Top ratings go to Goddard

The Caribbean’s lone credit rating agency has given Barbados’ largest locally owned conglomerate top marks for the way it has handled its business during a very tough economic period.
Caribbean Information & Credit Rating Services Limited (CariCRIS) – the region’s only business and sovereign rating agency – has assigned Goddard Enterprises Limited (GEL) a CariAA- (foreign currency rating); CariAA (local currency rating), and bbAA on the Barbados national scale.
The Trinidadian-based CariCRIS said the Goddard rating represented a “high” standing when it came to the company’s credit worthiness on its debt compared with other Caribbean companies.
CariCRIS, in a recently-released report, said after one-time write-offs of $37.9 million in the 2011 financial year, which caused the company to record a $10 million loss, Goddard was now back on a growth path.