J
amaica’s telecom provider, Cable & Wireless, is reporting profit from operation in the June quarter this year, compared to a loss in the same period in 2016.
The company enjoyed an 11 percent rise in revenues helped mainly by a 22 percent increase in mobile revenues to generate $6.8 billion in revenues up from $6 billion in 2016 and profit of $222 million versus a loss of $695 million in the June quarter of 2016. Operating cost fell to $4.24 billion from $4.5 billion in the 2016 quarter to generate profit before finance cost of $1.59 billion. For the six months, revenue of $13.2 billion was generated with a loss of $311 million compared to a profit of $1.1 billion in 2016 from revenues of $11.85 billion.
Subsequent to the quarter the company announced a series of price increases that is set to boost revenues and help the bottom-line. the stock closed on Friday on the Jamaica Stock Exchange at $1.07. The latest information makes this stock one to watch next week.
Archives for August 2017
SOS up 154% since public issue
Stationery & Office Supplies shares that were listed on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Thursday traded as high as $5.80 but closed at a record closing high of $5.08 to record a rise of 154 percent at the close.
Trading in the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange closed on Friday with a number of stocks advancing out pacing those declining 2 to 1. The volume and value of stocks traded rose sharply compared to that on Thursday as Express Catering traded 12.4 million shares and the market index closed higher by 16.57 points to close at 3,149.79 points to close at 3,133.22.
The Market index traded 15,732,911 shares valued at $100,160,789.54 compared with 554,002 shares valued at $2,805,282 on the previous day. A total of 25 securities traded compared 18 on Thursday with 9 stocks advancing 5 declining and 11 traded firm.
Trading ended with an average of 629,316 units for an average of $4,006,432 in contrast to 30,778 units for an average of $155,849 on Thursday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 210,256 units valued at $1,210,863 compared to 140,412 units valued at $744,935 previously. In contrast, July closed with average of 536,395 units at $1,905,441 for each security traded.
At the close of the market, stocks trading and their last traded price are: Access Finance added 50 cents to close at $46.50 with 15,230 shares, AMG Packaging trading 30,000 units at $3.50, Blue Power closed at $41.50 with 12,277 shares, Cargo Handlers closed with a loss of 50 cents at $11 with 6,848 shares, Caribbean Cream closed at $6.80 with 13,080 shares, Caribbean Flavours ended $1.95 higher and closed at $12.95 with 9,503 shares, Caribbean Producers closed at $3.50 with 109,654 shares, Consolidated Bakeries closed at $2.62 with 4,000 shares, Dolphin Cove lost $2.50 and closed at $17.50 with 1,272,104 shares. 
Express Catering rose 49 cents to $5.50 with 12,431,073 shares, General Accident closed 5 cents higher to $3 with 38,644 shares, Honey Bun dipped 50 cents, to a 52 weeks’ low of $4.50 with 13,400 shares, Jamaican Teas ended 5 cents higher at $4.60 with 3,000 shares, Jetcon Corporation closed 5 cents higher at $5.20 with 124,479 shares, KLE Group closed at $2 with 60,400 shares. Knutsford Express gained 10 cents and closed at $15 with 6,900 shares, Lasco Distributors closed at $6.70 with 202,957 shares, Lasco Financial closed with 22,593 shares trading at $4, Lasco Manufacturing ended at $4.50 with 8,881 shares, Main Event traded at $5 with 14,253 shares, Sweet River closed 3 cents higher at $3.55 with 2,000 shares, tTech dropped $1.45 to $8.05 with 20,513 shares, Eppley 8.25% preference share closed with a loss of 5 cents at $6 with 400 units and Eppley 9.5% preference share closed at $6.60 with 1,000 shares.
TTSE inches up on Friday
Trading on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange on Friday, 13 securities changed hands, the same as on Thursday with higher volumes and values as the market ended with few price changes.
At the close, 2 stocks advanced, 11 remained unchanged firm and no losses were recorded. The volume of all trades ended with 419,775 shares at a value of $2,356,840 compared to Thursday’s trades of 199,781 valued at $1,904,796.
The Composite Index advanced 1.26 points to 1,219.94, the All T&T Index was unchanged at 1,792.92 and the Cross Listed Index gained 0.35 points to 86.76 points.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer ended with 4 stocks with bids higher than last selling prices and 4 with lower offers.
