08302018 BUSINESS

business@tribunemedia.net

THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2018

$4.94

$4.99

$4.94

Web shop ‘cart before horse’ may cost $40m

IPO potential for $130m ‘nightmare transformation’

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

LICENCED web shops last night branded the five percent patron tax’s imminent introduction as “putting the cart before the horse” due to the Government’s failure to combat illegal operators.

The Bahamas Gaming Operators Association (BGOA), breaking its silence on the issue, warned that the sector could lose a collective “$40m in taxable revenue” to unregulated, non-tax paying competitors who now stand to attract greater market share.

In a formal statement, the association said it was “eager to see” how the Government planned to fulfill previous

RDINARY Bahamians may be able to invest in the $130m “transformation of an ongoing nightmare” within three to five years, the winning New Providence landfill bidder said yesterday.

Kenwood Kerr, Providence Advisors’ chief executive, told Tribune Business that his consortium was “potentially” open to an initial public offering (IPO) “once we get through the cycle” of executing on its renewable energy, recycling and management strategies.

He described the overhaul planned by his group, which also features multiple Bahamian waste management providers in the Waste

SEE PAGE 5

O

IMAX Superplex eyes ‘best launched theatre’

By NATARIO MCKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net THE Fusion Superplex’s developer is targeting a late November “soft opening” for the IMAX cinema-centred entertainment destination, telling Tribune Business over 400 jobs will be created.

Carlos Foulkes, the Atavus Group’s chief executive, said more than 300 jobs have been created during the construction phase for the 100,000 square foot facility located at the JFK Drive/ Gladstone Road roundabout, with roughly $50m invested to-date.

FUSION Superplex concept.

Speaking with Tribune Business following a tour of the facility yesterday, Mr Foulkes explained: “We currently have remaining about 123 persons employed in the construction of the interior outfit, and about 60 persons are employed directly with Fusion right now. That will

SEE PAGE 7

Landfill winner won’t ‘roll out’ like Renew

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A CABINET minister yesterday expressed confidence that there will be no repeat of the “packing up and rolling out” experienced with the New Providence landfill’s last private manager.

Romauld Ferreira, minister of the environment and housing, said the winning bid’s 100 percent local ownership meant it had “as much a vested interest” as all Bahamians in dealing with the site’s long-standing

environmental and health woes.

Speaking as he confirmed Tribune Business’s revelation that the Providence Advisors/Waste Resources Development Group (WRDG) consortium has been selected as the preferred bidder to take over the landfill’s operations, Mr Ferreira agreed that Tribune Business was “absolutely right” in asserting that The Bahamas could ill-afford a repeat of the Renew Bahamas saga.

That company, chosen as

SEE PAGE 6

* Providence/WRDG win landfill bid * Target ‘one fire every 200 years’ goal * Up to 75 jobs and 220k tonne emission fall reach the global standard of fires erupting “once every 200 years” as part of plans to convert the Tonique Williams Highway site into the New Providence Ecology Park.

Adopting the landfill transformation model established in the US, THE NEW Providence landfill during a burning.

KENWOOD he disclosed that the site’s conversion into KERR Resources Development Besides remediat“lush”, green vegetation on the surface will Group (WRDG), as “one ing the toxins leaking facilitate the development of the largest public-private from the landfill’s existing partnership (PPP) infra- cells, Mr Kerr said the Prov- of a mini golf course, fitness structure projects to-date” idence Advisors/WRDG SEE PAGE 4 undertaken in this nation. consortium as aiming to

$4.93 Bahamas ‘will never hit’ renewable energy target

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas “is never going to make” the National Energy Policy’s (NEP) goals, providers warned yesterday, with nine megawatts (MW) of renewable capacity required every year to hit target.

Philip Holdom, Alternative Power Supply’s (APS) president, told Tribune Business that The Bahamas was “nowhere close” to achieving that renewable expansion rate, which he said is now needed to hit the NEP target of producing 30 percent of this nation’s energy needs from sustainable sources by 2030.

His warning came as the Government moves to create an Energy Planning

SEE PAGE 5

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PAGE 2, Thursday, August 30, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

SMALL BUSINESS CENTRE NAMES BOARD CHAIRMAN ACCOUNTANT Geoffrey Andrews has been named as board chairman for the tripartite venture intended to transform small and micro business development in The Bahamas.

Mr Andrews will be joined on the Small Business Development Centre’s (SBDC) board by deputy chair, Dr Olivia Saunders. The board’s other members are Merrit Storr; Ellison Delva; Clifford Johnson; Hank Ferguson; Tyrina Neely; Gina McKenzie; Remelda Moxey; Kristie Powell; Christopher Sawyer; and Pedro Rolle.

The SBDC is a joint venture between the Government, through the Ministry of Finance, University of The Bahamas (UB) and the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC). Its role is to guide the development and funding of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) throughout The Bahamas.

“I was honoured and very excited to be nominated to chair the board of the SBDC, which I strongly believe has the ability to change the economic model being followed here in The Bahamas,” said Mr Andrews.

“While I am fully appreciative of all of the major foreign direct investments which have helped the country grow over the years, we think that the SBDC presents a unique opportunity for micro, small and medium sized businesses to become the new drivers of the Bahamian economy.

“I encourage existing and potential entrepreneurs to take full advantage of the opportunities presented by the creation of the SBDC. At the same time, the SBDC will allow local financial institutions more

GEOFFREY ANDREWS

opportunities to tap into this market, enabling these institutions to increase profits while helping to improve the economy.”

Dr Saunders added: “The SBDC is expected to provide significant and material support to MSMEs. As it fulfills its mission, it has the potential of being a catalyst for changing the economic landscape of the country with the growth and strengthening of indigenous business enterprises. It is a privilege and an honour to serve on the Board of SBDC as an active participant in this extremely important work.

Davinia L Blair, the SBDC’s executive director, said: “Our new board will establish critical corporate governance and oversee organisational strategies, capital investments and financial accountability, among other things. Most importantly, this board will drive policy creation for the MSME sector throughout The Bahamas for generations to come.”

K Peter Turnquest, deputy prime minister and minister of finance, added: “We are incredibly lucky to have

board members with such a broad range of expertise including strategy, finance, legal, marketing, ICT (information and communication technology) and other specialised industryrelated skills.

“These skill sets are highly coveted on any Board, and we are pleased to have them as part of our SBDC family. Plus our directors expose us to new business contacts and networks.”

The “seven pillars” of the Government’s policy to improve the enabling environment for small business are increasing direct financing to the MSME sector; enhancing both business and development support for MSMEs through innovative programmes; supporting entrepreneurship and MSME development within marginalised groups; fostering a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation; removing or minimising political interference within MSME enabling agencies; and promoting linkages between Bahamian MSMEs and the economy’s export industries.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, August 30, 2018, PAGE 3

TIE DIGITAL B$ VALUE TO NATURAL RESOURCES

By NATARIO MCKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net AS the Central Bank moves toward creating a digital currency, one local businessman has suggested it could be backed with The Bahamas’ natural resources to further increase its value.

Wayne Johnson told Tribune Business: “Taking the

BACO PRESIDENT TO ADDRESS CONFERENCE

Bahamian dollar digital is a good thing, but can the Bahamian digital dollar be traded internationally and be used as a medium of exchange internationally?

