Archives for April 2018

JSE main market trades at record high – Monday

April 30, 2018 by IC Insider.com

Stocks closed much higher on the Jamaica Stock Exchange main market on Monday than on Friday as the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index jumped 2,366.31 points to record close of 328,893.09.
The JSE Index climbed sharply by 2,155.97 points to end at a record close of 299,658.77. At the close, 29 securities traded, compared to 26 on Friday and ended with the prices of 13 stocks rising, 8 falling and 8 trading firm, in the main and US dollar markets.
At the close of trading, Berger Paints closed at $20 with a gain of 95 cents, Kingston Wharves rose $1.95 to $50, Proven Investments ordinary share in the local market fell $1.99 to $26.51 and Seprod gained 76 cents to close at $34.99.
Main market activity ended with 12,309,558 units valued at $246,771,642 compared to 22,131,577 units valued at $314,568,605 on Friday.

Carreras traded over 2 million shares.

At the close of trading Jamaica Broilers ended trading 2,612,575 units amounting to 21.22 percent of the day’s volume, Carreras traded 2,041,313 units accounted for 16.58 percent of trading, Proven Investments Jamaican dollar ordinary share closed with 2 million units trading, Wisynco Group ended with 1,382,174 units, units Supreme Ventures with 1,089,028 units, followed by Sagicor Group with 1,073,450 shares.
Trading resulted in an average of 424,468 units valued at an average of $8,509,367 for each security traded.

In contrast to 922,149 units valued at an average of $13,107,025 on Friday. The average for the month to date is 708,206 shares with a value of $6,395,518 and previously 723,010 shares with a value of $5,999,413. In contrast, March closed with an average of 626,526 units with an average value at $20,492,207 for each security traded.
There was no trading in the US dollar market, leaving the Market index at 164.44.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 16 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 3 closing with a lower offers.
For more details of market activities see – – Monday.

Filed Under: Feature Stories, JSE Main Market, Stock Market Tagged With: Carreras, Daily Trading, Emerging markets, Jamaica Broilers, Jamaica Producers, Jamaica Stock Exchange, Jamaican stocks, Kingston Wharves, Proven Investments, Seprod, Supreme Ventures, Trading Activity, Wisynco Group

Jamaican$ gains against all – Monday

April 30, 2018 by IC Insider.com

The Jamaican dollar gained further ground at the close of foreign currency trading on Monday against all the four main currency it mostly trade against daily.
Inflows of all currencies amounted to the equivalent US$63.21 million compared to US$35.26 million bought on Friday and sold US$63.48 million compared to US$37.86 million sold on Friday.
At the close of foreign currency trading, dealers sold US$46.64 million, 21 cents less than on Friday with the US dollar selling rate closing at J$125.32, compared to J$125.53 in the sale of US$29.69 million on Friday. Purchases of the US currency by dealers, amounted to US$58.09 million, with the average rate rising 58 cents to $124.33, compared to US$29.47 million, with the average rate of $123.75 on Friday.
At mid-day on Monday dealers purchased US$25.27 million at an average rate of J$124.58 and sold $19.78 million at an average of J$125.24. At mid-day on the previous trading day, dealers purchased US$8.2 million at an average rate of J$124.37 and sold $7.46 million at an average of J$125.44.
The Jamaican dollar closed trading, with the selling rate for the Canadian dollar, declining to J$98.23 from J$100.96 at the close on Friday. The selling rate for the British Pound declined to J$172.28 from J$174.70 previously and the euro fell versus the Jamaican dollar to J$151.70 to buy the European common currency, versus the prior selling rate of J$152.09.

Filed Under: FX Market Tagged With: Bank Of Jamaica, BOJ, British Pound, Canadian dollar, Daily Trading, Emerging market, euro, euro v J$, FX trading, jamaican dollar, US Dollar

