Newfound results and re-structuring announcements

Newfound NV released their annual results today, and at the same time announced major changes to the management structure, and corporate financing.

The following is the Humber Valley part of the Chairmans statement:
"At the beginning of the year the sales strategy was altered to attract high net worth purchasers to Humber Valley Resort in Newfoundland, Canada. This strategy has taken longer to deliver results than originally envisaged with new sales of US$ 4.7million which was below expectations, although in addition there were a number of re-sales.

We believe that there is a market for our product at Humber Valley at the US$ 750,000 level as evidenced by the re-sale market and from early 2008 this is where we have been concentrating our marketing efforts.

Since the autumn we have focused on vacation marketing to Humber Valley. This is an important aspect of the business as it gives a momentum throughout the year, increases our operational revenues and some of our vacationers have gone on to purchase property. We have now signed agreements with a number of Tour Operators who can sell vacations to the resort. Most of these Tour Operators are based in Europe and Canada, but due to the time lag in operators publishing their brochures and websites, we expect the main impact to be felt from the 2008/2009 ski season.

Humber Valley Resort's occupancy in 2007 rose by 18% over 2006 resulting in an increase in operational revenues in local currency of 16%. The first three months of 2008 showed further progress. Going forward, we are looking for further suitable agents for the North American markets and focussing on the conversion of vacation leads and enquiries into real bookings as well as enhancing our web based sales and marketing strategy.

Our current owners at Humber Valley are our best marketing avenue and we have been talking with many of them to see how we can improve the operations there. This has resulted in a review of the way the accommodation rental pool is operated to make it more simple and transparent. Priorities have been set for infrastructure capital spending that is required to benefit both owners and vacationers and improve the existing facilities.

As mentioned in my statement last year, we have been addressing the construction issues and although some still remain we did achieve our aim of accelerating the construction program during 2007 and we are making healthy margins on new build. During the year, we carried out significant construction work on over 60 chalets resulting in an increase in revenue in local currency from construction and furnishings of 66% to US$ 21.3 million. We have nearly completed the construction backlog inherited at the time of the Newfound acquisition in 2006 and, subject to suitable funding being in place, it is hoped that all of the remaining outstanding contracts will be started during 2008.

In 2007, the first full year of operation of the 18 hole golf course, we won four prestigious awards including Golf Magazine (golf.com) Best New International Course 2007 and ScoreGolf Magazine's Best Canadian New Golf Course 2007. The credit for this must go to our Golf manager and his team.

We have recently signed an agreement with Monarch Airlines to run a weekly Boeing 757 from Gatwick to Deer Lake to cover both the summer and winter seasons, thus supporting the expected increase in vacation traffic. Although the charter at present makes a financial loss until such time as vacation numbers increase, it is an important part of both the operations at Humber Valley Resort and its future development."

In addition todays annoucement included a new CEO, and a future new Chairman with Jeremy White standing down as Chairman when the right replacement is found.

Jayne McGivern, the former chief executive of Multiplex's UK arm, has taken over as head of a Newfound. McGivern, who left Multiplex in February in the wake of its takeover by Canada-based Brookfield last summer, was this morning appointed CEO of a new management team at Newfound.

Read the full statement - ShareCrazy or Newfoundresorts.com announcements
We're CrazyAboutNewfoundland.com - Are you?

Visit to cabin on Deer Lake (north shore)

We are www.CrazyAboutNewfoundland.com - Are you?

Saturday we (now only Dan & Kate, as Anne went home last week) borrowed a quad bike and drove back to the resort - and then off to the east, through the brook where the bridge is out and then on a further 6 miles. The trail runs along the north shore of Deer Lake, and we end up opposite Pynns Brook (on the south side), at Bettylou and John's excellent cabin.

Check other CrazyAboutNewfoundland videos on YouTube.com

It was our first visit to their cabin - and for sure they win the prize (so far) for cabins we've visited. Truely a home-from-home feeling. Tea, muffins and a good chat, ranging from the ways of cooking "hard bread", to describing what a real curry is all about, to logging history in the Deer Lake area ... A great way to spend a morning - Thanks guys!

