Archives for May 2013

NDX hits out Barita’s profit

May 3, 2013 by

Government’s debt swap forced Barita Investments to take a $240 million hit in February as they wrote off investment gains that were on their books, prior to the swap. The swap meant that investments had a value that was higher than the face value at which government acquired them at, resulting in the loss. The write-off severely impacted the company’s results for both the quarter and for the six months period. Accordingly, Barita recorded a loss in both periods.

The company stated in a release to shareholders, that without the impact of the National Debt Exchange, the financial performance would have surpassed the prior year to date profit of $143 million.

Barita posted losses of $98 million for the second quarter of the financial year and had year to date losses of $20 million. The company was able to grow its income with the main drivers being dividend income, increasing by $13 million, foreign exchange trading and translation gains, which increased by $78 million and unit trust operations. Operating expenses at the end of the second quarter were $240 million compared to $226 million for the same period of 2012. The company reported that cost savings in the curtailment of expenses contributed positively to the bottom line.

Management stated that they continue the diversification of the revenue streams by increasing product offerings and growing non-interest income. Funds under management for the Money Market and Capital Growth funds, maintained a level of nearly $3 billion. Barita Unit Trusts Management Company recorded significant improvements in our top and bottom line performances where revenues grew by 15 percent and profits increased by 20 percent for the quarter the company stated.

Balance Sheet | The asset base showed a $1.5 billion or 10 percent decrease over prior year, from $14.2 billion to $12.7 billion, while liabilities also decreased by $1.1 billion or 9 percent. As at the end of March 2013, shareholders equity stood at $1.38 billion.

Stock Outlook | The company, with the loss to date, faces a difficult task this year as all indications points to lower profits for the year ending in September than for 2012. The stock, at best, is a hold at this stage.

Talk Back | If you have a response to our stock outlook, please leave a comment below.

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: , ,

Daily Trading 2 May 2013

May 3, 2013 by

JSE | Proven dominates

In a slow and uneventful day on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, Proven 8 percent preference shares almost dominated trading with 995,382 units trading at a value of $5 million, but that was not to be, as the ordinary shares did even better with 510,650 units switching hands at 11 US cents each with a value of US$56,171.50. Grace Kennedy, with $1.44 million coming from 26,858 shares, was the next most traded stock followed by Scotia Group with 28127 shares valued at $591,087, investors spent $524,777 on National Commercial Bank’s 28,933 units and Kingston Wharves traded 82,298 units valued at $493,788. NCB traded between $18.10 and $18.50 while it last traded at $18.10, Sagicor Life between $7.60 and $8 and closed at $7.60, Scotia Group closed at $21, but traded between $21 and $21.30, while Lasco Manufacturing traded between $10.50 and $10.70 at which it last traded.

JSEINdicesMay2Carreras gained 97 cents to close at $56 to be the largest price mover on the day. Desnoes & Geddes traded up 24 cents to close at $4.30 on 10,000 shares, Lasco Manufacturing closed at $10.70, slipped by 35 cents. Other prices changes were moderate. 7 stocks gained while 5 declined to maintain the positive advance to decline ratio for the week to date.

A stand-off between buyers and sellers continued on the local stock exchange today, as the market slowly claws its way back from this year’s low, reached when the government announced new budgetary measures to increase revenues and reduce interest cost. In the process, the all Jamaican composite index gained 465.66 points at the end of trading to end up at 82,489.34, the JSE index closed up 264.51 points at 83,813.92. The junior market slipped nearly 4 points to close at 623.90 on a day of slow trading when 856,224 ordinary shares valued at $9,104,725.61 traded. In addition there were 1.02 million preference shares trading valued at $51.47 million. This is a slight increase over Wednesday when 725,220 traded at $5.09.

Eight stocks closed the day with bids above last selling price. This is down from 9 on Wednesday.

