The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A top businessman yesterday said the Bahamian economy was “poised to have a good inning”, with stock market investors having seen a collective $176 million increase in the value of their investments year-to-date.

Franklyn Wilson, the Sunshine Holdings and Arawak Homes chairman, told Tribune Business that better-than expected results produced by his numerous business interests, and the interest shown by top US developers in his Cotton Bay project, showed the Bahamas was on the cusp of an economic rebound.

Disclosing that the “phones are ringing off the hook” on his Eleuthera-based resort development, Mr Wilson said: “There are very serious signs that this economy is continuing to grow.

“Almost every day I see signs of it. Businesses with which I am involved are every day reporting better results. April was a particularly strong month for a business I’m involved with, and the company president said: ‘Let’s hope it continues’.”

As for Cotton Bay, Mr Wilson told Tribune Business: “The phones are ringing like crazy. All I can tell you is that we are in a hell of a lot better place than six-nine months ago, and the phones are off the hook.

“I’m now talking to some of the biggest names in resort development in America; we know we have their attention.”

The external signs were also good, Mr Wilson said, with the US Dow Jones Industrial Average at a consistent record high for 20 weeks.

Improved investor confidence boded well for both foreign direct investment (FDI) and the Bahamian tourism industry, and the well-known businessman said the Bahamas International Securities Exchange (BISX).

With the BISX All-Share Index up 6.12 per cent year-to-date, based on the 2012 year-end market capitalisation of $2.87 billion, some $175.6 million has been added to the latter this year, taking it to $3.045 billion.

“The signs are showing here with the growth in BISX,” Mr Wilson told Tribune Business. “When we stop to think that BISX, year-over-year, is up 6.12 per cent, that’s pushed market capitalisation up to $3 billion.

“That’s an extra $180 million locally of equity value that they didn’t have. In an economy of this size, that is very, very significant. When you look at the volume increase, the trading activity, that’s a sign of confidence.”

As for the $2.6 billion Baha Mar project, Mr Wilson praised its principals, Dikran and Sarkis Izmirlian, for removing “the last cloud” hanging over it via the casino management agreement signed in Macau last week.

Noting that FINCO’s recent launch of a mortgage campaign indicated home lending might start to resume, Mr Wilson said: “These things are all landmarks which we cannot ignore.

“We are poised for a good innings if we get this right. If we ride this thing properly, Baha Mar has a lot of legs. The Chinese influence is growing. The top people from China are coming here with phones. This is what it’s going to take to reverse these huge deficits and stop borrowing more money.”

Pointing out that Florida’s luxury real estate market was “red hot”, another positive for the Bahamas, Mr Wilson urged Bahamians not to “miss this opportunity”.

“I truly believe that in this country we have the potential to have a really good innings,” he told Tribune Business.

“I don’t know how long it’s going to last, and I encourage all Bahamians, let’s pull together, let’s work hard, be productive and more diligent. What’s happening, we can’t ignore this.”