industry group, said they were asked to transfer technology within the past three years as a condition of market access, according to Jake Parker, the group’s vice president for China operations.

“We don’t believe market access should be contingent on transferring technology,” said Parker. “It goes counter to China’s WTO commitments.”

Foreign business groups complain companies are being squeezed out of promising Chinese markets or pressured to hand over technology for electric cars and other emerging industries.

Trump said in April he was setting aside trade

By JILL COLVIN Associated Press BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence is praising Argentine President Mauricio Macri’s “bold reform agenda” during a visit to that country, calling Macri’s efforts to transform Argentina’s economy an “inspiration.”

Days after local primary elections that were seen as a boost for Macri’s probusiness agenda, Pence said Argentina should serve as a model for the region.

“Argentina in many ways is an inspiration, across this hemisphere and across the wider world, and I’m here to tell you on behalf of President (Donald) Trump, the United States is with you,” Pence said during a joint press conference with Macri at the presidential residence in the suburbs of Buenos Aires.

Pence’s comments came during a packed day that has included meetings with local officials and a visit to the city’s grand cathedral.

Pence is also set to deliver a speech at the Buenos Aires stock exchange focused on economic ties between the two countries as part of a six-day visit to Latin America.

Investors have praised Macri’s decision to cut government spending, reduce taxes on exports

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen Pence arrive in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, Aug. 14, 2017. Pence will be in Argentina until Wednesday, when he will be heading to Santiago, Chile. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) and end economic distortions that led to years of high consumer prices under his left-leaning predecessor, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. But job cuts and diminished utility subsidies have also stoked unrest in a nation with a long tradition of providing generous state jobs and benefits.

Macri and Trump enjoy a personal relationship dating back years from their days as businessmen and both had hoped to leverage those ties to bolster U.S.-Argentina relationship after years of anti-American posturing

by Fernandez.

During a visit to the White House in April, Trump heaped praise on Macri and declared that

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not become the destroyer of multilateral rules,” said the statement.

Ahead of Monday’s order, the Chinese foreign ministry appealed to Trump to avoid a “trade war.” A state newspaper, the China Daily, said an investigation could “intensify tensions,” especially over intellectual property.

Parker noted thenPresident Barack Obama ordered a similar investigation of Chinese policy on green technology in 2010.

That ended in a negotiated settlement.

“It didn’t lead to any unilateral sanctions against the Chinese,” said Parker.

“Nor did it undermine the overall U.S.-China trade relationship.”

Pence praises Argentina’s economic reforms

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Salary based upon ability as well as experience.

disputes while Washington and Beijing worked together to persuade North Korea to give up nuclear weapons development. But American officials have resumed criticizing Chinese policy in recent weeks.

“The White House is right to make clear all options are on the table,” said Robert D. Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, an industry group in Washington, in a statement.

The Commerce Ministry complained Trump’s order was “strong unilateralism” that violated the spirit of multinational trade agreements.

“We believe the U.S. side should strictly adhere to commitments and should

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the two countries would be “great friends, better than ever before” — despite the fact that Macri had supported Trump rival Hillary Clinton in the U.S. presidential election.

“There’s a personal relationship there and I imagine the vice president will want to build on that,” said Harold Trinkunas, an expert in Latin American politics who currently works at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation.

Pence’s visit comes two days after the surprising success of Macri’s political coalition in key Argentine provinces in a primary election.

The results strengthened the collation’s

position heading into October’s midterm legislative vote and gave a boost to its pro-business economic reforms.

The vote was closely watched to gauge Macri’s popularity and the strength of former President Fernandez, who is expected to run for a Senate seat in October. Investors fear a return of the populist Fernandez who has vowed to fight Macri’s reforms.

Fernandez had been widely expected to beat Macri’s candidate in Buenos Aires province, but the contest ended in a virtual tie that was seen as a major win for the president.

Pence’s speech is expected to stress a message he has delivered repeatedly now: That Trump’s “America first” policy does not mean “America alone.” Pence is also expected to argue that a secure Latin America is crucial to the security of the United States, praise Macri’s economic reforms and argue that a more prosperous Latin America is good for the U.S. During her presidency, Fernandez kept prices for things like bread, bus rides and energy low. But her free-spending policies led to soaring consumer prices, limits on exports and currency controls that created a black market for dollars.