TTSE | Higher prices on cards for T&T stocks

At the end of today’s trading, 7 stocks in the main market have no offers, while there are 5 stocks that have bids above the last selling price, indications that higher prices are ahead for this market where trading has been slow but with tight supplies.

Trading activity on the main market of the Trinidad & Tobago stock exchange was very low, with only 165,916 shares crossing the floor of the Exchange with a value of $4,549,069.45. Only 8 securities traded with Angostura Holdings increasing by climbing $0.39 to end the day at $9.50, 3 declined moderately and 4 traded firm. Neal & Massy Holdings was the volume leader with 70,650 shares for a value of $4,168,350, followed by Trinidad Cement with a volume of 55,000 shares traded for $52,250. First Caribbean International Bank contributed 29,381 shares with a value of $235,048, while Sagicor Financial Corporation traded 9,130 shares valued at $63,842.45.

Clico Investment Fund was the only active security on the Mutual Fund Market, posting a volume of 131,400 shares valued at $2,759,667.40 while declining by $0.01 to end at $21.00.

TTSEMay2

Filed Under: Stock Market Tagged With: , ,

Republic Bank undervalued (TTSE)

May 2, 2013 by

Republic Bank out of Trinidad is reporting slightly lower profit for the six months to March this year compared with 2012. According to data released by the bank today profits before tax came in at TT$336.954 million or 6 percent less than the $358.97 in 2011 for the same quarter. According to the chairman, $49 million was an adjustment for the defaulted Grenada bond. On a quarter over quarter basis the December quarter was better than the March quarter by 16 percent while in 2012 the March was worse by 7 percent. For the six months to March, profits were flat with just a slight negative slant as the 4 percent improvement generated in December 2012 was wiped out by the reduced earnings in the March quarter.

After tax profits attributable to shareholders was slight better that the pretax performance as the March quarter slipped by 4 percent to TT$267.468 million, while the year to date earnings are just slightly up. Earnings per share for the six months is TT$7.27. Republic trades at just $108.90 or at a PE of just over 7 times this year’s earnings while Scotia Bank is selling at more than 20 times earnings. Republic has traded around 20 times earnings in the past and has much room to grow. What is apparently holding back the stock must be the fact that a large block of the shares is in the hands of the government and could be divested in the near term.

Loan and advances at March came in at TT$24.7 billion, investments was TT$7.7 billion and customer deposit and funding instruments amounted to TT$43.4 billion and total equity was TT$79.4 billion. The bank seems well capitalized, however, its operations reaches out into the wider southern Caribbean and some of those economies face difficult times.

RBTTGlance

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: , ,

KREMI oversubscribed

May 2, 2013 by
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When the public offer of Caribbean Cream Ltd (CCL) KREMI closed on Wednesday, it brought the total number of companies to raise funds using the Jamaica Stock Exchange’s junior market to seventeen (17).

Caribbean Cream Ltd (CCL) KREMI, seeking to list on the JSE Junior Market, closed on Wednesday morning, May 1, 2013 with applications amounting to more than 375. Word reaching ICInsider.com was that the level of oversubscription was not high. This means that the stock will struggle in early trading to hold the $1 price but ICInsider.com data suggest that earnings to be reported will beat a number of investors’ expectations when the annual results to February are released in a few weeks.

The Invitation for Subscription for 75,713,623 Ordinary Shares at J$1.00 opened on Thursday April 25, 2013 and was originally scheduled to close on closed May 10, 2013.

Stocks & Securities, the brokers to the deal, indicated that applicants (inclusive of Applicants for Reserved Shares) will be advised of the basis of allotment within three (3) business days in accordance with the Jamaica Stock Exchange Junior Market Rules.

The brokers also stated that the closing of the Invitation represents a landmark event for the company’s expansion as CCL recently signed a $13 million deal with Sandals Resorts International as the sole supplier of bulk ice cream to its Jamaican properties. CCL has also brokered a successful transaction with getting its products into Jewel Resorts.

CCL when it lists on the stock exchange later this month will bring the total listing on the junior market to 17 and will be the second since the start of 2013.

