Archives for May 2013

JSE: Lasco stocks respond to split announcement

May 29, 2013 by

Monday, 27th May 2013 | Interest picked up in all three Lasco stocks in response to the proposed 10 for 1 stock split the company announced on Friday after trading.

Lasco Financial traded at $9 shortly after trading started, an all-time high but closed up to $8.30 with 23,836 units traded, still closing at an all-time closing high, nevertheless. Distributors was up $1.51 with 9,748 shares trading at a closing price of $12.01. Manufacturing closed at $12.06 down 44 cents with 5,000 units changing hands. At the close, the bid was for 25,000 units at $12.10 with 43,116 units offered at $16.50.

Carreras dropped $2 to close at $58 as 117,870 units changed ands today. The stock traded as high as $61. Grace continued to move higher with a 29 cents gain, closing at $60.50, NCB closed down $0.99 to $19.01, Scotia Group closed at $20.56 up 9 cents as 85,353 shares traded after the company released better than expected results on Friday after trading had closed. JMMB gained 19 cents to close at $7.99 with 17,000 shares traded.

Trading was moderate with only $12,352,416 being spent on stocks on a day when only the junior market index registered a gain. The advance decline ratio continues to be very positive with 10 stocks advancing to 5 declining.

At the close of trading, there were 10 stocks with bids above the last selling price while there was 1 with the offer below the last selling price.

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Filed Under: JSE Main Market, Stock Market Tagged With: , ,

FX: Monday surprise

May 28, 2013 by

Monday, 27th May 2013 | The foreign market flashed a surprise on Monday with moderate trading levels as a mere US$16.4 million in all forms of currencies were purchased while selling was a little more, at US$$19.4 million. Surprisingly as well, the buying rates fell compared to those on Friday and on the sell side, the US dollar just barely moved up by 7 cents while the other two currencies fell.

The highest buying rates for all three currencies fell today compared to a rise for all three on Friday. Noticeably, the US dollar moved down by 65 cents, the Canadian 80 cents and the Pound $1.30. The lowest buying rates were flat to virtually flat. The highest selling rates hardly changed with the exception of the Pound which gained 76 cents, the other lowest sell rates fell marginally.

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Filed Under: FX Market, Stock Market Tagged With: , ,

TTSE: Activity picks up

May 28, 2013 by

Monday, 27 May, 2013 | Trading activity on the Trinidad & Tobago stock exchange picked up today with trading in 19 securities of which 7 advanced, 5 declined and 7 traded firm. The level of trading was also up on Friday’s trades as 267,068 shares crossed the floor of the Exchange valued at $815,557 in the main market, while Clico Investment Fund traded 9,161 shares valued at $192,839 in the mutual funds section.

Trinidad Cement traded 152,627 shares valued at $144,996, National Commercial Bank Jamaica saw trading in 77,176 shares valued at $92,611. Grace Kennedy slipped 10 cents to $3.80 while trading 10,000 shares with a value of $38,000, while Sagicor Financial Corporation saw 8,700 shares switching ownership valued at $55,245, but the stock fell $0.44 to close at $6.35. Scotiabank Trinidad & Tobago traded just 1,180 shares while increasing $0.11 to end the day at $69.60. The stock closed with the bid on the last selling price but there was no stock on offer at the close, which means that the price could be moving higher.

There were 5 stocks closing with bids above the last selling price while there were 4 with offers below the last selling price.

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Filed Under: Stock Market, TTSE Market Tagged With: , ,

Lasco companies splitting up shares

May 27, 2013 by
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Lasco Manufacturing, Lasco Distributors and Lasco Financial Service will be holding extraordinary general meetings starting between 10 and 11 o’clock Wednesday, June 26, 2013 at the Knutsford Court Hotel, 11 Ruthven Road, Kingston for shareholders of the companies to consider the recommendation to split the shares of the companies by subdividing each share into ten (10) new shares. Each company will convene separate meetings on the morning.

The release to the stock exchange did not state the reasons for the move. The shares, which are trading between $8 and $12.50, have had limited supply in recent months as the supply of shares in the local market gets tighter as more investors opt for stocks as a better investment.

