11082019 BUSINESS

business@tribunemedia.net

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8TH, 2019

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Insurers: Dorian losses increase to $1.5bn-$2bn

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

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STIMATES for Hurricane Dorian’s total insured losses were yesterday said to have increased to between $1.5bn to $2bn as the entire Bahamian industry was removed from international “review”.

Anton Saunders, RoyalStar Assurance’s managing director, told Tribune Business that the figures had increased from the previously-announced $1bn because more property and casualty underwriters had now reported their data to the Bahamas Insurance Association (BIA).

The revised projections

• Four Bahamian carriers removed from ‘review’ • RoyalStar: 80% of Abaco payouts before year-end • ‘If Dorian doesn’t show insurance vital, nothing will’ came as four Bahamian insurers - Bahamas First, RoyalStar, Summit Insurance Company and Colonial Group International (Security & General) - were removed from post-Dorian “review” by the major industry rating agency, and had their previous “financial strength” reaffirmed, despite a collective multibillion payout that could be five times’ the $400m incurred from Hurricane Matthew in 2016.

Mr Saunders described the AM Best action as “a

very, very good vote of confidence” in the Bahamian insurance industry’s capitalisation and solvency, and its ability to meet obligations to all policyholders despite the scale of devastation inflicted

by Hurricane Dorian.

While declining to provide data on RoyalStar’s share of the Dorian-related losses, he added that the carrier now expected to settle 80 percent of Abaco claims before year-end as opposed to previous predictions that just 60 percent would be dealt with.

Attributing this to the increased speed with which claims are being adjusted and dealt with, the RoyalStar chief agreed with other industry executives that it was a question of how much - not if - property and casualty premium prices will rise next year across The Bahamas in Dorian’s wake.

He noted the difference in recovery speed between those who had coverage and persons who did not, and added: “If Dorian does

SEE PAGE 5

Minister: BPL must not ‘burden’ prompt payers

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A CABINET minister yesterday pledged that Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) will clamp down on delinquent bill payers so that compliant customers are not penalised in servicing its $650m refinancing.

Desmond Bannister, minister of works, told Tribune Business the state-owned utility monopoly had to “be more efficient” in collecting sums owed by household and business consumers so that it is “not a burden” on those who pay their bills on time.

This will become increasingly important once the bonds to refinance BPL are placed, given that the fee customers will pay to fund the interest and principal payments due to investors will fluctuate depending

• Collections need ‘more efficiency’ with new fee • $650m bond to be placed early January • Utility ‘broke, crippled for almost two decades’

DESMOND BANNISTER on various factors that include how many are not paying their bills and to what extent.

Mr Bannister yesterday conceded this could penalise compliant consumers,

BTC owner: Abaco ‘a humanitarian disaster’

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Telecommunications Company’s (BTC) owner is eyeing fixed wireless solutions to reduce construction costs associated with rebuilding network infrastructure in Abaco post-Dorian.

Balan Nair, Liberty Latin America’s (LiLAC) chief executive, told analysts during a conference call to discuss the company’s 2019 third quarter results that the island had suffered “a huge humanitarian disaster” as a result of the

category five storm.

While Abaco was “not one of our bigger revenue stream islands”, Mr Nair said it would likely take BTC, its immediate parent, Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC), and Liberty Latin America into 2020 to complete restore communications services.

“On Hurricane Dorian, we think some time next year we’ll get back to pre-hurricane levels,” Mr Nair said in response to an analyst’s questions. “There is two parts to the story. First, Grand Bahama island, where we are

SEE PAGE 4

Pharmacists lose licence renew bid

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

TWELVE pharmacists have seen their bid for an injunction to force the industry’s self-regulatory body to renew their licences rejected by a Court of Appeal judge.

Appeal justice Roy Jones turned down their application on the grounds that the Bahamas Pharmacy Council had exercised its legal powers under the Pharmacy Act “for the public good” in refusing to renew the licences on the basis that

their qualifications were obtained from an “unaccredited” institution.

“The joint applicants are pharmacists licensed by the council to practice at various times since 2010,” appeal justice Jones found. “The joint applicants’ academic qualifications were obtained from the McHari Institute... The council granted the joint applicants’ licences from 2010 and subsequently renewed their licenses annually.

“In January 2017, the

SEE PAGE 4

while acknowledging that BPL’s history in collecting sums due was not a good one given that its accounts receivables stubbornly remain in the $90m-$100m range.

Arguing that BPL “has to improve every aspects of its operations”, the minister agreed that the utility “can no longer be lax and complacent with the people’s money” if it is to regain public trust and contain any extra cost associated with the near-doubling of its existing $321m debt via the upcoming refinance.

Mr Bannister revealed that BPL’s rate reduction bond issue is set to be placed

in the first week of January 2020, with the date having been pushed back from its November 2019 target.

He added that Dr Donovan Moxey, BPL’s chairman, together with Geoffrey Andrews, chairman of the The Bahamas Rate Reduction Bond Ltd, the entity that will issue the bonds, were currently in New York to negotiate their price (interest rate) and other terms and conditions with major financial institutions and investors.

Voicing optimism that the Bahamian team will be able to secure “very

SEE PAGE 3

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Ex-GBPA attorney tells govt: Buy GB harbour and airport

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net AN EX-GRAND Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) attorney yesterday urged the government to buy Freeport Harbour Company as well as the island’s airport to prevent “an enormous drain” on the Treasury.

Carey Leonard, now with the Callenders & Co law firm, told Tribune Business that the government “must not get suckered into just buying” the lossmaking Grand Bahama International Airport from its current owners, Hutchison Whampoa and the GBPA’s Port Group Ltd affiliate.

Speaking after the government this week confirmed it is mulling the airport’s purchase, Mr Leonard argued that acquiring it together with the Freeport Harbour Company in a package deal would provide sufficient earnings to avoid having to turn to the taxpayer for further multi-million dollar subsidies.

With the airport widely regarded as a loss-maker, he explained that Freeport Harbour Company’s existing income streams would help “compensate” for that and the estimated $20m$40m worth of post-Dorian repairs required at the island’s main gateway.

And Mr Leonard suggested that acquiring the harbour owner/operator would provide the prospect of increased nearterm profitability if the $100m Carnival port and ITM Group/Royal Caribbean joint venture at the Grand Lucayan take-off as they promise increased fee income from more cruise ship calls.

CAREY LEONARD “I think it’s really, really important that we push the government,” Mr Leonard told this newspaper. “They must not get suckered into just buying the airport.

They’ve got to take the harbour as well. They might as well get it now while it’s still functioning properly rather than wait for it to disintegrate.

“I believe the harbour should do well with all the cruise ships coming in, and that will compensate and subsidise the airport until we get it up and running without draining the government. My concern is that if they just get the airport that will place an enormous drain on the Public Treasury. I just don’t want them to be satisfied on buying the airport alone.

Freeport Harbour Company, which is owned 50/50

by Hutchison Whampoa and Port Group Ltd, is the immediate parent for Grand Bahama International Airport Company. While Mr Leonard is not alone in his strategy, other private sector executives having expressed similar sentiments to Tribune Business, the government has given no indication it wants a package deal for both entities.

However, the ex-GBPA in-house attorney yesterday argued there were sound financial reasons for the

SEE PAGE 5

PAGE 2, Friday, November 8, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

REAPING REWARDS FROM MENTORSHIP

IAN FERGUSON BY

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ENTORSHIP is not a new term in our corporate environment. For centuries we have had formal and informal mentors teaching, training and preparing the next generation of leaders. Mentorship is typically defined as the relationship in which a more experienced or knowledgeable person helps to guide a less experienced or less knowledgeable person. In the traditional sense it is an employee training system under which a mentor is

assigned to act as an advisor, counsellor or guide to a junior or trainee. The mentor is responsible for providing support to, and feedback on, the individual in his or her charge. Many companies of varying sizes have developed systematic and structured mentorship programmes where the culture is so well shaped that senior leaders understand their primary role to be the development of new and emerging leaders.

Here are the key reasons why every company (irrespective of size) should develop a mentorship system.

There are rewards for the Mentor and the Mentee The mentor as tutor increases self-learning and builds personal competence through the simple act of explaining processes and procedures to junior team members. There are many lessons learnt and acquired skills in communication, managing generations, problem solving and others

passed on in the mentormentee relationship.There is also an overwhelming sense of pride that a mentor has when he or she witnesses the metamorphosis of fledging leaders.

It fosters a multi-generational company culture As mentor and mentee develop their own

relationship, they help create and perpetuate a positive company culture that combines the best qualities of the individuals regardless of their age. Most workplaces are still struggling with bringing together the four generations.

Mentorship beautifully combines “Boomer Leaders”

with “X- Managers” and emerging and talented millennials. Each has something to learn from the other.