IN THE ESTATE OF ROBERT STRACHAN late of Fire Trail Road in the Southern District of the Island of New Providence one of the Islands of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, deceased NOTICE NOTICE is hereby given that all persons having any claim or demand against the said estate are required to send the same duly certified in writing to the undersigned on or before the 16th day of October, A.D. 2017, after which date the Administratrix will proceed to distribute the estate having regard only to the claims of which she shall have had notice.

AND notice is hereby given that all persons indebted to the estate are required to make full settlement on or before the date hereinabove mentioned.

CEDRIC L. PARKER & CO. Attorneys for the Executor 9 Harcourt (Rusty) Bethel Drive Nassau, Bahamas

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, August 16, 2017, PAGE 5

BIZ LEADERS QUIT TRUMP PANEL AFTER CHARLOTTESVILLE COMMENTS

Then came resignations from Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank and then Intel CEO Brian Krzanich.

Austan Goolsbee, the former chief economist for President Barack Obama, said the departures suggest the president’s response to the violence in Charlottesville could alienate those who work for the companies, and those who buy the products and services that they sell.

“It’s certainly a sign that Trump’s more controversial stuff isn’t playing well with companies selling to middle America,” said Goolsbee, now a professor at the University of Chicago.

There had already been departures from two major

councils created by the Trump administration that were tied to its policies.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk resigned from the manufacturing council in June, and two other advisory groups to the president, after the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement.

Walt Disney Co. Chairman and CEO Bob Iger resigned for the same reason from the President’s Strategic and Policy Forum.

The manufacturing jobs council had 28 members initially, but it has shrunk since it was formed earlier this year as executives retire, are replaced, or, as with Frazier, Musk, Plank, Paul and Krzanich, resign.

Dan Eaton, a business ethics instructor at the San Diego State University Fowler College of Business and a partner at San Diegobased law firm Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek, said that while CEOs may feel it is their civic duty to serve the president, their responsibility ultimately is to their shareholders, employees and customers.

“That’s something that’s always in play, and as a result some companies choose to abstain from getting involved in political roles,” he said.

Eaton said that the potential for a public rebuke from a sitting president is not a concern only to those now on advisory panels, but

to all who may be asked to serve in the future.

Already, there is a push on social media lobbying other executives to distance themselves from Trump, and resign.

So far, the majority of CEOs and business leaders that are sitting on the two major, federal panels, are condemning racism, but say they want to keep a seat at the table.

“Our commitment to diversity and inclusion is unwavering, and we will remain active champions for these efforts,” said a spokesman for Campbell Soup for CEO Denise Morrison. “We believe it continues to be important for Campbell to have a voice and provide input on matters that will affect our industry, our company and our employees in support of growth. Therefore, Ms. Morrison will remain on the President’s Manufacturing Jobs Initiative.”

Boeing CEO Dennis Builenburg also will remain.

Lawrence Summers, once the chief economist at the World Bank and senior Treasury official, wondered when more business leaders will distance themselves from Trump.

“After this weekend, I am not sure what it would take to get these CEOs to resign,” he tweeted.

“Demonizing ethnic groups? That has happened.”

REPORT: HIGHER PREMIUMS IF TRUMP HALTS ‘OBAMACARE’ SUBSIDIES

16 million people with no insurers on the health care marketplace for individual policies. Rural communities are at greater risk.

—About 1 million people would become uninsured right away, but within a few years that slippage would reverse and more people would be covered.

The White House immediately dismissed the report, saying that the president is still weighing options. Insurance industry groups say they have seen no sign that payments due

at the end of August will be halted.

“Regardless of what this flawed report says, Obamacare will continue to fail with or without a federal bailout,” White House spokesman Ninio Fetalvo said in a statement.

No final decisions have been made about the payments and “we continue to evaluate the issues,” he said.

Insurers say they need a decision from the government now, before they lock down their rates for 2018.

Leading Republican lawmakers have called for

continuing the payments, at least temporarily, to ensure market stability. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., is working on such legislation. He and the top Democrat on the committee, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, plan bipartisan hearings.

For months, Trump has been raising the prospect of terminating payments as a way to trigger a crisis and get Democrats to negotiate on a health care bill.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A fourth business leader resigned Tuesday from President Donald Trump’s White House jobs panel — the latest sign that corporate America’s romance with Trump is faltering after his initial half-hearted response to violence by white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The parade of departing leaders from the informal panel now includes the chief executives for Merck, Under Armour and Intel and the president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing.