LascoPills150x150The stock split will only give the shares a semblance of liquidity but it won’t really change things as the current price of the three companies are not high. Ultimately, what will be needed is for more of the existing shares to be sold to the market. In reality, 20 percent of small capitalized companies will not create much liquidity and it will worsen if the companies perform well and investors hold on to their investments to reap the benefits of future growth.

Filed Under: Company News, Dividends Tagged With: ,

FX: Buying outpace selling, rates are up

May 27, 2013 by

Friday, 24 May 2013 | The rate for the pound sterling climbed on Friday by 66.7 cents on the buying side and 42 cents on the sell side. The US dollar picked 13 cents on the buy side and barely moved up on the average sell rate. Buying of the Canadian dollar climbed by 10 cents but fell 56 cents when sold. This all happened when there was more buying than selling of the three main currencies that traded.

Buying of the US dollar by authorised dealers was more than US$6 million greater the amount sold as US$36.6 million was purchased while selling was $30.2 million. Pound sterling purchased amounted to ₤2.5 million while sales amounted to ₤1.23 million. The amount of Canadian dollar purchased was Can$845,278 with Can$769,735 being sold.

The highest buying rates for all three currencies climbed on Friday noticeably with the US dollar moving up 60 cents, the Canadian 30 cents and the pound 50 cents. The lowest buying rate was flat to virtually flat except for the pound which fell by 25 cents. The highest selling rate for Canadian and US dollars was the same as the trading day before but the pound climbed $3.09 while dropping $1.90 for the lowest. The US dollar lowest rate dropped back by $14.95 and Canadian by 70 cents.

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Filed Under: FX Market, Stock Market Tagged With: , ,

Dividends coming

May 27, 2013 by

Scotia Group | Scotia Group Jamaica approved a second interim dividend of 40 cents per stock unit payable on July 4, 2013, to stockholders on record at June 14, 2013. The ex-dividend date is June 12, 2013. The group previously paid its first dividend of 40 cents per stock for the fiscal year at the end of March. In 2012, the group paid 37 cents in each quarter but it was raised to 40 cents commensurate with a payment that was made in January this year. The group pays dividends on a quarterly basis.

Scotia Investments | Scotia Investments Jamaica approved a second interim dividend of 45 cents per stock unit payable on July 4, 2013, to stockholders on record at June 14, 2013. The ex-dividend date is June 12, 2013. The company previously paid its first dividend of 45 cents per stock for the fiscal year at the end of March. In 2012, the group paid 40 cents in each quarter but it was raised to 45 cents with a payment that was made in January this year. Scotia Investments, which is majority owned by Scotia Group Jamaica, pays dividends on a quarterly basis. 

JSE Pref | The Jamaica Stock Exchange Limited approved quarterly preference share dividend of $0.0290 per share payable on May 31, 2013 to shareholders on record as at May 24, 2012. The ex-dividend date is May 21, 2013. This will be the last dividend for these shares as they will be redeemed by the end of May.

Proven consideration | The Board of Directors of Proven Investments Limited will consider making a dividend payment to both its ordinary and preference shareholders at a meeting to be held on May 29, 2013.

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

General Accident’s profit up 65 percent

May 27, 2013 by

Junior market listed company General Accident had a strong first quarter but only because higher investment income more than compensated for a decline in underwriting profit. Can we expect the same trend for the full year’s results? Based in the key factors contributing to the increase, the answer is no.

Profit | Net profit for the quarter was $97.6 million or $0.09 per share an increase of 65 percent over the prior year results. Last year, the reported profit was $59.3 million or $0.06 per share for the same period. The quarterly results have benefited from significant foreign exchange gains.

Premium income | Gross written premiums grew to $1.15 billion, an increase of 19 percent over the first quarter last year while net earned premiums grew by 5 percent to $257 million. Management stated, “The premium income growth was driven both by the organic growth of our core commercial property and motor businesses as well as a rise in large facultative transactions.”