It helps in connecting an expansive network Another reason it is great to have a mentor is that it connects the mentee to a professional network to which he might never have been exposed. Personal introductions are powerful career collateral, especially for someone just starting out. But a mentor can also write a recommendation for their mentee’s LinkedIn profile that all the world can see. And he can send out invites to corporate trainings, employee mixers and industry conferences that will help his protégé connect to the right people.

Leaders must consistently open doors of opportunity for those they mentor.

Reducing stress and anxiety Having a reliable sounding board in the office can reduce job anxiety and

stress, and every leader should have an understudy specifically hand-picked to filter thoughts, ideas and suggestions. We all make mistakes and we do not always meet our own goals.

When that happens in work it can be extremely worrisome. A mentor can help you see the bigger picture, can help make you understand that a single mistake is not going to cost you your career, and can help you improve what you do in the workplace so those mistakes become fewer and fewer.

• NB: Ian R Ferguson is a talent management and organisational development consultant, having completed graduate studies with regional and international universities. He has served organsations, both locally and globally, providing relevant solutions to their business growth and development issues. He may be contacted at tcconsultants@coralwave.com.

Brewery pledges Abaco rebuilding

TEAM members from the Brewery’s Abaco staff have been integrated into the company’s Nassau operations following Hurricane Dorian. From left: Wynton Adderley, Gerry Summers, Annstacia Storr, and Winston Moss.

Photo: BBB/Barefoot Marketing.

THE Bahamian Brewery and Beverage Company has integrated all Abaco staff into its Nassau operations while it rebuilds a retail outlet that was reduced to a shell by Hurricane Dorian.

“Abaco holds a special place in my heart. The people, the land, and the community brings a lot of warmth and great memories for me,” said the brewery’s general manager, Gary Sands.

“My ancestors are descendants from Abaco, and holding this connection to the community is extremely important to me.

The customers of Abaco also need to see companies reopening to create a positive impact on the communities, and to assure them we support their rebuilding efforts.“ Teams began refurbishing the building that housed the company’s Jimmy’s Wines & Spirits retail store in October. “We had to cut out all the water-logged infrastructure and clear out all the damaged product to prepare for reconstruction,” explained Gerry Summers, the brewery’s Abaco sales manager.

“We’ve begun the process of ordering what we need, and we’re anxious to reopen our doors and serve our customers, but when that happens will depend

on the overall restoration of the island. Until power is restored island-wide we’re likely to be operating purely on a generator, and so there are certain considerations that will have to be made.”

The Bahamian Brewery and Beverage Company has stayed true to its pledge to avoid lay-offs during its post-Dorian recovery by retaining all Abaco staff in its Nassau operations. Five of the seven employees are currently working within the Brewery’s Nassau offices, with the other two choosing to move on to other opportunities.

“Some of our Abaco staff members have been working with us for eightplus years, and others worked for my grandfather at Butler and Sands for 20-plus years,” said Mr Sands. “This type of dedication and commitment to the company makes me motivated to reopen the Abaco store as soon as possible to restore some type of normality to their lives.”

Along with its locally produced beer, the brewery, through its Jimmy’s Wines & Spirits operations, is also the primary distributor for Anheuser-Busch, Philip Morris International and other brands such as Tito’s Vodka, Macallan Whiskey and Jackson Family Wines.

THE TRIBUNE

Friday, November 8, 2019, PAGE 3

Chamber director unhappy at changing BPL bond fee

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A CHAMBER of Commerce director yesterday voiced unhappiness over the variable fee consumers will pay to service Bahamas Power & Light’s (BPL) $650m refinancing.

Debbie Deal told Tribune Business that the additional fee added to consumer bills will behave just like BPL’s present fuel charge, which rises or falls according to the price of oil on international markets.

“I don’t like how every six months the bond fee can be adjusted up or down,” Ms Deal said. “It is like a fuel surcharge is what it is.

So Bahamas Power & Light is going to borrow and get private investors to lend them the money through a bond, and then that investor will give them money to refinance their previous debt and also pay off the Wärtsilä engines that we thought were already paid off.

“Our electricity bills will be going up is what what will happen, and that is what the bond will go towards - paying the investors their due interest on the bond. This bond amount will change, so

twice a year they can do that [increase or decrease it] if they want to.”

The Electricity Rate Reduction Bond Bill 2019, which will give lawful effect to the planned $650m bond refinancing, requires that a new fee be added to BPL customers’ bills to help fund interest and principal payments to investors who purchase these debt instruments.

The Bill, which will replace a similar Act passed previously by the former Christie administration, provides that the fee can be adjusted - “at a minimum semi-annually - to ensure that the collection of such fee will produce sufficient revenues to pay all ongoing financing costs as the same become due and payable”.

And those BPL customers who pay their bills in full, and on time, could find themselves penalised by the actions of delinquent payers. The Bill says fee adjustments “will take into account historical and reasonably forseeable differences between amounts billed and amounts collected”, listing “customer defaults and delays” as a key factor determining this variable.

However, Ms Deal added of the proposed refinancing: “None of this is going

to pay off the Aggreko back-up generation, and that does not include what we already pay a monthly interest for. I don’t see how this Bill will make things any better.

“Before the hurricane Abaco had five engines and only one working. Nassau has been in a mess for the last two years, Bimini has been a dump-fire, Ragged Island has been tossed aside like an old shoe’ and Harbour Island’s energy is also horrible. There are not many islands with decent power. This debt will not help any of them, so I don’t know how this will help the overall consumer.

“Our bill at the end of the day will be to take care of the debt they will incur through this bond.

This whole bond will be based on the people who don’t pay and have historical debt, if you think about that.”

Ms Deal said the Bahamas should focus more on rolling out pre-paid electricity meters so that BPL avoided the build-up of huge accounts receivables on its balance sheet when customers were unable to meet high post-paid bills. It would also enable households to avoid electricity disconnections and significant debts owed to

the state-owned utility monopoly.

“If you had a person that keeps going into arrears where you had to disconnect, why don’t you just go full-scale into prepaid meters,” she asked.

“The lesson that Jamaica learned from the pre-paid meters was they were able to go from red to the black in a year’s time when they switched to prepaid meters, and they now understand that pre-paid meters was the best way for the energy company to avoid debt.”

Ms Deal added that prepaid meters would also help to promote energy conservation, with the requirement for consumers to top-up their meter as and when needed enabling the creation of such a culture.

“BPL is a member of the chamber and in good standing, and it is a business,” she said. “But if I run to a company on a regular basis for service, and a service we can’t go anywhere else for because it is a monopoly, there is little us as customers and consumers can do about what they do.

“There is nothing in this Electricity Rate Reduction Bond about renewable energy. We keep talking about solar, and the minute something like this comes

up solar goes out of the window. Why don’t we take some of this money borrowed and invest in renewable energy?

“We thought that the engines we got from Wärtsilä that we borrowed the $100m for was paid for already. So I can’t see how a company like BPL can be in that type of debt and go out and get a loan.”

Ms Deal continued: “We don’t need to go through all of this just to have this added to our bills. It would have been easier for them to charge every meter $20 a month to help raise the money. Consumers would have grumbled and sucked our teeth, but it would have been much easier to manage and comprehend.

“The private sector hardly gets invited to the table to discuss this. You can’t eliminate the private sector because we are your only customers, so we have to be invited just on that fact. The chamber represents the largest amount of businesses in the country and we are never allowed to sit in on these decisions. We are there to support business but how can we do it when we are not invited. It shows a lack of respect to us and the Bahamian people at large.”

Minister: BPL must not ‘burden’ prompt payers FROM PAGE ONE favourable rates”, Mr Bannister said he was also “absolutely” confident that BPL customers will ultimately see a reduction in their electricity bills despite the addition of the bond fee because this will be offset by the more efficient, cheaper energy that the utility will deliver.

“We are looking at the fuel mix, we’re looking at the increased efficiency of the engines, and we believe that ultimately it’s going to make a difference,” Mr Bannister told Tribune Business.

“We’re also looking at what we anticipate will be lower interest rates on the funding that it’s carrying. I don’t anticipate it will be as much of challenge as BPL has now.

“BPL needs additional capital infrastructure works and, putting all that in place, we anticipate the operation will be more efficient, cheaper to run and fuel costs will be cheaper because of the fuel mix. Ultimately, the consumer will benefit by a large amount.”

BPL will likely be hoping that its new 132 megawatts (MW) of generation capacity via Wartsila, and the planned Shell North America multifuel plant that is due to be constructed and operational by 2021, will reduce fuel and other costs sufficiently that this more than offsets the additional bond servicing fee added to consumers’ bills, resulting in a net decrease in electricity costs.

