BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE rumours surrounding closure of the Sandy Point Branch of the TDC Group of Companies became reality, as the doors to that entity were sealed on February 1, 2011.
In an interview with TDC’s Chief Executive Officer Michael Morton and Human Resources Director Dennis Knight, Morton explained, “It was a business decision to close the Sandy Point Branch. It was based basically on financial results. The Branch had not been giving us the returns that we expected and after many changes and change in the business models to get it to give us the desired results, we still could not get it. Therefore, we took the decision to close.”
Knight, who confirmed his CEO’s reason for the closure, noted that the Sandy Point Branch could not have stood on its own with regards to profitability.
“One of the things we did previously was to amalgamate the operations of the Sandy Point Branch with the Home and Building Depot so that it became a part of the Home and Building Depot set up. Standing on its own however, it was not giving us the returns and so we pulled together so that we can pool resources. But even after pooling, it still was not working out,” Knight said.
In providing details concerning employees, both Morton and Knight explained that during the time when the company was deliberating on whether or not to close the Branch, most of them were transferred to the TDC Basseterre Branch. They also explained that upon the time of its closure, the remaining employees, except for two, were absorbed into the company.
When asked about robberies at the Sandy Point Branch and if they were the main factor for its closure, Morton said they were of concern but emphasised they were not the main reason.
“Of course, it [robbery] must have some impact! We took a business decision to close and the business decision was based on all those factors,” Morton said.
He explained that the cost of operating that branch was already quite high and additional security that would have been required to protect not only the company’s assets, but also the lives of the employees, would have been enormous and uneconomical.
Sometime after 3:00 p.m. on Friday, October 29, 2010, two armed men robbed the TDC Sandy Point Branch of an undisclosed sum of money. One was said to be wearing a ‘hoodie’, armed with a handgun, and the other with what appeared to be an AK47.
Just days before that robbery (Oct. 16), the Branch was violated. Reports indicated that employees had secured the office at about 12:30 in the afternoon and upon their return the following Monday morning they discovered papers were strewn about and a vault that was left standing in an upright position was found on its back.
Leslian Daniel, former Senior Supervisor of the Branch, told SKNVibes that whoever the perpetrator(s) were, it appeared that they tried to open the vault to no avail. He however informed that they made off with a number of small items from the entity.
The TDC Sandy Point Branch had been in operation since in the 1980s.
