Archives for October 2018

Junior Market slips – Monday

October 29, 2018 by

The Junior Market Index lost 7.26 points to close at 3,307.46, on Monday with 26 securities trading, versus 22 on Friday. At the close 9 advanced, 9 declined and 8 remained unchanged.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading had 5 stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices, while 6 closed with lower offers.
The market traded just 758,861 units valued at $3,466,162 compared to 707,099 units valued at $2,876,348 on Friday.
Trading ended with an average of a mere 29,187 units for an average of $133,314 in contrast to 32,141 units for an average of $130,743 on Friday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 61,226 units valued at $280,213 and previously 62,882 units valued at $287,807. September, ended with an average of 484,335 at $2,628,299 for each security traded.
At the close of trading, Access Financial closed $1 higher at $50, in trading of 1,229 shares, AMG Packaging ended at $1.80, with 20,000 stock units changing hands, Cargo Handlers settled 25 cents higher at $13, trading 1,461 shares, Caribbean Cream ended trading 85 cents higher at $6.75, while exchanging 18,700 shares, Caribbean Producers finished trading 23,719 units with a loss of 29 cents at $6.51. Derrimon Trading ended 2 cents higher at $2.82, exchanging 18,750 shares, Dolphin Cove concluded trading 1,963 shares and rose 10 cents to $15, Elite Diagnostic finished at $3.17, trading 15,175 stock units, Everything Fresh gained 2 cents in trading 106,904 shares, to close at $2.06, Express Catering ended trading with a loss of 20 cents at $8, with 111,028 shares. FosRich Group traded 16,877 shares with a loss of 60 cents at $3.10, General Accident finished trading 108,000 shares, with a loss of 45 cents to close at $3.50, Honey Bun ended with a loss of 5 cents at $4.10, while exchanging 18,000 units, Indies Pharma rose 10 cents and closed at $3.10 with 126,444 shares changing hands, Jamaican Teas settled with a loss of 1 cent at $4.09, trading 25,926 shares. Jetcon Corporation ended trading 2,200 stock units with a loss of 30 cents at $3.50, KLE Group finished trading 550 shares at $3.75, Knutsford Express closed with a loss of 20 cents at $11.80, with 1,550 shares trading, Lasco Distributors ended at $4, trading 26,700 shares. Lasco Financial concluded trading 1,672 stock units with a loss of 5 cents at $5.45, Lasco Manufacturing finished 16 cents higher at $3.76, in exchanging 3,166 units, Main Event settled 15 cents higher at $6.10, with 91,364 shares changing hands, Medical Disposables ended trading 1,600 shares at $7.50, Paramount Trading ended at $2.75, in exchanging 13,224 shares SSL Venture Capital traded 400 shares at $2.05 and Stationery and Office finished trading 2,259 stock units, ending unchanged at $9.50.

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: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Republic falls back on TTSE – Monday

October 29, 2018 by

Republic Financial Holdings gave back Friday’s gains in dropping $3.40, to close at $106.60, in trading on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange on Monday after exchanging 469 shares.
Market activities ended with 14 securities trading against 17 on Friday, 3 advanced, 5 declined and 6 remained unchanged, leading to trading of just 142,297 shares valued $2,046,355, compared to 375,557 shares valued $7,316,814 changing hands on Friday.
Trading closed, with the Composite Index falling 5.83 points to 1,230.31. The All T&T Index ell 10.12 points to 1,700.41, while the Cross Listed Index shed 00.19 points to close at 102.23.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading closed with 3 stocks ending with higher bids than the last selling prices and 5 with lower offers.
Stocks to Watch include, a number of companies that are exhibiting bullish tendencies and may be moving higher in the days ahead, the group includes, Agostini’s, Ansa McAl, Grace Kennedy, Republic Holdings, Point Lisas and West Indian Tobacco.
Stocks closing with gains| First Citizens closed with an increase of 5 cents, settling at $32.70, after exchanging 6,675 shares, One Caribbean Media rose 8 cents to $12.03, after exchanging 5,000 shares and Sagicor Financial finished 20 cents higher and ended at $7.70, with 14,076 stock units changing hands.
Stocks closing with losses| Clico Investments fell 5 cents and ended at $20.15, with 8,017 stock units changing hands, National Flour share fell 1 cent and completed trading at $1.69, with 2,600 units, Republic Financial Holdings dived  $3.40 to end at $106.60, after exchanging 469 shares, Scotiabank lost 1 cent and completed trading 313 units at $64.74, and Trinidad & Tobago NGL ended trading 9 cents lower and settled at $29.41, after exchanging 1,250 shares.