However, legislation to

facilitate the Rate Reduction Bond (RRB) issue, which was tabled in Parliament earlier this week, makes clear that BPL’s customer base will be relied upon to service what is essentially a doubling of the debt burden associated with the utility to secure its financial future.

BPL’s customers will thus be made to pay for decades of financial mismanagement and political interference at BPL, and the failure to hold successive governments to account for failures that have resulted in the utility amassing regular annual losses averaging around $20m since 2006-2007.

And the legislation, which will replace a similar Act passed previously by the former Christie administration, provides that the bond fee paid by consumers can be adjusted - “at a minimum semi-annually - to ensure that the collection of such fee will produce sufficient revenues to pay all ongoing financing costs as the same become due and payable”.

This means that BPL customers who pay their bills in full, and on time, could find themselves penalised by the actions of delinquent payers. The Bill says fee adjustments “will take into account historical and reasonably foreseeable differences between amounts billed and amounts collected”, listing “customer defaults and delays” as a key factor determining this variable.

Acknowledging such concerns, Mr Bannister said: “One of the real challenges with BPL now has been the

lack of efficiency in finding ways to collect on so many consumers.”

Pointing out that Bahamians frequently switched addresses without settling outstanding balances that were not covered by deposits held by BPL, the minister added: “The company is going to have to be challenged to be more efficient than it has been so it will not be a burden on consumers like you and me who pay our bills.

“I would be offended if I thought BPL imposed a levy on me because of their inefficiency, and we’re going to have to make sure that chain and culture doesn’t happen.”

Mr Bannister agreed that BPL’s existing $90m-$100m accounts receivables were “too much” and “completely unsustainable”, adding that the utility needed to start improving its collection processes and techniques now.

“BPL has to improve everything it does in its operations,” he blasted. “Every single thing. It can no longer be lax and complacent with the people’s money. The Bahamian people are not going to tolerate that any more.”

The rate reduction bond issue will exchange BPL’s legacy BEC debt and other liabilities for new debt, which will be kept off BPL’s balance sheet via the The Bahamas Rate Reduction Bond Ltd’s role as issuing agent, thereby relieving the government of its existing $230m guarantee.

The old liabilities include

around $321m in bond and bank debt; a $100m employee pension fund deficit; and other assorted liabilities including the cost of environmental clean-ups at various sites around The Bahamas.

It is likely that some of the financing may also replace the $100m short-term funding that helped acquire the 132 megawatts (MW) of new Wartsila engines.

Some observers will likely be sceptical that the $650m bond issue will obtain lower interest costs than what BPL is paying on its current debt, especially since the sums involved have doubled and it will no longer be guaranteed - although the new Bill refers to unspecified “property” that can be used as security.

However, Mr Bannister said: “Our people are currently in New York now and negotiating those rates. We anticipate the rates will be very favourable. I’m hearing optimism from New York, but will wait and see what they come back with.”

Describing the $650m refinancing as “really a debt reduction bond” as opposed to a rate reduction bond, he suggested that there was little alternative to its placing given the urgent need to remedy BPL’s “broke” financial status.

“BPL has a debt burden, which the government has guaranteed, that stands at around $321m,” Mr Bannister explained. “The company is essentially broke, and has been broke for a long time.

It cannot invest in infrastructure. It’s essentially been crippled in doing anything for itself for almost the last two decades.

“This is going to permit the flexibility to operate like any other company. The government will not be burdened with that guarantee because the debt will be paid off. The whole idea is that the guarantee be removed, the old debt settled, and BPL will have to run as a responsible company.

We believe we have a board to make that happen.”

ABACO RESORT SET TO RE-OPEN WITH ‘SPLASH’

By YOURI KEMP A BOUTIQUE Abaco resort is planning for a full November 16 re-opening that will be followed by a “splash” for New Year as it bids to make a quick rebound from Hurricane Dorian’s devastation.

Tom Hazel, the Abaco Inn’s general manager, told Tribune Business: “We plan to have a full opening a week from Saturday on November 16, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.

We are also going to do a very soft opening on Friday night, November 15, to see how all of our systems are working as a test run.

“A lot of stuff right now is challenging, but that it takes the boredom out of the debris removal and most of the ‘dead time’ you deal with after a storm. I really can’t complain about anything now.

“I don’t know how many visitors we are expecting for the re-opening and moving forward. But we are planning to do a splash for our New Year’s celebrations.

The Inn will be serving our regular Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinners.”

Mr Hazel previously said the Abaco Inn lost four villas and four rooms due to Dorian, which inflicted substantial damage to the property’s garden and trees. All staff members are accounted for and survived Dorian Describing his marketing strategy going forward, Mr Hazel said: “A lot of stuff is word of mouth; we do very little marketing and advertising. I’m old fashioned and not into the coffee table books and the like. I genuinely appreciate when someone says ‘I had a good time’ and then tells someone else, and then the word of mouth takes over.

“Visitors come back all the time to see our staff.

So we have built up relationships with a lot of families over the last few years. They know our bartenders and hospitality staff. They have become family to us over the years as we have shared very important family events with them.”

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PAGE 4, Friday, November 8, 2019

BTC owner: Abaco ‘a humanitarian disaster’ FROM PAGE ONE

focused, where we are completely rebuilding there, and getting there.

“A lot of our B2B (business) customers have come back, our fixed networks are being built and our mobile network is being stood up.

Then there’s the other island, Abaco, where it’s really a huge humanitarian disaster there.

“There’s hardly any commercial activity but that will come back. That may take a little bit longer but it was not one of our bigger revenue stream islands anyway. But we are focused on bringing some new technology there that we can use reduce construction costs; a lot more fixed wireless. I feel good about The Bahamas; I feel really good about my team as well and how we responded to that.’

Mr Nair later explained that his reference to “fixed wireless” really meant Long-Term Evolution Technology (LTE) “because we have enough capacity to do that against the density of population centres in Abaco”.

Liberty executives confirmed that Dorian had cost BTC, and the wider group, some $5m in revenue, $8m in operating cash flow and a $5m spend on restoring property and equipment on the Dorian impacted islands during the three months to end-September 2019.

Tribune Business exclusively revealed on Wednesday how BTC had been dealt a $30m blow by Hurricane Dorian with network repairs set to last into 2020.

It suffered a $5m revenue loss for the three months to end-September 2019 as well as incurring some $25m in damages to systems infrastructure in Grand Bahama and Abaco as a result of the category five storm, with Liberty also forced into a $14m one-time write off of property and communications equipment that Dorian “damaged beyond repair”.

Liberty said: “In the third quarter we spent $5m on restoration related to damage caused by Hurricane Dorian in The Bahamas.

“We currently estimate up to $25m of property and

PUBLIC NOTICE

INTENT TO CHANGE NAME BY DEED POLL The Public is hereby advised that I, Am-eric 5 Nubian Moor Bey TM of Iguana Way, Bel Air Estates Carmichael Road intend to change my name to CLEMENT STANLEY RUSSELL JR. If there are any objections to this change of name by Deed Poll, you may write such objections to the Chief Passport Officer, P.O.Box N-742, Nassau, Bahamas no later than thirty (30) days after the date of publication of this notice.

NOTICE NOTICE is hereby given that GEORGINA RAYMONVIL, of Golden Isles Road, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 1st day of November, 2019 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

THE TRIBUNE equipment additions, inclusive of the $5m already spent, will be required to restore our damaged networks, which is expected to be incurred during the remainder of 2019 and 2020.”

Besides having to contend with Dorian’s wrath, BTC suffered the continued erosion of its mobile subscriber base with the loss of another 4,200 customers during the three months to end-September.

However, this near-two percent decline occurred at a much slower pace than in the previous period when BTC saw a net 9,300 subscribers leave during the 2019 second quarter.

BTC saw 3,800 pre-paid mobile subscribers, and 400 of the more stable, higheryielding post-paid subscribers leave during the third quarter, dropping its total customer base from 213,500 to 209,300.

It closed September 30 with 184,200 prepaid subscribers and 25,100 post-paid subscribers as Aliv seemingly continues to make inroads into its market share, albeit at a slower pace than before.

Data previously provided

by Liberty Latin America showed that, for the 2019 second quarter, a modest gain of 700 post-paid mobile subscribers was more than offset by the loss of another 10,000 pre-paid customers.”

BTC also suffered a 1,300 decline in subscribers for its fixed-line services, which include broadband Internet and telephony. Fixed-line voice and Internet customers fell by 1,200 and 100, respectively, compared to end-June 2019 numbers, leaving the carrier with customer bases of 43,200 and 25,600.

However, BTC did make a net 400 subscriber gain in its TV/video offering, growing this customer base to 6,500. As a result, its net loss of revenue generating units (subscribers) for the 2019 third quarter was kept to 900, although this excludes the mobile business.

