Purchases by dealers of foreign currencies on Monday, resulted in the Jamaican currency selling rate making gains against the US dollar and the Canadian but slipping against the Pound sterling. The market closed with dealers buying the equivalent of US$50,144,764 in contrast to US$35,151,325 on Friday, while they sold the equivalent of US$46,892,333, previously US$38,752,539.
In US dollar trading , dealers bought US$45,236,465 compared to US$33,010,598 on Friday. The buying rate for the US dollar fell 20 cents to $117.18 and US$44,880,379 was sold versus US$36,624,907 on Friday, the selling rate eased by 1 cent to $117.86. The Canadian dollar buying rate rose 17 cents 
to $86.60 with dealers buying C$1,894,894 and selling C$1,171,602, at an average rate that fell 33 cents to $88.66. The rate for buying the British Pound climbed 88 cents to $179.30 for the purchase of £1,865,493, while £600,621 was sold, at an average rate that added 25 cents to end at $181.24. At the end of trading, it took J$132.27 to purchase the Euro, with a rise of 17 cents on Friday’s rate, according to data from Bank of Jamaica, while dealers purchased the European common currency at J$129.74, an increase of 46 cents on Friday’s rate. Other currencies bought, amounted to the equivalent of US$653,426, while the equivalent of US$206,879 was sold.
Highs & Lows| The highest buying rate for the US dollar, rose 5 cents to $118.30, the lowest buying rate remained at $96.23, the highest selling 
rate rose 5 cents to $123.37 and the lowest selling rate dropped $18.55 to $96.15. The highest buying rate for the Canadian dollar rose 65 cents to $89.80, the lowest buying rate fell 8 cents to $70.84 and highest selling rate rose 50 cents to $92. The lowest selling rate eased $1 to end at $84. The highest buying rate for the British Pound, climbed $1.70 to $183, the lowest buying rate declined by 49 cents to $145.71, the highest selling rate declined $2.78 to $187.84 and the lowest selling rate rose 55 cents to $175.55.
Archives for August 2015
J$ make slight gains on Monday
Only $10m traded on JSE on Monday
NCB’s new Constant Spring Rd. branch. The company’s stock closed with a gain of 73 cents on Monday
Unlike Friday when there were only 9 securities trading in the main and US dollar markets, Monday saw trading in 19 securities.
At the close, the JSE Market Index fell 334.02 points to 97,283.75. The JSE All Jamaican Composite index declined 373.34 points to 107,676.10 at support level on the downside and the JSE combined index added 227.26 points to end at 100,418.20.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had a reading that confirms that the decline in the market is ending.
Trading closed with a reading of 10 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices, and 4 with offers that were lower, the same reading as on Friday.In trading, Cable and Wireless rose just 1 cent with 1,764,685 units and closed at 46 cents. At the close, bids have built up with 159,000 units at 44 cents, at 43 cents, two bids form 779,586 units, and at 42 cents 710,209 units, 120,000 at 41 cents and 1,538,423 units at 40 cents. On offer between 46 and 52 cents, are 7 visible offers to sell 1,550,578 shares, IC Insider understands that there is an undisclosed amount at 46 cents. Grace Kennedy had 48,366 units changing hands at $64, Jamaica Broilers traded at $6.40 with just 2,500 shares
changing hands to gain 80 cents, JMMB Group traded 28,350 shares at $7.50, but lost 20 cents, National Commercial Bank traded 11,348 shares and closed with a gain of 73 cents at $28.75. Sagicor Group with 82,930 shares changing hands, closed at $13. Scotia Group traded 70,705 units to close with a gain of 60 cents at $24.36, Scotia Investments ended down 79 cents at $27 while only 1,000 units traded, Supreme Ventures ended with 21,362 stock units trading, with a gain of 2 cents to $3.42 and Proven Investments ordinary share, traded 23,350 units at 21 US cents for a loss of 1 US cent.