Stocks trading with no price change| Ansa Mcal completed trading 316 units at $55.50, First Caribbean International Bank closed at $8.50, with the trading of 94,930 units, LJ Williams B share settled at 70 cents, after exchanging 1,000 shares, Massy Holdings concluded trading at $46.92, after exchanging 2,000 shares, Unilever Caribbean ended at $25, with 515 stock units changing hands and West Indian Tobacco completed trading of 5,136 units at $90.

EM>Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.

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

Carib Cement chops $2B from lease cost

October 28, 2018 by

Jamaica Caribbean Cement Company slashed the cost formerly associated with leasing of Kiln 5 and Mill 5, from Trinidad Cement after acquiring direct ownership of the assets by $2 million per annum.
Data disclosed by Jamaica’s sole cement producer in their nine months interim report showed that excluding foreign exchange gains or loss that there was a $500 million savings in the overall cost associated with the two items formerly leased.
The equipment lease ended in April 2018 when both parties agreed to the ending of the arrangement leading the Jamaican company agreeing to purchase same. The interim figures show finance cost excluding foreign exchange loss rose to $227 million up sharply from just $11 million in 2017, in the quarter and $299 million versus $4 million year to date. Depreciation and amortisation cost rose to $342 million from $132 million in 2017 and for the nine months to $808 million from $400 million in 2017. The net effect is that the company enjoyed a savings of $500 million for the quarter or $2 billion per year.
A $464 million foreign exchange loss hit the results for the September quarter pulling the strong increase in operating profit of 44 percent to $1.2 billion from $836 million into lower net profit of $305 million than the $748 million generated for the prior year’s period. For the nine months to September, profit fell percent to $1.3 billion from $1.8 million in 2017.

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

Shake up in IC Insider Top 10

October 28, 2018 by
Add your HTML code here...

Volatility was the order for the Jamaican stock market for the past week as the market indices bounced around as declining stocks were plentiful as the Junior Market ended with three changes and the main market two.
The Junior Market lost Access Financial that closed the week at $49 from $45.50 to start the week. Iron Rock Insurance that climbed to $4.82 from $4.50 and Lasco Manufacturing that inched up to $3.60 from $3 exited as well. Coming into the Junior Market TOP 10 are Elite Diagnostic, Dolphin Cove and Lasco Distributors.
Caribbean Cement reported third quarter results with lower profit for the nine months than for 2017 but foreign exchange losses was the main factor. The exchange rate has now reversed and that should turnaround the negative impact by the end of the year, nevertheless IC insider.com downgraded full year earnings to $3.53 per share, resulting in the stock dropping out of the main market TOP 10 along with JMMB Group that rose back to $34 from $32. The moves allowed Barita Investments that fell to $18 and Salada Foods that slipped to $21.50 to re-enter the top list.
The main market closed the week with the overall PE slipping to 15.4 from 16 from the previous week, the PE of the Junior market moved up to 15.4 from 16.4 at the close of the prior week.
The PE ratio for Junior Market Top 10 stocks average 9.1 and the main market PE is now 9.6.
The TOP 10 stocks now trade at an average discount of 41 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. The main market stocks trade at a discount of 37 percent to the overall market.
TOP 10 stocks are likely to deliver the best returns within a 12 months period. Stocks are selected based on projected earnings for each company’s current fiscal year. Based on an assumed PE for each, the likely gains are determined and then ranked, with the stocks with the highest potential gains ranked first followed by the rest, in descending order. Potential values will change as stock prices fluctuate and will result in movements of the selection in and out of the lists for most weeks. Earnings per share are revised on an ongoing basis based on new information received that can result in changes in and out of the list as well.
There will be no Market Watch report this week.