BTC closed the third quarter with a total 75,300 subscribers for its TV, Internet and fixed line voice services. Some 128,900 homes are passed by its “two-way” infrastructure.

Pharmacists lose licence renew bid FROM PAGE ONE council passed a resolution refusing to issue further licences to the joint applicants on the grounds that it acted improperly in registering and issuing licences to the joint applicants previously.

“Under the Pharmacy Act, a condition of being registered as a pharmacist is that the applicant must hold a pharmacy degree ‘from an accredited college or university’. The council determined that McHari is, and was not, an accredited college or university.”

Appeal Justice Jones had previously allowed the 11 other pharmacists to join the original case that was brought by Philippa Finalyson. While the Supreme Court had rejected her arguments, the Pharmacy Council had continued to issue “provisional licences” until the case was completed.

However, the 12 subsequently sought an injunction that would require the council to restore their full licences. Appeal justice Jones said the two determining factors in deciding whether to grant this were

whether the appeal had any prospect of success, and which side would suffer most.

“The joint applicants contended that their prospects of success in this appeal were good for three reasons,” he wrote. “First, the trial judge’s interpretation of the word ‘accredited’’ in the Pharmacy Act is unreasonable.

“Second, the actions taken by the council in dealing with the joint applicants created a legitimate expectation that they would be registered. Third, there was no evidence to support the conclusion of the trial judge that the applicants’ legitimate expectation had been frustrated.”

Yet the council and its attorney, Raynard Rigby, “argued that the prospects of the joint applicants’ success on appeal was weak for three reasons”.

“First, McHari was not at any time an ‘accredited’ college or university,” Appeal justice Jones added, “and therefore the joint applicants were not entitled to registration. Second, the joint applicants did not have a legitimate expectation of being registered after the passing of the Pharmacy

Act. Third, the council acted rationally and with procedural fairness in passing the resolution.”

Agreeing that he could not describe it as a strong case, Appeal justice Jones turned to the second ground where the 12 pharmacists had alleged “they would suffer irremediable harm and hardships, including financial and reputational loss, if a mandatory injunction was not granted to them”.

However, he ruled: “In the facts of the case which were before me, despite the financial loss and hardship to the joint applicants on the one hand, it was impossible to quantify the public interest in monetary terms on the other.

“In my judgment the council’s decision was in the exercise of statutory powers for the public good.

This, in my view, was the dominant factor in deciding whether to grant the mandatory interim injunction sought by the joint applicants. I did not accept that the public interest and the balance of convenience would be served by granting the injunction sought by the joint applicants.”

ASIAN STOCKS MIXED AMID UNCERTAINTY OVER US-CHINA TRADE BEIJING Associated Press ASIAN stock markets were mixed today amid uncertainty about a possible US-Chinese agreement to roll back tariffs in their trade war.

Shanghai advanced after Beijing said yesterday the two sides agreed to the step if they make progress on an interim deal. But Hong Kong

NOTICE NOTICE is hereby given that NAOMI HYACINTH STEWART Seven Hills, of Golden Isles Road, Nassau, New Providence, The 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 1st day of November, 2019 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

declined and Tokyo was littlechanged amid concern about possible opposition within the White House.

If the deal pans out, “it will be an emphatic upside surprise for the global economy,” said Vishnu Varathan of Mizuho Bank in a report.

However, “we cannot rule out a gap” between the US and Chinese positions, Varathan warned. And he said the Federal Reserve might turn “less dovish” if the deal “takes off with more promise than anticipated” and tariffs fall, easing pressure on US economic growth.

The Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.3% to

2,989.24 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng tumbled 0.4% to 27,735.63. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 edged up 22 points to 23,352.10.

Seoul’s Kospi shed 0.2% to 2,139.00 and Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 lost 0.2% to 6,714.20. Taiwan, New Zealand and most Southeast Asian markets declined.

On Wall Street, the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 0.3% to a record 3,085.18. It was up 0.7% at one point. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.7% to a record 27,674.80.

The Nasdaq composite finished just shy of its all-time high after rising 0.3% to 8,434.52.

PUBLIC NOTICE

INTENT TO CHANGE NAME BY DEED POLL The Public is hereby advised that I, Nubian Moor13 Bey TM of Blue Bonnet Drive, South Beach intend to change my name to KECHINO LESTER COLLIE. If there are any objections to this change of name by Deed Poll, you may write such objections to the Chief Passport Officer, P.O.Box N-742, Nassau, Bahamas no later than thirty (30) days after the date of publication of this notice.

PUBLIC NOTICE

INTENT TO CHANGE NAME BY DEED POLL The Public is hereby advised that I, LAVARDO MORLEY and KHADEEJHA PATRINA SMITH of Freeport,Grand Bahamas, Parents of CRAIG LEON MORLEY intend to change my child’s name from CRAIG LEON MORLEY to TREVEARES KHERHON DANIEL. If there are any objections to this change of name by Deed Poll, you may write such objections to the Deputy Chief Passport Officer, P.O.Box N-742, Nassau, Bahamas no later than thirty (30) days after the date of publication of this notice.

PUBLIC NOTICE

INTENT TO CHANGE NAME BY DEED POLL The Public is hereby advised that I, REANZO ANDRELL CRISPIN SMITH also known as REANZO ANDRELL CRISPIN SMITH KEMP and also known as REANZO ANDRELL C S KEMP of Pride Estates #3, P.O.Box N-1500 Nassau, The Bahamas, intend to change my name to REANZO ANDRELL CRISPIN SMITH. If there are any objections to this change of name by Deed Poll, you may write such objections to the Chief Passport Officer, P.O.Box N-742, Nassau, N.P., Bahamas no later than thirty (30) days after the date of publication of this notice.

THE TRIBUNE

Ex-GBPA attorney tells govt: Buy GB harbour and airport FROM PAGE ONE

government to pursue a dual acquisition approach even though both Hutchison Whampoa and the GBPA’s shareholders, the Hayward and St George families, will be reluctant to let go of the harbour.

“It has to be profitable with all the shipping going on in there,” Mr Leonard added of the Harbour Company. “You have container ships coming into use the Container Port, the cruise ships, and ships coming into the Shipyard and Buckeye (the former BORCO terminal).

“Looking forward, Royal Caribbean has been very vocal as to what it wants to do with the harbour. It should make the harbour very profitable as you’re talking about a large number of cruise ships coming in.”

Mr Leonard said the agreement reached with Hutchison Whampoa by the former Christie administration, whereby it consented to relinquish its port monopoly on Grand Bahama to facilitate Carnival’s port, also committed the cruise line to make payments to the Harbour Company in return.

“That’s another reason why I think the government should include the harbour now,” he told Tribune Business. “It’s for a public purpose. It’s to ensure that at the harbour we don’t have a disaster like we have at the airport right now.

“Government should, in its own mind, decide how quickly they are going to do this because if they negotiate with Hutchison,

Hutchison will negotiate them to death and try and hold you to ransom. Do a compulsory acquisition and then argue over the value, if you must, in court. Deal with that afterwards. Just get the thing out of the hands of the current operator.”

Hutchison Whampoa’s decision not to restore the Grand Lucayan in Hurricane Matthew’s aftermath, and instead pocket the insurance proceeds from the storm-related claim, has left many Freeport and Grand Bahama resident sceptical that it will invest the necessary sums to restore the island’s airport gateway.

“What I’m saying is that if the airport is not worth very much, it’s got to be a drag on the balance sheet of the Harbour Company,” Mr Leonard told Tribune Business. “Now is the time to buy the Harbour Company with the airport. The airport is the main drain, it will cost millions to fix up, and you need the harbour to compensate or there will be a tremendous drain on the Treasury.

“Now’s the time to do it.

Let’s deal with the airport and harbour. Get it out the way in one go. Find a good airport operator and harbour operator. It’s an extremely urgent public requirement that these two ports be acquired by the government. The airport has literally killed tourism, and all they have to do is make a mistake at the harbour and both tourism as well as the industrial area will be affected. It’s too valuable for us to ignore. It’s important to get both.”

Prominent businessmen such as Magnus Alnebeck,

the Pelican Bay hotel’s general manager, together with Michael Scott, the Hotel Corporation and Grand Lucayan chairman, have previously urged the government to acquire Grand Bahama International Airport given that the island’s tourism and industrial business model “won’t work” if it is unable to receive international airlift.

While Freeport’s stopover tourism product is still moribund in Dorian’s wake, the airport - and associated airlift - are set to assume greater importance in the coming months due to the development of Carnival’s $100m cruise port and the proposed ITM Group/ Royal Caribbean joint venture that includes the $195m first phase acquisition of the Grand Lucayan and harbour redevelopment.

Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, confirmed the government is mulling the airport’s acquisition earlier this week after blasting Hutchison Whampoa’s failure to “demonstrate an effort” to urgently restore it to its pre-Dorian state.

Disclosing that it will likely cost between $20m-$40m to rebuild the airport terminal and associated facilities, Mr D’Aguilar pledged that the government will not make any purchase decision “on the fly”.

He promised that, rather than rush into a deal as it was accused of doing over the Grand Lucayan, the government will first determine how to make the airport profitable before it commits the Bahamian taxpayer to another potentially risky multi-million dollar outlay.

Friday, November 8, 2019, PAGE 5

Insurers: Dorian losses increase to $1.5bn-$2bn FROM PAGE ONE not drive home the message about the importance of insurance nothing will.”

Disclosing the revised insured losses estimate, Mr Saunders told Tribune Business: “For the market I know the figure of $1bn was floating around, but that is on the low end. It’s going to be between $1.5bn-$2bn in insured losses.

“When our [BIA] chairman said $1bn he did not have information from all the companies. It will be between $1.5bn-$2bn where it ends up. That will be the market loss.”

Despite the increased projections, AM Best had few qualms about removing the quartet of Bahamian insurance companies from the “review” status previously announced in September 2019 in Dorian’s immediate aftermath.

Using common language, it said it had “evaluated the loss estimates and related reinsurance contracts” for each and found that Dorian was likely to be “an earnings event since loss estimates are within current reinsurance coverage, and the net impact to the organisation is anticipated to be its contract retention amount”.

Mr Saunders said the assessments showed the insurance industry’s premier rating agency was “comfortable we have the financial strength to carry on”. He added: “I think it’s a very, very good vote of confidence...

“Most of us are insurance companies that have done the right thing, have survived a tremendous storm and are open to trade. That’s

a vote of confidence for everyone. The regulators in The Bahamas should also be proud that these companies have been given a vote of confidence from AM Best and are resourced properly, and should put a feather in their cap.”

Warren Rolle, the BIA’s chairman, added of AM Best’s move: “It just reaffirms that the companies under review have the financial wherewithal to meet their obligations to policyholders. It’s certainly positive news notwithstanding the massive payout being made.

“The good thing is they’re bringing relief to policyholders and doing so smoothly.

It is impressive considering this is the largest loss in our history. This is very encouraging for the industry that it’s so well positioned.”

Mr Saunders, meanwhile, said that RoyalStar was now projecting to settle 80 percent of Dorian-related claims from Abaco before year-end, up from previous guidance of just 60 percent.

Grand Bahama’s resolution figure remains at 90 percent.

“We’re talking about the speed of adjusting,” he explained. “Contacting clients has become a little easier and the adjusters want to get done as quickly as possible. In Grand Bahama we’ve seen 99 percent of our clients, and 90 percent of Abaco clients have been seen.”

The RoyalStar chief said the scale of Dorian’s losses made it inevitable that Bahamian property and casualty premium rates will rise in the next insurance cycle, the only question to be answered being by how much.

“We are in the market now talking to our reinsurers,” Mr Saunders told Tribune Business. “Rates will increase. How much? I saw some numbers floating out there. I have an idea of what the reinsurance market is demanding.

“We’re trying to figure out what other conditions they will ask for, whether it will be a deductible increase or if it will be a combination of deductible and rate increases. It might be offset a bit, I don’t know. We will have a good idea in a month of where these negotiations will be going and what will be the cost to RoyalStar.”

Mr Saunders said with Dorian-type storms increasing in frequency and severity, The Bahamas “has to realise the value of insurance”.

He urged policyholders to frequently assess the sums insured to make sure they were not under-covered, and avoid the “averaging” clause that kicks-in when such cases arise.

Pointing to the difference in recovery speeds between homeowners and businesses that were fully insured, and those that were not, he also reiterated that contents were often not covered by property insurance and had to be dealt with separately.

“If Dorian does not drive home the message of the importance of insurance, nothing will,” Mr Saunders told Tribune Business.

“We encourage people that instead of going to the numbers house, where you gamble, take that sacrifice so if something happens insurance is there. It doesn’t have to be with RoyalStar but get your insurance.

“That is what is more important than anything.

If Dorian happens again you’ve got protection. You don’t want to lose your car, your home and start over again. It’s going to be tough.”

Career Opportunity Job title:

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Candidates should possess an Associate’s degree in Accounting, Business, or Hospitality and a minimum of 1-2 years experience in a similar position, preferably in a financial services institution or retail company.

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PAGE 6, Friday, November 8, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE LIVES OF THE CHILDREN AT RANFURLY

T

he Ranfurly Homes for Children has been a safe haven for thousands of Bahamian children since 1956. The Home provides a safe, structured environment for children who have been orphaned, abused, neglected or abandoned.

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Bank of England warns over global economic hit to UK LONDON Associated Press THE growth outlook for the British economy has deteriorated largely as a result of a gloomier global backdrop, the Bank of England said yesterday as it refrained from cutting rates in the run-up to a general election that could have huge repercussions on Brexit.

Though waning fears of a no-deal Brexit should help cushion growth in the near-term, the bank said the British economy will grow by around 1% less over the coming three years than it forecast just three months ago.

That’s primarily due to a weaker global economy in the wake of the ongoing US-China trade spat.

For two of the bank’s nine rate-setters on the Monetary Policy Committee, the deteriorating outlook was enough for them to back an immediate rate cut. The majority, though, opted to keep the bank’s main interest rate on hold at 0.75%.

That’s the first time there’s been a split on the committee since June 2018.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, who is due to step down at the end of January, conceded that a rate cut soon was possible.

“If global growth fails to stabilise or if Brexit uncertainties remain entrenched, monetary policy may need to reinforce the expected recovery in UK GDP growth and inflation,” he said.

Most of the downgrade to upcoming growth projections was due to a

weaker global economy and markets. However, the withdrawal agreement that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson secured with the European Union last month is also weighing on longer-term growth projections as it envisions a looser economic relationship with the bloc than previously penciled in by the bank, including border checks and other regulatory hurdles.

In the near-term though, the fact there has been a deal that could soon command support in Parliament has reduced fears of a nodeal Brexit and that should shore up growth, according to Carney. Most economists think a no-deal Brexit would lead to a deep recession as tariffs and other impediments are slapped on trade with the EU, Britain’s main export destination.

There are huge uncertainties to the forecasts, though, not least because the Dec 12 general election has the potential to radically alter Brexit.

Johnson hopes his Conservative Party can muster a majority to push through his withdrawal agreement to facilitate an orderly British exit from the European Union at the end of January, Britain’s new scheduled departure date.

The main opposition Labour Party wants to renegotiate Johnson’s deal to ensure closer ties and then put it to the people in another referendum, with an option to remain in the EU. And most other prospective lawmakers in the House of Commons are predicted to be anti-Brexit.

Brexit uncertainty has contributed to a slowdown

in growth, largely by weighing on business investment.

The slowdown prompted two Bank of England rate-setters to seek a quarter-point cut, news of which saw the pound fall from $1.2855 to $1.2815.

Michael Saunders and Jonathan Haskel argued that the economy had “a modest but rising amount of spare capacity” and that underlying inflation was “subdued” below the bank’s target rate of 2%. They also said there were risks that economic growth could disappoint due to the impact of a weaker global outlook and persistent Brexit uncertainties.

By the time the Monetary Policy Committee meets again to decide on interest rates on Dec 18 everything may be up in the air again.

“We wouldn’t rule out another hung parliament, which could either prolong Brexit uncertainty or alternatively see a Labour-led minority government begin organizing a second Brexit referendum,” said James Smith, an economist at ING. “In other words, it’s not inconceivable that we see another sizeable change to the Bank’s projections early next year, depending on who prevails at next month’s election.”

There may also be more clarity about Carney’s successor. The governor though did not rule out extending his time at the helm for a third time if asked by the government. He said it’s important that there’s a “smooth and orderly transition” to Britain’s future relationship with the EU as well as for his successor.

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THE TRIBUNE

Friday, November 8, 2019, PAGE 7

Hopes rise that lifting tariffs could allow US-China accord BEIJING Associated Press THE prospects for a preliminary breakthrough in the US-China trade war improved yesterday after the two sides agreed to reduce some punitive tariffs on each other’s goods, though the full extent of the rollback wasn’t clear.

A Chinese spokesman announced the development yesterday as talks on ending the trade war progressed, and it triggered a rally in US stock markets.

A US private sector analyst with knowledge of the talks said there are still deliberations in the White House about how far to roll back the duties and what steps China must take before the reductions would occur. The analyst spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorised to discuss the talks publicly.

The ongoing talks are aimed at working out details of a “Phase 1” deal that was announced Oct 12. Financial markets had been rattled by reports that China was pushing for tariffs to be lifted, which posed the prospect of a breakdown in talks.

