Mr. Thomson: Caribbean Utilities Company or CUC, as its known here in the Cayman Islands, is the sole provider of electricity to the island of Grand Cayman, the major island in the Cayman Islands. There are three islands in the Cayman Islands. CUC does not provide service to the other two small islands adjacent to Grand Cayman, about 60 miles away. We presently have approximately 19,500 customers. We operate under a license with the Cayman Islands government that allows us a permitted return of up to 15% on a rate base formula. The company listed itself on The Toronto Stock Exchange back in 1990 and presently has a market cap of close to 300 million U.S.
TWST: Can you familiarize us with the underlying economics in this market?
Mr. Thomson: The economy here is based effectively on two large pillars: one is tourism and the other one is offshore banking. Both are here, with tourism being slightly larger than the financial community. Cayman is one of the top financial centers in the world at present. We have a full employment society here. We consider our selves to be quite similar, from a social economic structure, to Bermuda. We have the highest standard of living in the Caribbean. We have in excess of $32,000 U.S. per capita. The population of the islands is approximately 45,000.
Tickers included in this excerpt: CUPU.T
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