The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Caribbean Bottling Company (Bahamas) is aiming to start renovation work on its new $500,000 Freeport headquarters within the next fortnight, a development likely to create 15-20 construction jobs.

Walter Wells, the Coca-Cola bottler’s chief executive, told Tribune Business it aimed to complete the renovation of the former Lowe’s Pipe & Steel building by summer 2014.

Speaking to this newspaper from Freeport, where he was in meetings to conclude a construction contract with the contractor, Mr Wells said: “I expect the work will take us from four to six months.

“Our goal is to be done by the middle of the year. The summer season is a busy time for us. It’s at least a $500,000 investment, and hopefully it will create a few jobs for Freeport; somewhere between 15-20.”

Mr Wells added: “We purchased a building just off the Queen’s Highway, just down from Kelly’s .

“It used to be occupied by Lowe’s Pipe and Steel, and now we’re commencing renovations to make it suitable for our business. We’ll be starting in the next two weeks.”

Caribbean Bottling’s new 7,500 square foot Freeport distribution centre stems from its desire to own all its properties, rather than merely be a tenant.

That strategic objective has not been good for its former landlord, BISX-listed Premier Commercial Real Estate Investment Corporation, which will now see the company vacate a second property following the move from its former Thompson Boulevard property in Nassau several years ago.

Caribbean Bottling has been unsuccessful in efforts to acquire its existing Freeport base from Premier Commercial Real Estate, hence its impending switch.

“The move now is because we previously leased the real estate we occupied, and we prefer to own our real estate,” Mr Wells told Tribune Business.

“This is the most significant project we will undertake this year. It’s a complete refit. The building is almost being torn down and rebuilt. We will use the existing steel frame, but the outside cladding will be torn down and replaced. It’s a big job.”

Caribbean Bottling ships all product to Freeport from Nassau, and no full-time jobs are likely to be created from its new premises.

“I think that with roughly 12 people we’re adequate for the time being,” Mr Wells told Tribune Business of his Freeport operation. “We certainly expect to maintain that, and if the business can support it, we’d be happy to add people. We’re certainly not looking to reduce staff.”

He added that Caribbean Bottling was “satisfied” with drink sales over the Christmas period, given the prevailing economic environment and still-weak consumer spending.

“We found our business similar to last year, maybe slightly off,” Mr Wells told this newspaper, “but given the economy of the country at the moment, and unemployment levels, it was still in my view a successful season for us.

“I’m not complaining. It certainly sounds like some of the others, the wholesalers and merchants we do business with, may not have fared as well.

“Certainly we’re not complaining with how things turned out over the holidays. I think we were quite satisfied. A lot of people are unemployed, a lot of people are having difficulties making ends meet. I was quite pleased with the end result; it could have been worse.”

Mr Wells, though, joined many businessmen in expressing apprehension about the Bahamian economy’s prospects in 2014.

“I expect it’s going to be a challenge. There’s a lot of uncertainty about where we’re going from a tax standpoint, and that certainly isn’t going to help anybody,” the Caribbean Bottling chief said. “When there’s uncertainty, it can’t be positive.”

He acknowledged, though, the likely impetus that $2.6 billion Baha Mar project will give the Bahamian economy when it starts full operations in late 2014.

“We’ll see if it happens when they say it’s going to happen,” Mr Wells said. “My sense is we’re slowly inching in the right direction economically, and as a country.It’s [Baha Mar] a first bright spot; a light at the end of the tunnel.”