Negotiators agreed to a “phased cancellation” of tariff hikes if talks progress, said a Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman, Gao Feng, early yesterday.

“If the two sides achieve a ‘Phase 1’ agreement, then based on the content of that agreement, tariffs already increased should be canceled at the same time and by the same rate,” Gao said at a news briefing.

As for the size of reductions, Gao said that would depend on the agreement.

“We can be cautiously optimistic here,” said Mary Lovely, a trade economist at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. “The signals that are coming out are moving in the right direction for a deal.”

The two sides are aiming to finalize the agreement by the end of next week, the private sector official said.

President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping would still need to agree on where and when they would formally sign the pact.

As part of the agreement, the Trump administration would withdraw threatened tariffs that it planned to impose Dec 15 on about $160bn in Chinese imports, the source said.

Those duties would cover

CHINESE Ministry of Commerce spokesman Gao Feng listens to a reporter’s question during a press conference at the Ministry of Commerce in Beijing. Yesterday, Nov 7, 2019, China’s Commerce Ministry says Washington and Beijing have agreed to cancel tariff hikes as their trade negotiations progress.

Photo: Mark Schiefelbein/AP smartphones, laptops and other consumer goods.

Still unresolved is whether and how much to reverse the tariffs that were imposed Sept 1 on $112bn of Chinese imports, the private sector analyst said.

“The White House never speaks with one voice,” Lovely said.

On Wall Street, stocks closed at new highs in the wake of the encouraging report from Beijing but shed some of their earlier gains after reports emerged of dissension within the White House over the idea

of lifting tariffs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 182 points to a record 27,675.

Governments of the two biggest global economies have raised tariffs on billions of dollars of each other’s goods in the fight over China’s trade surplus and technology ambitions.

That weighs on trade worldwide and threatens to depress corporate earnings and global economic growth, which is already showing signs of slowing.

The Oct 12 agreement was modest, and details

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have yet to be put on paper, but it was welcomed as a sign of progress toward ending the trade war.

Lovely said that the agreement would help US farmers and manufacturers — constituencies important to Trump in the 2020 election.

“It makes a lot of sense politically and economically for the president to say this is enough,” she said.

US business groups largely praised the outline of the pact, saying that it would make progress in opening up China’s market

to foreign investment and to US financial services companies.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” said Jake Parker, senior vice president of the US-China Business Council. “It also builds momentum to tackle all the more difficult issues.”

The trade war has taken a toll on the US economy.

The Port of Los Angeles said yesterday that last month it handled 20% less cargo than the same month a year earlier. Exports have fallen for 12 straight months.

Businesses have cut back on their spending on industrial machinery and other equipment amid the uncertainty created by the trade war. Those cutbacks have hurt US factories and slowed annual growth to 1.9% in the July-September quarter from 3.1% in the first three months of the year.

Trump agreed to postpone a planned tariff hike while lower-level officials hammered out details.

Trump said China agreed to buy up to $50bn of American farm goods. Beijing has yet to confirm the scale of its commitment.

China’s imports of American soybeans and other goods tumbled 26.4% in the first nine months of this year following tariff hikes and orders to importers to find other suppliers.

The Oct 12 agreement helped to ease financial market jitters, but the two sides have yet to report progress on major disagreements over technology and other irritants following 13 rounds of talks.

Trump and Xi were due to meet at this month’s gathering of Asia-Pacific leaders in Chile but that event was canceled due to protests there.

That dampened hopes a face-to-face meeting might produce progress. But US officials say the two governments are looking for a different location.

US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said this week any “Phase 1” agreement would be general and cover trade in specific areas such as soybeans and liquefied natural gas.

More complicated issues would be tackled in later negotiations, Ross said. He gave no indication whether rolling back tariffs was a possibility at this stage.

PAGE 8, Friday, November 8, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

AS BUFFETT SEEKS BIG ACQUISITION, BERKSHIRE TRAILS S&P OMAHA Associated Press

THREE-QUARTERS of the way through 2019, Warren

WARREN BUFFETT Buffett’s conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway is trailing the

renowned investor’s favorite benchmark, the S&P 500 — as it’s done over the past decade.

Besides having a large stock portfolio, Berkshire owns an odd mix of companies, some well-known such as the Geico insurance company and the Dairy Queen restaurants, and other far less familiar names such as MidAmerican Energy and Iscar Metalworking. The assortment produces steady profits but not significant growth, and occasionally needs some new blood in order to outperform the market.

Finding that next big acquisition has been hard to come by for Buffett, one reason he says Berkshire hasn’t kept up with the overall market. Buffett says low interest rates have made it easier for other investors to borrow money and bid up the prices of acquisition targets.

On the investment side, where Buffett earned his reputation, he’s gotten good returns investing in bellwethers such as Apple and Bank of America, but a big investment in Kraft Heinz has turned sour.

While many people view Buffett as the world’s preeminent investor, in the years since the financial crisis — when Buffett made a number of profitable deals — Berkshire Hathaway has delivered a 353% return while the S&P 500 index has delivered 468% in gains when dividends are included. This year alone, Berkshire’s stock is up just 8% compared to the total market’s 25% gain.

That performance has tested the patience of some longtime Buffett backers.

Investor David Rolfe sold off his firm’s roughly $100m stake in Berkshire during this year. Rolfe expressed frustration with Buffett’s investment choices and inability to find productive uses for Berkshire’s cash.

“Thumb-sucking has not

cut the Heinz mustard during the Great Bull Market of 2009-2019,” Rolfe wrote to investors in his Wedgewood Partners fund.

Rolfe said Buffett should have bet heavily on a handful of stocks he knows well — such as Visa and Mastercard — when he couldn’t find major acquisitions during the past decade.

“Buffett is incredibly well-versed in the payments processing industry given his half-century knowledge in longtime holding American Express. These two stocks should have been layups for Buffett,” Rolfe said about Visa and Mastercard. Both shares are up more than 150% over the past five years.

To be sure, the growth in Berkshire’s stock price since 1965 has outpaced the Standard & Poor’s 500 index in all but 17 years to deliver a compounded annual return of 20.5% overall compared to the market’s 9.7% through 2018. But Buffett has repeatedly warned investors not to expect that type of return going forward because Berkshire’s size makes it nearly impossible to keep growing significantly faster than the overall market.

Buffett’s last major acquisition was Berkshire’s 2016 purchase of Precision Castparts. More than three years without a sizeable deal is

a long stretch for Buffett although he has always been willing to wait for a deal at the right price. The fact that Berkshire is holding more than $128bn in cash and shortterm investments — earning little interest — shows Buffett has already been waiting some time to find the right deal.

Berkshire teamed up with the Brazilian firm 3G Capital to combine Heinz with Kraft back in 2015 in a $54bn deal. Early this year, Berkshire took a $3bn write down on its Kraft Heinz investment at roughly the same time the company slashed the value of its Oscar Meyer and Kraft brands by $15.4bn.

Kraft Heinz wrote down its own value by another more than $1bn in August, and also restated financial results after an investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Kraft Heinz investment also remains a relatively small part of Berkshire overall. Berkshire said on Saturday that Kraft Heinz contributed $467m to Berkshire’s earnings in the first nine months of the year. Berkshire estimated that its entire Kraft Heinz stake of 325 million shares was worth $9.1bn at the end of September — significantly less than the $13.8bn it estimated Kraft Heinz’s value at a year earlier in 2018.

UNIQUE VACATIONS LIMITED VACANCY Digital Marketing Manager Unique Vacations is looking for a Digital Marketing Manager who will be responsible for the development and management of advertising campaigns, providing insights as well as expertise when it comes to social media, and improving the brands recognition in the online world.

Job Summary: The Digital Marketing Manager will play a key role in the development, implementation, and optimization of various online marketing initiatives including SEO, SEM, Analytics, Email Marketing and Affiliate Marketing programs. In this role you will need to handle several different tasks concurrently which requires working closely with management, agency partners, and cross-functional teams to coordinate resources and align objectives. The Digital Marketing Manager should have a proven track record, and examples of previous successful campaigns Areas of Responsibility • Work with management to define and develop a comprehensive digital marketing strategy • Manage digital marketing initiatives/campaigns to meet the business goals and enhance the customer experience and journey • Incorporate industry best practices and benchmark to competitor websites • Develop strategies and tactics for: emails, website, landing pages, online ads, social, affiliate, client communications, blogs, info graphics and concepts for special projects • Develop and distribute monthly business metrics/dashboards on performance, consisting of web, mobile, and email data • Any other duties/projects as deemed necessary by management Experience/Skills/Qualifications: • • • • • •

3 + years of paid digital media management on agency or client side Bachelor’s Degree IT or equivalent Paid search & SEO optimization techniques Experience with Google Analytics Experience managing a medium-large brand Ability to work with and lead external vendor/partner relationships including negotiating contracts and terms • Excellent time management, organizational, communication, and analytical skills • Preferred: travel industry experience Only short-listed candidates will be contacted. Interested persons should submit their applications by November 8th, 2019 with curriculum vitae to hrreport6@gmail.com

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THE TRIBUNE

Friday, November 8, 2019, PAGE 9

STOCKS STUMBLE TO MORE RECORDS ON CONFLICTING TRADE REPORTS NEW YORK Associated Press

IN THE stock market, it’s all about trade now.

