Apr 2012 Financial News

Not so!

Apr 16, 2012

CEO of the Barbados Shipping and Trading (BS&T), G. Anthony King, has dismissed suggestions of asset stripping within BS&T since it was taken over by Neal and Massy.

There have been suggestions that since that acquisition, a number of BS&T companies were closed with the latest being Almond Beach Village, which will be closed at month end, joining DaCosta Manning at Speightstown, the Fontabelle Lumber yard, as well as Warrens Motors.

In rebutting this, King said the closure of DaCosta Manning (Speightsown), the lumber yard and Warrens Motors had absolutely nothing to do with Neal and Massy Holdings Limited.

Rather, the action taken with respect to those businesses came directly from the Barbados Shipping and Trading (BS&T).
“Firstly, DaCosta Manning has been somewhat of a journey for BS&T; nothing to do with Neal and Massy, absolutely nothing at all,” King said.

He pointed out that in terms of taking a loss-making company and trying to find the right configuration, structure and identifying what areas can be profitable and which were loss making and the level of business such as Speightstown, could not cut it in terms of a profitable investment.

The BS&T official said that one cannot just be in business to make a profit. “You have to be in business to make a reasonable return on profit,” he stressed, while stating that DaCosta Manning was making losses.

King recalled that when he first came to BS&T, changes had to be made within the first couple of years with DaCosta Manning. Those changes, he explained, cost jobs.

“Later on, as a part of continuing that journey, we consolidated warehousing and came out of Speightstown and that cost jobs, it had absolutely nothing to do with Neal and Massy,” King reiterated. “That was something the management of DaCosta Manning, myself and others within the BS&T group were working on to find solution,” King said, insisting that no one from Neal and Massy came and did that.

He made it clear that DaCosta Manning was being worked on before and after the BS&T acquisition.
Dealing with Warrens Motors which was closed last year, King remarked that this company was losing money and continued to do so.

“Because Neal and Massy was in the automotive business, I decided to wait to see to what degree the automotive management know how within the Neal and Massy Group would have been able to bring a different modus operandi to Warrens Motors,” King explained.

He explained that when they looked at the Warrens Motors it was not sustainable and that he subsequently sought to find a buyer for the dealership.

According to him, “I spoke with about three or four parties, including some one externally, who had dealerships in many parts of the world. They all declined and therefore we moved to the next decision which was to find homes for the brands and some of those staff.”

“So that had nothing to do with Neal and Massy, that had to do with a natural progression of looking at loss making businesses and dealing with them,” he added. (JB)


Source:
Barbados Advocate
Monday April 16, 2012

http://www.barbadosadvocate.com/newsitem.asp?more=business&NewsID=24077