Gains| L.J. Williams B closed at 79 cents, gaining 1 cent with trades of 100 units and NCB Financial Group gained 5 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $4.20 while exchanging 8,000 shares, the stock ended with a bid of $4.21 to buy 50,000 units but with no offers to sell, at the close.
Firm Trades| Ansa McAL closed at $66 with an exchange of 5,694 shares valued at $375,804, Clico Investment traded 914 shares at $21.50, First Citizens closed at $31.66, with 3,129 shares, Grace Kennedy exchanged 3,668 shares at $2.85. Guardian Holdings held firm at $16.50, with 2,500 shares changing hands, Massy Holdings closed at $49 trading 11,042 shares valued at $541,030, Republic Financial Holdings remained at $101.90, with 460 units trading. Sagicor Financial exchanged 300 units at $8.10, Scotiabank closed at $58 exchanging 1,111 shares, Scotia Investments traded 369,717 shares at $2.20 valued at $813,377 and Trinidad & Tobago NGLclosed at $23.50, with an exchange of 13,140 shares valued at $308,789.
TTSE remaining stable
Trading on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange on Thursday ended with lower volume and value of securities trading compared to the previous day, resulting from 13 securities changing hands compared to 17 on Wednesday.
The market closed with 2 stocks advancing, 1 declining and 10 holding firm as 199,781 shares traded at a value of $1,904,796 compared to Wednesday’s trades of 288,058 valued at $6,518,541.
The Composite Index advanced 0.86 points to 1,218.68, the All T&T Index added 0.04 points to 1,792.92 and the Cross Listed Index gained 0.23 points to 86.41 points.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer ended with 4 stocks with bids higher than last selling prices and 3 with lower offers.
Gains| First Citizens gained 1 cent to close at $31.66 with 400 units changing hands and NCB Financial Group closed at a 52 weeks’ high of $4.15 trading 30,312 shares and closed with demand to buy 142,635 units at $4.15 with no stock being offered for sale.
Losses| Prestige Holdings lost 1 cent to close at $10.64 exchanging 45,914 shares valued at $488,525.
Firm Trades| Clico Investment traded 9,770 shares at $21.50, First Caribbean International closed at $8.05, with 30,000 shares, Grace Kennedy exchanged 52,104 shares at $2.85. Guardian Holdings held firm at $16.50, with 3,255 shares switching owners, JMMB Group closed at $1.18 trading 1,700 shares, Massy Holdings closed at $49, with 1,359 shares. One Caribbean Media exchanged 2,850 shares at $14.90, Sagicor Financial remained at $8.10 exchanging 1,264 shares, Scotiabank traded 370 units at $58 and Trinidad & Tobago NGLremained at $23.50, with an exchange of 20,483 shares valued at $481,350.
Stationery shares set to gain over 150%
SOS executives at the listing ceremony at the JSE.
Stationery & Office Supplies shares were listed on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Thursday.
The price of the stock is set to gain more than 150 percent when trading resumes on Friday, if interest in the stock shown on Thursday is anything to go by.
After a successful public offering of the stock in July that was priced at $2, investors traded 278,046 units between $3.50 up to $5 on the opening day. The trades were outside the limit of $2.60 it could trade at based on the limitation of the exchange circuit breaker rule and were cancelled. The circuit breaker rule limits price movement to no more than 30 percent from the last price on the previous trading day. Normally the price would be the last closing stock price, 
subject some variation to this, when the bids or offers are higher than the previous closing price or the offer is lower. The stock closed with the bid at $4.70 which is the effective price on which a 30 percent change can take place in Fridays trading and could result in the price going as high as $6.11.
The market closed with bids to buy up to 4.36 million shares with offers to sell 106,922 units between $5 and $12, but supply is expected to increase on Friday with the price reaching the $5 level.
The listing brings the total of Junior Market ordinary shares listed to 32, which exceeds the listing on the Jamaica Stock Exchange main market listings. Total Junior Market listings are now 36 with 4 preference shares listed.
New record close -Thursday
Main market stocks of the Jamaica Stock Exchange closed at record levels at the close on Thursday with the market indices climbing over 2,300 points but with advancing stocks being edged out by declining ones.
The All Jamaica Composite Index surged 2,567.56 points to a record close of 278,436.64, the JSE Market Index jumped 2,339.33 points to a record at the close of 253,687.31 and the JSE US dollar market index lost 10.81 points to close at 186.89.