That is the only way you could be able to increase its value.”

Earlier this month, the Central Bank of The Bahamas (CBOB) announced it was searching for a

qualified company to produce technology that would be able to house a Central Bank-issued digital currency system. The currency could be piloted in the Family Islands in less than three years, while offering security and versatility, and become a currency “superior to cash”.

The regulator’s Expression of Interest (EOI) said

parties interested in responding should submit a white paper outlining experience and resources relevant to supporting The Bahamas’ digital currency initiative no later than September 15, 2018.

It added that a digital version of the Bahamian dollar will still require legal and regulatory reforms “to ensure full inter-operability

MORTGAGE MARKET ‘IN VERY BAD SHAPE’

among existing and new channels for the provision of payment services; standards to safeguard consumer protection and personal data sovereignty; and standards for non-discriminatory access to electronic money on terms that are no less favourable than for cash”.

“What we should be doing with the digital dollar is backing it with our

natural resources, the aragonite, the salt etc,” said Mr Johnson. “We should peg the digital dollar to assets we have in the ground.

“We should not just come up with a digital currency because it’s hot and popular in the marketplace, but tie the dollar to hard assets to help it increase in value.

That would be a major benefit if we could do that.”

Commission meeting on new exam requirements

By NATARIO MCKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Association of Compliance Officers’ (BACO) president will address the main antimoney laundering and gaming conference for the Dutch-speaking Caribbean next month.

Cheryl Bazard, pictured, principal of Bazard & Company, a law firm that specialises in compliance and anti-money laundering issues, will speak at the third Dutch Caribbean AntiMoney Laundering and Gaming Regulation Forum that is scheduled from September 3-5.

Focusing on Aruba, Curaçao, Saint Maarten and Suriname, the event brings together regulators, operators and other professionals in the banking and gaming industries for discussions and information sharing.

Mrs Bazard will speak on day one and two of the conference on the topics, “Industry, Enforcement and FIUs - Fostering Greater Collaboration” and “Registers of Beneficial Ownership: A New era of Transparency”.

“Whether you’re colleagues or competitors, the Aruba forum is important to maintaining cutting-edge knowledge of what’s transpiring in the marketplace and understanding the industry on a deeper level,” said Mrs Bazard.

“It not only provides a platform for education, but also interaction with numerous networking opportunities amongst quality attendees.”

The former senator is The Bahamas’ first ICA specialist, certified in money laundering risks in betting and gaming from the International Compliance Association (ICA) in London.

As BACO’s founding president in 1999, Mrs Bazard helped the financial services sector better prepare for the legislation enacted at the beginning of the century in response to The Bahamas’ blacklisting in 2000.

THE Bahamian Contractors Association’s (BCA) president yesterday said the “very low” number of qualifiers for the government’s low-cost serviced lot initiative was likely “not a true indicator” of the market.

Leonard Sands argued that there would be a greater number of purchasers once the Government expands the programme beyond the uniformed branches, while agreeing with Romauld Ferreira, minister of the environment and housing, that many Bahamians, particularly those who can have salary deductions, have been seduced by predatory lending and cannot qualify for a mortgage.

“People are finding it hard to qualify and that’s their financial situation,” Mr Sands said. “If you can’t qualify for a $15,000 or $30,000 lot then your financial situation is bad. I don’t really know what the Government could do in that regard.

“Could you imagine trying to qualify people to pay a mortgage on a $100,000 house? If you can’t qualify to secure a loan of $15,000, how would it be possible for your to qualify for a $100,000 mortgage? One of the reasons I believe we see the Mortgage Corporation struggling is because we had people receiving mortgages who couldn’t afford it or really qualify in the first place.”

He added: “I think what we are seeing is that an attempt to approach the housing programme with a different financial model is being met with the same challenges. We are still finding that the number of persons who can qualify for a home is dwindling. That’s the situation contractors were faced with five to ten years ago.

“I think this new data presented by the minister suggests the market is in a very bad shape. We’re talking about the uniformed branches. Persons whose salary is secured can’t

FROM left: Derek Mcintosh; Christina Rolle, Securities Commission executive director; Reece Chipman, managing director, The Nastac Group; Omara Bingham, Securities Commission’s manager of securities and financial services providers; and Oshane Locke, training administrator for The Nastac Group

LEONARD SANDS

qualify for a $30,000 loan.

Contractors looking for work in their residential sector with programmes like this will have a very difficult time finding their consumer base.”

Mr Ferreira revealed that the Department of Housing has received about 60 applications for its serviced lot initiative, but only nine have qualified. He said government was not considering dropping prices below $15,000, with the programme currently being offered to the uniformed branches of the civil service, teachers and nurses.

Mr Sands said it would be premature to suggest that most Bahamians will not qualify. “We are encouraged by the fact that the Government has indicated that, in the future, it will open these programmes up to the general public, and I think that in doing that there can be a bigger group of persons who have different financial capabilities being able to qualify,” he said.

“I don’t think you can cast the net over the entire Bahamian community and say no one can afford a $15,000-$30,000 lot. I think you would find many persons who would be able to take advantage of that opportunity.

“Right now, in the private residential market, persons

are paying $75,000-$80,000 for a lot, and one can only imagine how many people could take advantage of something to help the cost.

It would be premature to suggest the entire market can’t afford it. I think the current market has been the victim of predatory lending practices, which has their finances in a mess.”

A BAHAMIAN financial services provider has met with the Securities Commission to discuss the enhanced qualification requirements for industry participants.

The NASTAC Group, the financial services training provider headed by Reece Chipman, the Centreville MP, said in a statement that persons wishing to obtain a Series 7 licence will now have to take two examinations from October 1, 2018.

It explained that FINRA, the US regulator for broker/ dealers, will require persons to sit the Securities Industry Essentials exam as a prerequisite to taking any of the licensing exams. This introductory-level exam assesses a candidate’s knowledge

of basic securities industry information, such as types of products and their risks, market structures, regulatory agencies and their functions, and prohibited practices.

The NASTAC Group also discussed implementation of continuing education policies with the Securities Commission, plus its introductory cryptocurrency and bitcoin course that is scheduled to begin in October.

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THE TRIBUNE

IPO potential for $130m ‘nightmare transformation’ FROM PAGE ONE

centre and ecology park that will all be open to the Bahamian public.

To generate the necessary revenues and cash flow, Mr Kerr said Providence Advisors/WRDG intend to recycle and reuse “50 percent or more” of the landfill’s incoming waste streams. And 30 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy, split evenly between solar and biomass, will be sold to Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) through a power purchase agreement (PPA).

He explained that the renewable energy and recycling initiatives will enable the consortium to extend the landfill’s life by a further 34 years to 2052, as they will consume large quantities of incoming waste, while also providing the necessary breathing room to deal with the site’s present mountains of garbage.

Mr Kerr said the consortium’s plans called for the creation of 75 long-term jobs, and the reduction of annual greenhouse gas emissions by 220,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year - an

amount equivalent to 37,000 automobiles’ emissions.

Pledging that the necessary financing was in place, the Providence chief pledged that communities surrounding the landfill would “feel change we believe will be very significant” given the consortium’s plans for “a quick start”.