GeneralAccident_logo150x150Management further stated in their report, “Despite increasing our net earned premiums, our combined ratio worsened from 93 percent in the first quarter of last year to 96 percent in the first quarter of 2013. This was driven mainly by an increase in our loss ratio which deteriorated from 53 percent in the first quarter last year to 60 percent this year. As a result, our underwriting profit declined from $17.6 million to $10 million”.

Investment Performance | Investment income grew 96 percent to $92.4 million. Last year, the company made $47 million of investment income for the first quarter. The returns, the company says, “represent an annualized return on our average investment portfolio of 18 percent. When unrealized losses on our available for sale investments are included, our total annualized return was 14 percent. Increases in our investment income are the result of efforts to diversify our holdings. This decision also limited our losses in the National Debt Exchange to less than $2 million.”

During 2012, the company’s investments returns was 9.58 percent including foreign exchange gains. With the exchange rate of the local currency stabilizing, large scale gains from this area could be limited going forward.

A dividend of $50 million amounting to $0.0485 per share was paid in March this year. The company says it intends to maintain the dividend policy for the remainder of the year. The policy is set out in the prospectus that was published in 2011 and states that they  pay no less than 25 percent of distributable profits per year as dividends.

Book value | General Accident ended the quarter with a book value of $1.31 billion and generated a return on average equity for shareholders of 31 percent. The company also has cash and investments amounting to $1.74 billion plus loans receivables of $384 million. Amounts that was due to reinsurers and coinsurers amounted to $790 million but amounts that are due to this same group was $1.04 billion and for clients and brokers $41 billion. Insurance reserves stood at $2.4 billion at the end of March.

Investing600x250Stock outlook | Looking forward, the rate of return generated on investments is high in an environment when rates on investments were less than 10 percent on most short term instruments. What clearly took place is that a large portion of the gains came from foreign exchange rate movement. The big question is, will they be able to maintain such returns going forward and if not, will the insurance claim experience be better? Last year the company earned 28 cents per share for the full year. With 9 cents already in the bag it’s quite possible to exceed last year’s earnings. Fortunately the stock is now priced quite well. Even a little disappointment on the earnings front will still allow room for some more appreciation in the stock price.

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

JSE: NCB hits $20 as market keeps gaining

May 27, 2013 by

Friday, 24th May 2013  | Gains from National Commercial Bank up $1.16, Carreras up $1, Pan Jamaican Investment Trust up 99 cents and JMMB up 30 cents were strong enough to overcome the $1.54 decline in Jamaica Producers, 33 cents fall in the price of Sagicor Life and $1.13 in Scotia Group to help the main indices post positive gains on Friday.

Junior market | The junior market saw AMG Packaging climbing 50 cents to $4.50 a new 52 weeks high with 58,512 shares trading, Cargo Handlers picked up 17 cents in trading 10,000 units. Lasco Distributor gained 29 cents. The stock traded only traded 3,080 shares but the bid closed above the last selling price with 55,344 units on the bid, at the end of trading. Lasco Financial traded at an all time high of $8.25 up 14 cents on the day. New junior market listed Caribbean Creams traded 650,473 units to close at $1.09 having traded as high as $1.12 on the day. Grace was one of three stocks that traded at 52 weeks high.

BullMarket280x150Level of trade | Investors poured $20 million into 19 stocks with 1.6 million units changing hands, on a day when advancing stocks again outnumbered declining ones 9 to 6. All of the market’s indices continue to move up on Friday with the exception of the index for cross listed stocks and the US dollar index. In both cases, no stocks were traded.

Indices gain | The all Jamaica composite gained 2,023 points for the week or just over twice the gains of the prior week closing at 86,596.66 points. The junior market gained 15 points less than the 24 points picked up in the previous week, to close at 667.61 points.

Bids above last price | 9 stocks closed with bids that were higher than the last traded price and none closed with offers that were less than the last traded price, an indication that price gains are likely to continue into the coming week.

Stocks to watch | Stocks to watch this coming week include Scotia Group that reported better 6 months results than last year’s half year profit. Others to watch are Grace Kennedy, Blue Power, Lasco Financial, Desnoes & Geddes and JMMB and Sagicor Life.

