All results / Stories / Neil Hartnell
Don’t wreck reputation with missing deadlines
Are you a ‘train wreck’ when faced with tight deadlines? If you are employed in marketing, design, web development or any other deadline-driven field, no doubt you have experienced snappy demands, postponements, obstacles, delays, distractions and all manner of commotions that can interfere with that very important project you have finally landed.
S&P: Baha Mar to prevent any outlook upgrade
Standard & Poor’s (S&P) says the delayed Baha Mar opening has eliminated any chance that it will raise its ‘negative’ outlook on the Bahamas, as it prepares to “revise downwards” growth estimates for this nation.
QC ‘awaits orders’ on Blackbeard’s Cay enforcement
A well-known QC is awaiting instructions from his environmental activist clients over how to enforce the judgment they obtained against the $8 million Blackbeard’s Cay project.

AG’s Office: We bungled Blackbeard’s Cay appeal
The Attorney General’s Office has admitted that the Government’s appeal over the $8 million Blackbeard’s Cay project was thrown out because it was asleep on the job.
‘Past desperation’ on vehicle title system
Bahamian auto dealers yesterday expressed hope that proposed Road Traffic Department reforms will ultimately result in a vehicle titling system, one telling Tribune Business its creation was “past desperation point”.
Air freight operators in Bahamas boycott threat
Florida-based air cargo companies are threatening to boycott the Bahamas over the new Customs fees and fines set to be introduced tomorrow, with this newspaper told: “It’s D-Day time.”
DPM: Bahamas must ‘prove’ itself to S&P
* ‘Not at all’ upset nation still ‘junk’ * Blames former Govt’s failure to deliver * Nation has 12-24 months to execute
The Government must “prove” it can deliver on its fiscal and economic turnaround strategy, the Deputy Prime Minister admitted yesterday, after Standard & Poor’s (S&P) kept the Bahamas at ‘junk’ status. K P Turnquest told Tribune Business he was “not at all” disappointed at the outcome of S&P’s annual review of the Bahamas’ sovereign creditworthiness, despite having previously expressed optimism that the Government could make the case to be upgraded to ‘investment grade’ status.
Gov’t narrows inner city taxation breaks
The Government yesterday appeared to narrow its planned VAT and inner-city ‘tax breaks’, while seeking to deliver on campaign promises of accountability, transparency and good governance.
CIBC:‘No plans’ for further terminations
CIBC’s top Caribbean executive yesterday said the bank had “no plans” for any further major outsourcing of jobs from the Bahamas, emphasising it was targeting the retail and private wealth management segments for growth.
‘No way’ Bahamas can be cut to junk
There is “no way” that Moody’s can cut the Bahamas to ‘junk’ status because it is still meeting all its debt obligations as they become due, a former finance minister argued yesterday.
Broker blames SEC battle on regulator’s ‘inaction’
A Bahamian broker/dealer has blamed the Securities Commission’s “inaction” for creating its dispute with US regulators over their document production demands.
VAT guidance notes undermine core financial sector policy
The Government’s “inconsistent” Value-Added Tax (VAT) positions are threatening to undermine core financial services policy objectives, a top QC warned yesterday, threatening a loss of competitiveness and high-value business.
RoyalFidelity predicts ‘double digit millions’ for new fund
RoyalFidelity believes its latest mutual fund will attract “double digit millions” from Bahamian investors through its promise to pay them a 4 per cent annual dividend.

Atlantis’s 4.5% Xmas rate rise beats hotel norm
Atlantis has seen a “quite substantial” 4.5 per cent year-over-year increase in average daily room rates (ADRs) for the upcoming peak Christmas/New Year season, a growth rate exceeding industry norms.
Freeport investment law blasted as ‘anti-business’
Freeport’s new tax incentives law was yesterday branded an “abomination” and “anti-business” by an FNM Senator, who argued that it will undermine both the city’s founding agreement and economic growth.
CIBC: Bahamas worst for ‘bad’ mortgages
CIBC’s top Caribbean executive yesterday revealed that the “magnitude” of non-performing home loans in the Bahamas was “greater than anywhere else” in the region, this nation accounting for 50 per cent of the bank’s ‘bad’ mortgages.
Telecom provider pledges ‘unheard of’ service levels
A newly-launched telecommunications provider yesterday promised “unheard of” service quality levels for the Bahamian market, as it will incur financial penalties for failing to meet customer expectations.

Contractor loses ‘millions’ in 4-year BEC theft fight
A former Bahamian Contractors Association (BCA) president yesterday said his business had lost “millions of dollars” during his four-year fight against electricity theft charges, and he was now trying “to put the pieces together again”.
Ex-BCA chief may not have obtained ‘fair trial’
Prosecutors “singularly failed” to prove that a former Bahamian Contractors Association (BCA) president stole electricity at a prominent downtown Nassau property that he managed, the Court of Appeal ruled.

PM says: ‘Make best of bad situation’ on VAT
A “very conciliatory” Prime Minister Perry Christie has urged the private sector to “make the most of a bad situation” on Value-Added Tax (VAT) and its implementation, Tribune Business can reveal.