7 stocks up 3 down for juniors
Blue Power jumped to a 52 weeks’ high of $14 on Monday
At the close, 5 securities ended with no bids to buy, while 4 had no stocks being offered for sale and 4 stocks closed with bids higher than the last traded prices and none with the offer being lower.
Stocks trading are, Access Financial ended at $16.50 with a gain of $3.50 with 13,547 units changing hands, Blue Power rose $1.70 to a new 52 weeks’ high of $14 while 3,000 shares traded, Caribbean Cream ended with 300,018 shares changing hands at $2 for a 30 cents increase. Caribbean Producers traded 10,006 units at $2.51, for a decline of 9 cents, Consolidated Bakeries traded 17,950 shares at $1.20 after shedding 9 cents, Dolphin Cove
gained 85 cents to $13, while 62,000 shares traded, General Accident Insurance traded 30,000 units at $1.42, Honey Bun with 11,358 shares changing hands, closed with a gain of 25 cents at $4.25, for a 52 weeks’ high, Jamaican Teas had 4,149 shares trading, to close at $3.10, Lasco Distributors was up 8 cents to $1.70, with 224,468 units changing hands. Lasco Financial closed with 57,133 units trading to end at $1.65, after rising 1 cent, Lasco Manufacturing gained 10 cents in closing at $1.90 with 129,204 units changing hands and Medical Disposables traded 22,000 shares to close unchanged at $2.50.
31 seats for PNM poll suggests
The voters in the twin island state of Trinidad and Tobago go to the polls on Monday, September 7 in general election to elect a new government with polls showing a possible massive victory for the main opposition party, the PNM. The incumbent, the People’s Party Coalition – United National Congress (PP/UNC) won the last election with 29 out of the 41 seats that makes up the parliament. A recent opinion poll shows the governing party trailing the main opposition party by a large percentage.
If the actual results of the elections are close to what the poll indicates, it would amount to a massive victory for the PNM, with approximately 54 percent to the (PP/UNC) 43 percent of the popular votes. The PNM is likely to garner 31 or 76 percent of the 41 seats up for grabs, IC Insider calculations show. Two of the 31 seats are very marginal and could go either way.
The recent poll was conducted by H.H.B. & Associates was carried out on behalf of Guardian Media Ltd. According to the poll results, the People’s National Movement (PNM) is leading the race in voter support with just eight days to go before the election with 37 per cent of respondents said the PNM, while 30 per cent said the PP/UNC. The undecided respondents accounted for 31 per cent, while two per cent said Independent Liberal Party.
The poll was conducted between August 22 and 28, through the regional corporations in Trinidad. A random sample of 1,000 persons were surveyed.
Profit jumps 129% at Honey Bun
Profit jumped 129 percent over the June 2014 quarter, after taxes for Honey Bun to $17 million for the June 2015 quarter and growth for the nine months period to $64 million versus $41 million, an increase of 58 percent, and cash flow from operation of $98 million from increased sales of 17.5 percent, to $672 million.
For the quarter sales grew 20 percent to $218 million from $181 million in 2014, whilst gross profit was up by a larger 24 percent. The company attributes the increase in sales to a strategic restructuring of the sales department. Gross profit margin increased to 45.5 percent up from 44 percent in the June quarter of 2015 versus 2014 and 44.9 percent for the nine months in 2015.
Export sales increased by 48 percent year to date. “The major increase in exports is as a result of our placement in ASDA stores in the UK” Michelle Chong, Chief Executive Officer said, in response to IC Insider.com enquiry, and is in keeping with the Company’s objective of increasing exports.
The problem in the past has been the last quarter with a tendency for lower sales and losses, is the company over this? “The company services a lot of schools and so the summer months are normally reduced due to the holiday season for July and August. We will always have this challenge but we have somewhat overcome a significant portion of it by way of the development of new products that are not directly geared for schools and by targeting other markets also. This has made a significant impact,” Chong stated in response to questions posed to her by IC Insider.com.
Last year there were problems and added cost in the distribution department, it appears that the company is over that for 2015 fiscal. “We have outsourced over 50 of the distribution that was costing us excessively very successfully and last year we were also suffering from 2 of our major distribution vehicles being out of service and so we had to pay a lot for other vehicles to service the deliveries. These critical vehicles are now back in service” Chong said.