Stocks were jumping early yesterday after China said both sides in the USChina trade war had agreed to roll back tariffs if their talks progress. But much of the enthusiasm evaporated in the afternoon amid concerns that some in the White House oppose easing up on tariffs.

By the end of trading, the S&P 500 was up 8.40 points, or 0.3%, at 3,085.18. It managed to set a record for the second time this week, but it had been on pace for a bigger, 0.7% gain earlier in the day.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 182.24, or 0.7%, to 27,674.80 and also set a record. The Nasdaq composite finished just shy of its all-time high after rising 23.89, or 0.3%, to 8,434.52.

Encouraging reports on the economy and corporate profits have helped drive stocks back to record heights in recent weeks. The US job market remains strong, and the Federal Reserve has cut interest rates three times since the summer to bolster the economy. Earnings

for big companies, meanwhile, weren’t as bad in the summer as Wall Street had feared.

That leaves the US trade war as the wild card for the global economy, and markets are trading on every whiff of movement about it as a result.

“It’s not that trade is more important to the market than economic growth or than the Fed,” said Steve Chiavarone, equity strategist at Federated Investors.

“It’s that the market has already priced in that picture” of a still solid economy and easier interest rates.

“What’s left to be determined is trade, and there’s a greater amount of uncertainty because we’ve had head fakes before.”

President Donald Trump’s trade war has been a top concern for investors since early 2018. Increased tariffs not only raise costs and sap profits for US companies. They also can and have made CEOs hesitant to spend on new factories, expansions and other investments given all the uncertainties about what the rules of trade will be.

Momentum has been moving toward a deal, at least an incremental one that prevents conditions from getting worse. Trump

said last month they had reached “Phase One” of an agreement. The two sides are working on the details, though a person who was briefed on the talks Thursday indicated there were still deliberations in the White House about how far to roll back the tariffs.

Altogether, the improvements mean the worries about a possible recession that dominated markets just a few months ago are diminishing. That in turn has more on Wall Street confident that this bull market for stocks, which already is the longest on record, can keep going.

More than a dozen companies joined the lengthy parade of those reporting stronger profits for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

Qualcomm jumped 6.3% after it reported both revenue and earnings that topped Wall Street’s forecasts, and Ralph Lauren surged 14.7% for the biggest gain in the S&P 500 following its own betterthan-expected results.

Companies are no longer getting the benefit of the first year of lower tax rates, and they’re also contending with a slowing global economy weighing on their sales. But the S&P 500 is

on track to report a drop of 2.5% in third-quarter earnings per share from a year earlier, versus the 4% that analysts initially expected, according to FactSet. In a sign of increased optimism about the economy, the yield on the ten-year Treasury climbed

to 1.92% from 1.81% late Wednesday. It has risen sharply over the last five weeks and is close to its highest level since the start of August.

The jump in yields helped send bank stocks, whose profits benefit from higher rates for mortgages

and other loans, to some of the market’s biggest gains.

Other market leaders included oil companies and stocks that Wall Street calls “cyclicals” because their profits are closely tied to where the economy is in its growth-and-recession cycle.

PAGE 10, Friday, November 8, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

New Zealand passes law aimed at combating climate change

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NEW Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern talks in Parliament in Wellington, New Zealand yesterday. New Zealand lawmakers joined forces across the aisle to pass a bill aimed at combating climate change.

Photo: Nick Perry/AP WELLINGTON Associated Press

MARKET REPORT www.bisxbahamas.com

(242) 323-2330

THURSDAY, 7 NOVEMBER 2019

(242) 323-2320

ALL SHARE INDEX: CLOSE: 2,210.50 | CHG: -0.19 | %CHG: -0.01 | YTD: 101.05 | YTD%: 4.79 BISX LISTED & TRADED SECURITIES 52WK HI 4.45 22.65 7.00 5.92 2.60 2.00 5.47 11.75 6.17 4.64 12.40 2.81 3.85 10.21 7.51 16.50 9.40 3.64 14.20

52WK LOW 3.65 20.91 4.90 4.46 1.01 0.22 2.00 9.25 6.15 3.95 6.75 2.35 1.76 7.51 6.10 12.10 6.20 3.01 13.01

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

SYMBOL AML APD BPF BWL BOB BBL CAB CIB CHL CBL CBB CWCB DHS EMAB FAM FBB FIN FCL JSJ

1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00

1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00

Cable Bahamas Series 6 Cable Bahamas Series 8 Cable Bahamas Series 9 Cable Bahamas Series 10 Colina Holdings Class A Fidelity Bank Class A Focol Class B

CAB6 CAB8 CAB9 CAB10 CHLA FBBA FCLB

PREFERENCE SHARES

1.00 10.00 1.00

1.00 10.00 1.00

CORPORATE DEBT - (percentage pricing) 52WK HI 100.00

52WK LOW 100.00

115.92 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

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

52WK HI 2.27 4.31 2.07 194.86 158.57 1.65 1.82 1.74 1.21 8.01 9.60 6.83 11.39 12.30 10.68 10.00 8.69 11.79

52WK LOW 1.67 3.04 1.68 164.74 116.70 1.58 1.69 1.66 1.09 6.41 7.62 5.66 8.65 10.54 9.57 9.88 8.45 11.20

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)

MUTUAL FUNDS

MARKET TERMS

LAST CLOSE 3.68 17.43 6.00 5.92 2.46 1.80 4.70 11.06 6.16 4.12 8.55 3.51 3.85 9.92 7.51 16.50 9.33 3.54 14.00

CLOSE 3.68 17.43 6.00 5.92 2.46 1.80 4.70 11.06 6.16 4.12 8.55 3.42 3.85 9.85 7.51 16.50 9.33 3.54 14.00

CHANGE 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 -0.09 0.00 -0.07 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1.00 10.00 1.00

1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1.00 10.00 1.00

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

LAST SALE 100.00

CLOSE 100.00

CHANGE 0.00

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

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

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

FUND CFAL Bond Fund CFAL Balanced Fund CFAL Money Market Fund CFAL Global Bond Fund CFAL Global Equity Fund Leno Preferred Income Fund Leno Growth Fund Leno Diversified Fund Leno 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

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

VOLUME

15,000

VOLUME

NAV 2.27 4.30 2.07 193.72 158.42 1.65 1.82 1.74 1.19 8.23 10.10 6.85 11.24 12.28 10.74 9.92 8.68 11.38

EPS$ 0.239 0.932 1.760 0.369 0.070 0.000 -0.438 0.722 0.449 0.184 0.140 0.102 0.467 0.646 0.728 0.816 0.939 0.203 0.631

DIV$ 0.170 1.260 0.000 0.250 0.000 0.020 0.000 0.720 0.220 0.120 0.000 0.434 0.060 0.328 0.240 0.540 0.200 0.120 0.610

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

P/E 15.4 18.7 N/M 16.0 N/M N/M -10.7 15.3 13.7 22.4 61.1 33.5 8.2 15.2 10.3 20.2 9.9 17.4 22.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

YIELD 4.62% 7.23% 0.00% 4.22% 0.00% 1.11% 0.00% 6.51% 3.57% 2.91% 0.00% 12.69% 1.56% 3.33% 3.20% 3.27% 2.14% 3.39% 4.36% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 6.25% 7.00% 6.50%

INTEREST Prime + 1.75%

MATURITY 19-Oct-2022

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

20-Nov-2029 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% 2.77% 3.84% 1.38% 3.46% 2.03% 2.76% 4.99% 6.20% 7.18% -0.08% 2.88% 3.80% 4.56% 6.50% 3.35% 4.17% 5.77% 7.89% 7.17% 8.76% 11.07% 12.58% 3.50% 4.96% 8.92% -0.97% 5.22% 5.44% 2.95% 2.64% -0.71% 0.16% 7.40% 2.70% 10.20% 1.30%

NAV Date 30-Sep-2019 30-Sep-2019 27-Sep-2019 30-Sep-2019 30-Sep-2019 30-Sep-2019 30-Sep-2019 30-Sep-2019 30-Sep-2019 30-Sep-2019 30-Sep-2019 30-Sep-2019 30-Sep-2019 30-Sep-2019 30-Sep-2019 30-Mar-2019 30-Mar-2019 30-Mar-2019

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 | COLONIAL 242-502-7525 | LENO 242-396-3225 | BENCHMARK 242-326-7333

NEW Zealand lawmakers yesterday joined forces across the aisle to pass a bill aimed at combating climate change.

