Rayside ready to roll

Terrence Thornhill, president of CLICO Holdings Barbados Limited. (FP)

By Geralyn Edward | Wed, January 18, 2012 - 12:00 AM

CLICO subsidiary Rayside Construction is facing some financial challenges but a top company official has dismissed suggestions that it was about to be taken over by receivers.

Terrence Thornhill, president of CLICO Holdings Barbados Limited, said reports of the long-standing company’s financial condition were grossly exaggerated.

Thornhill said Rayside, which became a part of the CLICO group in 2005, “is challenged like many other companies in Barbados by the current economic conditions but the situation is improving”.

He told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY that management of Rayside Construction had completed the company’s business plan and believed 2012 would be a much better one than last year, allowing the No. 2 road-building company to maintain the jobs of its more than 200 workers.

“The company was largely affected by the construction downturn but according to the Central Bank, construction is recovering slowly and as projects start to come on stream we expect to get a reasonable share of those projects,” he explained.

While not offering specifics on the company’s financial position, he said Rayside was restructuring to ensure that it was in a position to take advantage of any additional business but also “tweaking” in the event that conditions did not improve to the point it was expecting.

Thornhill disclosed that he was now managing a scaled-back operation as CLICO International Life was under court-ordered management, CLICO Mortgage and Finance had been sold, and CLICO General Insurance was on the verge of disposal to a new owner – Sandridge Limited.

Thornhill said Rayside Construction and a property holding company remained the key enterprises in the group. He added that CLICO was involved in the construction of some low income homes and a project at Lemon Arbor, St John, as well as agricultural operations.

CLICO still owns St Lucia Distillers Ltd and Todds Estates Ltd in Barbados, with substantial agricultural lands.

“We are making adjustments like other companies and doing our best in what is a very difficult economy,” he added.

CLICO Holdings has operated in Barbados for the past 28 years and in 2008 had an asset base of $1.4 billion in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, while its parent company CL Financial boasted assets exceeding $1 billion.

In early 2009, CLICO Holdings Barbados began a steady decline when its Trinidad-based parent announced it was on the verge of collapse and sought financial assistance from the Trinidad and Tobago government.

Since then the local company has been forced to sell off key operations while its biggest income generator – CLICO International Life – was under the court’s management as a solution is sought for its hundreds of investors and policyholders.