Last week the STAR carried the story of a family who claimed to be living in a house that was inhabited by beings from “the other side”. The stry has taken a new twist this week and the owner of the house has her own tale to tell. Could it be that the tenants invented a ghostly tale to avoid paying up? Kayra Williams will deliver the real life facts in Wednesday’s STAR! (St. Lucia Star)
Health Minister Keith Modnesir was at the center of Tuxedo Villas case.
News just coming to hand is that the attorney general’s office’s Appeal of the ‘Tuxedo Villas’ case has been rejected by the Court of Appeal which sat this morning. The government had lost the case brought against them by the Leader of the Opposition who claimed that Cabinet and a minister had acted illegally when they granted concessions for a hotel property owned by Dr Keith Mondesir. Details of the Appeal Case will be published in Wednesday’s STAR! (St. Lucia Star)
| HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) — US and Cuban negotiators will meet on Friday for the third round of immigration talks since President Barack Obama took office, a spokesman at the US Interest Section in Havana announced.
US and Cuban representatives will meet on June 18 in Washington, the spokesman said in a brief statement late Saturday. Immigration is a thorny issue between the two countries, which have had no formal diplomatic ties since 1961. Since taking office the Obama administration has held talks with Havana on issues like migration, mail exchanges, quake relief for Haiti and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Cuba has a longstanding interest in migration dialogue with the United States as it seeks to stem persistent illegal US-bound emigration of its nationals across the shark-infested Florida Straits. Havana accuses Washington of encouraging Cubans to leave the island through a 1966 measure that grants them automatic US residency if they reach the United States. Washington in turn says that Cubans want to flee the island seeking personal freedom and better economic opportunities. Despite the lack of diplomatic ties US-Cuban immigration talks had been conducted every two years, but broke down in 2003 under then-president George W. Bush. The new round of talks follow negotiations held in February in Havana, and a July 2009 meeting in New York. At the last meeting Washington agreed to grant 20,000 visas a year to Cuban immigrants and to send back Cubans caught on the high seas trying to reach US territory. Cuba in turn agreed to seek to convince people planning to leave the island to stay, and refrain from punishing those who were repatriated. The United States technically has a trade embargo on Havana, the Americas’ only one-party communist regime. Those sanctions ban US nationals from spending money in Cuba without securing special permission, an effective travel ban. Permission to travel is often given to US sports and religious groups but thousands of Americans defy the US travel sanctions every year as well. Cuba says that if efforts in the US Congress to end US travel restrictions bear fruit, Havana could welcome a stampede of a million US tourists a year. (Caribnet) |
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The harsh economic climate over the last year could cost the National Housing Trust (NHT) more than $1.2 billion this fiscal year. A breakdown of this figure shows that interest on investment is expected to decline by $671 million from last year, while employee contribution is projected to be $559 million less than last year.
However, head of corporate communications at the NHT, Hortense Rose, made it clear that this would not significantly affect the company’s performance this year.
“The trust is adequately capitalised to deal with such occurrences,” Rose said in an emailed response to questions from The Gleaner.
The massive layoffs across several sectors last year were cited as one of the reasons for the decline in contributions.
“Our projections assumed that workers made redundant last year may still be out of jobs this year,” said Rose.
The NHT’s senior general manager for construction and development, Donald Moore, acknowledged that there could be salary increases in the private sector this year, but said this would not be enough to offset the shortfall.
The reduction in interest rates under the Jamaica Debt Exchange was cited as one of the factors for the projected $671-million decline in investment interest.
“NHT’s investments in certain instruments are, therefore, being affected,” Rose conceded.
Another factor, the NHT’s communications head said, was a strategic decision by the company to reduce its investment portfolio by $3.2 billion this fiscal year.
“Last year, the NHT had taken a strategic decision to increase its expenditure on housing in the 2010-2011 fiscal year. One result of this is that our funds for investment purposes would have been reduced,” she explained.
Last week, Moore told the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee of Parliament that the NHT planned to spend $24 billion on housing expenditure this fiscal year, up from the $16.9 billion spent last year. (Jamaica Gleaner)
NEW YORK (CMC):
The Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) says tourist arrivals in the region are on the rebound with aggregate visitors to the wider Caribbean, as gauged by recorded arrivals from 23 of the 33 CTO member countries, increasing by 4.5 per cent so far in 2010.
In an overview of the regional industry, the CTO said activity in the United States market has resurged “admirably”, recording a 6.5 per cent increase in the first four months of this year.
The CTO said the US has been the “most reassuring performance” of all the major markets.
In contrast, the Canadian market has slowed down, up just one per cent so far this year.
