GLOBAL ECONOMIC DOWNTURN IMPACTS THIRD QUARTER ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE
The recent downturn in the global economy, exacerbated by weather related shocks, has contributed to the slowing down of the Jamaican economy. This has resulted in GDP being flat for the period, July to September 2008 compared with the corresponding period last year. Declines in output in Agriculture (2.0%) and Construction (1.8%) resulted in the overall flat performance in the Goods Producing sector. Despite the challenges in the Goods Producing sector, Mining & Quarrying was up 6.0%, the first quarterly increase since April – June 2007. Both Electricity & Water Supply (5.9%) and the Finance & Insurance Services (1.5%) sub-sectors within the Services Industry showed growth.

Total tourist arrivals fell by 6.0%. Transport, Storage & Communications also experienced a decline (3.2%) due to a cessation of the operations of major shipping lines out of Jamaica. Remittances remained positive despite the downturn in the global economy.

The performance of the macro economy for the quarter should be interpreted in the context of real appreciation in the exchange rate of 3.7% vis-à-vis the US dollar; a quarterly inflation rate of 4.7% and a fiscal deficit of $16.4 billion.
Post Quarter Prospects
For the calendar year, real GDP growth is forecasted to be within the range of -0.5% – 1.0% due to the continued global economic crisis.

October opening for Spanish Court Hotel
July 4, 2008
Spanish Court, the uptown business complex that is being converted into a 108-room hotel by Christopher Issa, should be ready to welcome paying guests by October. Issa said that he has spent over US$12 million on the acquisition and redevelopment of the 40-year-old complex on St Lucia Avenue, New Kingston, that used to house a variety of shops and offices and identified by its Spanish architecture and other motifs.

SCJ sold for US$25m – But Jamaica to pump funds back into Brazil Company, give up Petrojam Ethanol Limited
July 4, 2008
The Jamaican Government will apparently receive no cash, but instead get a 25 per cent stake valued at US$25 million (J$1.8 billion) in the vehicle being used by Infinity Bio-Energy, the Brazil-based ethanol manufacturer, to acquire the state-owned sugar company. But as part of the deal, the Government will also hand over the 40-million gallon Petrojam Ethanol plant to Newco Ltd, the Infinity subsidiary that will operate in Jamaica, as well as absorb an estimated J$18 billion of debt owed by the Sugar Company of Jamaica (SCJ), ahead of its divestment.

Jamaican dollar gathers downhill momentum
July 11, 2008
The Jamaican dollar broke through the $72 mark in the past week, and continues to slide, notwithstanding strong interventions and an interest-rate hike by the central bank. The currency closed on the spot market at $72.19 against the US dollar, a new record low, having hit $72.06 last Friday, following a more than six cent decline. The Bank of Jamaica, signalling a positive outlook, said that the most recent movement in the exchange rate is related to payments due to overseas creditors. “This occurred at a time when local banks and other financial institutions have been reducing their exposure to credit lines offered by correspondent banks and investment houses,” said the central bank.

Mainland puts flagship store on the market
July 18, 2008
Jeffrey Myrie, one of the owners of Mainland Inter-national Limited, is looking for buyers for Hardware Company’s ‘Super Home Centre’ store which sits on the periphery of Spanish Town in St Catherine. Mainland wants at least US$6 million for the property that it spent more than US$14 million building six years ago. The 87,000-square-foot store sits on 4.079 acres of land. “It’s a store that was not profitable,” said Myrie. Myrie’s insistence that Mainland would continue operating as a going concern follows a failed attempt to sell the hardware outfit to Cash Plus Limited, a company now in receivership.

Transport biggest contributor to June inflation – Prices climb 11.5 per cent in six months
July 18, 2008
The cost of living rose substantially in the first half of the year with new data from the Statistical Institute showing inflation at 11.5 per cent, with prices rising faster in the capital than other towns and in the countryside. The new data indicates that prices are growing at an annual rate of 23 per cent, or about two per cent per month. Fiscal inflation is at six per cent, or 24 per cent annualised, well ahead of the projected 14.5 per cent inflation that the central bank has forecast. Last year, six-month calendar inflation was 5.1 per cent, an indication that prices in the current period are advancing at more than twice the pace than the comparative period a year ago. For the month of June, inflation was a flat two per cent, largely pushed by transport costs, as well as higher gas prices, heavier utility bills, fuel and other costs generally associated with running a household.