Alliance president Scott Paul, in a tweet, said simply, “I’m resigning from the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative because it’s the right thing for me to do.” Within minutes of the tweet, calls to Paul’s phone were being sent to voicemail.

Wal-Mart CEO Doug McMillon joined the chorus, saying in a note to employees, “(We) too felt that he missed a critical opportunity to help bring our country together by unequivocally rejecting the appalling actions of white supremacists.”

But McMillon, whose business has customers on all sides of the political spectrum, did not address his own positon on a separate Trump advisory panel.

Corporate leaders have been willing to work with Trump on taxes, trade and

By RICARDO ALONSOZALDIVAR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Premiums for a popular type of individual health plan would rise sharply, and more people would be left with no insurance options if President Donald Trump makes good on his threat to stop “Obamacare” payments to insurers, the Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday.

The nonpartisan number crunchers also estimated that cutting off payments that now reduce copays and deductibles for people of modest incomes would add $194 billion to federal deficits over a decade. That head-scratching outcome is because a different Affordable Care Act subsidy would automatically increase as premiums jump, more than wiping out any savings.

“Ending the payments to insurers would introduce more chaos into an unsettled market, and perversely end up costing the federal government more in the end,” said Larry Levitt of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan group that found similar results.

At issue are the ACA’s “cost-sharing” payments, totaling about $7 billion this year, which reimburse

INTEL CEO Brian Krzanich is interviewed on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Fallout from President Donald Trump’s reaction to violent, racial clashes in Virginia over the weekend continued in the business community. Krzanich resigned from a federal panel created years ago to advise the U.S. president. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) reducing regulations, but they’ve increasingly found themselves grappling with cultural and social divides amid his lightning rod-style of leadership. The CEOs who left the council quickly faced his wrath.

On Tuesday, Trump tweeted, “For every CEO that drops out of the Manufacturing Council, I have many to take their place.

Grandstanders should not have gone on. JOBS!” Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier, one of only four African-Americans to lead a Fortune 500 company today, was the first to tender his resignation Monday.

He was assailed almost immediately by Trump on Twitter.

insurers for subsidizing outof-pocket costs for people with modest incomes.

It’s a financial break that can cut a deductible of $3,500 down to a few hundred dollars. Nearly 3 in 5 HealthCare.gov customers qualify for cost-sharing help, an estimated 6 million people or more. But the money is under a legal cloud because of a dispute over whether the Obamaera law properly authorized the payments. Trump has been threatening to end the monthly payments.

The 14-page report lays out consequences if that happens, some counterintuitive: — Consumers who now qualify for tax credits to offset their monthly premiums would be largely shielded from the estimated 20 percent jump

in the cost of a standard “silver” plan, because of the automatic increase in the ACA’s premium subsidies. Solid middle-class households who make too much to receive help for premiums could avoid a big hit by looking for coverage outside the government marketplace.

— Depending on factors like their income and age, some subsidized customers would be able to take their higher premium tax credits and buy a generous “gold” level plan for about the same money, or a skimpy “bronze” plan for much less or nothing.

— Some insurers would decide to exit the market rather than re-jigger premiums for 2018 at the last minute. That would leave areas of the country that are home to about

Luxury Resort looking for a skilled HR Officer who will recruit, support and develop talent through developing policies and managing procedures.

If you are passionate about HR and highly efficient, give us a chance to meet you.

We expect you to have knowledge of various HR functions. We want to see a committed approachable individual and be impressed with your character and skills.

Responsibilities include: • Support the development and implementation of HR initiatives and systems • Be actively involved in recruitment by preparing job descriptions, posting ads and managing the hiring process • Develop training and development programs • Assist in performance management processes • Support the management of disciplinary and grievance issues • Maintain employee records (HRIS) • Prepare and analyse reports for executive management Requirements • Proven experience as HR officer, HRIS Administrator or other HR position • Knowledge of HR functions (pay & benefits, recruitment, training & development etc.)

• Understanding of labour laws and disciplinary procedures • Proficient in MS Office ; knowledge of HRIS is a plus • Outstanding organizational and time-management abilities • Excellent communication and interpersonal skills • Problem-solving and decision-making aptitude • Strong ethics and reliability

Please submit resume to albanyHR@albanybahamas.com by Friday, August 16th, 2017.

