Feb 2008 Financial News

Supreme Ventures looks to list in Trinidad. Now positioning itself as a high-yielding dividend stock

Feb 22, 2008

On the heels of the retirement of Cuba's former president Fidel Castro, Brian George, president and chief executive officer of Supreme Ventures Limited (SVL), threw down the gauntlet to local hospitality authorities.

"That great sucking sound that you will hear is tourists choosing Cuba over Jamaica if we don't have comparable hospitality products."

Speaking at the Mayberry Investments Limited investor seminar on Wednesday at the Knutsford Court Hotel, George stated, "I don't know what the government is planning to do with casino gambling but we better be prepared for the Cuban tourism product."

However, George is not worried that the advent of mega-casinos in Jamaica will erode SVL's market share. "Studies show that people like to gamble near home. That is why we opened our second Acropolis location in May Pen. People like to go where they are known and will see their friends."

George informed the Mayberry audience that earlier in the day, SVL began the process of selecting an investment broker to help it cross-list its shares on the Trinidadian stock market.

"We are constantly seeking ways to widen the share ownership and create interest in our company." George told the Mayberry audience that, "We now see ourselves as a diversified company from where we started in 2001 as just a gaming company. While we are still very much in the gaming industry, we are a conglomerate with interests in restaurants and hotels." Therefore, the business of the SVL group is "customer excitement and entertainment."

To further excite shareholders, George stated that SVL would be known as a high-yielding dividend stock. George said, "We see ourselves becoming a dividend generating firm. We intend to layout 40 to 50 per cent of net earnings in 2008 with that figure rising to 60 per cent by 2009."

To grow revenues and net profit, George noted that the company planned to strengthen the popularity of the games offered. The company is also awaiting a licence to operate a daily bingo game. "Bingo is only second to dominoes in popularity in Jamaica. If we could find a way to computerise dominoes, we would be far, far ahead."

SVL also plans to offer a multi-jurisdictional game. "Next week I will be in Greece to discuss the partnership with a European lotto company."

Locally, the company will also seek to grow its slot machine presence. "Across Jamaica there are approximately 12,000 slot machines and 650 of those belong to us. We believe that future growth and profitability will be on our ability to deepen the slot machine market."


Source:
Dennise Williams
The Jamaica Observer
Friday, February 22, 2008

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/magazines/Business/html/20080221T200000-0500_132768_OBS_SUPREME_VENTURES_LOOKS_TO_LIST_IN_TRINIDAD.asp