Capital & Credit again denies it’s up for sale
July 18, 2008
Capital and Credit Financial Group Limited is not only denying what it says are ‘persistent rumours’ that the company is being offered up for sale, but says it is not even in talks with any suitor. The denial, filed via a stock market notice, follows persistent reports over several years that the Ryland Campbell controlled company was on the market and looking for buyers. “Such information is incorrect and not true,” said the company in a statement issued through the Jamaica Stock Exchange yesterday.

Few dangers seen from Olint’s slide
July 18, 2008
With no precise figure available for the funds Olint and its various subsidiaries have under management, analyst says it is hard to predict the full impact of the corralling of the foreign exchange trader’s assets on the local economy. But there appears to be a fair bit of consensus that the immediate effect would be consumer spending, in much the same as the Cash Plus effect. Olint, considered the forerunner of the unregulated investment schemes, is as secretive about its dealings as the other 40 or so operations that regulators have detected over time. But ‘guestimates’ have centred on US$600 million (J$43 billion) of principal, and possibly US$2 billion (J$144 billion) when interest payables are added to the mix. Jamaican think tank, CaPRI, which estimated the total amount of invested funds in the schemes at J$100 billion to J$200 billion, said Wednesday that it had no individual breakout of the figures.

David’s war – Olint boss readies team for legal showdown
July 18, 2008
A high-calibre team of Jamaican and international lawyers flew to the Turks and Caicos Islands to assist Olint Corporation Ltd boss, David Smith, in preparing for a looming legal battle.
Meanwhile, in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos, few people in the British territory know the investment club or Smith. In fact, a commission of inquiry ordered by the British government into alleged government corruption in the islands is the biggest news here. Smith’s house and his offices were raided by members of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force, who seized documents and computers. But Detective Assistant Superintendent Mark Knighton, who led the operation, said his team from the Financial Crime Unit has found nothing incriminating to date. “Our next move is to examine the contents of these documents and see what they reveal,” Knighton said yesterday. “I would say that this investigation will take months, rather than weeks because, to my knowledge, this is just a small number of the documents.”

Olint: What happened to all that money?
July 18, 2008
Club members of popular foreign currency trading outfit Olint and indeed most of the country are preoccupied with two questions: Will people be able to recover their invested funds and what happened to all that money? The answer to both those questions resides with Olint’s main principal, David Smith.
Olint was expected to make a significant payout last Friday, a deadline that came and went with no good news for its club members, many of whom have not received a payment since the beginning of the year. Earlier this month, Smith, speaking to journalist Cliff Hughes, said that Jamaicans should pray for Olint and keep their fingers crossed that the money arrives in Jamaica. Alas, divine intervention did not materialise. Many club members expressed concern, and by Monday of this week, a foreboding picture was painted when its Braemar Avenue office was closed and an e-mail was released to all club members, part of which read: “It is with some regret that we advise that, as a result of threats to staff members, including a bomb threat within the last few days which is being taken seriously, the Club Member Care Office will be closed to the public as of Monday, July 14, 2008. Efforts are being made to address the matter and we will advise you further.”

A perfect economic storm: Dennis Chung
July 18, 2008
The next six to nine months will be one of the most challenging periods in the economic history of independent Jamaica. And I say independent Jamaica merely because I am not aware of what the economic circumstances were before. In fact, what is brewing I would call a perfect economic storm.
I say this not just because bad management of the economy over the years is finally coming home to roost, but also because the vicious global environment will play havoc on vulnerable economies such as ours. The reason for our vulnerability is because we have allowed ourselves to be destroyed by the demons of consumerism, corruption, crime, and political rather than economic decisions. In fact, the infrastructure that would make our economy able to weather the current global shocks does not exist, because we have failed to educate our people and insist on productivity.

Bill Clarke closes Scotia account. October retirement amidst claims of problems with Canada HQ
July 19, 2008
SCOTIABANK Jamaica, moving to scotch swirling rumours that its president and CEO William ‘Bill’ Clarke had been fired, announced that the veteran banker would retire at the end of October. Scotia made the announcement at around 4:00 pm; almost 24 hours after word began circulating that the senior executive had been dismissed after 40 years of service to the organisation. “The Board of the Bank of Nova Scotia Jamaica Limited wishes to advise that president and CEO William E Clarke has decided to retire on October 31, 2008,” said the press release. “The board refutes any allegations that Mr Clarke has been separated from the bank.”