UNDER Armour CEO and founder Kevin Plank speaks in Oxon Hill, Md. If there’s one thing no business likes, it’s the departure of top talent. That even applies to the nation’s government, which has seen a revolving door of CEOs exit from federal panels created years ago to advise the U.S. president. (AP Photo/ Alex Brandon, File)

COMMONWEALTH OF THE BAHAMAS IN THE SUPREME COURT

2014 CLE/GEN/01287

Common Law and Equity Division IN THE MATTER of an Indenture of Mortgage made the 1st day of August, A.D., 2003 between Michael William Gibson and Jillian Barbara Gibson and Finance Corporation of Bahamas Limited.

AND IN THE MATTER of the Mortgages Act, Chapter 156 of the Revised Laws BETWEEN FINANCE CORPORATION OF BAHAMAS LIMITED AND MICHAEL WILLIAM GIBSON AND JILLIAN BARBARA GIBSON

To:

Plaintiff First Defendant

Second Defendant MICHAEL WILLIAM GIBSON AND JILLIAN BARBARA GIBSON

TAKE NOTICE that an action has been commenced against you in the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas by Finance Corporation of Bahamas Limited, Nassau Main Branch, 323 Bay Street, Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas, in which the Plaintiff ’s claim is set out in the Originating Summons as renewed filed in this action on the 22nd day of August, A.D., 2014, seeking an Order to direct you to deliver up possession of the Mortgaged Property designated as Lot Numbered Five Hundred and Forty-four (544) Inagua Avenue Lucayan Ridge Subdivision Section B on the Island of Grand Bahama another of the Islands of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas to Finance Corporation of Bahamas Limited within Twenty-eight (28) days of the Order and Judgment for the sum outstanding under the Indenture of Mortgage dated the 1st day of August, A.D., 2003 and that it has been ordered that the publication of a notice of the entry of the said Originating Summons as renewed filed on the 22nd day of August, A.D., 2014, Notice of Appointment to Hear the Originating Summons filed on the 20th day of November, A.D., 2014, Affidavit in Support of application filed on the 11th day of November, A.D., 2014, Ex Parte Summons filed on the 18th day of July, A.D., 2017, Affidavit in Support of Ex Parte Summons filed on the 19th day of July, A.D., 2017 and Order dated the 9th day of August, A.D., 2017 in the Nassau Guardian Newspaper and The Tribune Newspaper shall be deemed to be good and sufficient service of the said documents upon you.

A copy of the said Originating Summons, Notice of Appointment to Hear the Originating Summons, Ex Parte Summons, Affidavit in Support of Ex Parte Summons and Order may be obtained from the Supreme Court Registry, Judicial Complex, East Street North, Nassau, Bahamas, or from the Attorneys for the Plaintiff below mentioned.

AND further take notice that you must within fourteen (14) days from the publication of this advertisement, inclusive of the day of such publication, enter an appearance in person or by an attorney either (i) by handing in the appropriate forms duly completed, at the Registry of the Registry of the Supreme Court, Ansbacher House, East Street, Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas, or (ii) by sending them to that office by post, otherwise Judgment may be entered against you without notice Dated the 14th day of August, A.D., 2017 HIGGS & JOHNSON Ocean Centre Montagu Foreshore East Bay Street Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas Attorneys for the Plaintiff

PAGE 6, Wednesday, August 16, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

REPORT: HIGHER PREMIUMS IF TRUMP HALTS ‘OBAMACARE’ SUBSIDIES

By RICARDO ALONSOZALDIVAR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Premiums for a popular type of individual health plan would rise sharply, and more people would be left with no insurance options if President Donald Trump makes good on his threat to stop “Obamacare” payments to insurers, the Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday.

The nonpartisan number crunchers also estimated that cutting off payments that now reduce copays and deductibles for people of modest incomes would add $194 billion to federal deficits over a decade. That head-scratching outcome is because a different Affordable Care Act subsidy would automatically increase as premiums jump, more than wiping out any savings.

“Ending the payments to insurers would introduce more chaos into an unsettled market, and perversely end up costing the federal government more in the end,” said Larry Levitt of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan group that found similar results.

At issue are the ACA’s “cost-sharing” payments,

totaling about $7 billion this year, which reimburse insurers for subsidizing outof-pocket costs for people with modest incomes.