He conceded to Tribune Business, though, that there was “not an immediate resolution to all the ills at the landfill”, with the Providence/WRDG start date dependent on how quickly it can conclude contractual

and commercial terms with the Government.

The consortium now has seven days to accept the Government’s Letter of Award, with both Mr Kerr and Romauld Ferreira, minister of the environment and housing, expressing optimism that commercial terms and other details could be agreed within a further 30 days.

“We want to see the terms and conditions of the award so that we can develop a finalised contract,” the Providence Advisors chief explained, adding that the consortium had already identified a potential board of directors comprised of persons drawn from the community, Government, private sector and environmental activists.

“We have a team ready and waiting to be mobilised within the next 30 days, a team on the ground dealing with the low-hanging fruit, operations at the landfill...

We’re travelling several paths to a very quick start so the community can experience and feel change we believe will be very significant at the landfill site.

“It’s a lot of stuff, you will see bodies on the ground in 30 days. Our expectation is to complete the contract in a 30-day period.”

Among the issues to be agreed between the Government and Providence/ WRDG is the length of the latter’s landfill lease, with Mr Kerr yesterday indicating the group would prefer a longterm arrangement to enable it to hit its return on investment (ROI) targets and “recoup invested capital”.

Fees, charges and commercial terms will have to be determined, along with the date the Department of Environmental Health Services (DEHS) will handover/turnover the landfill to the consortium. The transfer of any employees will also have to be worked out, along with issues such as reporting and accounting mechanisms; equipment; security; and costs.

Mr Ferreira described the upcoming negotiations with Providence/WRDG as “where the rubber meets the road” and “another step “on the journey we’re taking together” towards a

formal PPP, describing the landfill’s pending handover to a 100 percent Bahamianowned manager as “a truly watershed moment” for The Bahamas.

He described the New Providence landfill as “the biggest environmental challenge facing the Commonwealth of The Bahamas” due to the environmental and health hazards it poses, especially to Jubilee Gardens and other nearby communities, as a result of fires and the frequent release of gas and other toxins.

Mr Ferreira said the facility’s size, risk and location in the middle of New Providence was especially problematic because “with the prevailing wind it can affect the entire island”. The Government, and its predecessor, have also come under increasing pressure from the likes of Baha Mar, Albany and other high-end communities and resort developments to resolve the landfill’s woes, with the former’s heads of agreement having required that a solution be in place by year-end 2017.

Mr Kerr yesterday disclosed that Providence/WRDG’s wasteto-energy and renewable plans accounted for more than half its proposal’s estimated costs, with remediation and operations set to require around $50m of the total $130m.

“The operations, remediation and management of the landfill, and putting in all the infrastructure to do it properly, in our technical submissions to the Government as a number that stretched from $47m to $54m,” he said.

“Linked to that project is a conservatively-sized renewable energy infrastructure, a power plant in English-speaking terms, a very small-sized power plant estimated at $70m. That power plant is a combination of solar and biomass.”

The latter’s fuel will come from the landfill’s incoming waste streams, but Mr Kerr said the consortium would need to satisfy both Bahamas Power & Light’s (BPL) and the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority’s (URCA) requirements

before it could sell the energy produced to the former’s grid.

This means Providence/ WRDG will need to reach a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), which sets out the price for its energy and other commercial terms, with BPL, while also gaining status as an Independent Power Producer (IPP).

Mr Kerr, meanwhile, said the group already possessed the funding “to move forward in earnest” with its plans once the contract was agreed with the Government. His firm, Providence Advisors, as an investment bank has already been raising financing from institutional investors that has been placed into escrow until commercial terms are known, so it can be released.

“We are not concerned about funding,” Mr Kerr added, disclosing that Providence/WRDG was obtaining its financing from “100 percent” local sources.

“Not to be presumptuous but before we embarked on this process we had identified the funding.”

The Providence Advisors/WRDG consortium features waste management providers such as United Sanitation and Waste Not. It had to beat off competition from BISX-listed Bahamas Waste and its partner, Bahamas Hot Mix, plus the Bahamas WTP group, who were the last two remaining rivals for the landfill bid.

Apart from Bahamas permanent resident, Fay Russell, Bahamas WTP’s principals included Cedric Scott, the actor, producer and uncle of former Cabinet minister, Jerome Fitzgerald, and banker Ivylyn Cassar, whose Equity Bank & Trust acts as the company’s physical address in western New Providence.

The consortium also featured two US companies, Delaware-incorporated Ameresco Ltd and Louisiana-based Furnace and Tube Services Inc. Ameresco is a financier and developer of energy efficiency and conservation projects, while Furnace and Tube Services provides engineering design, installation and maintenance.

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THE TRIBUNE

Bahamas ‘will never hit’ renewable energy target FROM PAGE ONE Unit (EPU), which will be charged with creating the road map and framework for The Bahamas to achieve these goals.

An Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) document, setting out a $450,000 project to support the Electricity Act’s proper implementation, found that “policy and data gaps” were preventing The Bahamas from shedding its position as the Caribbean’s worst for renewable energy penetration.

The report, obtained

by Tribune Business, said the NEP’s “ambitious targets” for renewable energy uptake were being hindered by the absence of an execution mechanism and “poor co-ordination” between the Government, private sector and regulators.

Setting the scene, the IDB report said: “The Bahamas ranks lowest in the region for renewable energy pen-

Thursday, August 30, 2018, PAGE 5 etration, suffers from a high fuel import bill (seven percent of GDP), high and volatile electricity prices, as well as a large and financially challenged utility, Bahamas Power and Light (BPL), which experiences frequent power outages and elevated system losses.

“Additionally, in recent years, The Bahamas has suffered from strong natural disasters that impacted its GDP and energy sector, underlining the need to plan for more resilient energy infrastructure.”

The reformed Electricity Act, and appointment of the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) as sector regulator, were meant to address these challenges but, to-date, have had little practical effect.

“The sustainable energy landscape within The Bahamas continues to be constrained by policy and data gaps, and lacks the resources (financial and human) that are necessary for implementing the robust administrative and governance arrangements that are necessary for effective implementation and coordination of efforts,” the IDB report found.

“The overarching vision has set ambitious targets for the use of renewable energy, but there is a lack of concrete

mechanisms to achieve these targets, including integrated energy planning to assist the Government of The Bahamas achieve its goals as articulated in the Electricity Act and National Energy Policy...

“Although the Electricity Act lays out the roles and responsibilities of selected actors, its implementation has been delayed due to poor co-ordination and lack of adequate definition of roles and tasks.”

The IDB-financed project has two components, one of which is the staging of an “Energy Forum” for both private and public sector stakeholders to help develop an “action plan” aligned with the Act and National Energy Policy’s goals.

The second involves the creation of an energy planning unit that will be charged with co-ordinating policies and plans, and monitoring building codes, regulations, certification and guidance for industry participants.

“The general objective... is to support the Government of The Bahamas (GoBH) to strengthen its capacity to achieve a transition to the implementation of safe, least costly, reliable and environmentally sustainable electricity that will positively impact on the economy and social welfare,” the IDB said

WEB SHOP ‘CART BEFORE HORSE’ MAY COST $40M FROM PAGE ONE

previous pledges by Carl Bethel QC, the Attorney General, to deploy the authorities “full arsenal” to “dig up” unlicensed gaming operators.