Who will replace Bill Clarke?
July 23, 2008
RBTT managing director Mina Israel is investors’ top pick to replace outgoing Scotiabank president Bill Clarke. Her heart is with Scotia, they say, but if she cannot be wooed, then a Canadian is expected to head the operations. A third possibility is banker Aubyn Hill, who headed National Commercial Bank – Scotia’s major rival – four years ago. “I don’t expect them to go outside the group. I think a Canadian will head the bank at least for two or three years on a temporary basis before a local [replacement] is put in place”, says John Jackson, financial analyst.

AIC increases stake in CVM
July 25, 2008
Michael Lee Chin’s AIC Limited has acquired additional stake in CVM, growing the Canadian-based company’s share well beyond the initial 51 per cent acquired two years ago, informed sources say.

Shareholders chide board for C&WJ losses
July 25, 2008
Shareholders attending Cable and Wireless Jamaica’s 21st annual general meeting (AGM) stopped short of blaming the board of directors and management team for not intervening sooner to stem losses at the firm. The company in a year accumulated $2 billion of losses, wiping out $2 billion of profit in 2006, and sparking concerns about the company’s future here by investors.
One particular shareholder said at the meeting that he had expected the company to announce its exit from Jamaica after news that C&WJ’s parent company, C&W plc was disappointed with its performance. “I came here expecting to attend the funeral of Cable and Wireless Jamaica,” said the shareholder. The AGM was held on Wednesday at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in Kingston.

JP to rebrand its Serious Food Company… losses dips seven times
August 1, 2008
Jamaica Producers Group has put in a new man to steer the re-organisation of its juice and smoothies business in Britain, and says it is ready to pull out of uneconomic supply contracts with UK supermarkets as part of an aggressive strategy to stem, and ultimately reverse, the more than $1billion the group has lost in the past 18 months. The announcement of John Bates as managing director of the UK-based Serious Foods and the intention to renegotiate or end the draining contracts is contained in a statement to shareholders by JP’s chairman Charles Johnston, in which he reported a second quarter loss of $321.55 million.

What Exactly is a Ponzi scheme?
A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that involves promising or paying abnormally high returns (“profits”) to investors out of the money paid in by subsequent investors, rather than from net revenues generated by any real business. It is named after Charles Ponzi.
A Ponzi scheme usually offers abnormally high short-term returns in order to entice new investors. The high returns that a Ponzi scheme advertises (and pays) require an ever-increasing flow of money from investors in order to keep the scheme going.
The system is doomed to collapse because there are little or no underlying earnings from the money received by the promoter. However, the scheme is often interrupted by legal authorities before it collapses, because a Ponzi scheme is suspected and/or because the promoter is selling unregistered securities. As more investors become involved, the likelihood of the scheme coming to the attention of authorities increases.

E10 to roll out in October… but Gov’t to forgo legislation for mandatory use for now
August 1, 2008
Jamaica is pushing ahead with its plan roll out an ethanol and gasoline blend of motor vehicle fuel to consumers by October, but will not enact legislation to make its use mandatory until the country has had an agreement with the UN’s climate change agency to earn carbon credits from the scheme, officials say. The sale of the E10 blend – so called because it will be a mix of 10 per cent ethanol with 90 per cent gasoline – will begin in the eastern half of the island, from the parishes of Portland and St Thomas up to Manchester, moving to the rest of the country next April.

NCB positioning for investment schemes fallout, say some analysts
August 06, 2008
National Commercial Bank of Jamaica’s (NCB) move to increase its provision for credit losses by 140 per cent over the 12 months to June 30 have led some investors to believe the commercial bank is preparing itself for the potential impact of the fall-out of investment schemes. “It would be prudent [to increase the provision] in order to make sure there are no surprises,” said Neilson Rose equity asset manager at Mayberry Investments. “You are definitely going to see some fallout and these alternative investment schemes were used as cash flow.” The provision jumped from $39.1 million to $93.1 million when the June quarter is compared year over year. Year to date that figure increased 102 per cent from $151.3 million to $307 million. NCB increased this provision even though there was a decrease in its non-performing loans as a percentage of total loans-dropping to 2.34 per cent from 2.92 per cent over 12 months.