It’s a financial break that can cut a deductible of $3,500 down to a few hundred dollars. Nearly 3 in 5 HealthCare.gov customers qualify for cost-sharing help, an estimated 6 million people or more. But the money is under a legal cloud because of a dispute over whether the Obamaera law properly authorized the payments. Trump has been threatening to end the monthly payments.

The 14-page report lays out consequences if that happens, some counterintuitive: — Consumers who now qualify for tax credits to offset their monthly premiums would be largely shielded from the estimated 20 percent jump in the cost of a standard “silver” plan, because of the automatic increase in the ACA’s premium subsidies. But solid middle-class households who make too much to receive help with their premiums would face a big hit.

— Depending on factors like their income and age, some subsidized customers

would be able to take their higher premium tax credits and buy a generous “gold” level plan for about the same money, or a skimpy “bronze” plan for much less or nothing.

— Some insurers would decide to exit the market rather than re-jigger premiums for 2018 at the last minute. That would leave areas of the country that are home to about 16 million people with no insurers on the health care marketplace for individual policies. Rural communities are at greater risk.

—About 1 million people would become uninsured right away, but within a few years that slippage would reverse and more people would be covered.

The White House immediately dismissed the report, saying that the president is still weighing options. Insurance industry groups say they have seen no sign that payments due at the end of August will be halted.

“Regardless of what this flawed report says, Obamacare will continue to fail with or without a federal bailout,” White House spokesman Ninio Fetalvo said in a statement.

PRESIDENT Donald Trump speaks about healthcare in the Blue Room of the White House in Washington. People buying individual health care policies would face sharply higher premiums, and some may be left with no insurance options if President Donald Trump makes good on his threat to stop “Obamacare” payments to insurers, congressional experts said yesterday. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File) No final decisions have been made about the payments and “we continue to evaluate the issues,” he said.

Insurers say they need a decision from the government now, before they lock down their rates for 2018.

Leading Republican lawmakers have called for continuing the payments, at least temporarily, to ensure market stability. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., is working on such legislation. He and the top Democrat on the committee, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, plan bipartisan hearings.

By BLAKE NICHOLSON Associated Press BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota regulators on Tuesday granted a request by the developer of the Dakota Access pipeline to postpone a public hearing on whether the company violated state rules, though not without dissent.

Public Service Commissioner Julie Fedorchak

MARKET REPORT MONDAY, 14 AUGUST 2017

t. 242.323.2330 | f. 242.323.2320 | www.bisxbahamas.com

BISX ALL SHARE INDEX: CLOSE 1,834.12 | CHG 0.02 | %CHG 0.00 | YTD -104.09 | YTD% -5.37 BISX LISTED & TRADED SECURITIES 52WK LOW 4.01 17.43 8.19 3.50 1.39 0.12 3.80 8.40 5.83 9.46 10.00 2.18 1.50 5.80 8.75 7.01 8.10 6.60 11.93 10.00

1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00

900.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00

PREFERENCE SHARES

1.00 106.00 100.00 106.00 105.00 105.00 100.00 10.00 1.01

1.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 105.00 100.00 100.00 10.00 1.01

SECURITY AML Foods Limited APD Limited Bahamas Property Fund Bahamas Waste Bank of Bahamas Benchmark Cable Bahamas CIBC FirstCaribbean Bank Colina Holdings Commonwealth Bank Commonwealth Brewery Consolidated Water BDRs Doctor's Hospital Famguard Fidelity Bank Finco Focol ICD Utilities J. S. Johnson Premier Real Estate Cable Bahamas Series 6 Cable Bahamas Series 8 Cable Bahamas Series 9 Cable Bahamas Series 10 Colina Holdings Class A Commonwealth Bank Class E Commonwealth Bank Class J Commonwealth Bank Class K Commonwealth Bank Class L Commonwealth Bank Class M Commonwealth Bank Class N Fidelity Bank Class A Focol Class B

CORPORATE DEBT - (percentage pricing) 52WK HI 100.00 100.00 100.00

52WK LOW 100.00 100.00 100.00

SYMBOL AML APD BPF BWL BOB BBL CAB CIB CHL CBL CBB CWCB DHS FAM FBB FIN FCL ICD JSJ PRE CAB6 CAB8 CAB9 CAB10 CHLA CBLE CBLJ CBLK CBLL CBLM CBLN FBBA FCLB

SECURITY Fidelity Bank Note 17 (Series A) + Fidelity Bank Note 18 (Series E) + Fidelity Bank Note 22 (Series B) +