Talk Back | What were your reason for buying or not buying this IPO?

Filed Under: Company News, General Business News, Initial Public Offers, JSE Main Market, Stock Market Tagged With:

Daily Trading 1 May 2013

May 1, 2013 by

JSE | Highest since February

The stock market reached its highest level since February 11 when measured by the all Jamaica composite index as it crossed over the 82,000 level. In the case of the main market index, Wednesday’s level was the highest since mid-March. But on one of the more lackluster days, there was a mere $9,166,322 expended in trading, as advancing stocks just outnumbered declining ones by 8 to 7.

JSEINdicesMay1

Stock gaining | Stocks with any noticeable movements were, Berger Paints up 31 cents, to close at $2.26, a day after the company announced that the CEO Warren McDonald would be retiring shortly. Investors snapped up 33,112 of the company’s shares between $1.97 and $2.26. Carreras inched up 83 cents, to close at $55.03 with 17,078 units trading. Lasco Manufacturing climbed 90 cents to $11.05 with a mere 1,700 units trdingand Lasco Financial moved to a new 52 weeks high at $7.60 on moderate volume, Supreme Ventures gained back 10 cents it lost on Tuesday, to close at $2.60 with just 19,000 shares trading. General Accident gained 4 percent to close at $1.70 on the 184,887 shares that traded, between $1.65 and $1.70.

Stocks Losses | Consolidated Bakery, bakers of Purity and Miss Birdie brand of baked products, fell 40 cents to $1.20 with only 300 units sold, as interest in the stock fell away when the company released final year 2102 results that showed a sharp drop in profits, compared with 2011. The company had reported $3.7 million after tax profit compared to $12.8 million in 2011, before gain from disposal of shares. The stock looks set to fall some more unless the first quarter results, which are due in another two weeks, come out early and show positive growth in earnings that could change investor sentiment to the stock.

Stocks in demand | While levels of stocks trading on Wednesday was low, there were 9 companies stocks that had bids higher than their last selling prices, a bullish indicator. These companies include Blue Power, Desnoes & Geddes, Mayberry, Lasco Distributors, Sagicor Investments, Jamaica Producers, Pan Jamaican, Scotia Investments and KLE Group, a company that provides entertainment and restaurants services, that fell to $2.75 at the last traded price, well below the IPO price of $3.70.

TTSE | Witco Jumps to TT$100

West Indian Tobacco Company hit a record TT$100 in today’s trading on the TT Stock Exchange with the largest gain on the market as it increased $2.93 to end the day’s trading. At the end of 2012 the stock traded at $85. Scotia Bank gained 21 cents to land at $69.24 and is up from the December 2012 close of $65.51 while Sagicor Financial gained 14 cents and closed at $7. All three traded below 750 shares each.

A total of 400,834 shares crossed the floor of the Exchange with a value of $3,204,224.37 as 12 securities traded during the day with 6 advancing, 2 declining and 4 trading firm.

TTSEMay1

Angostura Holdings traded 233,615 shares to be the market leader, the value of the shares traded was $2,128,611.97 but the stock fell 39 cents to close $9.11, this was followed by Trinidad Cement with a volume of 137,331 shares valued $137,331.00. National Enterprises contributed 12,576 shares with a value of $196,185.60, while Republic Bank added 6,144 shares valued at $669,081.60.

Clico Investment Fund was the only active security on the Mutual Fund Market, posting a volume of 45,170 shares valued at $948,930.93 and advanced by $0.01 to end at $21.01. Fortress Caribbean Property Fund which last traded at $5.00 did not trade as did Praetorian Property Mutual Fund that last traded at $3.40. There was no activity in the Second Tier Market.