Will Scotiabank now rejoin the PSOJ?
August 08, 2008
Almost two years ago when Chris Zacca succeeded Bev Lopez as President of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), his then rival for the position, Bill Clarke, outgoing CEO of Scotiabank Jamaica withdrew the bank from the august private sector body in what many regard as a fit of pique. With Clarke perfunctorily deciding to take early retirement, the question is, will his successor Bruce Bowen recommit the country’s largest bank to the PSOJ?

Starfish Oils changes ownership
August 8, 2008
Local manufacturer and exporter of aromatic candles and aromatherapy products, Starfish Oils Limited, was acquired six months ago by Leslie Chang, a developer linked to Surrey Paving and Aggregate Company Limited.

Unregulated schemes hurt VMBS in ’07
August 8, 2008
With its deposit portfolio remaining flat last year, Jamaica’s second largest mortgage bank, Victoria Mutual Building Society (VMBS), says that its ability to attract savings was weakened by the raft of unregulated schemes that offered super returns to investors. The explanation for the weak performance in this segment of the society’s business was outlined in its recently released annual report and underlined by the bank’s chairman Roy Hutchinson and CEO Richard Powell when they addressed members at the annual general meeting.

VMBS writes $7bin new mortgages – Portfolio now valued at $20b
August 8, 2008
Victoria Mutual Building Society may have had a difficult time building its savings base last year, but that did not prevent it from nearly doubling the value of the new mortgages it wrote, when compared 2006. According to the banking group – which reported a near 20 per cent increase in profit, to $651.4 million – it last year advanced approximately $7 billion in new mortgages, a jump of 180 per cent on the previous year. “This significant growth in our mortgage portfolio has been achieved without compromising quality, as our mortgage loans in arrears for more than 90 days continue to be well within industry and regulatory standards of less than four per cent of the portfolio,” chairman Roy Hutchinson said in a report to members.

C&WJ’s borrowings grow to $10 billion – Parent refinances Citibank debt
August 8, 2008
Cable and Wireless Jamaica’s (C&WJ) long-term debt has more than doubled in a year to just under $10 billion, but the majority is funds injected by its British parent, which has thrown billions of dollars at the company as the new man Phil Green nurses it back to health. At its financial year end March 2008, C&WJ owed Citibank NA close to $4 billion and its ultimate parent $6 billion but the short-term bridge financing bank loan was subsequently paid off on May 12 “through financing arrangements from a related company”, leaving Jamaica more heavily indebted to its parent.

Digicel wins US$2m wireless broadband licence in Honduras
August 8, 2008
Digicel has landed a broadband licence in Honduras to roll out service on a 2.5 gigahertz spectrum to eight zones. The company said it paid US$2 million for the licence and will be rolling out its WiMAX technology in “the eight most densely populated areas of Honduras”, covering nearly 60 per cent of the country’s population of 7.6 million.

MiPhone full speed ahead – $18b remake said on track – Rebranding and 3G network roll-out imminent
August 15, 2008
MiPhone has scoffed at rumours of a retreat, declaring that its multibillion plans to build out its network here were proceeding as planned. But the company did admit that its cell tower project was interrupted over what company spokesman Noel Esty said was a misunderstanding with planning authorities, but declined a full explanation. MiPhone is investing US$250 million (J$18 billion) in a 500 cell towers and a 3G mobile network. The roll-out of the Apple iPhone – which it has exclusive rights to distribute in Jamaica – is contingent on the transformation of its CDMA systems to 3G.
“No man can stop the progress,” said Marketing Manager Noel Esty, as he discounted heavy rumours that the America Movil- owned company had given up on plans to take on big-hitter Digicel Jamaica.

Courts heads to New York
August 15, 2008
The Costa Rican family-owned company that acquired the Caribbean chain of Courts furniture stores nearly two years ago is hoping to leverage Courts’ strong brand, and big customer base, in the region among West Indian immigrants in New York City. Unicomer USA, one of the private firms held by the Siman family, not only plans to open a Courts store in the Flatbush community of Brooklyn, but add a twist to the venture: customers will be able to pay for furniture at the New York store and have them collected at any of the Courts stores in the Caribbean, of which there are nearly 30 in Jamaica alone.

Juciful adds ‘premium’ juice line – Hopes to grow business by 15 per cent
August 15, 2008
The Jamaica Citrus Growers Association is taking Juciful upmarket, against rivals such as Trade Winds Citrus, makers of Tru-Jucie. Juciful will be putting out 100 per cent juice products as well as a 58 per cent blend to be sold under the new name ‘Joose’. “We are easily the dominant box drink brand, everybody knows us for box drinks from 1962 so we have kind of segued up market,” said sales and marketing manager, Owen Flowers.