Filed Under: Buy Rated, Stock Market, Stocks to watch Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Margaritaville flat profit, growth coming

October 28, 2018 by

Margaritaville Turks traded 531,220 shares at 20 US cents on friday

Margaritaville posted flat profit for the first quarter of the May 2019 fiscal year, with net earnings of US$290,815, down slightly from US$296,412 in 2017.
Revenue was also down moderately to $1.8 million, from $1.86 million in the 2017 period, but growth should be coming when Carnival Lines expands the port facilities in Turks and Caicos in 2019.
Cost declined modestly, with direct expenses falling to $471,386 from $483,803 in 2017, resulting in a gross profit margin of 74 percent, while administrative and other cost declined to $1.057 million, modestly down from $1.082 million in the prior period in 2017.
Earnings per share came in at 0.43 cents. For the full year to May 2018, earnings per share was 1.58 cents resulting from net profit of $1.067 million. The stock trades on the Jamaica Stock Exchange US market at 25 US cents at a PE of 16.
Equity capital stood at $5 million while current assets amounted to $2.7 million with current liabilities of $1.1 million.

Ian Dear Chairman

Going forward Chairman Ian Dear, told IC Insider.com that Carnival Line is expanding the docking facility in Turks and Caicos Islands that will allow much larger ships to dock and will result in increase in the number of passengers landing and will bring more business for the company. According to Dear, the ships currently in use can accommodate up 3,000 passengers plus crew but the newer ships will carry 8,000 passengers and they could have two of these ships on a typical day. The expectation that the first ship should dock in Turks next year. The coming on stream of the increased business will see Margaritaville adding another restaurant, with construction to commence shortly after carnival advises them of date the news ships will commence operations.

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

All Jamaica drops 8,000 points – Friday

October 26, 2018 by

NCB Financial dropped $8 on Friday.

The Jamaica Stock Exchange closed on Friday with big losses in heavily capitalized companies with NCB Financial leading with a fall of $8 and Grace Kennedy falling $4 that pulled the market down 2 percent with the 5th largest points decline in the market’s history and the second big fall in October.
The market ended with the prices of 8 securities rising, 15 declining while 6 remained unchanged leading to the All Jamaica Composite Index diving 8,031.01 points to 393,833.61 and the JSE Index dropping 7,317.16 points to close at 358,826.99.
Trading closed with 29 active securities in the main and US dollar market compared to 30 on Thursday but with higher volume and value as 4,241,799 units valued at $75,795,522 traded, compared with 8,202,147 units valued at $132,503,743 changing hands, on Thursday.
Main market trading closed with JMMB Group 7.5% preference share leading with 1,652,103 units trading, or 39 percent of the day’s volume and Jamaica Broilers with 713,975 units and 16.8 percent of volume traded. Jamaica Stock Exchange leading with 448,893 units and 10.6 percent of the day’s volume, followed by
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 5 stocks ending with bids higher than the last selling prices and 2 closing with lower offers, an indication that falling prices are likely to be dominant on Friday.
Trading resulted in an average of 151,493 units valued at over $2,706,983, in contrast to 292,934 shares valued at $4,732,277 on Thursday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 300,895 shares, valued $5,350,785 and previously 308,613 shares, valued $5,494,805. September closed, with an average of 1,022,243 shares valued $15,752,876, for each security traded.
In the main market activity, Grace Kennedy dropped $4, trading 120,588 shares to close at $55, Jamaica Broilers added $2 in trading 713,975 stock units, and closed at $30, Jamaica Producers lost $1 to close at $26 with 17,624 units changing hands, Jamaica Stock Exchange climbed 95 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $9.20, with 448,893 shares, JMMB Group lost 80 cents and ended at $34, exchanging 60,884 shares., NCB Financial Group dropped $8 to $120, trading 207,683 shares, PanJam Investment closed at $65.70, after declining $1.30 in trading 1,890 stock units, Portland JSX lost 50 cents in ending at $8 with 136,300 units, Sagicor Group dropped $2 to end at $45, trading 49,349 shares, Sagicor Real Estate Fund dropped $1.70 to $13.20, with 13,594 shares changing hands. Scotia Group climbed $2.50 in trading 33,416 units to close at $54, Supreme Ventures rose 25 cents to end at $16.50, in an exchange of 10,000 shares and Wisynco Group finished at $10.10, in trading 138,251 units after posting a loss of 20 cents.
Trading in the US dollar market closed with Proven Investments trading 2,152 to close at 21 US cents. The JSE USD Equities Index rose 2.97 points to close at 164.66.