Honey Bun would have enjoyed savings in electricity and flour cost with the reduction of prices of oil and wheat on the world market. Chong agrees and indicated, “yes but besides the reduced rates we have also undertaken significant energy conservation on our own. We have also commenced the first phase of a large solar energy project”.
Receivables remained static at $56 million over June 2014 figure while Inventories fell to $45 million from $51 for the same period while payables were up to $59 million from $55 million. The company ended the quarter with $72 million in cash and investments, borrowed funds of $38 million and equity of $363 million. During the fiscal year a dividend totalling $11 million was paid more than twice the $4.7 million paid in the prior fiscal year.
IC Insider’s project a slight loss in the final quarter ending September this year with earnings for the full year to end at 66 cents versus 68 cents reported for the three quarters to June and 43 cents for the fiscal year to September 2014.
Securities trading jump on Monday
Unlike last week Friday when only 8 securities traded after 75 minutes of the market’s opening, on Monday the number of stocks trading jumped to as 29 including 14 junior market stocks. Trading volume is a mere 477,223 units, with 6 stocks declining versus 11 rising.
Trading activity resulted in mixed fortunes for the indices with the main market one falling and the junior market increasing. The JSE Market Index fell 238.55 points to 97,379.22. The JSE All Jamaican Composite index gained 266.63 points to close at 107,782.81 and the JSE combined index lost 163.37 points to end at 100,482.09. The junior market gained just 6.80 point to close at 956.79.
The notable trades are Carreras trading at $50.30 with a gain of $1.30 but with only 1,000 shares, Jamaica Broilers with 2,000 units at $6.99 after jumping $1.39. From the junior market, Access made another big leap to $19 with a gain of $6 but with 13,840 units, Blue Power rose 70 cents to $13, Dolphin Cove gained 85 cents to $13, while 62,000 shares traded and Lasco Distributors was up 23 cents to $1.85 with 184,468 units.
Polls suggest big win for T&T PNM
The voters in the twin island state of Trinidad and Tobago go to the polls on Monday, September 7 in general election to elect a new government. The incumbent, the People’s Party Coalition – United National Congress (PP/UNC) has been in government since May 2010 is said to be trailing in recent public opinion polls conducted by H.H.B. & Associates Ltd for Guardian Media Ltd.
According to the poll results, the People’s National Movement (PNM) is leading the race in voter support with just eight days to go before the election, with 37 per cent of respondents said they would vote for the PNM, while 30 per cent said they will vote PP/UNC. The undecided respondents accounted for 31 per cent, while two per cent said they supported the Independent Liberal Party.
The poll was conducted between August 22 and 28 using a random sample of 1,000 person.
If the actual results of the elections are close to what the polls indicate it would amount to a massive victory for the PNM with approximately 54 percent of the to the (PP/UNC) 43 percent of the popular votes.
Carib Flavours profit up – Now BUY RATED
Ingredients input into Caribbean Flavours products
For while the nine months to March showed profit down marginally to $39 million from $40 million, profit for the March quarter was up 20 percent over March 2014 quarter but the June quarter increased by 143 percent to $18.77 million from just $7.6 million for June 2014.
The future much brighter that the past year, for the company that manufactures and distributes flavours mainly for the beverage, baking and confectionery industries and also sells food colouring and fragrances. The company audited financial statements show profit of $58 million or 64 cents per share versus $47 million or 56 cents in 2014, from sales that were up to $307 million from $255 million in 2014. It is the performance of revenues that is the most telling message to flow from the report that points to big improvement in profits to come. Revenues jumped 44 percent in the quarter to reach $96 million the best quarter by far for the financial year.
According to the company’s board, “the economic environment has allowed the company to grow its revenues and profits by securing new markets for fragrances and increasing the volume of sales of flavours to existing and new customers in foreign markets. Based on the outlook for the coming year, it is expected that the company will continue to improve its profits whilst increasing its market share in the domestic and overseas markets”.IC Insider has projected profits for 2016 at $100 million or $1.10 per share with increased sales and improving profit margins.