It also pointed to admissions by Dionisio D’Aguilar, the Cabinet minister responsible for gaming, that the Gaming Board was unable to act against unlicensed operators without the Royal Bahamas Police Force’s (RBPF) involvement as an indication that the Government may find it difficult to meet the Attorney General’s promises.

“To impose a patron tax on licensed, regulated gaming operators in this uneven playing field - against the backdrop of regulatory failure on the part of the Government - is putting the cart before the horse,” the Association blasted.

“The Government should have worked to solve the problem of the unlicensed, unregulated, ‘black market’ before implementing any new taxes. The proverbial question is: ‘How do we protect our patrons from such a migration to the unregulated market without any regulatory oversight and the unintended

consequences that may arise?”

The five percent levy on patrons’ account deposits and over-the-counter (OTC) lottery sales is due to take effect within 48 hours from September 1, despite fears among licensed web shop chains that many customers will simply seek to avoid the tax by switching to unregulated operators.

“Numerous independent experts have concluded that the new patron tax will drive 30 percent of the market to unlicensed, unregulated gaming operators, who will not be paying taxes and who are not subject to the same anti-money laundering and counter financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) standards,” the association said. “This migration will ultimately result in a $40m loss of taxable revenue.

“As the industry hurries toward the implementation of the new five percent patron taxes, now is the time for the Government to consider both its failure to adequately enforce the law and the consequences of the new illconceived, unfair tax regime.

“These new taxes will not yield the returns the Government has projected, and will drive customers to the existing unlicensed, unregulated, ‘black market’. As

this unlicensed, unregulated, ‘black market’ continues to grow unabated, so too does the risk of international sanctions, which could harm the financial services sector and further damage the reputation of The Bahamas.”

Mr D’Aguilar this week conceded that the continued operation of the Bet Vegas web shop chain, in particular, was “woefully unfair” to rival licensed web shops because it was creating “an anomaly in the market”.

That operator was refused a licence when the sector was legalised in 2015, prompting Bet Vegas to challenge this decision in the Supreme Court via a judicial review action. It also obtained an injunction to prevent the authorities forcing its closure, and both matters remain live today - enabling it to block any action by the Gaming Board or police.

The association, meanwhile, said it was still awaiting the study commissioned by the Government on the industry’s new sliding scale tax structure that was imposed in the May budget. Emphasising that it was not opposed to any new or increases taxes, it added that it was only against changes that occurred without consultation and proper empirical analysis.

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of the project.

“It aims to increase the contribution of clean energy sources, such as photovoltaics and LNG, by strengthening the institutional capacity to regulate and modernise the energy sector, and will contribute to resilient infrastructure by enhancing the capacity for co-ordination between public and private sectors.”

Mr Holdom yesterday said he had been unaware of the project until informed of it by Tribune Business.

“The 30 [percent] by 2030; at the rate we’re going we’re never going to make it,” he told this newspaper. “By my calculation we need to do nine MW a year, and we’re nowhere close to that.”

The APS president said The Bahamas “effectively has zero” renewable generation capacity given the limits imposed by the Small Scale Residential Generation

(SSRG) initiative, which caps generation capacity at 100 kilowatts (KWh).

While APS had installed a collective five MW in generation over the past eight years, Mr Holdom said: “We could have put in 15 times that, but the policy is so hit and miss, and so oppressive.

“At the rate we are going, it takes an SSRG application six months from start to close, when in the US it’s a five-day process. We’re never going to make that goal. Yes, we are severely not meeting the requirements of the NEP as written in the Electricity Act.” Mr Holdom added that Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) was another obstacle, pointing to URCA’s recent finding that the utility may have “compromised the introduction of sustainable renewable energy in the shortest possible time” by breaching the

Electricity Act 2015.

The regulator, in its draft order and initial findings, said the utility monopoly had failed to meet its legal obligation to produce a Renewable Energy Plan (REP), featuring timetables and performance benchmarks, within six months of the Act taking effect.

It added that BPL’s failure to produce an acceptable REP was also delaying plans “by several commercial entities” to introduce renewable self-generation projects that will generate between one megawatt (MW) to 2.5 MW of energy, with any excess sold to the utility’s grid.

With only Small Scale Residential Generation (SSRG) of up to 100 kilowatts currently permitted, such projects - as well as utility-scale renewable generation - fall into a “hole” outside the existing legal and regulatory regime.

PAGE 6, Thursday, August 30, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

Landfill winner won’t ‘roll out’ like Renew FROM PAGE ONE the landfill’s manager by the former Christie administration, withdrew its services in October 2016 following Hurricane Matthew - a move that left significant sums owed to creditors, while sparking litigation that Mr Ferreira described as ongoing.

Renew Bahamas’ performance was yesterday criticised by Thomasina Wilson, the senior Department of Environmental Health Services (DEHS) official responsible for the landfill, who said “very little was done” to remediate the pre-existing waste that is often responsible for

fires at the site.

She added that the Providence Advisors/WRDG group would be starting with “a new slate” once it agrees contractual terms with the Government, which is the next step both sides must take to formalise their fledgling private-public partnership (PPP).

Mr Ferreira yesterday said he was convinced Providence Advisors, headed by local investment banker Kenwood Kerr, and the Bahamian waste services providers in the WRDG group, were “the best possible entity to take over the New Providence sanitary landfill”.

Emphasising that there

had been no political interference, and that he was not involved, in assessing the bids, Mr Ferreira said: “We wanted to get this right from the beginning.

We emphasised that over and over again.

“We were more concerned with getting it right rather than speed, going through the technical steps and doing the technical assessment. One of the benefits, I think, is Ken is not going anywhere, Mr Rolle [of WRDG] is not going anywhere.

“The point I’m making is they have as much a vested interest as us. We’re in it long-term. We don’t anticipate any packing up and rolling out in this

initiative,” he added.

“Nothing is guaranteed, the success of any project is not guaranteed, but we are very, very certain that based on the technical assessment, the ability of the people who did the technical assessment, that this is the best possible entity to take over the New Providence sanitary landfill.”

Renew Bahamas “suspended its services” in the wake of Hurricane Matthew, after shootings, tyre slashings and widespread theft following the storm made operating conditions unsafe.

Michael Cox, Renew Bahamas chief executive, told Tribune Business at the time that these incidents, combined with the loss of electrical power in Matthew’s wake, had brought landfill operations - especially the revenue-generating recycling activities - to “a grinding halt”.

But Ms Wilson, a deputy DEHS director, yesterday said Renew Bahamas’ contract with the former government did not require it to remediate the landfill and address the huge quantity of waste already present at the Tonique Williams Highway site.

“Renew Bahamas was never asked to remediate the landfill; that aspect of operations was never part of their contract,” she disclosed. “They were just operations and management, and to say that they did anything, very little was done.

“The new consortium is not picking up from where they left off; it’s a new slate, inclusive of the remediation aspect of it.”

Renew Bahamas, though, last year said it had invested in landfill remediation. “Renew had the obligation to reconstruct and remediate the landfill,” the company said in an August 2017 statement.