SYMBOL FBB17 FBB18 FBB22

Bahamas Note 6.95 (2029) BGS: 2014-12-3Y BGS: 2015-1-3Y BGS: 2014-12-5Y BGS: 2015-1-5Y BGS: 2014-12-7Y BGS: 2015-1-7Y BGS: 2014-12-30Y BGS: 2015-1-30Y BGS: 2015-6-3Y BGS: 2015-6-5Y BGS: 2015-6-7Y BGS: 2015-6-30Y BGS: 2015-10-3Y BGS: 2015-10-5Y BGS: 2015-10-7Y

BAH29 BG0103 BG0203 BG0105 BG0205 BG0107 BG0207 BG0130 BG0230 BG0303 BG0305 BG0307 BG0330 BG0403 BG0405 BG0407

BAHAMAS GOVERNMENT STOCK - (percentage pricing) 115.92 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

104.79 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

MUTUAL FUNDS 52WK HI 2.07 3.95 1.96 170.77 146.34 1.50 1.67 1.58 1.10 6.99 8.54 6.15 10.52 11.46 10.46

52WK LOW 1.67 3.04 1.68 164.74 116.70 1.44 1.63 1.55 1.04 6.41 7.62 5.66 8.65 10.54 9.57

the payments to insurers.

Adding to the confusion, other parts of the law clearly direct the government to reimburse the carriers.

The disagreement is over whether the law properly provided a congressional “appropriation,” similar to an instruction for the Treasury to pay the money.

The Constitution says the government shall not spend money unless Congress appropriates it.

House Republicans trying to thwart the ACA sued the Obama administration in federal court in Washington, arguing that the law lacked specific language appropriating the cost-sharing subsidies.

Dakota Access developer granted hearing delay in dispute

PUBLIC Service Commissioner Julie Fedorchak answers questions after fellow commissioners Brian Kroshus, left, and Randy Christmann joined her in proposing a $15,000 settlement offer to the Dakota Access Pipeline during a special meeting at the state Capitol on Monday, Aug. 14, 2017 in Bismarck, N.D. (Mike McCleary/The Bismarck Tribune via AP)

52WK HI 4.38 19.17 9.09 3.60 2.41 0.13 6.50 8.60 6.30 10.60 14.49 2.52 1.60 6.00 10.00 11.00 10.10 7.25 12.51 11.00

For months, Trump has been raising the prospect of terminating payments as a way to trigger a crisis and get Democrats to negotiate on a health care bill.

After the GOP drive to repeal “Obamacare” collapsed, the president tweeted: “As I said from the beginning, let ObamaCare implode, then deal. Watch!”

Trump elaborated in another tweet, “If a new HealthCare Bill is not approved quickly, BAILOUTS for Insurance Companies...will end very soon!”

The subsidies are snared in a legal dispute over whether the Obama health care law properly approved

LAST CLOSE 4.27 17.43 9.09 3.60 1.47 0.12 3.92 8.60 6.10 9.98 10.01 2.47 1.55 6.00 9.75 7.01 9.75 7.01 12.50 10.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1.00 100.00 100.00 100.40 100.00 100.00 100.00 10.00 1.01 LAST SALE 100.00 100.00 100.00 108.32 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

CLOSE 4.27 17.43 9.09 3.60 1.47 0.12 3.92 8.60 6.10 9.98 10.01 2.50 1.55 6.00 9.75 7.01 9.75 7.01 12.50 10.00

CHANGE 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.03 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1.00 100.00 100.00 100.40 100.00 100.00 100.00 10.00 1.01

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

CLOSE 100.00 100.00 100.00

CHANGE 0.00 0.00 0.00

108.42 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

0.10 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

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

VOLUME

1,000

100

VOLUME

NAV 2.07 3.95 1.96 174.30 146.25 1.50 1.63 1.58 1.08 6.92 8.03 6.15 10.52 11.46 10.01

EPS$ 0.444 0.932 -0.510 0.383 -0.340 0.000 -0.760 0.587 0.190 0.540 0.570 0.102 0.455 0.753 0.763 0.330 0.830 0.600 0.697 0.000

DIV$ 0.080 1.000 0.000 0.210 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.300 0.220 0.360 0.570 0.060 0.060 0.290 0.450 0.000 0.340 0.140 0.620 0.000

