The inflation rate, increased by a mere 0.2 percent in April 2015 while the year-to-date inflation rate for April 2015 is minus 0.5 percent, the point-to-point 4.4 percent.
Statin said the lower increase for April is due mainly to upward movements in the index for the divisions of Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages 0.5 percent, Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco 1.3 percent and Transport 1.1 percent. The fall in prices the group Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels’ which fell by 4.6 percent. This resulted mainly from lower fuel rates, as well as an appreciation of the Jamaican dollar.
The calendar The other divisions that recorded increases in the All Jamaica ‘All Divisions’ index were: ‘Clothing and Footwear’ 0.4 percent, ‘Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance’ 0.4 percent, ‘Health’ 0.2 percent, percent, ‘Recreation and Culture’ 0.3 percent, ‘Restaurants and Accommodation Services’ 0.2 percent, and ‘Miscellaneous Goods and Services’ 0.3 percent.
Jamaica’s 2015 inflation remains tame
Access now 1,000% of IPO price
General Accident closed at 52 weeks high on Monday but the company reported a decline of 74% in profits to hit $26m in Q1.
In closing at $18, Access is back at the IPO price before a ten for 1 spilt putting at the equivalent of $180 had the split not take place no other stock has performed so well on the Jamaica stock market in recent time. The stock was issued at $18 per share, making those who held on to see a 900 percent gain on their investment, plus dividends to add to the gains and the company is yet to stop growing.
The JSE Junior Market Index gained 4.60 points to close at a new all-time high of 896.80 and with 3 stocks closing at 52 weeks’ high. At the close of the market, there were 5 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and only 1 with a lower offer. The junior market ended with 3 securities closing with no bids to buy and 11 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale.
Other stocks trading in the junior market are, AMG Packaging ending with 27,885 shares changing hands ,to close at $3.25, Blue Power Group closed with 979 shares trading at $9.80, Caribbean Cream finished with 100,000 units to close at $1.20, Caribbean Producers with 32,000 shares trading, closed lower by 3 cents at $3.07. Consolidated Bakeries had 2,429 shares changing hands at $1, Dolphin Cove traded 3,525 shares with the price rising 27 cents, to a 52 weeks’ high of $11.02. <a href="http://icinsider.com/profit-up-at-general-accident-but-just/" title="Profit up at
General Accident but just”>General Accident Insurance concluded trading with 25,400 shares changing hands to close 10 cents higher at a 52 weeks’ high of $2.18, Honey Bun ended trading with 4,586 shares to end with a rise of 1 cent at $2.51. Jamaican Teas traded 194,500 at $3, Lasco Distributors traded 1,100 shares unchanged at $1.65, Lasco Financial Services finished trading with 15,000 units, the price remained at $1.31 and there was dealing in 18,304 Lasco Manufacturing’s shares as the stock traded lower by 5 cents at $1.40.
15 stocks trade 3 advance on TTSE
IC Insider Buy Rated NFM closed at a new 52 weeks high on Monday
At the close of the market, the Composite Index rose 0.75 points to close at 1,160.37, the All T&T Index rose by just 0.52 points to close at 1,971.3 and the Cross Listed Index increased by a mere 0.13 points to end at 45.84.
Gains| Stocks increasing in price at the close are, National Flour traded 9,352 shares to close with a gain of 3 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $1.73. Point Lisas Port Development gained 8 cents to end at $3.77 with just 198 units changing hands, and West Indian Tobacco trading with 2,799 share with a value of $350,575 changing hands, added 3 cents to the price in closing at $125.25.
Witco was one of the stocks rising on Monday
$64, while trading 1,758 shares, National Commercial Bank added 10,587 shares to end at $1.65. National Enterprises traded 3,439 units to close at $17.30 followed by Republic Bank, contributing 11,120 shares with a value of $1,278,800, but remained at $115, while Sagicor Financial Corporation with 48,873 shares being traded for $293,235 ended at $6 and Unilever Caribbean with 495 shares trading, closed at $66.14.IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator showed 2 stocks with the bids higher than their last selling prices and 2 stocks with offers that were lower.
Slow Monday morning session
Stocks are off to a cautious trading in with few major price changes. 
The most significant price change is Scotia Group with a price of $25.90 up from $25.16 on Friday.
Caribbean Cement traded 227,030 at $5 compared with a close of $4.21 on Friday. Sagicor Group traded 727,037 units and the price slipped to $11 from$12 on Friday. Proven Investments 8% preference share traded 8,000 and gained 50 cents to $5.50. Interest in National Commercial Bank has slowed with the bid in to buy 100,860 at $28.20 compared with the last sale of 52,070 units at $30. Twenty six stocks have traded so far with ten from the junior market. Caribbean Cream trading 100,000 units at $1.20, Jamaican Teas 194,500 shares at $3 after languishing at $2.55 for a long time.