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

More gains for Junior Market – Friday

October 26, 2018 by

The Junior Market Index gained 17.37 points to close at 3,314.72, on Friday with just 22 securities trading, the same as on Thursday. At the close 3 advanced, 6 declined and 13 remained unchanged.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading had 7 stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices, while 6 closed with lower offers.
The market traded just 707,099 units valued at $2,876,348 compared to 649,685 units valued at $2,602,109 on Thursday.
Trading ended with an average of a mere 32,141 units for an average of $130,743 in contrast to 29,531 units for an average of $118,278 on Thursday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 62,882 units valued at $287,807 and previously 64,288 units valued at $294,990. September, ended with an average of 484,335 at $2,628,299 for each security traded.
At the close of trading, Access Financial closed trading with just 200 shares changing hands and rose $2.90 to $49, AMG Packaging ended at $1.80, exchanging 15,299 stock units, Blue Power concluded trading of 200 units, with a loss of 30 cents to end at $6.20, CAC2000 finished trading of 8,156 shares at $16, Caribbean Flavours traded 1,230 stock units at $17. Caribbean Producers finished trading with a loss of 4 cents at $6.80, in exchanging 5,115 units, Derrimon Trading ended with a loss of 2 cents at $2.80, in swapping 10,000 shares, Elite Diagnostic finished with a loss of 23 cents at $3.17, with 155,009 stock units changing hands, Everything Fresh ended trading 48,942 shares, to close at $2.04, Express Catering lost 20 cents to close at $8.20, exchanging 46,240 shares. FosRich Group traded 200 shares, with a loss of 5 cents to close at $3.70, General Accident finished trading 2,897 shares at $3.95, Indies Pharma closed at $3 with 50,815 shares changing hands, Jamaican Teas settled at $4.10, with 2,000 shares trading, Jetcon Corporation ended trading of 212,300 stock units and lost 5 cents to close at $3.80. KLE Group finished trading 200 shares at $3.75, Knutsford Express closed at $12, exchanging 1,460 shares, Lasco Distributors ended at $4, trading 88,850 shares, Lasco Financial concluded trading at $5.50, with 34,882 stock units changing hands, Lasco Manufacturing finished 10 cents higher at $3.60, in swapping 16,848 units, Stationery and Office finished trading of 1,256 stock units at $9.50 and tTech ended at $5, with 5,000 shares changing hands. In the US dollar Junior Market Epply US5% preference share traded 3,000 shares at $1.
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

Republic hits new high on TTSE – Friday

October 26, 2018 by

Republic broke through resistance in the summer months and headed higher with more to come.