“Renew invested in that effort, as confirmed by the University of Florida landfill experts, but the Government never fulfilled its obligation to settle access rights Renew needed to obtain further financing. Nor would it meet with Renew to create an agreed design for the future landfill.”

The former manager also complained that it “encountered tremendous difficulties” in developing a co-operative relationship with the Christie administration, arguing that the latter’s failure to plan and enter into “consistent dialogue” helped prompt Renew Bahamas’ exit.

Some observers, though, believe Renew Bahamas exploited Hurricane Matthew to exit a five-year contract and business model that had proven both unprofitable and unsustainable.

Gerhard Beukes, its principal, told Tribune Business in April 2016 that it wanted to renegotiate the contract after it had lost “millions of dollars”.

Mr Beukes and Michael Cox, Renew Bahamas’ chief executive, both remained in The Bahamas after the company’s exit - the former as vice-president of China Construction America’s (CCA) South America affiliate.

Much of the former manager’s recycling equipment also stayed at the

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landfill, with Tribune Business receiving e-mail and phone calls from suppliers claiming to still be owed thousands of dollars by Renew Bahamas.

Mr Ferreira yesterday said “there are a number of outstanding creditors” of Renew Bahamas, and confirmed “there’s litigation pending” regarding the former landfill manager.

He declined to provide details, saying it was a matter for the Attorney General’s Office, only adding: “The court will make pronouncements, which may or may not include the equipment.”

When Tribune Business pointed out that the Providence Advisors/WRDG group had also been selected as the “preferred bidder” for the landfill in a rushed tender just before last year’s general election, Mr Ferreira said that process - and the present one - were not comparable.

He pointed out that while the Minnis administration’s bid process attracted 18 replies, its predecessor’s aborted version only gained two responses from Providence Advisors/ WRDG and a Dominican Republic entity.

Mr Ferreira added that BISX-listed Bahamas Waste was also part of the first Providence Advisors/ WRDG group, but then split off to launch its own solo bid for the landfill contract, becoming one of the preferred bidder’s last two remaining rivals.

“When you have a much broader range of entities responding you have more to choose from, and the Bahamian public will have more confidence in the process,” the Minister said.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, August 30, 2018, PAGE 7

IMAX Superplex eyes ‘best launched theatre’ FROM PAGE ONE ramp up to 406 employees when we open Fusion Superplex. All of those employees will be Bahamian.”

“We went through a great deal of people to select the best. The unemployment numbers are a bit high, and we hope to take a dent out of that when we bring on our 400 persons. That will assist the local market in alleviating some of the pressure on the unemployment numbers.”

Mr Foulkes added that IMAX will provide long-term support for the facility, and said: “They have remote monitoring systems

connected to our projection devices, which allows them to be able to help us from Canada and troubleshoot with us.

“The facility has about 30 days left of work, and then we are going to take about 30 days to get the remaining employees up to speed.

We already have management and senior members on board, and training going on right now in food and beverage. For a facility like this the staff has to be of equal greatness. Given the 30 days of work left and the training, late November is the earliest we can open.”

Mr Foulkes said the opening date now depends on

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how quickly the Government can address nearby road upgrades.

Atavus Group wants an expansion to the northern entrance of Gladstone Road to accommodate the extra traffic its project is expected to generate.

“The final date will be dependent on how soon the Government can get the roadworks together for the entrance to the facility. That is also about two months’ of work. We may be able to squeeze it down to six weeks, but we’ll work with the Ministry of Works to get that started. If we’re to start the road next week, as we hope,

by the time of the soft opening that will completed,” said Mr Foulkes.

“The project is $50m; that’s the land, the construction, the technology, the systems and furnishings. That includes the cost overruns.

They happen, as you can’t predict everything. We have had changes in the design.

“We expanded the profile of the project and added some new technologies. The security systems and the online platform required intense security measures for the processing of credit cards and so on. We also have the servers being hosted in different countries to ensure the data is secure.” The project was initially scheduled to open on April 20 with an initial investment budget of $42m.

Atavus expects the Fusion Superplex to attract “north of 800,000” persons annually with its nine theatres, including the five-storey IMAX and 4DX (four dimensional

experience) cinema.

“We believe we are coming in very competitive. Bahamians just want a place to hang out. When we decided to build the facility we thought about where we would like to hang out,” said Mr Foulkes, revealing that the group’s marketing strategy extends beyond the local market.

“When we built this facility we did not have a local comparison. This is a hybrid of many things, and we had to look outside our country to see similar facilities,” he explained. “We found good representation of what we wanted to do, and tied those together to create Fusion, with 17 brands.

“We are delivering a product that has not been done locally. We are interacting with the film community outside the country; the Hollywood Film Journal, the Hollywood Reporter and people who look at theatres around the world and rate

them. We are trying to go after the best launched theatre this year.”

Targeted at all age ranges and tastes, the Fusion Superplex will include two restaurants, nine cinemas, including IMAX, 4DX, XS3 and PURE VIP theatres, an indoor supervised kids play zone, a two level arcade, a Starbucks coffee lounge and Sub-Zero ice cream that is made from liquid nitrogen.

Tekoyo Bridgewater, an Atavus director and inhouse legal counsel, told Tribune Business: “We have had an amazing uproar in the Bahamian community for something like this. We have designed our model to ensure everyone comes, they feel secure and, when they leave, they want to return. We promise that we will maintain the level of customer service moving forward. We find this to be very important to provide the ultimate customer service and maintain that throughout.”

PAGE 10, Thursday, August 30, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

Stocks rise again as technology companies and Amazon jump NEW YORK Associated Press US stocks climbed yesterday, driven by gains for big technology companies and Amazon. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished at record highs for the fourth day in a row.

Stocks have rallied over the last four days as investors grew more hopeful about trade talks between the US, Mexico and Canada. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said yesterday that Canada could join a trade pact between the US and Mexico by Friday.

The Commerce Department said the US economy was a bit stronger than it previously thought. It said gross domestic product grew 4.2 percent in the second quarter. Stronger business investment was a big reason, as companies spent more money on items like software.

“Corporate spending is up, which is something that is very important for the overall economy,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial.

Technology companies including Apple, Microsoft and Alphabet

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made strong gains.

The S&P 500 advanced 16.52 points, or 0.6 percent, to 2,914.04. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 60.55 points, or 0.2 percent, to 26,124.57. The Nasdaq composite jumped 79.65 points, or one percent, to 8,109.69.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks added 6.33 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,734.75. It also closed at a record high.

Technology firms and other large companies started climbing Friday as reported suggested a breakthrough on trade was near. On Monday the White House said it had reached a preliminary deal with Mexico to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement. Mexico is the US’ third-largest trading partner and Canada is second, behind China.

The S&P 500 has risen 3.5 percent in August after a 3.6 percent gain in July.

That two-month gain is its best since late 2015.

Amazon jumped 3.4 percent to $1,998.10 after a Morgan Stanley analyst raised his price target on its stock to $2,500 from $1,850.

At that price, Amazon would have a market value of $1.2tn.