JSE majors close April on a record – Monday

April 30, 2018 by IC Insider.com

Investors pushed the main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange to record highs on Monday and closing April at a record high after ending with 6 closing record highs, during the month.
The market that enjoyed several record closes during the month ended on Monday with 29 securities changing hands, resulting in 12,309,558 units valued at $246,771,642 trading leading to a rise in the market indices.
The main market closed with 13 securities rising, 8 declining and 8 trading firm, as the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index surged by 2,366.31 points to a record close of 328,893.09 and the JSE Index climbed 2,155.97 points to record 299,658.77.
In market activity, Barita Investments lost 50 cents and closed at $9.50, with 42,960 shares traded, Berger Paints jumped 95 cents to end at $20, with 103,899 stock units crossing the exchange’s platform, Carreras finished at $10.60, with 2,041,313 shares, Caribbean Cement fell 50 cents and settled at $37.50, with just 500 shares trading, Grace Kennedy traded at $49, with 80,953 stock units. Jamaica Broilers finished trading at $21, with 2,612,575 units, Jamaica Producers closed at $16.99, with 55,324 shares, Jamaica Stock Exchange lost 5 cents and ended at $6.80, with 44,641 shares, JMMB Group concluded trading at $26.87, with 44,847 shares after slipping 11 cents. Kingston Wharves jumped $1.95 to close at $50, with 2,346 units, Mayberry Investments gained 18 cents and ended trading at $6.20, with 5,000 shares, NCB Financial Group traded at $97, with 44,744 shares, 1834 Investments added just 1 cents and finished trading at $1.16, with 13,000 shares. PanJam Investment ended 25 cents higher at $44, with 25,274 units, Portland JSX lost 40 cents and concluded trading at $10, with 15,830 shares, Pulse Investments slipped 1 cent and finished at $1.78, with 9,000 shares, Radio Jamaica rose 2 cents and settled at $1.07, with 33,090 shares. Sagicor Group ended trading at $37.60, with 1,073,450 stock units and Sagicor Real Estate Fund rose 30 to $15.30, with 17,936 stock units. Scotia Group finished trading at $50, with 608,581 shares traded, Seprod rose 76 cents and concluded trading at $34.99, with 2,700 stock units, Supreme Ventures gained 13 cents and settled at $11.70, with 1,089,028 shares. Victoria Mutual Investments gained 5 cents and ended trading at $4.25, with 194,155 shares, Wisynco Group traded with a gain of 16 cents at $10.85, with 1,382,174 shares. In the main market preference segment, Jamaica Money Market 7.25% lost 5 cents and ended trading at $2.50, with 1,800 shares, Jamaica Money Market7.5% traded at $1.92, with 2,138 stock units, JMMBC 7.25% ended rose 10 cents to $2.10, with 50,000 shares, Proven Investments 8.25% rose 90 cent and closed at $5.90, with 712,300 stock units changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place. For more details of market activities, see “JSE main market trades at record high – Monday.”

Filed Under: Feature Stories, JSE Main Market, Stock Market Tagged With: Berger Paints, Caribbean Cement, Carreras, Daily Trading, Emerging markets, Grace Kennedy, Jamaica Broilers, Jamaica Money Market Brokers, Jamaica Producers, Jamaica Stock Exchange, Jamaican stocks, JMMB, JMMB Group, Kingston Properties, Kingston Wharves, Mayberry Investments, NCB Financial Group, PANJAM Investment, Proven Investments, Pulse Investments, Radio Jamaica, Sagicor Group, Sagicor Real Estate Fund, Salada Foods, Scotia Group, Seprod, Supreme Ventures, Trading Activity, Victoria Mutual Investments, Wisynco

23,000 more Jamaicans employed

April 30, 2018 by IC Insider.com

Add your HTML code here...

More Jamaicans continue to gain employment as the economic growth gathers pace with 22,600 persons added to the employment list, an increase of 1.9 percent more persons being employed over the year to January.
The increased number of employed persons, lifted the employed in January 2018 to 1,206,600, up from 1,184,000 employed in January 2017.
Over the period, male employment increased by a mere 1,900 persons over the twelve month period to reach 664,200 in January 2018 while female employment increased by 20,700 or 4 percent to 542,400.
According to the Statistical Institute of Jamaica, the unemployment rate fell to 9.6 percent at the start of the year and is down sharply from 12.7 percent in January 2017. The lower rate of unemployment came as a result of decline in the total number of persons in the labour force and the increase in employment. In October last year the unemployment rate fell to 10.4 percent.

Filed Under: Breaking News, Economy Tagged With: Jamaica's labour force, Jamaica's unemployment rate, Statistical Institute of Jamaica