Rio Bueno gets first cargo ship call – Tank-Weld to spend US$40m more on port
August 22, 2008
Construction Company, Tank-Weld, which this month launched into a new sphere of business as a port operator, had its first ship call at its $2.8 billion Rio Bueno facility in Trelawny by a Chinese vessel bringing steel from the Asian country. The Haiancheng dropped 16,000 tonnes of steel at the new port on August 15. Chris Bicknell, managing director of the Tank-Weld Metals, says the port being developed in phases on some 30 acres of property, can, at maximum capacity, handle a ship carrying between 30,000 to 40,000 tonnes of cargo.

Palace wrestles down debt, taxes to score a profit – Sells old Rialto cinema property
September 12, 2008
Cinema operator Palace Amusement Company has climbed out of the red, shaking off millions in losses last year to post net profit of $15.7 million or $10.75 per share at year end June 30. The company also announced the sale of a non-performing asset, the old Rialto Cinema property in a deal worth $8.5 million. Palace, which is principally controlled by the Graham family, made losses of $5.5 million in 2007, on declining seat sales.

Beer flattened by inflation
September 12, 2008
Red Stripe, the Jamaican brewers of beer, has blamed a soft economy that slowed demand and rising cost of inputs, including energy and raw materials, for a 26 per cent decline in the after-tax profit for its financial year to June 30. “While it may be true that our brands are price-sensitive, there were other macroeconomic factors, such as inflation, that would have negatively impacted volumes to an even greater extent,” said the company’s corporate spokesperson, Maxine Whittingham.

Bankers honour Bill Clarke
September 14, 2008
The Jamaica Bankers Association (JBA), the representative body for commercial and merchant banks, honoured outgoing member Bill Clarke, Scotiabank Jamaica president, who is set to retire at the end of October. At a JBA business luncheon held at the Knutsford Court Hotel, Peter Moses, head of Citibank in Jamaica, praised Clarke, a former president of the JBA, for his many years of service to the organisation, and his ‘priceless’ contributions to banking in Jamaica.

Bad debts grow Analysts, Gov’t continue to gauge effect of fall-out
September 14, 2008
Analysts aren’t able to peg how much the fall out of ‘get-rich schemes’ has fed into the alarming increase in the number of Jamaicans that are not servicing their loans and mortgages. What’s clear, however, is that the pace at which bad debts held by domestic financial institutions have grown over the last year is the highest it has been since the 1990s financial crisis.
Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) data released on Monday, showed that up to June 2008, $7.4 billion in non-performing loans (NPL) – loans in arrears for three months and over – was in the system, an amount equal to the capital budget for education and agriculture combined. It’s up 41 per cent over last year, even as loans grew by half that amount. “This may not be the peak of it,” said financial analyst John Jackson, who closely follows publicly listed companies. “It is something that has to be watched carefully.”

Cable &Wireless ponders rebranding to LIME
September 19, 2008
Telecoms giant Cable & Wireless (C&W) is considering yet another rebranding exercise for its Caribbean operations, this time mulling over the acronym, LIME, which stands for Landline, Internet, Mobile, Entertainment An internal memo from a C&W executive read: “We spent the day talking about the transformation of our business and the journey that we’ve embarked on to create a strong pan Caribbean business, which customers want to work with and colleagues are proud to work for. More specifically, we spent our time looking in some detail at the next phase of our journey. The phase where we create and introduce a new version of our brand, a fresh approach that signals to colleagues and customers that we’ve changed, that we’ve transformed and that we’re becoming the business they want us to be. “We’ll be taking this new version of C&W out to market before Christmas. We are going to rename our business. We’re changing our name because the business we’re becoming bears little resemblance to the business we were because we want to show the world how much we’ve changed. Ladies and gentlemen start preparing because Cable & Wireless Caribbean is going to become LIME- Landline, Internet, Mobile, and Entertainment. A new name that says what we do, which stands for something, which tells the Caribbean that we’re back and that we mean business.”

Small exposure to the Lehman collapse – JMMB
September 19, 2008
Jamaica Money Market Brokers (JMMB), the island’s third largest securities trader, estimates that about three per cent of the company’s own-account investment portfolio is exposed to last weekend’s collapse of the US investment bank, Lehman Brothers. However, billions of dollars managed on behalf of clients, such as pension schemes, are not part of this mix and are inoculated against a Lehman contagion, JMMB indicated.