“This was a reversal in the direction and magnitude observed in that market, which remained robust throughout the quarters of last year, when the global economic crisis was at its deepest,” said the CTO.
It said European markets are doing “very poorly”, as their economies continue to reel under the pressure of the monetary and financial crisis brought about by the global recession, aggravated by the Icelandic volcanic ash and industrial unrest in the major UK airline industry.
The CTO said arrivals declined 4.3 per cent for Europe as a whole, declaring that this situation was not expected to ease up this summer, as unemployment in these economies remains high and consumer confidence low.
Scenario of hope
It said the euro was also almost 25 per cent lower in value, vis-à-vis the US dollar, when the present rates are compared with those during this period two years ago.
“In total, improving arrivals reveal a scenario of hope,” said the CTO, noting that arrival activity showed signs of rapid recovery after double-digit declines in the “troughs of the global economic crisis last year.
“Those countries heavily dependent on the European market are in for a bumpy ride in light of the current European economic realities,” the regional tourism body said.
The CTO disclosed that the subregional Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) was hardest hit by reduced arrivals, showing an overall 12.3 per cent decline in 2009.
It said moderate recovery took place in the first quarter of 2010, driven mainly by increases in St Lucia, and Antigua and Barbuda to a lesser extent.
Overall, however, it said there was a 3.3 per cent growth in this grouping over the period - “a significant turnabout from this time last year”.
But the CTO said Barbados and the larger Caribbean Community countries fared relatively better than the smaller ones.
“As a group, these countries recorded over five per cent increase in traffic for the first four months, with Jamaica leading the charge with just under 10 per cent growth,” it said.
The CTO said Cuba was “flat” during the first four months (0 per cent), mainly attributable to the slowdown in Canadian and European travel.
Dominican Republic showed a slight rise (2.0 per cent), Puerto Rico (8.8 per cent) and the US Virgin Islands (11.5 per cent) displayed relatively good performances under the circumstances. (Jamaica Gleaner)
Daraine Luton, Senior Staff Reporter
WASHINGTON:
Jamaica should brace itself for a wave of deportees from the United States as the number of locals in Uncle Sam’s jails has swelled. Clifford Chambers, security attaché at the Jamaican Embassy in Washington, told The Gleaner that more than 6,000 Jamaicans were now in US custody facing deportation proceedings.
Chambers, however, said he could not estimate how many of this number would eventually be sent back as each case would be considered on merit.
“In recent times, we are faced with an influx of Jamaicans in US custody who are facing deportation, and that has to do with the beefing up of staff in the immigration and customs sections by the US authorities,” Chambers said.
He added: “The majority of them are not really felony charges. The majority of them are people who come here legally and have overstayed their visas.”
Between 2002 and 2009, more than 13,000 Jamaicans were deported from the US, the Jamaican Embassy says. Last year, the US showed the red card to more than 1,400 persons.
Chambers said many persons fighting deportation were tasting success.
“In recent times, we find that a lot of these persons are being allowed to stay because of the reasons and circumstances behind their applications,” Chambers said.
Time for dual citizenship
Mindful of the situation, Jamaica’s ambassador to Washington, Audrey Marks, said it was an issue of great concern.
She urged Jamaicans living in the US, and who were eligible to become citizens there, to pursue that process.
Marks said she aimed to work with expatriate Jamaicans to help restructure diaspora organisations to give more support to the island’s development agenda.
“We have to get very involved in persuading people to become citizens of the US, as they can have more political influence,” Marks said.
The ambassador argued that citizenship would be a shield for Jamaicans against deportation.
“There is so much protection in the system that people are not using out of ignorance,” Marks said.
She told The Gleaner that some persons virtually spend their entire lives in the US without obtaining citizenship and get booted back to Jamaica because of traffic violations.
“We have to get into some strong negotiations in looking at the way people are separated from their families,” Marks said.
She added that it was “amazing that the families of non-felons are disrupted” because of violations such as traffic offences and has pledged to work towards ironing out agreements on how to proceed with such deportation matters. (Jamaica Gleaner)
- daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com
Bourse
Sagicor Financial Corporation
Sagicor Financial Corporation (SFC) reported diluted earnings per share (EPS) of US$0.021 for the first quarter ended March 31st 2010. This represents a decline of 44.7 per cent from the EPS of US$0.038 recorded in the previous year. According to the group’s chairman, results were adversely affected by insurance losses arising from the February 27th Chilean earthquake amounting to US$7.5M, equivalent to US$.027 per share before taxation. These losses were incurred by Sagicor at Lloyds.
The group’s total revenue expanded 17.0 per cent over the year from US$250.0M to US$ 292.5M. Contributing to this growth was an 18.7 per cent increase in net premium to US$197.3M. Net investment and other income increased 13.7 per cent to US$95.3M year-on-year.
