Humber Valley Resort sold

The troubled Humber Valley Resort, which last year went into bankruptcy last year, has a new buyer according to the trustees Ernst and Young.

No details have been released but the deal may close as early as December 18.

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When hum meets chum

First there was "Adios Indy."

Here's how Ryan Cleary described it:

Brian Dobbin, the publisher and financial backer, says his interest is not in Newfoundland anymore. Which is a shame to hear from the Newfoundlander who put so much of the hum in the Humber Valley. He’s disillusioned with this place, to put it mildly, but I’ll leave it to Dobbin to tell his own story. I don’t know the details.

Poor Brian is disillusioned.  Terrible news. Dobbin apparently lost money on the Indy venture over its entire lifespan which, Cleary suggests, was undertaken solely out of Dobbin's interest in journalism and getting to the bottom of stories.

Like the Terra Nova one Cleary mentions. 

What Cleary failed to mention was that the single source they used to support the piece recanted as soon as the thing hit the shelves. The Hibernia one Dobbin was supposedly interested in is also a pack of nonsense.  Cleary never printed anything on it because it doesn't exist.  They couldn't find anything,

Regular Bond Papers readers will recognise Cleary's version of things as a spin job.  You know spin:  it's the word public relations people use instead of the less polite term "bullshit".

Ryan - intrepid fact and truth uncoverer that he claims to be - wasn't happy with just mere "spin" so he torqued things  a bit more for a two-parter in The Current:

From my perspective, I say that Dobbin put a high price on the paper to ensure that any new owner was serious about the newspaper business.

Ryan's writing gives new meaning to "60 cycle hum".

Well, turns out that Cleary missed a hum alright, a hum-dinger of a story.

A handful of months after Disillusioned Dobbin killed the Indy, we discover that Humber Valley is in the hole to the tune of $50 million.

What's worse:

Apparently there was an operational debt of one million dollars per month to run the resort and one and a half million dollars per month to offer the direct flights from Gatwick to Deer Lake.

The monthly losses at the resort were being financed by the parent company and this was threatening the financial well being of the entire company.

Hmmm.

Sounds just like the Indy, which Cleary says cost Dobbin $2.0 million in losses even though - as they always claimed - it was on the verge of breaking even.

Another story, entirely, right there and Ryan missed it.  

Amazing.

Did he ever bother to ask what his free flight cost the company?

If only he'd thought to ask, maybe he'd have had a much bigger story than the one he wrote at the time.

In the meantime, the Humber Valley resort was a great concept.  let's hope it can be salvaged.

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Humber Valley Resort gets 30 day creditor protection

The owners of Humber Valley Resort sought and obtained court protection for at least 30 days in order to develop a financial reorganization plan to creditors.

Only three weeks ago, the resort owners announced a major restructuring.

The resort owners are reportedly in discussions with government, as they have been apparently since last year, seeking some form of government financial support.

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Government considering subsidies to private sector businesses

The provincial government is considering subsidizing air travel for people owning property in western Newfoundland but living outside Canada.

The idea of discount air travel using public money has been around for some time but has picked up momentum as Humber Valley Resort restructures and withdraws from tourism activity.  Currently, the resort offers its property owners a subsidized direct flight between the United Kingdom and Deer Lake. The resort won't be continuing the subsidized air travel for its property owners.

International commercial air travel is currently available to the island's west coast through connections in Toronto, St. John's, Halifax and Montreal.

A summer service by Air Canada between London (Gatwick) and St. John's was canceled after Astraeus Airlines - which then operated the private charter flights to the resort - introduced a stop in St. John's to challenge what was already a weak intercontinental market out of St. John's. Astraeus canceled its St. John's to Gatwick flight as well citing low business volume.

A west coast lobby group - Humber Direct-Air  - is looking at ways of providing the subsidy currently covered by Humber Valley Resort using other funds, apparently including a source that isn't the public till.

The lobby group includes west coast businesses, as well as the Deer lake airport authority head and a representative of Humber Valley Resort.

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The changes at Humber Valley

1.  Layoff of 40 staff, as Newfound NV looks to stick to its core business lines.

2.  A brief profile of the new boss at Newfound NV.

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Dobbin resigns from Newfound NV

Newfound NV announced today that Brian Dobbin is leaving the company effective December 31, 2007.

He will also be resigning his Newfound directorships in order to pursue unspecified
personal interests, according to a company news release.

Dobbin's shareholdings in the company are unaffected and existing restrictions on the disposal of shares remain in effect.

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Newfound Group lobbying province apparently without lobbyist registration

Newfound Group has been lobbying the provincial government for assistance with the Humber valley resort yet no lobbyists have been registered, as required by provincial law. [Update: See correction below]

Interviewed by CBC Radio's David Cochrane, Jeremy White, president of Newfound Group said the company has been working with the province to have the province lobby Air Canada to restore a direct flight between St. John's and London.

White also said his company was seeking provincial government assistance with its marketing program. He said the provincial government had offered to help defray some of the company's annual marketing program. White indicated that the company the government had been working closely together to deal with the company's financial issues.

However, the provincial lobbyist register contains no entries for anyone or any company related to Newfound.

The provincial lobbyist registration act requires that a company lobbying the provincial government register within 10 days of starting any lobbying activities. [Correction: The 10 day rule applies if the company is using a consultant lobbyist.] The online registry is current as of 21 November. An in-house lobbyist must register if his lobbying activity constitutes 20% or more of his or her time during a three month period.

In July 2007, Humber Valley Resort hired former tourism minister Paul Shelley as its new general manager. Shelley retired from politics on July 13 and was replaced in cabinet in January, having signalled his intention not to seek re-election in the fall. Shelley was human resources minister at the time of his departure from cabinet.

In addition to any political heights Shelley has scaled, his days at Humber Valley have included the odd rock wall, as this video shows. This and other videos on the resort can be found on the resort blog.

Shelley isn't the only Humber Valley executive with ties to the current administration. Humber Valley chief executive officer Brian Dobbin serves on the provincial government's Irish business partnership board. He is also publisher of The Independent newspaper.

Neither Shelley nor Dobbin is listed in the provincial lobbyist registry.

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