The Tribune

PRIME Minister Hubert Ingraham has promised City Markets workers the government will ensure they are treated fairly.

On Friday, the owners of the supermarket chain confirmed they were in talks with Super Value about the possibility of selling the remaining five stores to their biggest competitor.

Speaking at the opening of the FNM's Fox Hill constituency office on Saturday night, Mr Ingraham pointedly condemned the former Christie administration for approving the sale of City Markets to its current owners, which he said "resulted in the destruction of a longstanding supermarket chain that generations of Bahamians grew up with."

He said: "City Meat Market was originally Bahamian-owned. One of the early decisions of the PLP upon coming to office in 1967 was to approve the well-known Winn-Dixie chain of supermarkets in the United States to buy the food chain of stores.

"It was also the PLP that approved the Barbados Shipping & Trading, along with a small prominent Bahamian private investor group, to buy the company back from Winn Dixie in 2006.

"The Barbadian company was subsequently acquired by the Trinidad-based firm Neal & Massey.

"At the time of the sale to the Barbadian Group in 2006, 1,350 individual Bahamians and pension funds owned shares in City Market. Many of these investors were company employees and small investors. Some were approaching retirement.

"Up to this point the company had always been profitable. It carried all the top international quality food brands from North America and Europe and from such far flung Commonwealth countries as Australia and New Zealand.

"City Markets was considered a sound investment of 'blue chip' quality. Indeed dividend payments by Winn-Dixie had never been missed. Bahamians who owned shares felt secure that they were investing in a reputable company that would give them safe returns. They believed that the shares would provide for them in retirement and secure the future of their loved ones should they leave dependents at their death."

Mr Ingraham said the company was a good corporate citizen, celebrated for the thousands of scholarships granted to Bahamian students to pursue university training abroad.

At the time of the 2006 sale, he said, the company had $14million in savings and average annual earnings over the last decade were about $7.5 million.

Mr Ingraham said: "In the second year of operations the new owners reported a net loss with negative cash flow. Thus began the endless spiral downwards which included the endless need for additional injections of cash."

He said that despite being traded at a high of $22.75 in 2002 - the same year the PLP came to office - shares of City Markets have long ceased to pay dividends, and are in his opinion, "worthless".

Mr Ingraham said foreign and Bahamian co-shareholders paid "a pretty penny" for the parent company, Bahamas Supermarkets Ltd.

"They subsequently had to inject many more millions before having to walk away from City Markets. They left in their wake widespread uncertainty.

"I know that City Markets employees are all very concerned about their pension. We are told that your pensions are secure.

"Further, we will do the necessary also to ensure that you are dealt with in full compliance with the law with regard to any severance pay you are entitled to receive.

"It is a sad reality that hundreds of Bahamian shareholders lost their investment. And hundreds of Bahamian workers now have unstable employment and face an uncertain employment future.

"It is at a minimum quite ironic that the same Christie who now says that he puts Bahamians first, in 2006 turned down a bid to purchase City Markets by a groups of Bahamians who at a minimum may have better understood that Bahamian consumers generally want brand names products and that Bahamians don't change to buying unfamiliar generic goods quickly.

"Whatever is the case, the basic matter is this: the Christie administration agreed to a purchase which resulted in the destruction of a longstanding supermarket chain that generations of Bahamians grew up with.

"Bahamians must shudder at the thought of what potential disasters any new Christie government would bring to the country in terms of making decisions that would affect the livelihoods, shares, retirement savings and pension funds of Bahamians."