Junior market Knutsford Express, enjoyed a very profitable 2014 with a 92 percent increase in pretax profit for the February quarter of $19 million and 45 percent increase for the nine months to $48.5 million.
Contributing to the big jump in profits is a 46.9 percent climb in revenues to $334 million for the nine months and $126.5 million for the quarter, for a 39.6 percent gain. Administrative and other cost rose 33.7 percent in the quarter and 46 percent for the nine months. The earnings translate to 19 cents per share for the quarter and 49 cents for the nine months.
Borrowed funds amount to $23 million with cash funds of $55 million. The company added to its fixed assets which moved from $126 million as of May last year, to $173 million as it expands the fleet of buses on the road and now covers Jamaica with land transportation from north to south and east to west.
The company’s stock traded at $5.60 with a gain of 40 cents after the results were released. the stock remains IC Insider Buy Rated, but it is not expected that there will be much more gains in the short term with a current PE of 8 times 2015 earnings.
Archives for April 2015
Knutsford riding high
January remittances climb
Jamaica enjoyed a record haul in remittance inflows for the month of January with US$166 million garnered in January this year, according to data from Bank of Jamaica.
The flows represent an increase of US$8 million or 5.1 percent more than the amounts collected in January 2014. The growth in remittance inflows and a contraction in outflows resulted in net remittance inflows increasing at a faster pace than total inflows, with net remittances of US$147.4 million for January 2015, an increase of US$9.5 million or 6.9 percent over January 2014.
The gain in net inflows would have been occasioned by greater stability and availability of foreign exchange locally.
30 days interest rate rise
Interest rate increased for the latest Government of Jamaica Treasury Bills offering for April over the previous issue, in March this year, but by a relatively small amount of 0.04 percentage points.
The highest and lowest rates in the auction, suggest that investors expected rates to have eased rather than rise, with successful investors obtaining rates ranging from 6.1 percent to 6.74999 percent with an average rate 6.33979 percent, compared to the March auction with a high of 6.8 percent and a low of 6 percent and an average of 6.3 percent. Applications for $690,246,600 chased the $400,000,000 available on Wednesday, April 15 for Treasury Bills with a 30 days maturity of Friday May 15.
J$115.04 for one US$ on Wednesday
Image courtesy of Marcus/FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Purchases of all currencies by dealers amounted to US$30,033,164 equivalent, compared with US$42,707,331, on Tuesday and selling of the equivalent of US$35,002,312 versus sale of US$43,780,983, on the previous trading day, still leaving a surplus of $5 million between sales and purchases for the week to date. In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$27,405,533 compared to US$37,573,862 on Tuesday. The buying rate for the US dollar fell 15 cents to $114.41 and US$33,460,121 was sold versus US$40,598,025 on Tuesday, the selling rate rose 3 cents to end at $115.04.
The Canadian dollar buying rate inched up by 11 cents to $89.67 with dealers buying C$862,182 and selling C$ 834,391, at an average rate that climbed 68 cents to $92.16. The rate for buying the British Pound fell 4 cents to $168.04 for the purchase of £1,228,750, while £481,711 was sold, at an average rate that rose 6 cents to $169.57. At the end of trading it took J$122.99 to purchase the Euro, $1.42 more than on Tuesday, according to data from Bank of Jamaica, while dealers purchased the European common currency at J$120.68 for a rise of $1.46 from Tuesday’s rate. Other currencies bought, amounted to the equivalent of US$147,112, while the equivalent of US$163,704, was sold.
Highs & Lows| The highest buying rate for the US dollar, fell 40 cents to $115.20. The lowest buying rate rose $5.84 to $93.69 and the highest selling rate remained unchanged at $120.05, but the lowest selling rate rose $16.46 to $112. The highest buying rate for the Canadian dollar is up 50 cents to $92.70. The lowest buying rate inched up 16 cents $72, but the highest selling rate rose 15 cents to $94.52 with the lowest selling rate rising $2.45 to $89. The highest buying rate for the British Pound, rose 99 cents to $173.15, the lowest buying rate stayed at $134.38, but the highest selling rate climbed $2.13 to $175.50 and the lowest selling rate jumped $4.10 to $166.
Low trading on JSE Wednesday
Activity on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, resulted in the prices of 6 stocks rising, 8 declining as 19 securities changed hands, ending in 2,545,551 units trading, valued at $13,385,867, in all market segments.
Main Market| The JSE Market Index gained just 28.96 points to 84,837.26, the JSE All Jamaican Composite index rose 32.38 points to close at 93,570.30 and the JSE combined index gained 40.13 points to close at 86,628.32.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator was flashing strong signals of rising prices ahead, with 15 stocks having bids higher than their last selling prices and only 2 with offers that were lower. In trading on the main market, Cable & Wireless traded 556,317 units at 50 cents to gain a cent at the close, 
Jamaica Producers had 508,889 shares changing hands to close at $16, after trading down at $15.96, at the close there was buying interest in 496,095 shares at $15.96. National Commercial Bank traded just 15,300 shares to close at $25.26 for a 24 cents decline, but there is 137,000 units on the bid to buy at $25.26, Sagicor Group had just 54,877 units changing hands at $10.40 and Scotia Group traded 16,788 at $21.95 to decline by 55 cents, with 192,864 units on the bid at $21.92. Radio Jamaica did not traded but ended with a bid to buy 200,000 at $1.50, with the lowest offer being 48,000 units at $2 and the next, 15,100 units at $3.
Volume up for juniors Wednesday
Knutsford Express stock price, gained in trading as investors responded positively to 9 months’ results.