Junior Market traded with negative bias – Monday

April 30, 2018 by IC Insider.com

The Junior Market Index closed trading on Monday with a gain of just 3.84 points to 2,988.82 as 26 securities changed hands up from 25 trading on Friday, with 5 rising, 12 declining and 9 remaining unchanged.
Market activities closed, resulting in an exchange of 1,467,297 units valued at $6,334,954 compared to 1,334,762 units valued at $6,029,272 on Friday.
Market activity ended with an average of 56,435 units for an average of $243,652 in contrast to 53,390 units for an average of $241,171 on Friday. The average volume and value for the month to date, amounts to 121,622 units at $506,803 compared to 125,902 units at $524,081 on the prior trading day. March closed with an average of 149,999 units valued at $623,819, for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 3 stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices and 4 with lower offers.
At the close of the market, Access Financial ended at $47, with 144 shares trading, AMG Packaging ended with a loss of 4 cents to a 52 weeks’ low of $1.93, while exchanging 138,986 stock units, Caribbean Cream fell 65 cents to $5, with 1,000 shares, Caribbean Producers finished trading at $5.40, with 15,072 units, Consolidated Bakeries closed with a loss of 5 cents at $1.90, after 11,951 shares changed hands. Derrimon Trading concluded trading at $10, with 6,000 shares, Elite Diagnostic settled with a loss of 5 cents at $3.20, with 121,237 units, Eppley ended trading 10 cents higher at $9.60, with 500 shares, Express Catering traded at $6, with 28,667 shares. FosRich Group finished trading 10 cents higher at $2.45, with 37,631 shares, General Accident closed with a loss of 15 cents at $3.02, with 26,000 stock units, GWest Corporation ended with a loss of 3 cents at $2.42, with 28,853 units changing hands, Honey Bun concluded trading with a loss of 5 cents at $4.60, with 31,000 shares. Jamaican Teas ended trading at $5, with 64,809 stock units, Jetcon Corporation traded with a loss of 15 cents at $4.15, with 530,003 units, Key Insurance finished trading 10 cents higher at $3.50, with 1,000 shares, KLE Group closed at $2.45, with 1,796 stock units. Knutsford Express ended at $14, with 761 shares, Lasco Distributors concluded trading with a loss of 5 cents at $4.05, with 45,252 stock units, Lasco Financial finished with a loss of 3 cents at $5.62, with 325,528 units, Lasco Manufacturing settled with a loss of 41 cents at $4.08, with 6,000 shares. Main Event ended trading 38 cents higher at $7, with 21,938 shares, Paramount Trading finished trading 5 cents higher at $3.10, with 450 stock units, Stationery and Office closed with a loss of 3 cents at $5.96, with 1,479 units and tTech concluded trading at $6, with 16,240 shares. In the junior market preference segment, Eppley settled at $6, with 5,000 shares, changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.

Filed Under: Feature Stories, JSE Junior Market, Stock Market Tagged With: Access Financial, AMG Packaging, Caribbean Flavours, Caribbean Producers, Consolidated Bakeries, Daily Trading, Derrimon Trading, Elite Diagnostics, Emerging markets, Eppley, Express Catering, FosRich, GWest, Honey Bun, Jamaica Stock Exchange, Jamaican Stock, Jamaican Teas, Jetcon Corporation, Knutsford Express, Lasco Distributors, Lasco Financial, Lasco Manufacturing, Main Event, Medical Disposables, Paramount Trading, Stationery and Office, Trading Activity, tTech

TTSE trading falls back on – Monday

April 30, 2018 by IC Insider.com

Demand rises for Republic Financial Holdings

Market activity on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange ended on Monday with trading in 15 securities against 16 on Friday, with 1 advancing, 3 declining and 11 remaining unchanged.
Trading ended with 138,553 shares at a value of $4,411,178 compared to 833,223 shares at a value of $20,721,197 on Friday.
At close of the market the, Composite Index rose 0.27 points on Monday to 1,230.48, the All T&T Index gained 0.52 points to 1,697.49, while the Cross Listed Index remained unchanged to close at 102.75.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows the market continuing to be weak as it closed with 3 stocks ending with higher bids than the last selling prices and 4 with lower offers, an indication of the continuation of a weak market currently.
Gains| Trinidad & Tobago NGL gained 10 cents and completed trading at $28, with 22,096 units changing hands.
Losses| NCB Financial Group shares fell 5 cents and concluded trading at $5.50, after exchanging 4,700 shares, Republic Financial Holdings share fell 1 cent and ended at $101.58, with 2,125 stock units changing hands, but had demand to buy 208,394 units at $101.60 at the close of trading, following good six months report and West Indian Tobacco shed 4 cents and ended at $88.51, with 114 stock units changing hands.
Firm Traded| Ansa Mcal completed trading at $59.79, with 44,600 units, Ansa Merchant settled at $40, after exchanging 1,995 shares, Clico Investments completed trading at $20.15, with 19,111 units, First Citizens concluded trading at $32.55, after exchanging 2,410 shares, JMMB Group ended at $1.80, with 500 stock units changing hands, Massy Holdings ended at $47.40, with an exchange of 8 stock units, National Flour settled at $1.80, after exchanging 1,800 shares, One Caribbean Media ended at $12.40, with 5,000 stock units changing hands, Point Lisas completed trading at $3.81, with 200 units, Prestige Holdings settled at $10.01, after exchanging 1,500 shares and Sagicor Financial completed trading at $7.80, with 32,394 units changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.

