Archives for June 2013

Insider trades

June 27, 2013 by

A director of Lasco Distributors Limited sold 200,000 of the company’s shares on June 14, 2013.

A director of Lasco Manufacturing Limited sold 200,000 of the company’s shares on June 13 & 14, 2013

Blue Power Group Limited advised that two senior managers sold a total of 159,995 shares during the period June 17 – 21, 2013.

Scotia Group Jamaica Limited advised that a senior manager purchased 2,792 SGJ shares on June 24, 2013.

A senior manager of Sagicor Investments Jamaica advised that they sold 20,000 S shares on June 21, 2013.

A related party to Honey Bun (1982) advised that they sold 5,000 Honey Bun shares on June 25, 2013.

Filed Under: Company News, General Business News Tagged With: , , ,

FX: Sharp changes in highest lowest rates

June 27, 2013 by

Wednesday, 26th June 2013 | The foreign exchange market was characterised mainly by sharp changes in the highest and lowest buying and selling rates than for changes in the average rates for buying and selling of foreign currencies on Wednesday.

Traders hiked the minimum selling rate for the US dollar by $16.17 to $98.50 on the day when they bought at 50 cents more or at $102 from the public than they did on Tuesday. The Canadian dollar was traded at $1.40 less at $96.80 at the high end and 50 cents less on the lowest rates when they bought and sold for 12 cents more or at $99.62 and $1.10 more on at the lowest rate which came in at $92.40. For the Pound sterling buying was 30 cents less for the highest rate of $156.70 and $6.11 more at the lowest buying rate while the selling rates slipped by $2.08 on the highest of $159.22 and the lowest which was $146.20 was lower by $4.55 than on Tuesday.

Total buying amounted to the equivalent of US$26.85 million and selling the equivalent of US$30.57 million.

The average rates for the US dollar inched down by 9 cents on the buy side and moved up two cent for sales with the selling rate closing at $101.31. That for the Canadian dollar fell 29 cents for the buying rate and was up 33 cents for the average sell rate which moved to $96.74.  The rate for the Pound fell 56 for the buying rate to close at $153.98 and was down 12 cents on the selling rate, to end at $155.49.

FX_TRADE+Currency+Jun26

FX_TRADE+HighLow+Jun26

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

Big payoff for Access owners

June 27, 2013 by

Access Financial Services declared an interim dividend of 31 cents per share payable on August 15, 2013 to shareholders on record as at August 9, 2013.  The ex-dividend date is August 7, 2013.

This is the first time the company is paying two dividends in one year. The last dividend paid was an interim dividend of $0.65 per share payable on February 27, 2013 to shareholders on record as at February 21, 2013 and related to 2012 profit.

The latest dividend announced will, when paid, bring the dividend payment to 96 cents for the year and will give shareholders a yield of 15.23 percent based on the stock price at the start of the year of $6.30. The Chairman has confirmed that “Access is likely to pay more than one dividend payment for the fiscal year going forward.”

The stock last traded at $8.15, a gain of 29 percent so far. IC Insider is projecting that the stock will rise much further as profit for this year could rise to well over $1 per share.

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

JSE: Advancing stocks clobbers declining ones

June 27, 2013 by
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Wednesday, 26 June 2013 | While in yesterday’s stock market trading, declining stocks were more than advancing ones with 11 stocks declining and 8 gaining in price, today’s trading not only reversed the negative trend but clobbered declining stocks 16 to 6 with three stocks closing at new 52 weeks high.

The junior market index inched up marginally, to close at 796.02 up 7.19 points. The all Jamaica index declined by 229.71 points to close at 88,512.59 and the main market slipped 127.93 points to 87,135.91 at the close. The fall in Carreras stock which fell $3.50 to $52.50 and Jamaica Producers which shed $2.65 to close at $18.05 would have been the two main contributors to the decline. Carreras was reacting to the news on a ban on cigarette smoking in public, effective July.

The number of shares traded increased over that of yesterday’s volume of 5.8 million units with a value of $58.9 million. In today’s trading 7.6 million shares traded, but for a lessor amount of $36.7 million as Cable & Wireless which pulled in only $524, 000 accounted for more than 3.78 million of the volume that went through the market.

