Dominica’s indigenous peoples to elect new Carib chief

ROSEAU, Dominica, Monday July 7, 2014, CMC – Dominica’s indigenous population goes to the polls Monday to elect a new Carib Chief.

The incumbent, Garnet Joseph says he is confident of defeating Charles Williams and Irvince Auguiste, two former Carib Chiefs and newcomer, Jumadine Frederick. The polling stations open at 7:00 am (local time) and closes 11 hours later.

“All of us have our own programme that we have presented to the residents of the Territory and I think that my chances of winning the election are very good”.

“I have a good track record of achievement and it did not start when I got into office, I have been working in the Territory for many years now, in fact, my entire life has been devoted to the development of the Territory so I think my chances on Monday are very good,” said Joseph.

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He said that the issue of access to credit by residents of the Territory will be given priority if he is given another opportunity to head the council.

“Access to credit has been a major problem plaguing the Territory for several years and I think that in our level of development at this time, this cannot be more appropriate”.

The Carib Territory or Carib Reserve is a 3,700-acre district that was established for the Caribs, also known here as the Kalinago.

The Carib Territory was officially formed by British colonial authorities in 1903, in a remote and mountainous area of Dominica’s Atlantic coast. Its population remained largely isolated from the rest of the island throughout most of the 20th century, with only a ceremonial chief and no other formal self-governance.

The Carib Reserve Act, enacted the year of Dominica’s independence in 1978, reaffirmed the Carib Territory’s boundaries, its land management, and institutions of local government. In the last decades of the 20th century, modern utilities and infrastructure were finally introduced to the Carib Territory, which also established contacts with foreign governments and other indigenous peoples in the region.

The present population of the Carib Territory is estimated at 3,000.

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Dominica’s indigenous peoples to elect new Carib chief

Carib Cement back in the black

CARIBBEAN Cement Company (CCC) announced that it returned to profitability earning $359.5 million for its second-quarter ending June 30 after effectively receiving billions in support from its parent.

The profit reversed an over half-a billion dollar loss a year earlier. The company benefited from increased sales, which rose 25 per cent year on year to $3 billion. But the main driver came from a reversal of withholding tax as a consequence of a US$38 million “capital contribution” from its parent, Trinidad Cement Limited (TCL).Anthony Haynes, Carib’s general manager said that the capital contribution was more akin to debt forgiveness than an injection of cash in the operations.“We don’t have to service [the TCL] debt anymore and especially the foreign exchange losses associated with it,” Haynes said, adding that intra-company debt now stands at some US$7 million, down nearly 80 per cent.Carib owed TCL lease payments for its cement plant upgrade. These lease amounts were not repaid since 2010, management said — accumulating to some US$38 million. That amount was forgiven by the parent, Haynes explained.“This whole thing is strengthening t he financial position of the company and knocking-off the debt,” Haynes told the Business Observer. “It makes the company more attractive and has the effect of putting CCL back to a positive equity position.”Consequently, the cement manufacturer now has $4.5 billion in equity, compared with negative $794 million a year earlier.The debt forgiveness triggered other savings which resulted in profit for the group, the financials indicated. More specifically, accrued withholding tax of $591.48 million was no longer payable by the company and reversed. The company indicated that if the reversal was excluded from the three months’ and six months’ statements, the ‘net loss for the period’ for the three months and six months would have been $232 million and $728.8 million respectively.The parent company also received some US$37 million worth of preference shares from CCC.The reduction in lease servicing means that Carib will mitigate currency losses amidst a Jamaica dollar facing double-digit depreciation against its US counterpart.“With the restructuring of the intra-group debt, the threat of foreign exchange translation losses totalling $701 million year to date has been significantly mitigated,” said the company notes accompanying the financials signed by Brian Young chairman and Dr Rollin Bertrand group CEO.Carib raised cement prices four times in recent months due to the inflationary effect of currency movements. Going forward currency movements will become more manageable, said Haynes.“The dollar will continue to provide a risk to us. But the reduction of the US dollar debt that we have to service has reduced the overall impact of foreign exchange movements on us,” Haynes said while alluding to the write off of lease payments. “It is now manageable. But if the dollar goes into further dip then we will have to make adjustments.”CCC also expects to maintain the improvement in export sales and grow these even further with sales to Guyana and Suriname.“While we do not foresee any meaningful growth in the domestic market, with careful cost management and the expected growth in export earnings, we expect to maintain these favourable results over the rest of this year,” the financial notes concluded.The main driver came from a reversal of withholding tax as a consequence of a US$38 million “capital contribution” from its parent, Trinidad Cement Limited (TCL).

