Group Chairman & Chief Executive of the ANSA McAL Group of Companies, Mr. A. Norman Sabga (centre) is moved to tears while paying tribute to his late father, Chairman Emeritus Dr. Anthony N. Sabga during the group’s 88th Annual General Meeting at the Radisson Hotel in Port-of-Spain on Thursday 25th May, 2017. Also in this photo are ANSA McAL Deputy Chairman Mr. Andrew N. Sabga (left) and Group Head of Legal and Corporate Secretary Mrs. Frances Bain-Cumberbatch.
Tributes paid to Anthony Sabga at AGM
A minute of silence was observed in acknowledgement of the life and passing of Dr Anthony N Sabga at the start of the 88th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of ANSA McAL shareholders held at the Radisson Hotel in Port-Of-Spain on Thursday 25th May, 2017.
The sombre start to the event was seen by all as a mark of respect for the sterling contribution of Sabga to the local and regional business landscape.
ANSA McAL director David Clarke told shareholders about the time and experiences he shared with the late businessman.
“I had the privilege of knowing Dr Sabga for some 50 years. He had many excellent core values. He was a family man and a very charitable man. The establishment of the ANSA McAL Foundation and the Anthony N Sabga Caribbean Awards are testimony to this.” Clarke said.
Clarke added that the time he spent working with Dr Sabga taught him many life lessons.
He said: “One of the things I learned from him was the importance of integrity. I learned also of the great sympathy he had for all the employees of the ANSA McAL group of companies and all the shareholders. Many of the decisions he took were in the interest of employees and shareholders.”
Struggling to hold back his own tears, group chairman and CEO Norman Sabga commented on his father’s tremendous work ethic.
He said: “The DNA that Dr Sabga left us with will always be with us. He worked up until two or three weeks before he passed. That tenacity and leadership, even at that stage, was so evident in each day that he came to work and what he achieved.”
Turning his attention to the current economic environment, Sabga said that local companies needed to become more competitive to capture existing business opportunities and generate greater levels of foreign exchange.
“The problem we have in Trinidad is one of competitiveness. We’ve been losing that competitiveness in terms of price escalations, wages, productivity and even in energy.” Sabga said.
For its financial year ended December 31st 2016, ANSA McAL generated profit after tax of $803 million from $6 billion in revenue.
In the first quarter of its 2017 financial year, the group registered $155 million in after tax profit—a marginal decline from the $156 million it earned for the comparative period in 2016.
Revenue also contracted for the first quarter by 1 per cent, moving from $1.411 billion in March 2016 to $1.396 billion in March 2017.
Taken from: Trinidad Guardian
Photo by: Andre Worrell
Date: Saturday 27th May, 2017
Link: http://www.guardian.co.tt/business/2017-05-27/tt-losing-competitiveness