ForEx | J$ revaluation continues

ForExSummaryMay1The rate of exchange between the US and Jamaican dollars continued to inch down, even as the amount of US dollars sold in the system in the last two days exceed the amount purchased by authorized dealers. The average selling rate, fell to J$99.3286 from $99.3481 on Tuesday and $99.36 on Monday. Both the amount of funds purchased US$29.3 million by the dealers and that sold, US$36.6 fell on Wednesday by US$16 million on the buying side and US$18 million on sell side, compared to Tuesday’s trade. The rate of exchange has appreciated from a low of J$99.81 on April 12th.

Interestingly, the currency was sold between $104.27 to a low of $81.49 while the highest price paid for purchase was $99.70. On Tuesday sale took place between $104.27 to a low of $96.4 while the highest price paid for purchase was $99.50 to a low of $81.37.

Too early to say | While the Jamaican dollar has been slowly appreciating since last week, it is too early to say where it will end in the short term. The government announced on Wednesday that the IMF agreement was signed off by the IMF board and will release almost US$200 million for the central bank’s reserves. The amount is not large, but there are more flows that will be coming in during the year that could result in further appreciation of the local currency. Persons who bought FX for investment purposes could well be offloading some into the market if the daily rate shows signs of the currency appreciating for a number of days to come.

ForExDEtailsMay1

Treasury Bills | TBill rates climbed in April

BankofJamaicaBOJIn March, the average yield for the 90 days was 5.82488 percent but bids up to 6.24999% were successful as only $338.7 billion chased after the $400 million on offer. In April, things changed a lot with the average yield climbing nearly 86 basis points to average out at 6.68297 percent. This took place against the background of a 41 percent oversubscription coming against the fall in rates in March when there were less bids for the amount on offer. Allotment was made for successful bids between a low of 5.15 percent and a high of 7.1 percent per annum.

The six issues fared better as average yield climbed a bit moving up to 6.389 percent compared to what the six months bill yielded in March when the yield came out at an average of 6.22345 percent per annum. But while in March the range was 5.50% to 6.65310, only $196 million went after the $400 million on offer, The April auction had 708 million seeking to capture some of the $400 million offer but bidders were successful in garnering between 5.4 percent and 6.65 percent for this instrument. In March, a 30 day treasury bill was oversubscribed by $58 million with yields between 4.5 percent & 6.1 percent.

Filed Under: Stock Market Tagged With: , , ,

Daily Trading 30 April 2013

May 1, 2013 by

JSE | Lasco Companies dominate Tuesday’s trade

The Jamaican stock market index climbed today with the JSE market index closing up 436.63 points to end trading at 83,476.38. The all Jamaica composited closed at 81,895.10 up 768.89 points and JSE combined gained 379.09 points closing the day at 84,917.24. The junior market index slipped 8.47 points dragging the overall junior market down to 617.18.  The overall market traded 7,166,418 units valued at $65,136,584.80.

Winners | Price movements were a little more pronounced that in recent trading sessions with JMMB jumping $0.86 to close at $8 as the stock traded 48,510 units, at close the bid was not strong at $7.10. Scotia Group recovered from yesterdays fall in putting on 50 cents to close at $21. Grace Kennedy having gained new life with Grace’s announcement to buy shares in the market rose yet again to close at $55.02 up 47 cents for the day on top of the gain on Monday.

Losers | Seprod shed 44 cents with a mere 769 units trading to close at $14.56, Supreme Ventures shed another 9 cents today to land it at $2.50 having traded at $2.75 on Friday last. Sagicor Life fell by 49 cents to close at $7.70 with 35,261 units trading on the day.

 JSEINdicesApr30

Kingston Wharves traded at $6 gaining 10 cents during the day, a twelve months high. The shares are tightly held and there is clearly upward pressure on the price, which seems likely to go higher. Barita lost 28 cents to close at $2.97 with 5,000 shares changing hands.