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Carib Cement back in the black

Smith cops U19 title as J"can juniors blaze at Carib Squash Champs

Jamaica’s Junior team captain Ashante Smith pulled off a spectacular come-from-behind win on Wednesday night to claim the Under-19 Boys’ title at the Caribbean Area Squash Association’s (CASA) Junior Championships currently under way in Trinidad and Tobago.

The in-form teenager grabbed victory from the jaws of defeat, rallying from a two-game deficit to stun local hero Mandela Patrick. Battling his opponent and a boisterous home crowd, Smith dug deep to beat Patrick 5/11, 8/11, 13/11, 11/7, 11/4. The victory allowed Smith to end his junior playing career on a high note, claiming his first regional title before officially moving to the senior ranks.“I couldn’t be more proud of Ashante,” said Rene Denis, national junior squash coach. “It took heart and guts to come back from two down and when he scored the winning point, if I hadn’t been screaming so loudly I would have been crying.”Buoyed by Smith’s win, the Jamaican boys delivered a series of blistering performances to trample regional kingpins Guyana in the first round of the team competition yesterday.All Jamaica Under-17 champion Jake Mahfood roared back from early elimination in the individual competition to defeat the newly crowned Under-17 Caribbean champion Nyron Joseph 11/5, 11/5, 7/11, 12/10.In a similar vein, All Jamaica Under-19 champion Julian Morrison beat Stephen Xavier 11/6, 11/8, 15/13 to avenge his defeat earlier this week in the individual competition at the hands of the Guyanese player.The victories continued with team captain Smith, who again showed his grit, battling through another gruelling five-setter to beat JC Jeffrey 17/15, 9/11, 8/11, 17/15, 11/9.All Jamaica Under-15 champion Tahjia Lumley lost 4/11, 5/11, 8/11 to Ben Mendecki, and Under-13 champion Adam Ardito went down to Shomari Wiltshire 11/9, 6/11, 5/11, 4/11.However, with wins from Smith, Mahfood and Morrison, Jamaica claimed top points and bragging rights over their age-old rivals.Another round of victories came in the Girls’ team competition where Jamaica easily beat the OECS. Reigning All Jamaica and Caribbean Under-15 champion Alyssa Mullings barely broke a sweat to dispatch Thani Myers 11/2, 11/3, 11/4, while Mira Handa trounced Giovanni Alexander 11/2, 11/3, 11/1.Ashley Lynch bulldozed Deiriar Myers 11/6, 11/1, 11/1 and team captain Jessica Perkins defeated Gianna Alexander 11/4, 11/7, 11/5.The team competition continues today when the Jamaican boys will face the OECS and the girls will take on Cayman and Trinidad & Tobago.

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Smith cops U19 title as J"can juniors blaze at Carib Squash Champs

Bicknell, Haughton win Carib Junior singles titles

Sport

BY GERALD REID Observer writer Sunday, July 21, 2013

SECOND seeds Andrew Bicknell and Shelitta Haughton captured the Boys’ and Girls’ 18 and under singles titles at the 2013 Blue Mountain Caribbean Junior Tennis Championships at the Liguanea Club in New Kingston on Friday.Fifteen-year-old Bicknell defeated top seed Dimitri Bird in straight sets 6-4, 6-3. After his victory, Bicknell, the All-Jamaica Junior Boys’ 18 and under singles champion earlier this month, said he was very pleased.He added that this was part of his preparation for next Monday’s start of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Jamaica Invitational Tournament to be played at the Eric Bell Tennis Centre.Meanwhile, second seed Haughton came from a set down to defeat top seed and All-Jamaica Junior Girls’ 18 and under singles champion Michealann Denton 5-7, 6-4 (15-13 tie-breaker).Haughton said it was a good game and she was very proud of her victory.“She had beaten me in the All-Jamaica singles final earlier this month and this I can say is a revenge victory for me,” Haughton said.The 17-year-old Haughton, who attends the KBC Learning Centre in Kingston, rallied nicely in the tie-breaker down 2-7, tied at 9-9 and 13-13 before winning the next two points to clinch the match 15-13.In the Boys’ 16 and under singles final, Blaise Bicknell, seeded at seven, beat top seed Kyle Martin in straight sets 6-2, 6-2, while the Girls’ 16 and under singles final was won by unseeded 10-year-old Jenna Harrison of Hillel Academy, beating unseeded Jade Wilkinson in straight sets 6-2, 6-1.The Boys’ 14 and under singles final was won by unseeded Upkioronfo Ikolo of Grenada, who beat unseeded Jean Phillipe Murray of St Lucia 4-6, 6-3 (10-4 tie-breaker). Top seed Michela Stephens won the Girls’ 14 and under singles title with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Jenna Harrison.Top seed Chatani Karan defeated unseeded Zane Walters in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1 to capture the Boys’ 12 and under singles title.Meanwhile, Jamaica captured the team event title by beating both the Cayman Islands and Grenada 3-0.