Junior market | Eight stocks traded in the junior market with 7 increasing in price. Dolphin Cove closed up 20 cents at a 52 weeks high of $8.65 with 6,200 shares. Lasco Manufacturing traded 135,128 shares between $15.50 and $16 but closed at $15.80 up 25 cents. Lasco Distributors traded 823,740 shares while gaining 22 cents to close at $15.77. Lasco Financial Services closed at an all-time closing high after the stock traded at $11.80 up 25 cents while trading 152,327 units. The stock traded as high as $12.50 during the day.

Main Market | Although the overall market enjoyed nearly $36.7 million of trading, $17 million came from the junior market with the two large Lasco companies continuing to be dominant in the market. Carreras was the big loser today and for the week to date, as investors shed 31,000 shares at prices that were all lower than yesterday’s close. Jamaica Producers shed $2.65 but with only 3,200 shares trading. Companies that had noticeable price action included Carreras which lost $1.40 to close at $56.50, Desnoes & Geddes gained back the 20 cents it lost yesterday to close at $5 with small volume trading. Grace also traded a small volume but the stock closed at $60, up 40 cents. Sagicor Life dropped 40 cents, closing at $8.40 with 11,157 units trading. Scotia Group traded 373,951 shares with the stock closing at $21.20 the same as yesterday.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the IC bid-offer sentiment indicator shows that bids for 3 stocks were higher, with 2 stocks that had an offer that was lower than their last selling price — not a very bullish sign at this time.

JSEIndicesJun26

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

TTSE: Clico dominates

June 27, 2013 by

Wednesday, 26th 2013 | Ten stocks traded on the exchange on Wednesday with only one stock recording a price movement as Clico Investment Fund dominated trading with 1,341,576 shares valued at $30,856,248. One stock fell in price on the day as the conglomerate ANSA McAL declined by 2 cents to end the day at $67.20 while trading a mere 486 shares. The main market registered a volume of 189,797 shares valued at $378,214.

Jamaica Money Market Brokers had 107,880 shares changing hands for a value of $53,940. Trinidad Cement saw a volume of 61,153 shares trading for $58,006. Angostura Holdings contributed 10,000 shares with a value of $90,000 and Sagicor Financial Corporation accounted for 8,510 shares valued at $53,358.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the IC bid-offer sentiment indicator shows that bids for 3 stocks were higher, with 3 stocks that had an offer that was lower than their last selling price.

At the close it appears that Witco with a PE of 26 and Unilever with a PE of 21 are poised for more gains ahead. So too is Scotia Investments, which had a bid of 117,000 shares at $1.78 on Tuesday saw the bid moving to $1.80 for 1,200 shares, the offer is for 21,878 share at $1.85. Others are showing signs of possible price gains are National Enterprises with a PE of 16, One Caribbean Media with a PE of 12.5, National Flour mills with a PE of 6.

TTSEJun26

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

Unilever stock not supported by profits

June 27, 2013 by

When stock prices rise much faster than the growth in profits, we need to take time to take note of what is happening. Investors in such stocks should be fully conversant with the factors at play to ensure that their investment can be properly protected if, and when, the factors change.

Unilever Caribbean stock price is up 13 percent so far this year on top of a 45 percent increase in 2012, 44 percent in 2011 and 35 percent in 2010 after a 16 percent fall in 2009. The company a subsidiary of Unilever PLC, a United Kingdom company, is based in Trinidad and manufactures a range of homecare, personal care and food products for the Caribbean region, including Jamaica, and has been having a reasonable profit performance for a number of years. In fact they have been able to improve sales and margins in a market that has been in recession since 2009. The growth in the stock price is well in excess of the rise in profits for the past four and half years.

