For all the various challenges that confront Banks DIH Ltd the company continues to exude an aura of confidence and optimism that ought to serve as a source of encouragement to local entrepreneurs in a society where doing business can be fraught with difficulties. Having celebrated its fiftieth birthday last year, the company has, of course, lived through earlier even more difficult periods and perhaps it is its sheer stamina as much as its success in business over the years that makes it one of the flagships of the local private sector.
During the course of the past two weeks the company’s Chairman, Clifford Reis has made various public statements about aspects of the performance of the company, including the annual reports that formed part of the Banks DIH Ltd and Citizens Bank annual general meetings for the financial year ended 30th September, 2006.
In the company’s group report Reis discloses that profits for last year slumped by $42m over the previous year and that fuel prices coupled with last year’s Citizens Bank bonds fiasco continues to be among the company’s major current business concerns. Add to that his disclosure last Saturday about the heavy tax burden the company continues to bear and you get a pretty good idea of the magnitude of the challenges that confront the company in the period ahead.
For all its difficulties, however, it appears that Banks continues to have an abiding confidence both in the Guyana economy and in its own ability to survive and to grow. At least that is the clear impression given by Chairman Reis in – perhaps ironically – his report in the Citizens Bank 2006 Annual Report. While conceding that the economic environment in which the bank operated last year displayed what he described as “mixed results” Reis, nonetheless, believes that the company can anticipate “real growth” – albeit at “a modest rate” – in the period ahead mainly as a result of “strong growth in the engineering and construction and service sectors.” He also appears hopeful about prospects for the continued recovery of the agricultural sector – particularly sugar and rice – from their respective dismal performances in recent years. And, Reis says in his Citizens Bank report, given an enabling social and economic environment the company is actually looking forward to doing business in 2007.
Reis’s upbeat note contrasts with the mood of uneasiness that has afflicted so many businessmen since the January 1, 2007 introduction of Value Added Tax and their own less than upbeat business projections for the year ahead. The forestry sector is a good example of an industry in which diminishing productivity, high fuel prices and financial pressures arising out of the need to replace old and inefficient machinery has generated a distinct sense of gloominess among investors.
As if to emphasise its own contrasting confidence and optimism Banks DIH has launched three new products within the first month of 2007. Additionally, the company is collaborating with the West Indies Rum and Spirits Association (WIRSPA) in a bid to secure a share of the multi-million dollar North American and European market for its branded rum products.
At last Friday’s press briefing held to launch two of the three new products company Director George Mc Donald exuded the same confidence in the company’s ability to do well both in terms of expanding market share for its products and responding to customer tastes. And in what appears to be a collective top management decision to publicly project an aura of continued optimism and confidence in the face of the odds Mc Donald used the media briefing to echo Reis’s confidence in Banks DIH’s ability to grow, prosper and recover from last year’s reduced profits.
While the seemingly unbridled confidence and optimism of Banks DIH is clearly not shared by the entire business community – some businesses cannot help but wear their hearts on their sleeves – its outlook ought at least to serve as a source of encouragement to the rest of the business community. Indeed, it is the continued optimism and resourcefulness that the company has demonstrated over the years that makes it an unquestioned leader in Guyana’s corporate community.
