A strategic review of the future of the Oamaru Licensing Trust, due to be delivered to the trust's board last night, has been postponed by the Christchurch earthquake.
Trust chairman Ali Brosnan expects the report from consultants based in PricewaterhouseCoopers' Christchurch office to be delivered within the next two to four weeks.
The review was ordered by the trust after a $511,607 loss last financial year, after losses in previous years.
Trust chief executive Giles Beal also indicated last night the loss for this financial year was likely to exceed last year's, mainly due to increased depreciation arising from the more than $3 million redevelopment of the Northstar motel-restaurant-bar complex in 2009.
Last night 12 people attended the public portion of the trust's monthly meeting. Last month's meeting (which had attracted about 30 people) was called off because it was told it breached the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act with the way it was advertised, its agenda and its minutes from the previous meeting.
Before yesterday's meeting, it had taken advice to ensure all aspects met the terms of the Act.
On the agenda, the PricewaterhouseCoopers report was listed in the public-excluded portion, to follow the public part of the meeting.
Mr Giles said the "first cut" of the review could not be delivered because consultants were affected by the quake.
The review would assess the trust's position and identify options to resolve financial problems.
Mr Brosnan said: "The review will be taken very seriously and the board is not making any decision until it gets it."
Mr Giles indicated the report would be confidential to the board.
Issues raised by the public at the meeting included sponsorship, discounts, the trading position of the trust's four outlets and what options might be in the strategic review, including selling assets.