Junior market | Lasco Distributors with 1,597,000 shares trading at a value of $15.3 million changed hands today between $9.55 and $10.01 the stock closed down 41 cents at $9.59 and Lasco Manufacturing traded 4,512,900 units valued at $46.6 million between $10.10 and $11.05 closing the day at $10.15 own

The Lasco Manufacturing block was sold by Stocks & Securities with Mayberry picking up 1,009,100 units, NCB capita markets buying 3.167 million units, JMMB taking 146,833 units and 141,000 being crossed by Stocks & Securities. Stocks & Securities was the major seller of Lasco Distributors and NCB Capital markets the main buyer.

Bids above last sales | The following stocks had bids above their closing prices: this is usually an indication that prices will rise. These include Berger Paints, Carreras, Desnoes & Geddes, Ciboney, Jamaica Producers, Mayberry, Sagicor Investments and Scotia Investments.

TTSE | Cement continues domination

Cement continues domination on the TTSE when the Cement Group traded 967,380 shares with a value of TT$967,380.

Market activity saw trading in 14 securities of which 8 advanced, 2 declined and 4 traded firm while the total volume of shares traded was 1,028,095 valued at TT$2,075,106.23.

TTSEApr30

Trinidad Cement was followed by Angostura Holdings with a volume of 26,000 shares, valued at TT$247,000. National Enterprises Limited contributed 24,718 shares with a value of TT$385,506.58, while Republic Bank contributed 3,121 shares to the total, valued at TT$339,898.61.

Angostura Holdings was the day’s largest gainer, increasing $0.50 to end the day at $9.50 while Ansa Merchant Bank,  suffered the day’s greatest loss, falling $1.50 to close at $38.50.

Clico Investment Fund was the only active security on the Mutual Fund Market, posting a volume of 145,943 shares valued at $3,064,985.90. Clico Investment Fund declined by $0.19 to end at $21.00. FORTRESS CARIBBEAN PROPERTY FUND remained at $5.00. Praetorian Property Mutual Fund remained at $3.40.

The Second Tier Market did not witness any activity. Fncu Venture Capital Company (Suspended) remained at $1.00. Mora Ven Holdings remained at $14.97.

ForEx Trading | Summary

ForExSummaryApr30

Foreign exchange trading jumped today as Central Bank data shows US$45.3 million US dollars being bought by authorized dealers while they sold nearly $55 million. The average selling rate was J$99.348 almost the same as on Monday when the rate was J$99.36. Last week Tuesday buying was under $40 million while sales were just above it. On Monday, trading amounted to the equivalent of US$42.6 million of purchases, while US$34.75million was sold.

ForExDEtailsApr30

 

Filed Under: Stock Market Tagged With: , ,

Original GoJ Fiscal target almost met

May 1, 2013 by

Jamaica ended the 2012-13 fiscal year with the lowest deficit in decades as the government reported a deficit of $54.6 billion for the year ending March 2013, just missing the original projection of $53 billion, as revenues came in at $344 billion while recurrent expenditure amounted to $399 billion. Revenues are $17 billion light on the original forecast of $366 billion, while expenditure that was budgeted originally at $414 billion came in $15 billion less. Savings on interest was the main factor for the reduction of expenses, as the item was down $11 billion on the originally budgeted amount.

The main areas of decline for revenues was Corporation Taxes $3 billion, PAYE $5 billion, and taxes on imported items $8 billion. For the current fiscal year government is projecting a deficit of under $10 billion coming from a combination of new taxes and a debt swap that was to have shave $17 billion off the interest bill.

Revenues on target | While revenues were off target for the fiscal year, data out of the Finance Ministry show that with the exception of December when revenues were off by more than $4 billion, the government’s original forecast for inflows were very close to target from November last year. In November, revenues were budgeted to be $29.156 billion but actual inflows came in $600 million less, January was $750 million less when government collected $29 billion, in February revenues fell $600 million short, when the intake was $31.47 billion, and for March $44 billion was pulled in instead of the $44.4 billion planned for. These numbers augur well for inflows into the system for the June quarter this year for government’s intake into their coffers. The data may also be indicating improved economic performance for the country in the first quarter this year compared to last year.

Filed Under: Economy Tagged With: