The Tribune

FOCOL Holdings was planning to penetrate Grand Bahama's cruise ship "bunkering" market before the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown that sector and the wider economy.

Sir Franklyn Wilson, the BISX-listed fuel supplier's chairman, had told the company's shareholder annual general meeting (AGM) that it was "pivoting" towards projects that will expand its range of revenue streams in Grand Bahama.

"FOCOL is particularly well balanced in terms of having considerable storage capacity adjacent to BORCO, having access to the harbour and having a pipeline going from our storage capacity to the harbour. This combination of circumstances positions the company to do more in the area of bunkering," said Sir Franklyn.

"The cruise industry is changing very dramatically. The fact of the matter is, as more of these cruise lines change where they do what, all of that will have implications for a company like FOCOL. So bunkering is a business that we see as being a part of our future to a greater extent than it is today."

Since going public in 1999, FOCOL has returned $170m in cash to its investors. Anthony Robinson, its president and chief executive, said: "Sir Franklyn Wilson, Caryl Lashley and I were given the task to take FOCOL public by 1999. We quickly settled on the theme 'fuel growth for people', and offered the public the opportunity to purchase shares at $5 per share.

"An investor who purchased 1,000 FOCOL shares for $5,000 in 1999, as at fiscal year-end 2019, owns 12,000 FOCOL shares, valued just under $41,000, and would have received dividends of just under $15,000. FOCOL has consistently paid quarterly dividends for 20 years without fail. This achievement clearly demonstrates that, for FOCOL, fuelling growth for people is more than a slogan but our core business strategy."

The BISX-listed firm has more than quadrupled its overall staff levels from 104 persons in 1999 to a team of 472 employees in 2019. "Our passion for customer service was evident after the passing of Hurricane Dorian," Mr Robinson recalled. "Our maintenance and engineering staff were immediately deployed to Abaco.

"Temporary mobile fuelling equipment was shipped from Nassau and strategically placed to restore fuel distribution on Abaco and its cays. As a result of our staff's commitment, fuel distribution was restored within days of the passing of the storm. This helped to restore a sense of normalcy on the island."

For the first two quarters of its fiscal year 2020, FOCOL enjoyed a net income of $16.3m compared to $11.5m for the same period last year. That, though, was before the pandemic struck.