“We have increasing confidence that Amazon’s rapidly growing, increasingly large, high margin revenue streams (advertising, Amazon Web Services, subscriptions) will drive higher profitability,” Brian Nowak wrote.

Apple became the first publicly traded company to reach the $1tn mark early this month. Investors currently value the iPhone maker at almost $1.08tn to Amazon’s $975bn.

Other retailers struggled. Dick’s Sporting Goods dipped 2.2 percent to $35.60 after its sales fell short of expectations. The company said sales of Under Armour products dropped significantly because of that company’s decision to expand distribution of its apparel to other stores.

Chico’s FAS fell 4.1 percent to $8.47 after its quarterly report and watchmaker Movado sank 15.4 percent to $41.80. Elsewhere, Tiffany sank 4.3 percent to $125.48 and Kohl’s lost 1.9 percent to $77.34.

Footwear seller Shoe Carnival surged 13.1 percent to $41.74 after it raised its annual forecasts following a second quarter. the company said backto-school sales are off to a

good start.

Energy companies rose along with oil prices.

Benchmark US crude rose 1.4 percent to $69.51 a barrel in New York while Brent crude, used to price international oils, gained 1.6 percent to $77.14 a barrel in London.

Homebuilders fell after the National Association of Realtors said fewer Americans signed contracts to buy homes in July compared with the previous month.

High home prices and rising mortgage rates are pushing home sales down even though economic growth is solid.

TopBuild declined 2.7 percent to $65.10 and TRI Pointe lost 2.4 percent to 14.42.

The companies also dipped on Tuesday after the S&P-Case Shiller index showed that home prices rose 6.3 percent in July, a slower pace than the month before.

Yum China climbed 5.5 percent to $39.23 after the Wall Street Journal reported that a group of investors offered to buy it for $46 per share, or $17.6bn. The Journal said the offer was made in recent months and that Yum China rejected it.

Roku slumped 4.9 percent to $59.92 following a report that Amazon may challenge it with an ad-supported video service. The Information said Amazon will offer the service through its Fire TV devices, which are owned by about 48 million people.

In other commodities trading, wholesale gasoline rose 1.3 percent to $2.11 a gallon. Heating oil added 1.4 percent to $2.24 a gallon. Natural gas gained 1.5 percent to $2.90 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Gold fell 0.2 percent to $1,211.50 an ounce. Silver lost 0.5 percent to $14.70 an ounce. Copper sank one percent to $2.71 a pound.

Bond prices were little changed. The yield on the ten-year Treasury note stayed at 2.88 percent.

The dollar rose to 111.69 yen from 111.21 yen. The euro dipped to $1.1699 from $1.1696.

Germany’s DAX picked up 0.3 percent and the CAC 40 of France rose 0.3 percent. The British FTSE slid 0.7 percent.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.1 percent while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 0.2 percent and Seoul’s Kospi advanced 0.3 percent.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, August 30, 2018, PAGE 11

US PORTS FEAR TARIFFS COULD REDUCE SHIP TRAFFIC AND JOBS

By DAVID KOENIG Associated Press PORTS and ground terminals in nearly every state handle goods that are now or will likely soon be covered by import tariffs. Port executives worry that this could mean a slowdown in shipping that would have ripple effects on truckers and others whose jobs depend on trade.

The Associated Press analysed government data and found that from the West Coast to the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico, at least ten percent of imports at many ports could face new tariffs if President Donald Trump’s proposals take full effect.

Since March, the US has applied new tariffs of up to 25 percent on nearly $85bn worth of steel and aluminum and various Chinese products, mostly goods used in manufacturing.

Trump said in a recent tweet, “Tariffs are working big time”. He has argued that the tariffs will help protect American workers and force US trading partners to change rules that the president insists are unfair to the United States.

In New Orleans, port officials say a tariff-related drop in shipments is real, not merely a forecast. Steel imports there have declined more than 25 percent from a year ago, according to the port’s chief commercial officer, Robert Landry.

The port is scouting for other commodities it can import. But expectations appear to be low.

“In our business, steel is the ideal commodity,” Landry said. “It’s big, it’s heavy, we charge by the ton so it pays well. You never find anything that pays as well as steel does.”

The port of Milwaukee imports steel from Europe and ships out agricultural products from the Midwest. Steel imports haven’t dropped yet because they are under long-term contracts, said the port director, Adam Schlicht.

But there has been “an almost immediate halt” in outbound shipments of corn because of retaliatory duties imposed by the European Union on American products.

Much of the corn, he said, “is just staying in silos. They are filled to the brim.”

Most other ports have

been humming along and even enjoyed an unexpected bump in imports during June and July as US businesses moved up orders to ship before the new tariffs took effect. That started with manufacturing goods and is now spreading to retail items for back-toschool and Christmas.

“Some of my retail customers are forwardshipping the best they can to offset proposed tariffs,” says Peter Schneider, executive vice president of TGS Transportation, a trucking company in Fresno, California.

Port officials were encouraged by this week’s announcement that the United States and Mexico had reached a preliminary agreement to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, hoping it might lead to reduced trade barriers. Canada’s participation in any new deal to replace NAFTA, though, remains a major question mark.

The port officials continue to worry, though, that Trump will make good on a plan to expand tariffs to an additional $200bn in Chinese imports — a list that includes fish and other foods, furniture, carpets, tires, rain jackets and hundreds of additional items.

Tariffs would make those items costlier in the United States. And if Americans buy fewer of those goods, it would likely lead to fewer container ships steaming into US ports.

The impact will be felt keenly at West Coast ports like Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, relying on information from his port officials, said his port — the biggest in the United States — could suffer a 20 percent drop in volume if the additional $200bn in tariffs are imposed against Chinese goods.

Jock O’Connell, an economist in California who studies trade, said he doubts a downturn would be so severe — that would match the slump that accompanied the global recession of 2008 — “but we will see a definite impact”.

Here are some of the key findings from the AP analysis: • US tariffs will cover goods that are imported at more than 250 seaports, airports and ground terminals

NOTICE

TRIDENT GLOBAL FUNDING CORPORATION NOTICE is hereby given as follows: (a) Trident Global Funding Corporation is in Voluntary Dissolution under the provisions of Section 138(4) of the International Business Companies Act 2000. (b) The Dissolution of the said Company commenced when the Articles of Dissolution were submitted to and registered by the Registrar General of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. (c) The Liquidator of the said Company is Beatus Limited, P.O. Box N7776-348, N.P., Bahamas.

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in 48 states.

• At 18 of 43 customs districts — including those representing ports around Los Angeles, San Francisco, New Orleans and Houston — at least ten percent of their total import value could be covered by new tariffs if all Trump’s proposals take effect.

• Retaliatory duties by China and other countries cover $27bn in US exports.

Eugene Seroka, executive director of the Los Angeles port, worries that “if tariffs make it too expensive to import, there will be an impact on jobs”.

Seroka and others don’t expect layoffs on the docks.

Union longshoremen — whose average pay last year on the West Coast was $163,000, according to the Pacific Maritime Association, which negotiates for the ports — often have contract provisions ensuring that they are paid even if there’s no work. And there are fewer of them than there were a few decades ago because the advent of shipping containers has reduced the need for people on the docks.