P/E 9.6 18.7 N/M 9.4 N/M N/M -5.2 14.7 32.1 18.5 17.6 24.5 3.4 8.0 12.8 21.2 11.7 11.7 17.9 0.0

YIELD 1.87% 5.74% 0.00% 5.83% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 3.49% 3.61% 3.61% 5.69% 2.40% 3.87% 4.83% 4.62% 0.00% 3.49% 2.00% 4.96% 0.00%

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 7.00% 6.00% Prime + 1.75%

MATURITY 19-Oct-2017 31-May-2018 19-Oct-2022

6.95% 4.00% 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%

20-Nov-2029 15-Dec-2017 30-Jul-2018 16-Dec-2019 30-Jul-2020 15-Dec-2021 30-Jul-2022 15-Dec-2044 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% 2.34% 4.55% 0.90% 1.64% 1.21% 2.55% 3.48% 4.01% 3.17% 7.00% 2.15% 4.22% -1.93% -1.89% 0.81% 2.21% 2.28% 1.30% -1.08% 1.77% -5.96% -3.05% 1.90% 4.59% 7.24% 11.96% 2.77% 3.88% 3.94% 4.69%

NAV Date 30-Jun-2017 30-Jun-2017 30-Jun-2017 30-Jun-2017 30-Jun-2017 30-Jun-2017 30-Jun-2017 30-Jun-2017 30-Jun-2017 31-May-2017 30-May-2017 30-May-2017 30-May-2017 30-May-2017 30-May-2017

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

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

expressed frustration with continued delays in the prolonged case and a related lengthy investigation, saying she was “concerned that we keep pushing things back and just aren’t making forward progress.”

Her comments came a day after she said Energy Transfer Partners at times had been “somewhat dismissive” of the commission’s concerns.

Company attorney Lawrence Bender on Tuesday declined comment on the Texas-based developer’s dealings with the commission.

The commission is looking into whether ETP removed too many trees and improperly handled some soil during construction of the $3.8 billion pipeline that began moving North Dakota oil to Illinois in June. Thursday’s hearing was to provide information for the commission to decide whether to pursue the case and possibly fine Energy Transfer Partners.

The company on Monday requested a delay to give attorneys on both sides more time to discuss a resolution. The commission voted 2-1 Tuesday to grant a delay, with the expectation that the hearing will be

rescheduled for late September. Fedorchak voted against the move.

“We can’t determine with the facts that we have on the table right now whether to proceed with a complaint or not, so this investigation was supposed to be a process to get to the bottom of those issues,” she said. “So that (was) set for Thursday, and now that’s slipping another month.”

The commission’s decision came a day after it offered to settle allegations that ETP improperly reported the discovery of American Indian artifacts during construction nearly a year ago. The company hasn’t yet decided whether to accept the offer, under which it would make a $15,000 “contribution” to historic preservation efforts and wouldn’t have to admit fault.

Commissioners Randy Christmann and Brian Kroshus, who voted in favor of delaying the tree and soil hearing, expressed hope that a delay might lead to a similar potential resolution. A formal public hearing would involve timeconsuming legal procedures and could stretch over two days, Christmann said.

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that JULES-BERNARD PIERRE of White Alley off Wulff Rd., New Providence, 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 twentyeight days from the 9th day of August, 2017 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that CHRISTAL LEASER SWABY of Washington Street, 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 twentyeight days from the 16th day of August, 2017 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that William Tibe Jr. of #36 Wisteria Road, Freeport, Grand Bahama, 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 twentyeight days from the 16th day of August, 2017 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.

PAGE 8, Wednesday, August 16, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

Retailers stumble but stocks are little changed overall NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes finished Tuesday close to where they started as technology companies and household goods makers rose. But weak reports from sporting goods and auto parts retailers left a lot of smaller companies with steep losses.

Dick’s Sporting Goods and Advance Auto Parts both disclosed disappointing second-quarter results and cut their annual forecasts, which affected a slew of other companies. Other retailers also dropped, including Home Depot, which posted strong results.

Other groups of stocks managed modest gains.

“Especially in the month of August, when not as many investors are around, you get a lot of this group trading,” said Brian Nagel, analyst who covers retailers for Oppenheimer & Co. Nagel said struggles for Dick’s and Advance Auto Parts don’t say anything about how retailers in other industries are doing, but if

investors grow pessimistic about retail, they may sell all kinds of retailers when one part of the industry struggles.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 1.23 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 2,464.61. The Dow Jones industrial average picked up 5.28 points to 21,998.99. The Nasdaq composite fell 7.22 points, or 0.1 percent, to 6,333.01. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks shed 11.07 points, or 0.8 percent, to 1,383.24.

