Fintry Queen investment opportunity has potential, but what about the risk?

KELOWNA — Listening to Andy Schwab talk about his plans for the Fintry Queen, it’s hard not to get caught up in his enthusiasm.

“I'm feeling very confident,” says Schwab, president of the Okanagan Lake Boat Company, which owns the vessel and is proposing to resurrect the former car ferry and dinner cruise ship in a new venture. “We’ve looked at five different business models. We’ve got the price of fuel going way up. We’ve chopped our passenger projections back. I’m pretty confident, based on the history of the ship, that we can meet those numbers.”

Schwab’s company, through the B.C. Investment Capital program, is offering $1 shares in the company that he says will double in value in five years and when combined with the generous tax credit offered under the program, offers would-be investors a potential return of 23 per cent.

“At the end of the term, what we’re guaranteeing is you will double your investment basically,” Schwab added today, Feb. 13.

What he’s not so keen to talk about is that there is no real guarantee — investors can also lose their initial investment should the company go under although they would retain the 30 per cent tax credit regardless of whether the company stays afloat.

“There’s always that chance, I suppose,” said Schwab, who leased and operated the Fintry Queen for two years when it was still moored on Kelowna’s waterfront and offering dinner cruises and special event bookings.

In the information package he is sending to would-be investors, Schwab says the Fintry Queen carried over 30,000 passengers a year during his tenure, before losing its operating certification with Transport Canada in 2001. He compares it to the Kettle Valley Railway tour which operates on an old railway line outside Summerland. 

“It’s hard to find, operates only two trips a day five days a week, with some long weekends thrown in and it consistently does 27,000 to 28,000 passengers a year.”

Kelowna residents, who can recall the trials and tribulations of the Fintry Queen over the years, would be forgiven for questioning his numbers, but Schwab won’t be swayed.

“The Fintry Queen has a proven track record,” he said. “In the days before the internet and social media, it would do 28,000 passengers a year, as well.”

The Fintry Queen remains moored in Sutherland Bay and Schwab said improvements made by previous owners means the ship is mechanically sound, lacking only a fresh paint job, a new pier and a number of permits before commencing operations.

His plan for the $600,000 he hopes to raise, is to construct a new pier on Penticton’s Okanagan Lake waterfront, as well as improvements to the ship over the five-year investment period.

Schwab said that although it is a private company, the rules of the B.C. Investment Capital Investment program allow him to offer shares.

“It is a B.C. Securities Commission-regulated program with reporting requirements almost like a public company,” he said.

What he doesn’t have is breathing room, citing a March 1 deadline to satisfy the requirements of the investor program.

“Time is of the essence here. We’ve got two weeks to pull that investment together,” he said. “Sometimes there needs to be some urgency for people to act and we want to use that to our advantage if possible. We’ve had a lot of interest from individuals over the last year but getting people interested is one thing and getting people to commit is another.”

To contact the reporter for this story, email John McDonald at jmcdonald@infotelnews.ca or call 250-808-0143. To contact the editor, email mjones@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

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  1. It is a Sad Legacy We As A Kelowian’s, Are Losing Our Fintry Queen to Penticton, whenOurMajor Industry Is Tourism., and the Fintry Queen was are only way to cross Lake Okanagan back in the 50’s. We Made Many A Trips On The Fintry.1958 was when our Bridge opened.Proudly to say My Father worked on The Bridge building the Pontoons.Kelowna Stand Up And Keep Our Fintry Queen Hopefully In Kelowna, and City Hall, stop over taxing in the winter months and Keep Our Fintry Queen In Kelowna, AND THE LEGACYIT HOLDS TRUE. SAD NEWS when our last Mayor Walter Gray whom grew up in Kelowna , SPENT $800.000 DOLLARS ON A BATHROOM IN CITY PARK, TO IMPRESS VISITORS AND DID NOT PROTECT OUR LEGACY OF OUR FINTRY QUEEN.I HOPE OUR NEW MAYOR BASARN, WHOM CLAIMS TO HAVE A HISTORY OF HIS FAMILY OF 100 Hundred Years In The Okanagan, WILL SEE THROUGH TO SAVE OUR BEAUTIFUL FINTRY QUEEN.NEVER GIVE UP Andy Schwab.

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John McDonald

John began life as a journalist through the Other Press, the independent student newspaper for Douglas College in New Westminster. The fluid nature of student journalism meant he was soon running the place, learning on the fly how to publish a newspaper.

It wasn’t until he moved to Kelowna he broke into the mainstream media, working for Okanagan Sunday, then the Kelowna Daily Courier and Okanagan Saturday doing news graphics and page layout. He carried on with the Kelowna Capital News, covering health and education while also working on special projects, including the design and launch of a mass market daily newspaper. After 12 years there, John rejoined the Kelowna Daily Courier as editor of the Westside Weekly, directing news coverage as the Westside became West Kelowna.

But digital media beckoned and John joined Kelowna.com as assistant editor and reporter, riding the start-up as it at first soared then went down in flames. Now John is turning dirt as city hall reporter for iNFOnews.ca where he brings his long experience to bear on the civic issues of the day.

If you have a story you think people should know about, email John at jmcdonald@infonews.ca

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