Republic Financial Holdings jumped $3.50 to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $110, in trading on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange on Friday after exchanging just 18 shares.
Market activities ended with 17 securities trading against 15 on Thursday, 4 advanced, 6 declined and 7 remained unchanged, leading to trading of 375,557 shares valued $7,316,814, compared to 254,860 shares valued $1,543,091 changing hands on Thursday.
Trading closed, with the Composite Index gaining 4.99 points to 1,236.14. The All T&T Index rose 13.41 points to 1,710.53, while the Cross Listed Index shed 0.50 points to close at 102.42.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading closed with 3 stocks ending with higher bids than the last selling prices and 2 with lower offers.
Stocks to Watch include, a number of companies that are exhibiting bullish tendencies and may be moving higher in the days ahead, the group includes, Agostini’s, Ansa McAl, Grace Kennedy, Republic Holdings, Point Lisas and West Indian Tobacco.
Stocks closing with gains| Point Lisas gained 2 cents and ended at $3.64, with 24,143 stock units changing hands, Scotiabank finished trading 3,846 units after gaining 75 cents to close at $64.75 and Trinidad & Tobago NGL closed with an increase of 20 cents at $29.50, after exchanging 1,129 shares.
Stocks closing with losses| Angostura Holdings concluded trading with a loss of 2 cents at $15.73, with 150 stock units changing hands, First Citizens lost 5 cents and completed trading at $32.65, after exchanging 2,354 shares, One Caribbean Media fell 5 cents and settled at $11.95, exchanging 100 shares, Sagicor Financial closed with 229,145 stock units changing hands and declined 2 cents to $7.50, Trinidad Cement shed 5 cents and settled at $2.60, after exchanging 5,231 shares and Unilever Caribbean lost 50 cents and concluded trading at $25, with 20,388 stock units changing hands.
Stocks trading with no price change| Clico Investments concluded trading at $20.20, with 122 stock units changing hands, Grace Kennedy closed at $2.78, with 23,050 stock units being exchanged, Guardian Holdings ended at $16.90, trading 15,353 units, Massy Holdings settled at $46.92, after exchanging 3,191 shares, National Enterprises concluded market activity at $8.96, with 500 stock units changing hands, NCB Financial Group completed trading of 729 shares at $6 and West Indian Tobacco ended at $90, after exchanging 45,908 units.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.

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

Iron Rock’s first profitable quarter

October 26, 2018 by

Iron Rock hits 52 weeks’ high of $4.07 on Friday.

Improvement in its bottom-line of Iron Rock Insurance continued into the September quarter, with profit of $1.1 million, the first quarterly profit in its short history. For the nine months’ period, the company suffered a loss of just $7.6 million down from $60.4 million in 2017.
For the quarter, gross premium income (GPI) increased to $99.4 million from $83.9 million in 2017 with net premium written of $41 million and net earned premium of $48.3 million. For the nine months of 2018, GPI grew 48 percent to $382 million, up from $257 million in 2017 and net earned premium increased 272 percent to $129 million from just $47 million in 2017.
Operating expenses inched up to $36.5 million in the quarter from $35 million in 2017 and grew 11 percent to $111 million from $100 million in 2017. Insurance claims jumped to $23 million from $12 million for the quarter and $61 million for the nine months, from $34 million last year.
Other income totaled $13.5 million for the quarter, from $10 million previously and $35 million for the period to September, versus $24 million. The company is projected to end the year with an overall profit.
Shareholders’ equity now stands at $525 million, down from $512 million at the end of September last year. Cash and investments now amount to $617 million, while Insurance liabilities, claims and other payables amount to $373 million.
The stock now trades on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange at $4.80.

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

More profits & stocks for WI Tobacco

October 26, 2018 by

Watch Witco stock in coming days

Pretax profit increased 10.2 percent at Trinidad based West Indian Tobacco to $438.7 million, for the nine months to September 2018, over the similar period in 2017 while Profit after tax increased 10 percent to $303 million over 2017, from increased revenues of 9.5 percent to $862 million from $787 million.
For the September quarter, revenues grew 6.4 percent to $292 million from $274 million and resulted in profit after tax rising 12.5 percent to $109.6 million. The company benefitted from improved gross profit margins in both periods, with 65 percent in the quarter versus 61.5 percent in 2017, while the nine months improved to 61.8 percent from 60.44 percent in 2017. Distribution cost more than doubled to $8.4 million in the quarter from $3.5 million in 2017 and rose sharply from $9.9 million in 2017 to September to $18.7 million. Administrative and other operating expenses declined for the quarter to $18 million from $23.7 million while the nine months rose from $68 million to $77 million.
Profit for the 2018 fiscal year, declined to $380 million from $515.5 million in 2016 as increased taxation on profits and cigarettes negatively impacted sales and the results.
Earnings per share for the quarter amounted to $1.30 and $3.60 for the nine months, with the full years likely to exceed $5 and resulting in a PE ratio of 18 times earnings.
The stock will be split into three shares for each existing one held by shareholders and will make the price and liquidity going forward, more attractive for investors. The stock last traded at $90 on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange.
The Board approved the payment of a third interim dividend of $1.17 per ordinary share payable on 26 November 2018, to shareholders of record at close of business on November 5.

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