Deer Lake Town - hit by flash flooding

Parts of Deer Lake on Newfoundland's west coast were flooded Sunday after the town received 31 millimetres of rain in just 20 minutes. Deer Lake received 31 millimetres of rain in just 20 minutes on Sunday, leaving parts of the town under water.

Deer Lake Mayor Darrel Kelly described the conditions in his community as a flash flood.
"Water was going across people's property through different parts of the community," Kelly said. "Water went into commercial property, basements. The town had to bring out as many crew as we could, we had to hire additional equipment, we had to do some ditching to try and alleviate the situation as much as possible."

Full story on CBC

Astraeus plans to cancel flights due to low demand

Keith Collins believes Astraeus Airlines pulled out of St. John's because they were forced out."They did not abandon this market," said the St. John's International Airport Authority president and CEO. "The market abandoned them."
The London, England-based charter airline announced Thursday that, due to low customer demand, it will cease its service between St. John's and London-Gatwick by the end of the summer.
The cancellation will have no impact on Astraeus' regular, twice-weekly service to Deer Lake. Flights, which have primarily serviced the Humber Valley Resort's clientele for the past two years, are flying as usual.
The news of the airline's discontinuation in St. John's came as a surprise to Collins, who had been prompted by the public to lure a year-round carrier to England. "The market has spoken and we're baffled by it, to be quite honest," he said. "It's a very disappointing development for us and this community. We've lost our year-round partner to London."
The service, which began in May, had reinstated the long standing, year-round air link with Europe, which was terminated when Air Canada cancelled its daily flights between St. John's and London's Heathrow Airport last September. The move was an attempt to satisfy Halifax-bound passengers, who were unhappy about having to pass through customs in Newfoundland. St. John's new partnership with Astraeus was pegged by many residents and politicians to be a triumph for business, tourism and travellers in this province.
However, the initial interest failed to materialize. Low ticket sales this summer and bookings for the fall meant the company was losing money. Passengers were, instead, "overwhelmingly" choosing to fly Air Canada - by a ratio of 10 to one. Air Canada resumed its direct route to London this year with a seasonal service, running from April to Sept. 4."
That means travellers are actually choosing to fly out of Halifax on Air Canada rather than flying direct out of St. John's on Astraeus," Collins said. "That's really baffling because that's exactly why we were asked to find another partner. "Collins figures passengers chose Air Canada because it was familiar, plus the fact they could earn and redeem air-mile points. He also noted that the travel agent industry here has proven to be loyal to Air Canada.
He said on average this summer, between five and 30 passengers were flying on Astraeus's 136-seat aircrafts.And the trends for the fall didn't look any rosier. "I'm confident that if they saw the numbers improving in September and October, they would've stayed," Collins said. "It was really quite surprising to them."The airline had invested heavily in providing the service, in terms of air craft, personnel recruitment, training, marketing and even a new online reservation system."Astraeus really had no choice, since it were losing significantly on much of their flights," Collins said. "They had to make a business decision."While the airport will lose money from landing fees, Collins said the biggest loser will be the community, which will not have a direct route to England during the fall and winter months.
As a result of Astraeus's pullout, Collins doubts St. John's will find another international airline in the forseeable future to fly to London."Given what's happened and given the choices the market has made, it's hard for me to credibly present this route as an opportunity for another international carrier, which is really unfortunate," Collins said. "I'll never say never. If market factors change, if this becomes a little bit of a learning experience for the market, a new entrant down the road might be better received."
Full articles on The Telegraph - or CBC.ca or COOP

NEWS: Sunwing Airlines adds service to Deer Lake

Sunwing Airlines adds service to Deer Lake Airport
February 23, 2007 Deer Lake, NL. Sunwing Airlines has announced a new weekly summer service direct from Deer Lake to Toronto from June 28 – September 6, 2007. Sunwing will utilsze its new generation Boeing 737-800 aircraft with a capacity for 189 passengers.

This new passenger service to and from Toronto follows recent announcements by the two major
national carriers to add a direct Deer Lake to Toronto service. Air Canada will commence its new daily direct service to and from Toronto on May 4 and WestJet will launch its new daily direct service to and from Toronto on May 14.
Full story or check Deer Lake Airport website