VMBS takes 20 per cent of Prime Asset Management
September 19, 2008
Victoria Mutual Building Society (VMBS), which has been busy attempting to transform itself from a mortgage bank to a broad-based financial services company, yesterday acquired 20 per cent of Prime Asset Management, the pension funds managers controlled by the privately held ICD Group. Both sides confirmed the deal, but declined to disclose how much VMBS paid for a stake in the company which has more than $20 billion (US$250 million) under management.

Ethanol exports, higher poultry prices push Jamaica Broilers Q1 profits
September 19, 2008
Export of ethanol and higher prices for poultry meat boosted both gross income and helped Jamaica Broilers double its net profit, to $180.91 million, in this year’s first quarter, when compared to last year.
But the group’s senior vice-president for operations, Christopher Levy, has suggested that robust performance for the quarter to August 2, may not be sustained, given the recent retreat in ethanol price in the United States. “The ethanol market has been softening for the past two months,” Levy told the Financial Gleaner.

Mobile phone companies prepare for battle
September 26, 2008
It seems that another battle in the mobile phone war is about to be engaged, although all the expected combatants claim not to know. Market leader Digicel Jamaica unveiled a new advertising campaign aimed at shoring up customer loyalty, but denies that it is in response to rumours in the market that MiPhone, now owned by American Movil, is about to do something big.

MiPhone has been busy building it cell sites and preparing to launch the latest generation of Apple’s I-Phone, but remains coy about the launch date. And Cable and Wireless, which once ruled the roost as a monopoly in the telecoms market, is apparently planning to rebrand here and elsewhere in the Caribbean. However, the company would neither confirm nor deny that it plans to operate under the acronym LIME.

Jamaica’s Top CEOs’ for 2007 by Businessuite
Richard Byles and Patrick Hylton demonstrate staying power

If a CEO makes the list consistently does this make him a better performer than his peers?

Being recognized for one’s leadership prowess is noteworthy, and making “The List” is a testament of organizational performance excellence. List watchers cannot help noting that “The List” is relatively fluid, clearly an indicator of shifts in organizational results over time.

For example, Francis L.A. “Tony” Haynes did not make the list in 2005 and 2006, but entered the 2007 ranking at number one. William McConnell ranked number one for 2006; however he did not make the list for 2007 and 2005. As we have often said, making “The List” is an important achievement; however staying on “The List” is the true test of performance and a demonstrable ability to deliver in today’s volatile marketplace.

For 2006, three CEOs demonstrated this capacity, Patrick Hylton at NCB, Richard Byles at Life of Jamaica, now Sagicor; and Peter Bunting of the former BDG.

For the 2007 list, only two top performing CEO’s retained their positions, Richard Byles was two in 2005, ninth in 2006 and tenth in 2007. Patrick Hylton was tenth in 2005, fourth in 2006 and ninth in 2007.

Francis Haynes named Jamaica’s Top CEO for 2007 by Businessuite

Francis Haynes shot to the top of “The List” with a 576.62% growth in after tax profits of 522,123 million compared to 77,166 in 2006. Under his leadership during the financial year ended December 2007, Carib Cement Company Limited (CCCL) was able to realize positive growth in its net profit for the first time in three years. In 2006, CCCL was forced to briefly suspend the manufacture and sale of its products after the discovery of substandard cement.

In order to meet local demand, the CET was removed, thereby allowing private importers to infiltrate the market. The CET remained on hold throughout the 2007 financial year resulting in continued high volumes of imported cement products. As such, the company’s cement sales were 4% below the 2006 volume even though the market grew by 7%. This coupled with the continued increase in the price of energy and raw materials threatened profitability. However, both revenue and net profit increased by 17% and 477%, respectively, due to price adjustments commensurate with inflation, rigorous cost containment and a significant reduction in sub-par cement claims

E-Services expands again
September 26, 2008
PATRICK CASSERLY’S e-Services Limited has recently acquired two large contracts with two North. Casserly, who heads the largest call centre in the English speaking Caribbean, is now in active pursuit of additional floor space in Kingston to fit out the new contracts. “It will add almost 1,000 employees over the course of the contract,” Casserly told the Financial Gleaner midweek in a brief telephone interview about the expansion.