The S&P 600, an index of small-cap stocks, plunged 1 percent.

Stocks were coming off their biggest one-day gain in more than three months as the market recovered from last week’s turmoil.

Dick’s Sporting Goods cut its annual forecast after a weak second quarter. The sporting goods chain said athletic apparel sales were weak and that it plans to do more marketing and cut prices as it tries to keep its market share. Its stock

plunged $8.04, or 23 percent, to $26.87.

Foot Locker fell $2.19, or 4.4 percent, to $47.13 and Hibbett Sports dropped $2.30, or 16.5 percent, to $11.65. Athletic apparel companies also lost ground.

Nike shed $1.22, or 2 percent, to $58.56 and Under Armour lost 45 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $16.66.

Advance Auto Parts tumbled after it slashed its annual forecasts. The company and its competitors are facing weakening demand because car sales are slowing down from their recent record pace. Meanwhile competition from online retailers is growing. Advance Auto Parts dropped $22.24, or 20.3 percent, to $87.08. AutoZone sank $9.19, or 1.7 percent, to $516.13 and O’Reilly Automotive gave up $2.44, or 1.2 percent, to $196.

All three have taken steep losses this year.

Luxury retailer Coach tumbled after its fourthquarter sales and its profit

US retail sales jumped 0.6 percent in July

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumers went out shopping in a big way in July, pushing up retail sales by the largest amount in seven months.

Retail sales advanced 0.6 percent last month, the best showing since a gain of 0.9 percent last December, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

For most of this year, retail

sales have been lackluster, including a decline in May of 0.2 percent and a modest 0.3 percent June gain.

Consumer spending accounts for around 70 percent of economic activity, so the latest result is a good sign for overall economic growth.

Sales got a boost in July from a 1.2 percent jump in auto sales, the strongest result since December.

There were sales gains in other areas as well,

including furniture stores, hardware stores and restaurants.

The overall economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, grew at a 2.6 percent annual rate in the April-June quarter, a significant rebound from growth of just 1.2 percent in the first quarter.

Economists are looking for growth to remain strong in the current July-September period, although some forecast a slight slowdown

PEOPLE walk to work on Wall Street beneath a statue of George Washington, in New York. Stock markets around the world remained buoyed yesterday, by a seeming further easing in tensions between the United States and North Korea, which has helped investors rediscover their appetite for riskier assets following last week’s aversion. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File) forecast for the current fiscal year came up short of analyst estimates. Its shares fell $7.28, or 15.2 percent, to $40.64.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.27 percent from 2.22 percent.

Fifth Third Bancorp rose 34 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $27.02 and Discover Financial Services added $1.37, or 2.3 percent, to $61.87.

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway bought stock in consumer credit

company Synchrony Financial and picked up more shares of Bank of New York Mellon. It sold its remaining shares of General Electric and continued to reduce its stake in IBM. Synchrony gained $1.35, or 4.6 percent, to $30.99 and GE fell 22 cents to $25.14.

Offshore oil drilling rig company Transocean said it will buy Songa Offshore for $1.2 billion in cash. The deal expands Transocean’s backlog as it continues to deal with low oil prices, but

it will saddle the company with even more debt. Transocean had about $6.6 billion in long-term debt at the end of June, and investors value the company at about $3 billion. Its stock gave up 48 cents, or 5.7 percent, to $7.91.

Retailers of all kinds were trading lower even though the Commerce Department said consumers did far more shopping in July, as retail sales grew by the biggest amount this year.

from the second quarter pace.

They ongoing strong gains in employment will add further fuel to consumer spending.

The unemployment rate in July dropped to a 16-year low of 4.3 percent.

For July, sales of furniture, hardware and building supplies and sporting goods were all up. Sales at general merchandise stores posted a tiny 0.1 percent gain. Sales by non-store retailers, the category that tracks internet commerce, posted a strong gain of 1.3 percent. Online shopping has been making major inroads over traditional brick-and-mortar stores.

A SHOPPER pushes a cart inside a HomeGoods store, in Salem, N.H. Yesterday, the Commerce Department releases retail sales data for July. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

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