Dear Editor,
I have read the latest letter by Ms Marcia Nadir-Sharma/NICIL in the Stabroek News edition of April 18, 2009 (‘NICIL does not have a real voice at AGMs of Guyana Stockfeeds Ltd’).
The thrust of this seems to be that the writer sees a correlation between a perceived fall in the profitability of Guyana Stockfeeds Inc and the advent of related party transactions with a Trinidadian company.
However, where the writer’s analysis falls apart is that the alleged fall in profitability began since 1998-99 while the related party transactions only commenced in 2004 – some 5 years apart! These are Mrs Nadir-Sharma’s figures and reveal that her perceived correlation is precisely that – a matter of perception. Indeed, this and recent events suggest that Mrs Nadir-Sharma will never perceive anything positively once Guyana Stockfeeds is involved.
With respect to her perception of a fall in the profitability of the company, I must remind her that the livestock feed business is a low margin one. These margins are further reduced by the company’s policy of making poultry affordable and supporting its customers, the farmers, by absorbing a substantial amount of these increases. Higher grain prices and drastic escalations in the price of fuel (see Chairman’s Report of 2008) are the chief culprits. I would also remind her that due to these factors, the market today is radically different to the period she nostalgically recalls – 1998-99.
Mrs Nadir-Sharma blithely asserts that there exist an equal number of directors and a casting vote held by the Chairman as the basis for her conclusion that the Board of Guyana Stockfeeds is not independent. However, I would suggest that before she could properly arrive at such a conclusion, she should ascertain just how many times this casting vote has been used by me to force decisions of the board. I can inform her this has never happened.
In her position, Mrs Nadir-Sharma ought to be more careful about bandying assertions that the board is not protecting shareholders. NICIL’s Chairman is on the Board of Directors of the National Insurance Scheme, yet this has not protected the poor and elderly of Guyana from having their retirement funds jeopardized in the current Clico debacle.
I also recall Mr Christopher Ram writing (see Stabroek News August 10, 2008) deploring the NICIL Board’s unlawful refusal to pay over a massive sum received from John Fernandes for the sale of the land at Mandela Avenue into the Consolidated Fund, in breach of the law.
Mrs Nadir-Sharma had cited the latest court ruling as an endorsement of NICIL’s position, which I had observed was premature as Guyana Stockfeeds had not been heard. In her recent letter, Mrs Nadir-Sharma has carefully avoided informing the public that since then, upon Guyana Stockfeeds’ being heard, the court discharged the injunction NICIL had secured on the ground that it was obtained by a serious non-disclosures of facts material to the case.
I must observe that NICIL seems to be the only dissatisfied shareholder. At the recent AGM every other one expressed satisfaction with the company’s affairs, possibly because they now enjoy dividends 100 times higher than when NICIL managed it. But selective disclosures seem to be a NICIL habit.
I take this opportunity to assure Mrs Nadir-Sharma that every one of Guyana Stockfeeds’ shareholders has a voice at its AGMs. Her company attends and approves the very audited financial statements it later (sometimes years later) questions elsewhere. I do not find this exchange of much utility, so this shall be my final response on this subject. If NICIL/Mrs Nadir-Sharma have genuine concerns, they are welcome to attend the next meeting and ventilate these.
Yours faithfully,
Robert J. Badal
Chairman
Guyana Stockfeeds Inc