On the expenditure side, total benefits rose 31.8 per cent from US$134.4 to US$177.2M in 1Q 2010.This resulted in Benefits as a percentage of net premium deteriorating to 90 per cent in 1Q 2010 versus 81 per cent in 1Q 2009. Expenses also grew, increasing 4.4 per cent to US$98.1M year-on-year.
SFC’s Income before taxes fell 20 per cent over the year from US$21.5M to US$17.2M. The combined growth in benefits and expenses outweighed the growth in revenue, and so contributed toward this decline.
The group’s bottom line profitability was reduced further as a higher effective tax rate of 27.1 per cent in 1Q 2010 was charged relative to the 17.4 per cent in 1Q 2009. As a margin of the top-line, Net Income accounted for 4.28 per cent of total revenue, versus 7.11 per cent of revenue in 2009. Net Income reported for 1Q 2010 was US$12.5M, a 29.5% decline from US$17.8M in 2009. It should be noted that SFC’s contribution to minority shareholders fell 13.3 per cent to US$7.0M year-on-year.
Looking at the group’s investment portfolio, fair value gains on Available for sale financial assets of US$28.7M were recorded for 1Q 2010 compared to fair value losses of US$12.8 recorded in 1Q 2009. This turnaround can be attributed to the recovery in global financial markets and particularly in Jamaica where gains in bond valuation were recorded with the implementation of the Jamaica debt exchange (JDX) in 1Q 2010.
Going forward, the increased level of volatility and heightened uncertainty in the global financial market could have a negative impact on the value of the investment portfolio. With around 36 per cent of revenue being generated in Jamaica, as of December 31 2009, any slowdown in the economy could negatively impact the Group’s results. Although the Jamaican economy has shown some level of improvement in recent months with the intervention by the IMF, some level of uncertainty remains as to the longevity of this stability. Recent violence would have not have affected market sentiments. Continued business growth in SFC’s UK and US operations should continue to support SFC’s development as well as contribute to the group’s top-line revenue.
The group’s benefits may face upward pressure as a strong hurricane season is forecast for the year. SFC’s Benefits ratio reached a high of 82.26 per cent in 2004, however over the period 2005-2008 this ratio showed improvement until 2009 as shown in Exhibit 1. It should be noted that it was in 2004 this increase in benefits was significantly influenced by the increase in claims experienced by the groups property and casualty subsidiary resulting from the impact of hurricane Ivan on many Caribbean Islands. Any such recurrence will hit the bottom line further and as such the group may need to seriously manage its expenses to minimise deterioration in profits.
In terms of fundamental valuations, at the current price of TT$10.00, SFC is trading at a trailing P/E multiple of 9.7 times.The market-to-book ratio of 0.84 is attractive as compared to the five year average of 1.3 times. On a technical note, the stock is currently trading at the lowest levels since listing in 2004. With the possibility of lower earnings in 2010 and in light of the fair valuation, BOURSE revises its recommendation to a HOLD.
Ansa McAl Limited
Ansa McAl Limited (AMCL) reported a diluted EPS of $0.67 for the first quarter ended March 31, 2010. This represents an 8.1 per cent growth relative to the EPS of $0.62 recorded in 2009.
At the top-line, Revenue was up 3.4 per cent from $1.17B in 2009 to $1.21B in 2010. Revenue from the group’s automotive, trading and distribution segment, which accounted for 44.3 per cent of the group’s Total Revenue, increased 8.20 per cent to $537.4M year-on-year. The manufacturing, packaging and brewing segment revenue also showed growth, increasing 9.86 per cent to $422.0M, while the insurance and financial services segment expanded 6.4 per cent to $194.1M year-on-year. The only segment that contracted was the media, services and parent company, where revenue declined 45.7 per cent to $59.3M. This segment accounted for only 4.9 per cent of the group’s total revenue. (See Exhibit 2)
Ansa McAl’s operating profit for the period expanded 8.3 per cent to $207.3M from the $191.4M in 2009. As a percentage of revenue, the operating profit margin showed some improvement moving from 16.3 per cent in 1Q 2009 to 17.1 per cent 1Q 2010. This margin is likely to increase as operating profits and revenue improve in the latter quarters as seen in Exhibit 3.
The group’s finance cost remained relatively flat for the period, moving to $28.9M in 1Q 2010, while profit before taxation expanded 10.5 per cent over the period to $183.2M.
Ansa McAl’s profit after taxation moved from $130.7M to $142.9M, an increase of 9.3 per cent year on year as the taxation rate remained relatively flat at around 22.0 per cent.