Some of the company’s brands include Mistolin, Radiante, Breeze, Vaseline, Lux, Lipton, Becel and Blue Band. The product range also includes dishwashing liquids as well as fabric conditioners.

unileverLogo150x150For the three months to March this year, revenues climbed to $133 .6 million up from $127.5 million for the same period in 2012 while profits were up to $13 million after tax compared to $11.9 million in 2012. The December quarter is the biggest period for earnings with more than a third being generated in the period. For 2012 full year to December the company reported after tax profit of $59.5 million an increase of 2.8 percent over that earned in 2011. Profit for 2011 was up 11 percent over 2010 and 2010 profit was up 26 percent over the previous year. Lower interest rates in Trinidad have helped to push the PE ratio to 21 times earnings at a current stock price of $53.25, up from 14 times in 2011 and 11.5 for 2010.

Unilever reported areas of success reflected in good growth in some of its products but also expressed concerns about rising input cost of some of the products it manufactures as well as competition from cheaper products. From all indications, management seems to have managed to steer the operations well resulting in improved margins, which moved from 61.8 percent in 2012 first quarter to 63.8 percent in 2013, a continuation of the marked improvement seen for 2012 when the margins for the full year came out at 63.7 percent vs the 59.2 percent enjoyed in 2011.

While cost increase seems to be under control in 2013 for the first quarter, that was not the case in 2012 when selling cost rose by $17 million or 17 percent and administrative cost rose 22 percent, well above the growth in revenues. For the quarter, selling cost rose by 4.8 percent and administrative cost rose 2.7 percent while revenues are up 4.75 percent.

The company boast equity capital of $176 million, has no interest bearing debt and a high current asset ratio with liabilities almost covered twice over.

The stock seems poised to rise further as demand exceeds the supply of the stock on the Trinidad market.

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

Remittance inflows dip

June 26, 2013 by

Total remittance inflows for the March 2013 quarter were US$492.5 million, a decrease of US$12.3 million or 2.4 per cent compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The inflows for the quarter were above the average for the previous five corresponding periods with the flows for January 2013 being the highest since 2010 with US$154 million, February inflows at $160 million was slightly under the US$167 received in 2012 and March was the worse month relative to 2012 as inflows fell by US$9.5 million to reach $178.4 million.

For the first quarter of 2013, net remittances were US$431.5 million, a decline of US$5.1 million or 1.2 per cent relative to the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The outturn for the quarter reflects the decrease in gross inflows, which was partially offset by a decline in outflows.

USD_Clock150x150The decrease in total remittance inflows reflected a US$14.2 million or 3.3 per cent deterioration in inflows through Remittance Companies. The decrease in inflows was partly offset by a US$1.9 million or 2.6 per cent increase in flows via Other Remittances sub-category.

Last year Jamaica received the highest amount of remittances in its history with $2,037 billion up from $2,019 billion in 2011. Prior to this period remittances peaked in 2008 at US$2,021 billion just after the global recent started to take hold.

The fall in remittances in the first quarter of this year may be linked to the fall in the value for the Jamaican dollar and the scarcity of foreign exchange during the period. Examination of past behaviour show a strong co-relationship between inflows and exchange instability. When there is instability in the foreign exchange market some of the funds that would normally flow into the formal financial system are diverted to end users and therefore never get reported.

RemittanceFlows

Filed Under: Economy Tagged With: ,

FX: Big trade Tuesday

June 26, 2013 by

Tuesday, 25 June 2013 | Today was a big trading day in the foreign exchange market as buying amounted to the equivalent of US$39.8 million, a little less than the amount US$40.65 million purchased on  Monday. Selling was the equivalent of US$39.5 million up from yesterday’s $32.7 million sold.

The average rates for the US dollar inched up 4 cents on the buy side and one cent for sales with the selling rate closing at $101.29. The Canadian dollar climbed $1.28 for the buying rate and was off 23 cents for the selling rate, taking the average sell rate to $96.65.  The rate for the Pound rose $1.68 for the buying rate to close at $154.55 and was up 48 cents on the selling rate to end at $155.61.

The highest buying and selling rates fell for the US dollar while the buying rates for the Canadian climbed moderately, but the highest and lowest were down by $1 and $1.55 respectively. The highest buy rate for the pound dropped $2.10. There was no change for the lowest buying rate but the selling rates were up moderately.