Dwayne Boudreaux, an International Longshoremen’s Association official in Louisiana, said, though, that his stevedores are handling about ten percent less steel from Japan because of the new tariffs.

“We don’t think it’s going to (get) worse,” he said.

But, he added, “who knows — that could change from the next press conference.”

The impact might be greater on truck drivers and warehouse workers. Fewer will be needed, according to O’Connell.

PAGE 12, Thursday, August 30, 2018

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THE TRIBUNE

Argentina asks early release of IMF funds to calm markets BUENOS AIRES Associated Press PRESIDENT Mauricio Macri asked the International Monetary Fund yesterday for an early release of funds from a $50bn deal with the IMF to ease concerns that Argentina will not be able to meet its debt obligations for 2019.

Macri said in a televised address that Argentina has agreed with the IMF “to advance all necessary funds to guarantee compliance with next year’s financial programme.”

Macri said that in the past week there have been “expressions of a lack of

trust in the markets” about Argentina. He said the decision seeks to dispel any uncertainty, but he did not specify the amount or when the funds will be released.

Argentina was forced to strike a deal with the IMF earlier this year after a sharp depreciation of its currency and a run on the peso. The three year standby financing deal is aimed at strengthening the South American country’s weak economy and helping it fight inflation, which at 30 percent per year, is one of the highest in the world.

The Argentine currency fell again yesterday to close at an all-time low of 34.2 pesos per US dollar.

The IMF said in a

statement that it will “revise the government’s economic plan with a focus on better insulating Argentina from the recent shifts in global financial markets, including through stronger monetary and fiscal policies and a deepening of efforts to support the most vulnerable in society.”

Most Argentines have bad memories of the IMF and blame the international lending institution for encouraging policies that led to the country’s worst economic crisis in 2001. The crisis 17 years ago resulted in one of every five Argentines being unemployed, millions sliding into poverty and some reporting going hungry.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, August 30, 2018, PAGE 13

MERKEL ARRIVES FOR WEST AFRICA VISIT ON BUSINESS, MIGRANTS DAKAR, SENEGRAL Associated Press GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Senegal late yesterday on a three-nation West African visit focusing on economic development and migration.

Merkel is meeting with the presidents of Senegal, Ghana and then Nigeria as she presses for further investment in a region that is a source of many of the migrants who make their perilous way toward Europe.

Migrant arrivals in Europe across the Mediterranean from Africa and Turkey are at their lowest level in five years, but the issue remains sensitive. Merkel, who refused to close Germany’s borders at the height of the migrant crisis in 2015, has toughened her stance recently to salvage her government from a rift

GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, is welcomed by Senegal’s president Macky Sall, at the Presidential palace in Dakar, Senegal yesterday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has arrived in Senegal on a three-nation West African visit focusing on economic development and migration. Photo: Mamadou Diop/AP over the issue.

Some in Europe hope that investing more in West Africa will help keep people in a region plagued with unemployment, dodgy

infrastructure, rising extremism and now the effects of climate change from leaving.

“We must not be accomplices of the people smugglers. We must fight

illegality but also create legality and conditions for work here on the ground,” Merkel said after meeting with Senegalese President Macky Sall, according to her spokesman Steffen Seibert. Germany announced it would electrify 300 Senegalese villages.

Senegal’s president agreed and pointed out the youth who are drowning while trying to cross the Mediterranean. “It is not in the dignity of Africa,” he said.

He reminded citizens they cannot seek asylum because they are not persecuted at home or at war. “We’re a democracy,” he said.

Senegal and Ghana are

two of Africa’s fastest-growing economies and among its most stable countries. Both have signed on to the Compact with Africa initiative to promote private investment that Germany launched last year during its presidency of the Group of 20 industrialised and developing nations.

Merkel is traveling with nearly a dozen CEOs of German companies.

Nigeria is West Africa’s regional power, Africa’s most populous country and one of the continent’s top oil producers. It is plagued, however, by widespread corruption and security threats that include Boko Haram

and Islamic State-linked extremists in the north, violent clashes between herders and farmers in the central region and oil militants in the south.

Merkel on Tuesday spoke with the new leader of another of Africa’s top economies, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, and invited him to visit, his chief of staff Fitsum Arega said on Twitter. Germany is just one of the countries responding with curiosity to the recent reconciliation between Ethiopia and neighboring Eritrea, with Germany’s development minister visiting the longreclusive country last week.

PAGE 14, Thursday, August 30, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

Pot industry wants to see ‘stoner’ stereotype go up in smoke

JUDD Weiss takes a puff of a pre-rolled marijuana cigarette at his house in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles. Weiss, CEO and founder of cannabis company Lit.Club, believes the industry needs to do still more. He suggests marketing products in a way that makes them look more than just respectable, but as the herbal equivalent of a fine bourbon or scotch.

Photo: Richard Vogel/AP LOS ANGELES Associated Press

MARKET REPORT WEDNESDAY, 29 AUGUST 2018

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

BISX ALL SHARE INDEX: CLOSE 1,973.71 | CHG 0.06 | %CHG 0.00 | YTD -89.86 | YTD% -4.35 BISX LISTED & TRADED SECURITIES 52WK HI 4.50 19.17 7.50 4.10 1.39 0.19 3.92 9.17 6.60 5.30 12.00 2.71 1.77 8.21 6.21 13.00 7.00 13.67 13.00

52WK LOW 3.50 19.17 7.50 3.32 0.90 0.12 2.60 8.55 6.09 3.33 9.00 2.30 1.40 7.25 6.00 9.50 5.67 3.25 12.50

1050.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00

1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00

PREFERENCE SHARES

1.00 103.00 100.00 106.00 105.00 103.00 100.00 10.00 1.01

1.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 10.00 1.00

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 Emera Incorporated Famguard Fidelity Bank Finco Focol J. S. Johnson 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

52WK LOW 100.00

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 ##########

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

SYMBOL LAST CLOSE AML 3.90 APD 17.43 BPF 9.09 BWL 4.06 BOB 1.00 BBL 0.18 CAB 2.60 CIB 9.17 CHL 6.15 CBL 3.75 CBB 12.50 CWCB 2.68 DHS 1.75 EMAB 7.67 FAM 6.21 FBB 13.00 FIN 6.36 FCL 3.75 JSJ 13.00 CAB6 CAB8 CAB9 CAB10 CHLA CBLE CBLJ CBLK CBLL CBLM CBLN FBBA FCLB

SECURITY Fidelity Bank Note 22 (Series B) +

SYMBOL FBB22

Bahamas Note 6.95 (2029) 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 BG0203 BG0105 BG0205 BG0107 BG0207 BG0130 BG0230 BG0303 BG0305 BG0307 BG0330 BG0403 BG0405 BG0407

BAHAMAS GOVERNMENT STOCK - (percentage pricing)

1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1.00 100.00 100.00 100.40 100.00 100.00 100.00 10.00 1.00 LAST SALE 100.00 108.62 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

CLOSE 3.90 17.43 9.09 4.06 1.00 0.18 2.60 9.17 6.15 3.75 12.50 2.68 1.75 7.75 6.21 13.00 6.36 3.75 13.00

CHANGE 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.08 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 1.00

