Leaders look to cement places in next round

BY PAUL A REID Observer writer

Saturday, October 11, 2014    

MAY PEN, Clarendon — Half of the 16 spots in the expanded quarter-finals of the ISSA/LIME daCosta Cup football competition could be filled after this afternoon’s second round of matches in the Inter-zone round.

The top two teams in each of the eight zones will advance to the next round and eight of the nine schools which scored wins in Wednesday’s first set of games could secure a place in the quarter-finals.

The race, however, will be for the coveted place in the first round of the inaugural Lime Super Cup Knockout that offers the winners $1 million plus an impressive crystal trophy. Only the winners of the zones will be eligible for the LIME Super Cup, however, and they will battle the top eight from the Manning Cup.

Today, former champions Glenmuir High and St James High will clash in the feature game of the round in the second game of a double header at Juici Field in May Pen where the winner will advance, while another seven schools will also advance with wins.

Petersfield from Zone 1, Frome from Zone 2, defending champions St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) and Manchester from Zone 3, Clarendon College from Zone 4, Cedric Titus and Old Harbour from Zone 5 were winners on Wednesday and are in the drivers’ seats in the zones.

Glenmuir High and St James, who both advanced to the Inter-zone round via different routes, were winners on Wednesday and no quarters will be asked and none given in today’s game that could decide the zone winners.

Glenmuir, winners of Zone M in the first round, were 2-0 winners over Morant Bay High, while St James High, one of the best third-placed teams, blanked another former champion Vere Technical 3-0.

Defending champions STETHS along with Manchester High will start favourites to win their games in Zone 3 against Edwin Allen High and Holmwood Technical, respectively, and set up a winner-take-all clash next Tuesday.

Edwin Allen High are coming off a 0-2 loss to Manchester High on Wednesday and will have to create the biggest upset of the season to deny STETHS in their own backyard.

Holmwood Technical will also need to lift their game several levels if they hope to keep their chances of advancing alive at the expense of Manchester High.

At Jarrett Park, Petersfield High will be confident coming off a win over a depleted Rusea’s High team but will face a Cornwall College team that was held goalless for the first time this season and will be desperate for goals.

Cornwall College led the competition with 33 goals in the first round but a combination of poor finishing and excellent goalkeeping by Muschett’s David Swaby frustrated them for 90 minutes at Jarrett Park on Wednesday. Today, top scorers Jourdaine Fletcher and Alrick Ottey, who have combined for 16 goals, will resume their hunt for goals against Petersfield.

In the first game at Jarrett Park, Muschett High will seek to keep their qualifying hopes alive as they take on a Rusea’s team that lost its three best players to the National Under-17 team preparing for a World Cup qualifying tournament in Haiti later this month.

Green Pond High have not won any of the four Inter-zone games played between last year and this year and will face a tough Frome Technical team at Frome Sports Grounds.

Frome are coming off a win over a good Godfrey Stewart team and their confidence will be up against Green Pond in a meeting between the teams for the first time.

Clarendon College will be odds on favourites to beat Christiana High at Kirkvine and book their place from Zone 4 ,while Cedric Titus and Old Harbour High are also expected to get by Fair Prospect and Brimmervale, respectively, in Zone 5.

Garvey Maceo will have their sights set on returning to the finals after last year’s meltdown against STETHS and should make another step in that direction when they take on first-time Inter-zone qualifiers Ewarton High at the Bramwell Clarke Complex in Linstead.

The race in Zone 6 is wide open after both games ended in draws on Wednesday, leaving all four teams on one point each.

Another first-time Inter-zone qualifier Oracabessa High will face former champions Dinthill Technical at the Oracabessa Community Centre in one game with Marcus Garvey High and Titchfield meeting at Drax Hall in the other game.

Games today

Christiana vs Clarendon College @ Kirkvine @ 1:00 pm

Rusea’s vs Muschett @ Jarrett Park @ 1:00 pm

Cornwall College vs Petersfield High @ Jarrett Park @ 3:00 pm

Frome Tech vs Green Pond High @ Frome @ 3:00 pm

STETHS vs Edwin Allen @ STETHS @ 3:00 pm

Mile Gully High vs Lacovia @ Manchester High @ 3:00 pm

Manchester High vs Holmwood Tech @ Kirkvine @ 3:00 pm

Brimmervale High vs Old Harbour High @ Oracabessa Comm Centre @ 1:00 pm

Oracabessa High vs Dinthill Tech @ Oracabessa Comm Centre @ 3:00 pm

Fair Prospect vs Cedric Titus @ Snow Hill Field @ 3:00 pm

William Knibb vs Godfrey Stewart @ Drax Hall @ 1:00 pm

Marcus Garvey vs Titchfield @ Drax Hall @ 3:00 pm

Glenmuir High vs St James High @ Juici Field @ 3:00 pm

Vere Tech vs Morant Bay High @ Jamalco @ 3:00 pm

Ewarton High vs Garvey Maceo High @ Bramwell Clarke @ 3:00 pm

Paul Bogle High vs Kemps Hill High @ Lysson Field @ 3:00 pm

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Leaders look to cement places in next round

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