FX_TRADE+Currency+Jun25

FX_TRADE+HighLow+Jun25

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

JSE: 2 new highs as prices retreat

June 25, 2013 by

Tuesday, 25th June 2013 | Stock prices continued to retreat today with 11 stocks declining and 8 gaining, the third day in a row that this has been so. The junior market index fell marginally but the major indices fell with the all Jamaica declining by 889.68 points to close at 88,742.30 and the main market slipping 505.36 points to 87,263.84 at the close.

Trading picked up with more than twice the number of shares traded today than yesterday as 5.8 million units changed hands with a value of $58.9 million, compared to 2,507,546 on Monday at a value of $23.7 million.

Juniors up | Eleven stocks traded in the junior market as the index closed at 788.83 down 3.5 points with 4 increasing in price and 3 falling. Blue Power closed at an all-time closing high of $10.50 up 50 cents on the day as just under 22,000 shares traded. Consolidated Bakeries closed up 25 cents at $1.60 having recovered most of the amount lost after the company reported poor 2012 final results. Jamaican Teas lost 38 cents to close at $4.01 with 10,938 shares changing hands. Paramount traded a mere 1,000 shares and fell 25 cents to close at $3.30. Lasco Manufacturing traded 1.23 million shares between $15.55 and $16 but closed at $15.55. Lasco Distributors traded 1.04 million shares between $15.50 and $15.55, gaining 1 cent to close at $15.51, an all-time closing high after the stock traded at $16.50. Caribbean Producers traded 422,635 shares and General Accident traded 210,139 units to close at $2.

Main Market | Although the overall market enjoyed nearly $59 million of trading only $21 million came from the main market as the two large Lasco companies accounted for $35 million of the amount traded. The market sentiment suggest that profit taking is occurring for a number of stocks hence the price pull back. Carreras again lost ground shedding 50 cents to close at $56 as 65,925 units valued at $3.7 million traded.

Companies that had noticeable price action included Carreras which lost $1.40 to close at $56.50, Desnoes & Geddes losing 20 cents to close at $4.80 after trading 144,000 units as high as $5. Grace traded 23,932 shares as the stock closed at $59.60, down 50 cents. JMMB which traded 71.1 million shares (Monday 7,874 shares) as the price moved back to $8, up 50 cents on the day. The bid for 1 million units at $7.60 is still posted providing some down side support for the stock. National Commercial bank lost 49 cents while trading just under 11,000 shares to close at $20.06. Pan Jamaican Investment lost $0.48 to close at $50.52 with moderate volume, and Scotia Group trading down 80 cents at $21.20 while trading 60,868 shares.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the IC bid-offer market sentiment indicator shows that bids for 6 stocks were higher, with 3 stocks that had an offer lower than their last selling price. The main market should continue in a flux for a few more trading days as investors get accustomed to the tighter liquidity in the financial market.

JSEIndicesJun25

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

TTSE: WITCO at it again, now $116

June 25, 2013 by

Tuesday, 25th June 2013 | The West Indian Tobacco Company saw trading in 25,385 shares with a value of $2,940,376 as the stock raced to $116, an all-time high and gained $2 on a day when 167,869 shares traded in the main market valued at $7,325,249 and 5,504 mutual fund shares valued at $126,592 traded.

Trading took place in 11 securities of which 3 advanced, 1 declined and 7 traded firm. Another stock that reached a 52 weeks high was Unilver Caribbean which traded 705 shares and gained 93 cents on the day to close at $53.25.

The major trading of stocks took place for Neal & Massy Holdings, 57,303 shares for a value of $3,380,877, Angostura Holdings, 55,000 shares valued at $495,000 and Guardian Holdings, 13,848 shares valued at $221,568.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the IC bid-offer sentiment indicator shows that bids for 2 stocks were higher, with 4 stocks that had offers lower than their last selling price.

At the close, it would appear that both Witco and Unilver are poised for more gains ahead. Scotia Investment with a bid of 117,000 shares at $1.78, the last selling price, should move up in price as there is no stock on offer at the close today nor on Monday.

TTSEJun25

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