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

CLOSE 100.00

CHANGE 0.00

108.74 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

0.12 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

VOLUME

VOLUME

EPS$ 0.268 0.932 -0.306 0.317 0.059 0.000 -0.996 0.700 0.573 0.171 0.627 0.102 0.231 0.000 0.545 0.679 0.719 0.277 0.631

DIV$ 0.100 1.130 0.000 0.230 0.000 0.010 0.000 0.710 0.220 0.120 0.620 0.060 0.070 0.084 0.320 0.500 0.200 0.120 0.590

P/E 14.6 18.7 N/M 12.8 N/M N/M -2.6 13.1 10.7 21.9 19.9 26.3 7.6 N/M 11.4 19.1 8.8 13.5 20.6

YIELD 2.56% 6.48% 0.00% 5.67% 0.00% 5.56% 0.00% 7.74% 3.58% 3.20% 4.96% 2.24% 4.00% 1.08% 5.15% 3.85% 3.14% 3.20% 4.54%

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% 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%

MATURITY 19-Oct-2022 ############### 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

MUTUAL FUNDS 52WK HI 2.17 4.16 2.01 180.30 157.58 1.56 1.70 1.64 1.10 6.99 8.54 6.15 10.52 11.46 10.46 10.00 8.45 11.20

52WK LOW 1.67 3.04 1.68 164.74 116.70 1.50 1.62 1.58 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 2.17 4.14 2.01 180.30 155.10 1.56 1.70 1.65 1.09 7.27 8.32 6.48 11.32 11.71 10.31 9.93 8.45 11.20

YTD% 12 MTH% 2.24% 4.15% 0.03% 4.59% 1.23% 2.26% 0.90% 3.44% 1.11% 6.05% 2.14% 4.33% 0.17% 4.01% 1.67% 4.18% -0.96% 0.73% -1.08% 1.77% -5.96% -3.05% 1.90% 4.59% 7.24% 11.96% 2.77% 3.88% 3.94% 4.69% -0.61% 0.75% 1.13% N/A 2.95% N/A

NAV Date 31-Jul-2018 31-Jul-2018 27-Jul-2018 30-Jun-2018 30-Jun-2018 30-Jun-2018 30-Jun-2018 30-Jun-2018 30-Jun-2018 30-Jul-2018 30-Jul-2018 30-Jul-2018 30-Jul-2018 30-Jul-2018 30-Jul-2018 30-Jun-2018 30-Jun-2018 30-Jun-2018

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

MICHELLE Janikian, who writes about marijuana for publications like Herb, Playboy and Rolling Stone, says after she tells someone what she does for a living, she usually spends the rest of the conversation “trying to act so friendly and mainstream” so they don’t think she’s stoned.

Adam Salcido relates that after he went to work a couple of years ago for a Southern California company that helps organise weed-infused events like Hempfest and Cannabis Cup, he had to reassure his family he wouldn’t turn into a drug addict.

Stoner stereotypes die hard.

But with a multibilliondollar industry beginning to flower — marijuana is now legal in some form in 30 states — cannabis advocates are pushing to dispel the idea that people who toke up still live on the couches in their parents’ basements and spend their waking hours eating Cheetos and playing video games.

MedMen, a flashy, upscale chain of dispensaries that brands itself as the Apple store of pot shops, recently rolled out a $2m ad campaign that, for lack of a better description, might be called the “anti-stoner offensive”.

Photos of 17 people — including a white-haired grandmother, a schoolteacher, a business executive, a former pro football player and a nurse — are being splashed across billboards, buses and the web by the company that has dispensaries in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York. Each photo has the word “stoner” crossed out and in its place a description of their job.

People can find their biographies on the website www. forgetstoner.com, where they can also learn why they use weed. Reasons range from treatment of medical conditions like migraines and anxiety to simply enjoying the high.

“What we’re saying is the very definition of a stereotype is defining a person by one bad mention,” says Daniel Yi, MedMen’s senior vice president of communications and a former Los Angeles Times reporter.

“They’re also a grandmother.

They’re also a father, a son, a brother.”

Judd Weiss, CEO and founder of cannabis company Lit.Club, believes the industry needs to do still more. He suggests marketing products in a way that makes them look more than just respectable, but as the herbal equivalent of a fine bourbon or scotch.

Thus, he says, Lit.Club’s vape pens are packaged in a way “that won’t embarrass you at the opera”. They look sleek and stylish, with inspirational phrases like “Light A Path” printed on each one.

He compares the aroma and flavor of his company’s prerolled joints to something similar to a fine brandy.

“Very much like the Tesla, we want to be seen as luxury quality but affordable,” he said.

The website Leafly, which is sometimes called a Yelp for discerning potheads, has taken out ads in The New York Times and staged promotional events at gatherings like the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, to extol the virtues of marijuana. Better sex and

better health are two claims it focuses on.

Still there is pushback from some who believe realities about pot are being glossed over by slick marketing.

“It is not a controversial claim to say that marijuana could be addictive for some people, that it could produce mental illness, that it’s tied to impaired driving, that it makes you not motivated, that you’re more likely to drop out of school if you’re a kid using,” said Kevin Sabet, president of the group Smart Approaches to Marijuana and a former drug policy adviser to presidents Clinton, Obama and George W Bush.

Sabet accuses the cannabis industry of enticing children with edibles and cookies in an attempt to become another “Big Tobacco”, although he also acknowledges there is evidence that marijuana has some medicinal value.

It was edibles that brought Cindy Paul of Billings, Montana, to a Portland, Oregon, pot shop a few weeks ago to sample marijuana for the first time in 25 years. A casual if closeted smoker during her school days, Paul, 55, said she decided to indulge again while vacationing with her daughter in a state where it’s legal and where she can acquire it in a form she doesn’t have to inhale.

“I do think it has medicinal qualities,” she said, adding, “I’m not using it for that. I’m using it to have a good time.

I don’t think it’s any different than having a beer.”

To bring more people like Paul into the fold, branding expert Robert Miner says the marijuana industry needs to use movies and TV shows to change negative perceptions.

Those lovable stoners Cheech and Chong were fine back in the day when it came to rebuffing the idea that anybody who smoked pot was headed for Reefer Madness. But the mainstreaming of marijuana, he said, demands a new message.

“For that larger portion of the cannabis-consuming population, that same silly bumbling stereotype that led to a wider acceptance is now an impediment to their being open about their cannabis consumption,” said Miner, whose firm, Miner & Co Studio, works with TV networks and other media in image building.

One show that presents a more modern take on marijuana is HBO’s “High Maintenance”. It features a bicycle-riding pot dealer who interacts with a variety of average New Yorkers, from empty-nesting Boomers to workaholic Millennials.

The only thing any have in common is they buy marijuana from him and, as they do, pull him into their daily lives.

It’s one of Janikian’s favorite shows, and she’d like to see more like it. But for now the writer who divides her time between New York and Mexico will continue to remain circumspect about her marijuana use.

She sometimes uses a topical cream to curb anxiety and after a hard day’s work she likes to smoke a joint to unwind like any “random normal person” would have a glass of wine.

But she knows those random normal people are often skeptical.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, August 30, 2018, PAGE 15

PAGE 16, Thursday, August 30, 2018

THE TRIBUNE