JSEINdicesMay24

Filed Under: JSE Main Market, Stock Market Tagged With: , ,

TTSE: Supply low, inactive trading

May 27, 2013 by

Friday, 24th May 2013 | Trading on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange on Friday was even sparser than the day before as a mere 29,245 shares crossed the floor of the Exchange valued at $342,771 and in the mutual fund section just 699 units traded for $14,714. Trading took place in 12 securities of which 3 advanced, 3 declined and 6 traded firm.

Grace Kennedy stock which closed at $3.90 rose 17 cents and 10,000 shares changed hands valued $39,000, followed by National Enterprises, volume of 7,347 shares traded for $115,495. Guardian Holdings contributed 6,050 of the total volume carrying a value of $102,851, while loosing 50 cents to close at $17.

West Indian Tobacco and National Enterprise traded at 52 weeks high.

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Filed Under: Stock Market, TTSE Market Tagged With: , ,

Pan Jam’s profit dented too

May 26, 2013 by

Pan Jamaican investment trust reported net profit of $224 million, down 55 percent on 2012 earnings of $502 million for the quarter ending March.  The results were impacted significantly by Sagicor Life Jamaica Limited (SLJ) participation in the Government of Jamaica National Debt Exchange in February. SLJ recorded a realised loss on the exchange of bonds tendered in the NDX of $1.1 billion. Associated and joint venture companies contributed less profit for the quarter, declining by $136 million compared to the 2012 1st quarter amount of $373 million. The share of SLJ’s earnings, decreased by $175 million (47%) to $194 million.

The earnings per stock come out at $1.05 (2012: $2.36).  The fall in earnings from the associates is temporary and will not affect the company’s operations in a major way going forward. The effect is a reduction in interest income as the bonds swapped carry lower coupon rates than the original ones.

Increased cost | The group incurred an increase in finance costs of $179 million and a decrease of $136 million in the share of results of associated and joint venture companies, this was partly offset by increased investment income of $67 million resulting from foreign exchange gains on our US$ investments. Property income was flat year on year, as a $10 million improvement in rental income was offset by reduced net lease recoveries and property appreciation. Operating expenses increased 13 percent or $28 million, driven principally by a 27% increase in general and administrative costs as a result of staff realignment and increased professional fees.

Sagicor150x150As per the company’s report: “Finance costs increased by $179 million to $195 million for the quarter, resulting from increased debt used to fund the purchase of an additional 8% of SLJ’s shares in July, 2012 and the drawdown of the remainder of the US$17.5 million IFC loan in December, 2012. We have, however, retained a net long position in US$ to ensure that our stockholders’ equity is appropriately protected against devaluation risk. Rentable properties enjoyed occupancy levels exceeding 95% for the 1st quarter, while segment operating profit of $184 million for the quarter was $26 million, 16%, better than last year. Our investment management segment posted operating profit of $28 million for the quarter, more than double last year’s 1st quarter segment operating profit of $12 million.”

Associate & Joint Ventures | “Associated companies consist principally of our 32.8% investment in SLJ. We also hold minority positions in New Castle Co. Limited (owners of the Walkerswood and Busha Browne lines of sauces and seasonings), Mavis Bank Coffee Factory Limited (“Mavis Bank”), Hardware & Lumber Limited (“H&L”), Caribe Hospitality Limited (developers of the planned New Kingston Marriott Courtyard Hotel) and Chukka Caribbean Adventures (“Chukka”) acquired in April 2012.”

PamJamChukkaCove150x150H&L reported net earnings of $9.9 million for the 1st quarter, compared to $3.9 million for the same period last year. Revenue and gross margin both increased compared to last year. The investments in Chukka and Mavis Bank produced solid results.

Total assets amount to $21.7 billion and stockholders’ equity increased to $16.5 billion, equating to a book value per stock unit of $78.

Stock outlook | A dividend of $1.10 per stock unit was paid March 2013.  The company will not pay the usual quarterly dividend in June, having doubled up on the one paid in March.The stock which traded on Wednesday, 22nd May at $54 is considered to be severely undervalued and is a good long term investment.

To read IC Insider’s latest report “Sagicor undervalued despite $B NDX hit” , click here.

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