Filed Under: JSE Main Market, Stock Market Tagged With: Ansa Mcal, Clico Investments, Daily Trading, Emerging markets, Emerging Stock, First Citizens, JMMB Group, Massy Holdings, National Flour, NCB Financial Group, One Caribbean Media, Point Lisas, Prestige Holdings, Republic Financial Holdings, Sagicor Financial, Scotiabank, Trading Activity, Trinidad & Tobago NGL, TTSE, West Indian Tobacco

Trinidad Cement Q1 profit inched higher

April 30, 2018 by IC Insider.com

Trinidad Cement

The Trinidad Cement Group generated revenue of $429 million during the March 2018 quarter, an increase of just 2 percent compared to 2017.
The Group recorded a 5 percent increase in profit for the period to $27 million versus $26 million in 2017 and EPS of 6 cents. The results benefited from increased demand for cement in Jamaica and Guyana and increased export dispatches from Barbados the company reported, but there was “lower revenue from the Trinidad operations, due to lower sales volumes arising from the contraction of the construction industry,” management stated.
Group earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, loss on disposal of property, plant and equipment, and restructuring costs was $92 million for the period, down from $98 million in the 2017 quarter. There was higher costs from the planned equipment maintenance executed during the quarter at the Jamaica plant. The Group achieved a 55 percent reduction in finance costs to $13 million from nearly $28 million in the March 2017 quarter. Restructuring of loans in 2017 resulted in a 276 basis point reduction in the effective interest rate, potentially reducing finance cost by 30 percent. A net total of $167 million was repaid to lenders since April 2017, thus reducing the principal outstanding and finance costs.
Cash generation was impacted positively by better working capital management, improving to $105 million versus 2017. The Group invested $23 million in capital projects in the quarter and repaid $97 million of debt. The reduction in the loan will have a further positive impact on finance costs going forward.
Shareholders equity fell to $767 million from $1 billion in 2017 but is up on the December position of $753 million. Borrowings was $818 million with $244 million to be repaid within a twelve months period.
The TCL Group’s financial, operational and strategic direction is dedicated to producing favorable results notwithstanding the current restraints and challenges facing Trinidad and Tobago’s economy, management advised shareholders in their comments accompanying the results.
Going forward, there should be strong increase in demand from Guyana with the discovery of oil in commercial quantities, while the rest of this year should see a pickup in sales as well as lower finance in the Jamaican operation that should help boost profit for the overall group.
The stock last traded at $2.62 on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange at a PE around 10 times 2018 earnings.

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results

Grace & FosRich in TOP 10 stocks

April 29, 2018 by IC Insider.com

Grace Kennedy is in TOP 10

Out go Palace Amusement and Lasco Financial, in comes Grace Kennedy and FosRich Group into the TOP 10 listings this week.
Lasco Financial climbed to $5.65 at the end of last week while the bid on Palace climbed to $1,000 thus leaving room for Grace Kennedy and FosRich that fell to $2.35, to enter, in a week that saw the main market trading in record territory and the Junior Market recording gains in the index for the week.
The next two weeks should set the tone for the market in the medium term as most companies will be releasing results for the March quarter. Based on early releases, only a handful of results have positive effect on prices. The latest results from Supreme Ventures with a 49 percent rise in the first quarter profit seems set to push the price higher.
Investors responded positively to Berger Paints prospects, with active supply below $20 per share having declined sharply, leaving the price to close the week at $19.
Buying continued for Barita Investments with the price hitting $10 during the week. JMMB Group pulled back by the end of the week to $26.98 from $28.32, as the block out period for insiders to trade in the stock is in place until full year results are out. Resistance for the stock price is just over $31 an area investors should be on the lookout for, in the short run. Caribbean Cement first quarter profit was slightly down on last year, but the company is set to do better in the June quarter with the buyout of the expensive lease of equipment and prospects of lower operating cost, with the major repairs behind them and increasing demand for cement likely, ahead of the 6 percent growth in the first quarter. The stock may remain around current price levels for a while. Iron Rock reported vastly improved results for first quarter and appears to be on the way to their first profit since listing. The stock climbed to $3.50, following release of the results.
At the close of Friday, the average PE ratio for Junior Market Top stocks ended at 6.1 compared to an average PE for the overall main market of 10 based on 2018 estimated earnings. The main market PE is 7.2 for the top stocks, compared to a market average of 13.
IC Insider.com’s TOP 10 stocks now trade at an average discount of 39 percent to the average for the Junior Market Top stocks but it’s a third of what the average PE for the year is likely to be of 20 times earnings and main market stocks traded at a discount of 43 percent to the market.