At the close of trading, 25 securities changed hands in the main market with 1 trading in the US dollar market, leading to 8 stocks advancing and 9 declining. The main market ended with 1,374,903 units valued at $47,150,828 changing hands compared to 1,809,394 units valued at $47,308,355 at the close on Wednesday. Trading in the US dollar market accounted for 631,286 units valued at US$150,176 bringing the total of all trades to J$66,373,329.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading in the main and US dollar markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 4 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 2 with lower offers.
The main market ended trading with an average of 54,996 units valued at $1,886,033 for each security traded compared to an average of 69,592 units valued at $1,819,552. The average volume and value for the month to date ended at 109,162 units with an average value of $1,864,984 compared with an average of $119,995 units with an average value of $1,860,774 on the previous trading day. The average volume and value for July ended at 160,668 units with an average value of $2,691,438.
In market activity, Barita Investmentslost 23 cents to close at $8.77 trading 800 shares, Berger Paints advanced $2.51 to $18.69 while exchanging just 179 units, Cable and Wireless lost 1 cent to close at $1.04, with 218 units changing hands, Caribbean Cement lost $1 in closing at $28, 1,500 shares,Carreras dipped 50 cents to $109.50, with 121,812 shares switching owners and Grace Kennedy closed at $40, with a loss of 49 cents trading 9,790 shares. Jamaica Broilers exchanged 68,558 shares at $18.10, Jamaica Producers closed at $15.10, with a loss of 90 cents trading 460 units, Jamaica Stock Exchange lost 1 cent, closing at $6.48 with 34,250 shares changing, JMMB Group closed at $19.99, gaining 79 cents with 267,627 shares. Kingston Wharves exchanged 283 units at $29, Mayberry Investments gained 14 cents to close at $4.63, with 2,435 shares changing hands, 
NCB Financial Group held firm at $90, after exchanging 27,309 shares, 1834 Investments traded 50,000 shares at $1.40, PanJam Investment closed $2 lower to $31 trading 614,451 shares, Portland JSX gained 30 cents to $9.30, with an exchange of 3,350 shares, Proven Investments added 1 cent, closing at $25.02, with trades of 80,000 shares, Pulse Investments gained 1 cent to close at $1.99 trading 20,000 shares and Radio Jamaica closed at $1.50 exchanging 2,438 shares. Sagicor Group closed at $34.35, with gains of 35 cents trading 28,700 shares, Salada Foods gained 39 cents, closing at $9.50 with 128 units, Scotia Group ended at $44 with 23,318 shares, Seprod closed at $32.55, losing 85 cents with 7,443 shares changing hands. Proven Investments US ordinary share traded 631,286 units at 24 US cents, Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.5% preference share closed at $1.99 with 2,934 units traded and Proven 8.25% preference share exchanged 6,920 units at $4.99.
Forex inflows down to US$48M – Thursday
Trading in the Jamaican foreign exchange market on Thursday resulted inflows of US$48.44 million in contrast to US$57.76 million on Wednesday and outflows of US$37.65 million compared to US$45.81 million of all currencies previously.
Approximately, 25 percent of the intakes are surrendered by dictates to Bank of Jamaica and would amount to $12 million, which is almost in line with the net inflows.
In USA dollar trading, inflows ended at US$42.03 million versus US$48.22 million on Wednesday, with outflows of US$34.14 million compared to US$40.11 million.
The value of the Jamaican dollar slipped modestly in value against the US dollar, with the selling rate ending at J$128.44 from J$128.36 previously. Dealers bought the US currency at an average of J$127.36, versus J$127.39 on Wednesday.
The selling rate for the Canadian dollar climbed to J$101.30 from J$101.01 at the close on Wednesday, while the British Pound was more costly at the close, with J$167.68 buying the British currency versus J$167.14 and the euro, declined in value against the Jamaican dollar, with it taking J$151.67 to buy the European common currency , versus J$151.74 previously.
SOS listing pushes juniors ahead of main market
The Stationery and Office Supplies executive body at the SOS listing ceremony. From left: Allan McDaniel, Deputy Managing Director and Director of Warehouse and Logistics; Kelli McDaniel Muschett, Director of Purchasing and Administration; David McDaniel, Chairman and Managing Director; Marjorie McDaniel, Director, Chief Administrative Officer and Company Secretary; Kerri McDaniel Todd, Director of Special Projects; and Stephen Todd, Director of Sales and Marketing.
