Brian Bell performs strongly

By DALE LUMA
THE Brian Bell Group has enjoyed a strong first quarter performance across all business areas and regions, group chief executive officer Cameron Mackellar says.
Mackellar said this had been underpinned by a new Homecentre opening in Mt Hagen, Western Highlands, a month ago and strong engagement with all divisions with corporate customers.
“There has been a little unrest in certain regional locations in the past month or so, we and other businesses were forced to close for short periods of time before seeing a return to normal trading,” he said.
“We hope the rest of the election timing will be conducted with no further incidents.
“We all enjoy peaceful elections and certainly don’t want to see any further loss of life stemming from it.”
Commenting on the recent Government interventions which has led to certain taxes being lifted to combat inflation, Mackellar said: “Any GST (goods and services tax) relief is a good one for consumers.
“However, to date it has not had a material impact on our trading performance.
“Maybe food has been different.”
He added that foreign currency issues seemed to be a perennial problem.
“Sadly, the foreign currency issue never seems to go away in Papua New Guinea,” he said.
“The appetite business has for stimulating the economy through overseas purchases and services is always greater that’s what’s being allocated in the domestic banking market.
“We continue to work closely with our good banking partners to pay our suppliers on time.”