At the close of the market, there were 7 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and only 1 with a lower offer. The junior market ended with 4 securities closing with no bids to buy and 11 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale. There has developed a widening gap between most bids and offers as investors have a standoff between where the stocks last traded and where those wanting to sell are prepared so to do. Improving profit out turn has made the situation worse.
Stocks trading in the junior market are, Knutsford Express fresh from reporting a 92 percent increase in pretax profits for the February quarter and 45 percent for the nine months, to $48.5 million, the stock gained 40 cents in closing at $5.60, having traded 87,603 shares. Caribbean Producers trading 993,178 as high as $2.35, closed at $2.30 for a 10 cents decline, General Accident Insurance had 224,010 units changing hands at $1.71 for 1 cent gain, Lasco Distributors gained 3 cents in trading 14,800 and closed at $1.43 and Lasco Manufacturing had only 12,230 shares trading to end at $1.06.
Sideways movement on TTSE
Trading on the Trinidad Stock Exchange ended with 12 securities changing hands of which 2 advanced, 1 declined and 9 traded firm with a total of 186,439 units, valued at $924,649.
At the close of the market, the Composite Index advanced by 0.41 points to close at 1,151.64, the All T&T Index rose 0.83 points to close at 1,965.32 and the Cross Listed Index remained at 44.31.
Gains| Stocks increasing in price at the close are, First Citizens Bank trading 608 shares to close with a gain of 4 cents at $35.56 and Trinidad Cement with 92,027 shares changing hands for a value of $230,052 ended with a 10 cents gain and ending at $2.50.
Declines| Only one stock declined at the end of trading as Republic Bank fell 1 cent to end at a new 52 weeks’ low of $115.99 with 2,368 shares trading.
Firm Trades| Stocks closing with prices unchanged at the end of trading are, ANSA Mcal trading 600 shares and ended at $66.91, Clico Investment Fund trading 1,330 at $22.50, Guardian Holdings ending with 3,093 units changing hands, to close at $14.20. Massy Holdings traded 132 shares to close at $63.05, National Enterprises with 2,579 shares trading, closed at $17.33, National Flour Mills 
with 45,533 shares trading, closed at $1.50, Sagicor Financial Corporation trading 12,565 shares, closed at $6.25, Scotiabank in trading 656 shares ended at $62.11 and Scotia Investments contributed 24,788 shares and ended at $1.46.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows 3 stocks with the bid higher than their last selling prices and 1 with the offer that is lower.
Moderate trading
Trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange has been very moderate after an hour of trading. Only 10 securities have traded so far with a total volume of 105,600 units.
Knutsford Express fresh from reporting a 92 percent increase in pretax profits for the February quarter and 45 percent for the nine months gained 40 cents in trading to $5.60, having traded 87,603 shares. Scotia Group slipped 50 cents to $22 with a small volume and National Commercial Bank traded at $25.27 off by 23 cents.
The JSE main market indices are down by less than 20 pints so far while the junior market is up 1.06 points to 733.24.
VMBS raises profit in 2014
Victoria Mutual Building Society (VMBS) reports a slight increase in profit of $1 billion for 2014 up from $943 million in 2013.
VMBS generated income of $7.2 billion in 2014 and in 2013 revenues of $6.5 million. The group ended with assets of $97 billion up from $86 billion. Equity capital rose to $11.35 billion from $10.37 in 2013. Mortgage loans rose $31 billion from$27 billion in 2013 and cash funds of $10 billion. Other major assets are Repos amounting to $16 billion, investments mostly in government securities $33.5 billion. VMBS is primarily in the business of providing home mortgages.
Kremi profit up 40%
Kremi profit jumped 184% in the February quarter over that of 2014.
Revenue increased 11 percent for the February 2014 quarter, reaching $274 million but most of that is due to price increase and 19 percent to $1 billion for the twelve months.
Gross profit margin climbed to 28.44 percent in the latest quarter from 25.9 percent in the 2014 period but for the full year, the margin was at 27.59 percent compared to 23.67 percent for the 2014 period. Going forward, the margin should improve even more with the blast freezer installed in November, which management says will reduce utility cost and create capacity for greater production to enhance sales volume.
Administrative cost rose by 37.7 percent to $168.8 million for the full year and by 6.9 percent to $44.5 million for the quarter. The slower growth in the latest quarter is an indication that cost increase in the area is normalising and that is a god sign going forward. The company should also benefit from lower marketing cost in 2015 with the upfront cost for the rebranding and advertising picked up last year repeating in the current year. The last quarter reflects the lower on going marketing cost at just $6 million compared to $11.4 million in 2014 and $37.8 million for the full year versus $27 million in 2014. Finance cost in the quarter jumped to $10 million from $4 million in the prior year and an average of just over $5 million in the prior quarters. Based on the funds borrowed the cost going forward should be around $5 million per quarter subject to repayments and changes in interest rates if any.Going forward the benefits of blast freezer will be reflected for the full year, while it only partially impacted the last quarter of the just concluded fiscal year. They increased prices around 15 percent ahead of the Christmas period and may have seen some cut back in volume in the quarter as a result. They should be able to recover volumes going forward and even expand on it as the shock effect of the price increase wears off and more retail outlets are added.
Importantly, electricity cost will fall from two standpoints one is the lower electricity cost around 20 percent from the peak last year and lower cost due to the faster freezing of ice cream thus using less energy. The cost of milk or milk powder is down quite sharply as well. With all of the above earnings of 2015/16 could land at 60 cents.