Stationery & Office Supplies shares were listed on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Thursday. The listing brings the total of Junior Market ordinary shares listed to 32, exceeding the ordinary share listing on the Jamaica Stock Exchange main market.
Total Junior Market listings are now 36 with 4 preference shares listed.
After a successful public offering of the stock that was priced at $2, investors traded 278,046 units between $3.50 up to $5 on the opening day, but those trades were outside the limit of $2.60 it could trade at based on the limitation of the exchange’s circuit breaker and were cancelled. The stock closed with the bid at $4.70 which is the effective price on which a 30 percent change can take place in Fridays trading and could result in the price going as high as $6.11.
Trading in the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange closed on Thursday with a number of stocks declining, out pacing those rising. The volume and value of stocks trading declined compared to that on Wednesday and the market index closed lower.
The market index declined 21.58 points to close at 3,133.22 with 554,002 shares valued at $2,805,282 trading compared with 3,764,636 units valued at $19,753,434 on the previous day. A total of 17 securities traded compared 17 on Wednesday with 6 stocks declined, 5 advanced and 7 traded firm.
Trading ended with an average of 30,778 units for an average of $155,849 in contrast to 221,449 units for an average of $1,161,967 on Wednesday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 140,412 units valued at $744,935 compared to 162,339 units valued at $862,752 previously. In contrast, July closed with average of 536,395 units at $1,905,441 for each security traded.
At the close of the market, stocks trading and the last traded price on Thursday are: AMG Packaging trading 48,800 units with a loss of 20 to end at $3.50, Cargo Handlers with a loss of $1.70 to close at $11.50 with 1,500 shares, Caribbean Cream closed at $6.80 with 1,842 shares, Caribbean Flavours ended at $11 with 13,151 shares, Caribbean Producers traded at $3.50 with 24,600 shares, Express Catering rose 1 cent to close at $5.01 with 212,564 shares, General Accident climbed 15 cents higher to close at $2.95 with 3,122 shares, 
Honey Bun with a loss of 5 cents, closed at $5 with 500 shares after posting poor results for the June quarter, with profit before taxes falling to $8 million, $31 million less than in the prior year’s period. Jamaican Teas rose 4 cents in closing at $4.55 with 21,717 shares, Jetcon Corporation closed 5 cents higher to $5.15 with 48,384 shares, Knutsford Express ended at $14.90 with a loss of 10 cents with 2,542 shares, Lasco Distributors closed 10 cents higher at $6.70 with 46,231 shares, Lasco Financial closed at $4 with 6,700 shares, Lasco Manufacturing closed at $4.50 with 75,963 shares, Main Event closed at $5 with 37,286 shares, Paramount Trading ended 10 cents higher at $2.70 with 1,000 shares, Eppley 8.25% preference share closed at $6.05 with a 8,000 shares and Eppley 10% preference share close at $6.60 with a 100 shares.
10 for 1 split for Carreras shares
Carreras as high as $110 after stock split announcement.
The directors of Carreras advised that they will be recommending a 10 for 1 stock split to members of the Company at its Annual General Meeting scheduled for September 6.
In order to facilitate the proposed subdivision of the existing ordinary shares in the capital of the Company, the maximum number of shares that the Company is authorized to issue is to be increased by a subdivision into 10 ordinary shares for each one that currently exists and thus raising the authorized capital to $4.8544 billion units with effect from the close of business on September 20, 2017. The existing issued shares are to be increased from 485,440,000 units of no par value to 4,854,400,000 ordinary shares of no par value. The ex-stock split date is September 18, 2017.
Carreras stock trades at $110 on the main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange.
Strong demand for SOS after listing
Stationery & Office Supplies was listed on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Thursday. 
The stock was offered to the public in mid-July at $2 each and was heavily oversubscribed, has bids to buy 98,660 units as high as $3.50 and 19,800 shares at $3.51.
No trade has taken place with 10,346 units being offered at $4.50, 10,000 units at $6 and 34,105 shares at $12 in the morning session.
Currently bids amount to buy more than 3.2 million units down to $2.50 up to $3.51. The stock exchange circuit breaker rule would restrict the maximum price the shares can trade at today at $2.60, and if it does not trade by the close, the maximum it can trade at on Friday would be $2.90. With bids at $3.50 and above currently, then it may not trade on Friday either if investors starts bids above $2.90 on Friday. Unless management intervene as they did for Express Catering it likely to be well into next week before the first trades would start.