The Zero Carbon bill aims to make New Zealand reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to the point the country becomes mostly carbon neutral by 2050. It gives some leeway to farmers, however, who bring in much of the country’s foreign income.

The bill was spearheaded by the liberal government but in the end was supported by the main conservative opposition party, which nevertheless promised changes if it wins the next election.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she sometimes despairs at the pace at which other countries are making changes to fight global warming and vowed that New Zealand would be a leader.

“We’re here because our world is warming. Undeniably it is warming,” she said.

“And so therefore the question for all of us is what side of history will we choose to sit on.”

The bill would require all greenhouse gases except methane from animals to be reduced to net zero by 2050.

Methane emissions would be reduced by 10% by 2030 and by between about onequarter and one-half by 2050.

The bill establishes a

Climate Change Commission, which will advise the government on how to reach its targets. The government has also promised to plant one billion trees over ten years and ensure that the electricity grid runs entirely from renewable energy by 2035.

Climate Change Minister James Shaw said the new law would help ensure a safer planet for everybody’s children and grandchildren.

“We’ve led the world before in nuclear disarmament and in votes for women, now we are leading again,” he said.

Agriculture is key to the economy of New Zealand, which is home to just under five million people but more than ten million cows and some 28 million sheep.

Those animals burp and fart methane, resulting in an unusual greenhouse gas emission profile for the country. Almost half of total emissions come from agriculture. The bill says the lower targets for methane reduction reflect that it stays in the atmosphere for a much shorter time than carbon dioxide, although climate scientists point out that methane is far more potent while there.

The bill also aims to fulfil New Zealand’s obligations under the landmark 2015 Paris climate agreement to keep in check rising global temperatures.

Following earlier promises by President Donald Trump, the US this week began the formal process of pulling out of the deal.

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THE TRIBUNE

Friday, November 8, 2019, PAGE 11

WARREN HEALTH PLAN DEPARTS FROM US ‘SOCIAL INSURANCE’ IDEA

WASHINGTON Associated Press

Sen Elizabeth Warren’s plan to pay for “Medicare for All” without raising taxes on the middle class departs from how the US has traditionally financed bedrock social insurance programs.

That might impact its political viability now and in the future.

While echoing her party’s longstanding call for universal health care, the Massachusetts Democrat is proposing to raise most of the additional $20.5tn her campaign believes would be needed from taxes on businesses, wealthy people and investors.

That’s different from the “social insurance” — or shared responsibility — approach taken by Democratic presidents like Franklin D Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Lyndon Baines Johnson.

Broad financing through payroll taxes collected from workers and their employers has fostered a sense of ownership of Social Security and Medicare among ordinary Americans. That helped derail several Republicanled privatisation efforts.

And signs declaring “Keep Government Out Of My Medicare” proliferated during protests against President Barack Obama’s health care legislation, which scaled back Medicare payments to hospitals.

The Warren campaign says the reason programmes like Social Security and Medicare are popular is that benefits are broadly shared.

A campaign statement said her plan would put money now spent on medical costs back in the pockets of middle-class families

“substantially larger than the largest tax cut in American history”.

But Roosevelt was once famously quoted explaining that he settled on a payroll tax for Social Security to give Americans the feeling they had a “legal, moral and political right” to benefits, thereby guaranteeing “no damn politician” could take it down.

Medicare, passed under Johnson, is paid for with a payroll tax for hospital services and a combination of seniors’ premiums and general tax revenues for outpatient care and prescriptions. Truman’s plan for universal health insurance did not pass, but it would have been supported by payroll taxes.

“If you look at the two core social insurance programs in the United States, they have always been financed as a partnership,” said William Arnone, CEO of the National Academy of Social Insurance, a nonpartisan organisation that educates on how social insurance builds economic security.

On Warren’s plan, “the question is, will people still look at it as an earned right, or will they say that their health care is coming out of the generosity of the wealthy?” Arnone added.

His group takes no position on Medicare for All. “It’s not an accident that Social Security is on the chopping block a lot less frequently than so-called welfare programmes,” said retirement expert Charles Blahous, a political conservative and a former public trustee overseeing Social Security and Medicare finances.

With Warren’s approach,

ELIZABETH WARREN “you are going to have this clash of interests between the people paying the bills and the beneficiaries,” Blahous added. His own

estimates indicate Medicare for All would cost the government about $12tn more over ten years than Warren projects.

The Warren campaign downplays the role of shared responsibility and instead points to promised benefits under Medicare for All. “Every person in America will have full health coverage, get the doctors and the treatments they need, and no more going broke over medical bills,” the campaign said in a statement. “Backed up by leading experts, Elizabeth has shown how her plan will do this by having the richest 1% and giant corporations pay a little bit more and without raising taxes on the middle class by one penny.”

Under Warren’s plan, nearly $9tn would come

from businesses, in lieu of what they’re already paying for employees’ health care.

About $7tn would come from increased taxes on investors, wealthy people and large corporations. An IRS crackdown on tax evasion would net about $2tn.

The remainder would come from various sources, including dividends of a projected immigration overhaul and eliminating a Pentagon contingency fund used for anti-terrorism operations.

Sen Bernie Sanders list of options to pay for Medicare for All includes a 4% income-based premium collected from most households.

PAGE 12, Friday, November 8, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

JUDGE FINES TRUMP $2M FOR MISUSING CHARITY FOUNDATION NEW YORK Associated Press

A JUDGE yesterday ordered President Donald Trump to pay $2m to an array of charities as a fine for misusing his own charitable foundation to further his political and business interests.

New York state Judge Saliann Scarpulla imposed the penalty after the

DONALD TRUMP

president admitted to a series of abuses that were outlined in a lawsuit brought against him last year by the New York attorney general’s office.

Among other things, Trump acknowledged he improperly allowed his presidential campaign staff to coordinate with the Trump Foundation in holding a fundraiser for veterans during the run-up to the

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2016 Iowa caucuses. The event was designed “to further Mr Trump’s political campaign,” Scarpulla said.

The foundation will be dissolved and its $1.7m in remaining funds will be given to other nonprofits, under agreements reached

by Trump’s lawyers and the attorney general’s office.

As part of those agreements, made public yesterday, the two sides left it up to the judge to decide what penalty Trump should pay.

The settlement was an about-face for Trump. He and his lawyers have blasted the lawsuit as politically motivated, and he tweeted, “I won’t settle this case!” when it was filed in June 2018.

Trump’s fine and the charity’s funds will be split evenly among eight organizations, including Citymeals on Wheels, the United Negro College Fund and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Attorney General Letitia James welcomed the resolution of the case as a “major victory in our efforts to protect charitable assets and hold accountable those who would abuse charities for personal gain”.

“No one is above the law — not a businessman, not a candidate for office, and not even the President of the United States,” said James, a Democrat.

The president admitted, among other things, to improperly arranging for the charity to pay $10,000 for a six-foot portrait of him. He also agreed to pay back $11,525 in foundation funds that he spent on sports memorabilia and champagne at a charity gala.

Trump also accepted restrictions on his involvement in other charitable organisations. His three eldest children, who were members of the foundation’s board, must undergo mandatory training on the duties of those who run charities.

Charities are barred from getting involved in political

campaigns, but in weighing the Iowa fundraiser, Scarpulla gave Trump credit for making good on his pledge to give $2.8m that his charity raised to veterans’ organisations.

Instead of fining him that amount, as the attorney general’s office wanted, the judge trimmed it to $2m and rejected a demand for punitive damages and interest.

The Trump Foundation said it was pleased by those decisions, claiming that the judge “recognised that every penny ever raised by the Trump Foundation has gone to help those most in need”.

Trump Foundation lawyer Alan Futerfas said the nonprofit has distributed approximately $19m over the past decade, including $8.25m of the president’s own money, to hundreds of charitable organisations.

At the time of the Iowa fundraiser, Trump was feuding with then-Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly and refusing to participate in the network’s final Republican presidential primary debate before the Iowa caucuses.

Instead, he held a rally at the same time as the debate at which he called on people to donate to veterans’ charities. The foundation acted as a pass-through for those contributions.

James said the evidence of banned coordination between campaign officials and the foundation included emails exchanged with thenTrump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.

In one email, a Trump company vice president asked Lewandowski for guidance on precisely how to distribute the money raised.

Trump also admitted in the agreements to directing that $100,000 in foundation money be used to settle legal claims over an 80-foot flagpole he had built at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, instead of paying the expense out of his own pocket.