The group was able to extend growth to its balance sheet, with total assets increasing 7.2 per cent to $10.68B in 1Q 2010 from $9.97B in 1Q 2009.
Looking forward, the group may face some challenges in growing revenue in some of its segments. For instance, the manufacturing sector may incur some level of difficulty in growing revenue, since companies such as ABEL, Bestcrete, Penta and Sissons Paints may be affected by a weakened construction activity. On the local front construction activity may continue to fall as the rainy season approaches, while future and current national construction projects may be slowed as a result of the change in government. However, the packaging and brewing areas that contribute to this segment can contribute towards positive growth. For instance, Carib, produced by Carib Brewery Limited, continues to be one of the best selling both locally and regionally. There may be some possible signs of improvement in the Media, Services and Parent company segment, since Guardian Media Limited revenue is expected to improve as a result of higher income being generated from political parties advertising during the just concluded election campaign. Within the financial segment, Ansa Merchant Bank and Insurance subsidiaries may not see much growth in 2010 given the uncertainty in the financial market. Continued management of expenses and margins will benefit the Group’s bottom-line profitability.
Given that Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados are the two main countries in which AMCL operates, the performance of these economies are likely to be reflected in performance of AMCL since there exist a strong correlation between the performance of many of the Group’s sectors and economic conditions. According to IMF data the change in real GDP in 2010 is projected to be -0.5 per cent and 2.1 per cent in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago respectively. If economic conditions show signs of stability and eventually pick-up, the conglomerates will be among the first to reflect this growth.
At the current price of $46.00, the stock is trading at a trailing P/E multiple of 13.50 times. Historically the stock has traded at an average multiple of 14.7 times in the last 10 years. However during the period 2001 and 2002, when economic conditions were similar, the average P/E was around 12.0 times. Given the improvements in earnings for the first quarter combined with the stable outlook, BOURSE revises its recommendation to a HOLD. (Trinidad Express)
Nikita Braxton South Bureau
PRIME MINISTER Kamla Persad-Bissessar agreed with vendors yesterday that a new Siparia market should be a priority.
’This entire market is in a state of dilapidation in every regard. It is clear that Siparia needs a new market,’ Persad-Bisssessar told the vendors as she toured the facility.
About 160 vendors occupy the Siparia Market, located opposite Persad-Bissessar’s constituency office.
Several voiced their concern about having to use the bushes as their toilets and the lack of security and running water at the market.
’The place is too small and when rain falls, the shed leaks,’ stall holder Roger Rampaul also told the Prime Minister.
But though Persad-Bissessar said a new market would be built, a time frame could not be given for the start of the project.
’We can’t say how soon because we have budgeting to do. We have to identify funding,’ she said.
Persad-Bissessar said she placed Local Government Minister Chandresh Sharma in charge of the issue.
Sharma said he expected to hold a meeting with a group from the Siparia Regional Corporation tomorrow.
He said a plan of the market, which was designed ten years ago, will be revisited. (Trinidad Express)
Rickie Ramdass rickie.ramdass@trinidadexpress.com
Government is moving to deal with squatters who are constructing houses illegally on State lands.
But the process will be handled in an efficient and humane way, two government ministers have said.
Minister of Housing and the Environment Dr Roodal Moonilal said the necessary steps would be undertaken to ensure that the issue of squatting on State lands following the May 24 general election was dealt with in accordance with the law.
Moonilal was speaking to the Express yesterday during a brief telephone interview.
He said the matter was one for the Commissioner of State Lands to investigate and to determine exactly how it was going to be resolved.
Necessary steps: Roodal Moonilal
He did not say whether or not the newly built dwellings would be demolished, but instead stressed that based on the findings by the Commissioner of State Lands, the issue would be sorted out.
Meanwhile Minister of Food Production Vasant Bharath speaking on radio station i95.5 FM, said evictions would be taking place.
But he said the occupants would be given the opportunity to take the buildings down themselves.
“By demolishing you are really breaking up the galvanise and the ply board that they would have used, so we want to give them the opportunity to dismantle it themselves and take it elsewhere as is required,” he said.
“We would have to determine first of all which ones are genuine cases and which ones are doing it out of any sense of malicious behaviour but we intend to resource all avenues to determine this matter in a humane way,” he added.
In the run-up to last month’s general election the People’s Partnership said under the new administration, the Land Settlement Agency would not move on existing squatters to demolish their homes, but instead those homes would be regularised.
Subsequent to the election, squatters are said to have started occupying State lands at Sangre Grande, Diego Martin, Carapo, Arima and Cashew Gardens at Longdenville.(Trinidad Express)