Filed Under: Buy Rated Tagged With: Barita Investments, Berger Paints, Caribbean Cement, Daily Trading, Emerging markets, FosRich Group, Grace Kennedy, Iron Rock, Jamaican Stock Exchange Trading Activity, Jamaican stocks, JMMB Group, junior market, Key Insurance, Lasco Financial, Palace Amusement, Supreme Ventures, TOP 10 stocks

Republic is going higher soon

April 29, 2018 by IC Insider.com

Trinidad’s Republic Financial Holdings should be heading higher on Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange, sooner than many investors may think.
One reason is that the financial powerhouse, just posted pretty strong results, with profit before taxation rising a healthy 22 percent, to $490 million in the March quarter and a still respectable 14 percent for the half year. Increased taxation wiped out a bit a of the top line gains leaving profit at 3 percent higher for the quarter at $333 million and an increase of 4 percent at $694 million, for the half year. The improvement arose from slightly lower cost in the current year than for the previous one and an overall 8 percent increase in net income for the quarter to $1.17 billion from $1.08 billion in 2017 and 4 percent rise year to date to $2.34 billion. Earnings per share rose to $4.02 for the half year from $3.90 and compares favourably with $7.75 million reported for the fiscal year to September 2017 and gives it a PE around 12 on 2018 full year earnings and Friday’s closing price of $101,
Improvement was generated by the bank in Ghana, where that subsidiary moved from a small loss of just over $1 million to a profit of $68 million and the Cayman Islands’ operations that moved from a profit of $82 million to $113 million. Barbados also should marked improvement with profit of $149 million compared to $111 million before.
Helping the performance is increased lending, with loans rising from $34.4 billion at March 2017 to $37.4 million in 2018, a solid 9 percent increase.
The other factor why the stock price is set to move, is that the it peaked at $122 in 2014 and slid downward since and seems to have found a bottom. Added to that, is a wedge formation showing in a technical chart of its price movement that seems set to steer the price upwards in the months ahead.
IC Insider.com would normally give the stock a BUY RATED accolade, concerns linger about the Trinidad economy from which it earns the vast majority of income and profit, and what is seen as an overvalued currency.

Note that all prices are in Trinidad & Tobago dollar.

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: Emerging markets, IC Insider BUY RATED, IC Insider.com, Republic Financial Holdings, Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange, TTSE

John Burbank for Destination Experience

April 28, 2018 by IC Insider.com

John Burbank

Hedge Fund Investor, John Burbank for is slated to be one of the presenters Destination Experience annual Jamaica conference.
Destination Experience announced speaker, John Burbank, Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Passport Capital for their upcoming Visionaries’ Summit, May 17-19 2018 in Kingston. Burbank founded Passport in 2000 with less than $1 million and shot to fame based on his lucrative bet against subprime mortgages in 2006 ahead of the global financial crisis. His fund made 220 percent the following year, as global markets were in their slow drift towards collapse. Passport Capital’s assets hit a peak of about $5 billion before a globally challenging period for hedge funds in 2017. As the Wall Street Journal describes him, “he made his name buying up credit default swaps ahead of the financial crisis, resulting in a more-than 200% gain for his main fund in 2007. That year, he made $370 million personally, Forbes estimated.”
They have now shifted their primary focus to cryptocurrencies while also operating their Special Opportunities Fund. Burbank is very bullish on cryptocurrencies in the future, and has taken a substantial position in Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK) and counterpart tZero, which raised US$100 million in presale for its US$250 million ICO this year. Overstock has vociferously embraced cryptocurrency in recent times and is run by Dr. Patrick Byrne, its Founder and Chairman. Byrne attended The Destination Experience Visionaries’ Summit in 2017 and predicted a boom in cryptocurrencies that ensued that year in his presentation. Those who bought into his vision made tremendous returns. Burbank is also a strong advocate of the potential embedded within crypto-assets and anticipates that Blockchain technology is going to drive rapid change in every macro sector in the world.
Burbank’s wealth of experience in macroeconomic analysis and quantitative tools, as well as his experiences in exploring crypto-assets stand to offer significant value to our financial services sector.