Net asset value is $2.25 per share, with the price of the stock on the junior market trading at $2.55 for a PE of just over 3 and 2.3 based on the forecast, indicative of much upside price potential.
More slipping of J$ on Friday
Purchases by dealers of foreign currencies on Friday, resulted in the Jamaican currency selling rate continuing to slip against the US dollar and the Canadian but it rose against the Pound sterling. The market closed with dealers buying the equivalent of US$35,151,325 in contrast to US$26,734,325 on Thursday, while they sold the equivalent of US$38,752,539, previously US$31,646,639.
In US dollar trading , dealers bought US$33,010,598 compared to US$23,291,048 on Thursday. The buying rate for the US dollar rose 35 cents to $117.38 and US$36,624,907 was sold versus US$30,577,320 on Thursday, the selling rate inched up 9 cents to $117.87. 
The Canadian dollar buying rate fell 82 cents to $86.43 with dealers buying C$804,406 and selling C$979,253, at an average rate that increased 42 cents to $88.99. The rate for buying the British Pound dropped $1.78 to $178.42 for the purchase of £927,782, while £669,448 was sold, at an average rate that fell 76 cents to $180.99. At the end of trading, it took J$132.10 to purchase the Euro, with a fall of $2.12 from Thursday’s rate, according to data from Bank of Jamaica, while dealers purchased the European common currency at J$129.28, a decline of $2.20 from Thursday’s rate. Other currencies bought, amounted to the equivalent of US$138,160, while the equivalent of US$360,382 was sold.
Highs & Lows| The highest buying rate for the US dollar, rose 12 cents to $118.25, the lowest buying rate gained 4 cents to $96.23, the highest 
selling rate rose 6 cents to $123.32 and the lowest selling rate jumped $18.26 to $114.70. The highest buying rate for the Canadian dollar fell 85 cents to $89.15, the lowest buying rate gained 20 cents to $70.92 and highest selling rate rose 34 cents to $91.50. The lowest selling rate eased 20 cents to end at $85. The highest buying rate for the British Pound, eased $1.70 to $181.30, the lowest buying rate declined by $1.66 to $146.20, the highest selling rate declined $1.98 to $190.62 and the lowest selling rate fell $2 to $175.
Trading drops sharply on JSE
The Jamaica Stock Exchange on Friday closed with main market indices gaining modestly, with declining stocks equalling advancing ones. The market endured a very slow day, with the market closing with only 16 securities changing hands, resulting in 1,868,635 units trading, valued at $28,326,579 with 6 stocks rising, 6 declining, in all market segments. There were only 9 securities trading in the main and US dollar markets.
At the close, the JSE Market Index rose 221.30 points to 97,617.77. The JSE All Jamaican Composite index gained 247.34 points to 108,049.44 at support level on the downside and the JSE combined index added 316.62 points to end at 100,645.46.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had a reading that is confirming that the decline in the market is ending, with a reading of 10 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 4 with offers that were lower.
In trading, Cable and Wireless rose just 1 cent with 20,000 units and closed at 45 cents, at the close, bids have built up with 120,000 units at 44 cents, at 43 cents, two bids form 779,586 units, and at 42 cents 710,000 units and 458,000 units at 40 cents. On offer 
between 45 and 50 cents, are 11 visible offers to sell 1,867,550 shares. Carreras had 191,096 units changing hands at $49, with a loss of 50 cents. Desnoes and Geddes traded 654,909 shares to close 10 cents lower at $6.80, Jamaica Broilers traded at $5.60 with just 9,318 shares changing hands, JMMB Group traded just 580 shares at $7.70, but gained 18 cents, Sagicor Group with 169,500 shares changing hands, closed 20 cents higher at $13. Scotia Group traded 31,550 units to close with a loss of 5 cents at $23.76 and Proven Investments ordinary share traded 427,400 units at 22 US cents for a gain of 1.9 US cents