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Bicknell, Haughton win Carib Junior singles titles

Carib Steel loses final appeal

UK Privy Council agrees with Court of Appeal, rules in favour of Price Waterhouse in alleged negligence case

THE UK Privy Council dismissed the defunct Caribbean Steel Company’s case against Price Waterhouse (PW) over alleged negligence in the accounting firm’s valuation of a company, which the maker of steel products bought in the mid-1990s.The 15-year-old legal battle ended yesterday, after the final court handed down its decision, which, among other things, stated that the way how PW approached the valuation of a surplus in the pension fund of Caribbean Cable Company — in which a majority stake was bought by Carib Steel — was not negligent.More specifically, it was decided that Carib Steel’s borrowings from the pension fund — up to $3.6 million by early 1995 — did not diminish the $13.8 million surplus included in PW’s evaluation.“They were receivables repayable on demand,” said the board of the Privy Council. “The board notes that it was not alleged that PW ought to have had doubts as to the company’s ability to pay on demand.”What’s more, yesterday’s decision said that “there is no reason to doubt that Carib Steel believed that the valuation was a reasonable one, but the purchase price did not represent any of PW’s bases of valuation”.Using three valuation methods, PW determined that Carib Cable could be valued at $43.5 million, if an estimated annual maintainable net earnings figure to which an appropriate multiplier of 6.5 was applied; $14.4 million, if the company was liquidated; and $48.3 million, if the company was able to expand into additional export markets, based on Carib Cable’s management forecast.Carib Steel entered into a non-binding agreement to buy a 50.1 per cent stake in Carib Cable for $32 million in late 1994 and engaged PW to conduct a valuation of the cable and wire-maker before going ahead with the transaction.“The purchase price was agreed prior to PW’s valuation and Carib Steel did not subsequently seek to adjust it,” said the Privy Council document published on its website. “It was significantly higher than PW’s estimate of the value of the shareholding in the company’s existing circumstances, but significantly less than its potential value after the injection of new working capital in order to develop new export markets.“That prospect must have provided the motivation for the purchase.”The accounting firm found that Carib Cable’s expansion, which was being funded by debt, had previously been stalled as a result of a workers strike combined with a drop in existing sales from the general uncertainty surrounding the elections in early 1993 and a delay in the budget of that year. As a result Carib Cable ended up in liquidity problems, where the company amassed indebtedness of almost $77 million by August 1994.In 1998, Carib Steel sued PW and claimed special damages of $38.4 million, which included the cost of acquisition of the shares and the fees paid to PW for the pre-acquisition valuation report and the post-acquisition audit.“The essence of the claim was that the value of the pension fund had been materially depleted by the company borrowing from it and that Carib Steel would have acted very differently if it had known of the borrowing prior to its acquisition of a majority shareholding,” said the Privy Council document.PW denied liability and counter-claimed $940,000 in respect of unpaid fees for auditing Carib Steel’s accounts for the year ended 31 March 1996.At first, Carib Steel actually got a favourable ruling in the Jamaican court.In mid-2006, the judge determined that the loss from the acquisition was the amount attributed by PW in its valuation to Carib Cable’s pension fund surplus — $13.8 million — and he awarded damages in that sum together with interest and costs.In 2011, the Court of Appeal of Jamaica set aside the original judgement and ruled for PW on the claim and counter-claim with interest and costs.“The court considered that the trial judge had not given satisfactory reasons for rejecting the evidence of PW’s expert and had been wrong to prefer the evidence of Carib Steel’s expert, who in the court’s view was lacking in relevant expertise,” the board added. “The court considered also that Carib Steel’s claim failed on causation of loss.”The Privy Council agreed with the Court of Appeal.“Set against the known bank indebtedness of almost $77 million in less than three years, for the reasons explained in PW’s valuation report, it is hard to see what difference an additional borrowing of $1.4 million over recent months would have made to Carib Steel’s decision whether to inject $32 million in return for 50.1 per cent of the equity,” said yesterday’s decision. “The board, therefore, agrees with the Court of Appeal’s conclusion that Carib Steel’s decision to invest that sum was not one for which it had shown that it could properly blame PW.”The parties will have 28 days in which to lodge written submissions about the order to be made for the costs of the proceedings before the Privy Council, which will otherwise be that Carib Steel must pay PW’s costs.

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Carib Steel loses final appeal