Jun 2010 Financial News

‘DUDUS’ unrest hits businesses

Jun 01, 2010

As an eerie calm descends on the nation's capital after three days of clashes between criminal gunmen and the security forces, businesses are left to count the cost of the unrest that delivered a crunching body blow to commerce, but which many felt was necessary to break gangsters' stranglehold on the country.

Seventy-three lives were lost as gunmen loyal to Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, the alleged crime lord wanted by the United States to face gun-and drug-trafficking charges, engaged agents of the State for three days in West Kingston, a section of Jamaica's capital which lies more than 100 miles east of the tourist resort city of Montego Bay.

The upshot was that businesses in the Corporate Area were shuttered over the period, a move that impacted their bottom lines.

For businessmen like Mark Azan, proprietor of Azan's House of Fabrics on Princess Street in downtown Kingston, the district most affected by the violent outbreak, revenues started taking a hit from word got out that Justice Minister Dorothy Lightbourne would sign the authority for extradition proceedings to commence against the Tivoli Gardens don.

"From last week Monday (May 17), sales are down about 75 per cent," Azan said on Thursday, the day he reopened his business for the first time after security forces launched an all-out offensive in search of Coke and to restore order to Tivoli Gardens.

"The closer it got to the weekend, it became worse and since the operation, there has been absolutely no business whatsoever," he told Sunday Finance.

Azan, a member of one of Jamaica's oldest business families, said the fallout has been so bad that he's left with no other choice but to lay off some workers.

"I'm going to be laying off workers next week because I know I'll not be able to do the business to generate the funds to pay my full staff," said the entrepreneur.

An entire work-week of production was lost for Boss Furniture, a manufacturing outfit based on Church Street in downtown which produces bedding and polyurethane foam.

"My real issue is my staff security; I really don't want my staff risking the public transportation to come down here," said Boss Furniture chief executive officer Omar Azan, who is also president of the Jamaica Manufacturers' Association.

Boss Furniture has 225 employees, with some hailing from the war-torn Tivoli.

"They're all over; and you know to get to work, the only way they have to go is through Parade on the public transportation or to take a taxi and the taxi fare for them to come to work is just too expensive," said the Boss Furniture executive.

The economic lull was not just limited to downtown. As violence spilled over into other sections of the Corporate Area, the downturn in business activity was obvious all over the Kingston, St Andrew and Spanish Town in St Catherine.

In addition to the downturn in business activity, some entrepreneurs had to also deal with pilfering, as looters took advantage of the unrest.

The picture was painted perfectly by an Asian businesswoman on Red Hills Road whose store was ransacked as violence erupted in that often volatile community.

"They take everything, they break everything," said the woman.

Ironically, even gamblers weren't taking a chance on the situation, said Brian George, president and CEO of gaming company Supreme Ventures Limited (SVL).

"We had several issues, it's not just about down town, it's about the fact that people have either been not going to work or leaving work at very early hours to go home. So the lack of people on the road generally has affected us," said George, who estimated that sales were down some 25 per cent over the four-day period Monday to Thursday last week.

SVL's operations include betting games, lotteries and gaming lounges. The firm, George said, has 30 to 35 terminals in downtown Kingston alone.

A publicly listed company, SVL saw a 63 per cent increase in net profit to $167.4 million for the first quarter ending March 31, 2010.

On Harbour Street, downtown Kingston-based conglomerate GraceKennedy (GK), which has strong financial services and food trading operations made net profits of $834.9 million over the 2010 March quarter, was also affected.

"Because of the situation, the sales, even outside (of downtown Kingston) were very low initially but they've started to pick up within the last day or two," said GK Group chief operating officer Don Wehby on Thursday.

GraceKennedy's downtown headquarters and downtown-based retail businesses were closed for several days but Wehby noted that the firm has contingency plans for such situations, and as a result greatly minimised the impact that the civil unrest had on revenues.

"What we did was, we had our business continuity plan in the event of events like this, so we worked uptown in our New Kingston offices," Wehby told Sunday Finance.

"Our position is that we wanted to operate as normal as possible, so if you look at our retail stores, primarily Hi-Lo, Hardware & Lumber and (First Global) bank to a certain extent, most of the branches outside of downtown Kingston and Spanish Town, we kept open," added the GK executive.

Some business persons, however, are expecting better days ahead.

SVL's George said: "I'd say that we'd expect to see some period of decline but we expect to recover within a couple weeks of getting back some state of normalcy."

President of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica Joseph Matalon last week expressed his support to the security forces in their efforts to fight crime, saying it will play an integral role in creating a sustainable business environment for the future.

Wehby agreed with the PSOJ president.

"I think this is an opportunity and I fully support what Joe Matalon has been saying. I think this is an opportunity for downtown Kingston to be developed... this can be a renaissance for Jamaica," said Wehby, a former Government senator.

Others, however, are not so optimistic. Mark Azan, whose family has been a staple in the downtown business district for over six decades, is upset about the whole situation and expressed hopelessness.

"I am concerned, but it's not about business, it's about why am I living here," said Azan, obviously pained by the bloodshed over the last week.

"We have lost business, but most importantly we have lost our country," he said. "The people of Jamaica are the real losers in this, not business."


Source:
BY JULIAN RICHARDSON Assistant business co-ordinator richardsonj@jamaicaobserver.com
Jamaica Observer
Sunday May 30, 2010

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/DUDUS-unrest-hits-businesses_7654669