BC Liquor Distribution Branch (BCLDB) payments to two of its biggest suppliers rose in fiscal 2015-16, according to the statements of financial information released September 30.
Brewers Distributor Ltd., the joint Molson and Labatt-owned beer hauler, billed the Crown liquor company $412.9 million, up from $405.2 million a year earlier. The $106.3 million paid to Mark Anthony Group beat the previous year’s $97 million. Last fall, Mark Anthony Group announced the US$350 million sale of its beer and cider brands to Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE:BUD;EBR:ABI).
The East Vancouver-headquartered BCLDB reported a $1.03 billion profit on almost $3.16 billion in sales, up from $2.87 billion the year previous. Provincial government coffers received $1.02 billion.
BCLDB paid Aquilini Properties LP $2.24 million in 2016. Aquilini partnered in 2014 with the Musqueam Indian Band, Squamish Nation and Tsleil-Waututh Nation to buy the BCLDB’s East Broadway warehouse land for $37 million.
BCLDB also paid Ohio-based Sedlak Management Consultants $843,271 on its ongoing contract to advise the agency on its new warehouse.
Earlier this year, the government issued a request for expressions of interest to provide 35 acres on which to build a new 750,000 square foot warehouse (expandable to 1 million square feet) somewhere in the Lower Mainland by September 2019.
The Ministry of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction, which is responsible for BCLDB, is releasing few details about the project, which is overseen by former PartnershipsBC assistant vice-president Rick Steele. The government is withholding the draft business plan and the evaluation report, claiming they are protected by cabinet secrecy.
Meanwhile, the BC Lottery Corp. (BCLC) reported $1.31 billion net income through the end of its fiscal year.
Three of the biggest suppliers listed in its Financial Information Act return are the operators of major Lower Mainland casinos.
Great Canadian Casinos, parent of the River Rock Casino Resort in Richmond, was paid $227.3 million during the year, down from $244.6 million a year earlier. Gateway Casinos’ $200.5 million was higher than the previous year’s $193.8 million. Edgewater Casino received a $28 million jump, to $83.7 million from $55.57 million. Its parent company, Paragon Gaming, is building the new Parq casino and hotel complex beside BC Place stadium. The completion was delayed to fall 2017 from early 2017.
BCLC CFO Amanda Hobson’s $215,932 salary for the year trailed behind five other senior executives, but her $126,699 in expenses was the highest listed in the statutory disclosure.
The province’s biggest Crown corporation, BC Hydro, reported $5.66 billion revenue, down from $5.75 billion. Net income rose to $655 million from $581 million. Hydro, however, has an $18.7 billion debt. The company paid $326 million, up from $264 million, to the province, as part of its annual transfer agreement.
Hydro’s report said that expenditures on the $9 billion Site C dam project from 2007 to 2015’s third quarter have been deferred. The corporation paid nearly $1.75 million to Woodfibre LNG, the company with federal and provincial approval to build an LNG export facility near Squamish. A final investment decision has yet to be made by the Singaporean owner, but Hydro bought electricity from the company’s Squamish Power Project.
CEO Jessica McDonald’s $390,618 salary was less than deputy Chris O’Riley’s ($404,533), but more than that of Powerex division CEO Teresa Conway ($388,437).
SNC-Lavalin (TSX:SNC) ($53.59 million) and its operations division ($12.07 million) were paid under a facilities operations outsourcing contract. InPower BC, the SNC-Lavalin division that is building the John Hart Generating Station near Campbell River, was paid $82.82 million.
BC Hydro also paid Accenture Business Services of BC, its outsourced back-office provider, $71.69 million.
BC Pavilion Corp. (PavCo), which manages the Vancouver Convention Centre and BC Place, reported a $4.17 million deficit, beating its projection of a $12.5 million shortfall.