Palaces’ $22M profit swing
Profit before tax for Palace Amusement Company had a major swing around of $22 million for the nine months to March this year to $6.8 million compared with a loss of $15.6 million and for the quarter a profit of $1.6 million was made, up from a loss of $9 million.
Patrons lined up at Palace’s Multiplex in Montego Bay
IC Insider is forecasting earnings of $24 per shares on much higher revenues in the June quarter than in the March quarter, with around 50 percent of the increase flowing to the bottom line as administrative cost should be held close to what obtained in the March quarter and losses that were incurred I the Mandeville operations removed.
Palace ended with cash funds at $66 million and has borrowed loan of only $25 million and equity of $280 million. The stock which is listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange hardly trades with only 1.4 million units issued and closed last at $80.
D&G profit nearly doubles in Q3
A combination of increased sales’ volume and price adjustment saw Desnoes & Geddes, the producers of the world famous Red Stripe beer, enjoying a 20 percent jump in sales revenues in the March 2015 quarter.
Sales reached $2.96 billion and a near doubling in profit to $367 million for an 88 percent increase from $196 million in 2014. For the nine months to March profit was up a more sedate 29 percent on a 14 percent sales increase to $9.6 billion over 2014.
Local sales rose 20 percent in the March quarter and exports were up only 6 percent, for the year to March exports grew 11 percent and local sales 13 percent.
Earnings per share for the quarter came in at 13 cents and 54 cents for the nine months and should end at 80 cents for the full year and $1.05 for 2016 fiscal year. Gross profit margin increased during the nine months period to 41.4 percent from 39.94 percent and 37.7 percent during the quarter from 36.2 percent.
The March quarter saw a turnaround in the results of the distribution company it’s a joint venture partner with Pepsi in, which contributed $20 million in the quarter compared with a $47 million loss in 2014 and for the nine months, losses increased to $62 million from $46. Marketing cost jumped to a billion for the nine months from $737 million in 2014. Other costs were held fairly tight.
The period ended with net fixed assets increasing by $1.5 billion but the company still ended with cash funds at $1.38 billion and equity of $9.4 billion.
The stock is listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange and closed last at $7.20, with a PE ratio of 9.
Pulse 29% increased profits
Pulse Investments netted profit of $165 million on revenues of $353 million for financial year ended June 2014 increasing 27 percent on $128 million earned in 2013. Revenues increased slightly by 2 percent from $346 million in 2013. The profit includes fair value gains on investment property amounting to $96 million versus $78 million in 2013.
The increase in profit was due to a combination of better cost management and revenue increases in some areas of operations and a fall in administrative and other expenses by 18 percent, from $211 million in 2013 to $173 million in 2014. Property rental income increased by 27 percent, from $30.9 million in 2013 to $39 million in 2014. Earnings per share increased from 46 cents to 59 cents, in 2014 compared to prior year.
Bank loan and overdraft debt declined $1.2 million from June 2013 to $26.3 million in 2014. Net cash generated by operating activities was down slightly from $27 million in prior year to $25.7 million, Cash in hand at year end stood at just $10 million.
The company’s shares were suspended last year by the Jamaica Stock Exchange for the late filing of audited financial statements as well as quarterly statements. While one can possibly see to some reasoning for the lateness of the audited accounts, there can be no excuse for the late filing of quarterly reports as they are not dependent on the audited figures.
There are a number of negatives for Pulse and its investors one is the low level of cash inflows compared with the revenue and profit, creating a problem for investors in not being able to get dividends. The real estate investment which consumed relatively large amounts of cash will need to throw off more cash going forward to make the stock more appealing to investors. The on again off again listing and suspension of listing and the very late financial reporting are very negative for the stock and reflects badly on management, including the directors.
Point Lisas undervalued shares
Profit before tax for Trinidad’s Point Lisas Port Development Companyand excluding the impact of fair value gains was $15.3M, an increase of 358 percent compared to the same period last year of $3.3M this flowed from a 19.6 percent growth in revenues. Including gains on valuation of investment properties the company reported profit of TT$67 million versus $36 million in 2014.
Volumes handled by the port grew strongly with the containerized cargo operations experiencing a 25 percent increase in volume but general cargo operations suffered a 13 percent compared to the levels recorded in 2014. The growth in containerised cargo resulted from a 10 percent increase in imports, an 11 percent increase in exports along with a 94 percent increase in trans-shipment cargo. For general cargo there was an 88 percent decrease in exports, a 7 percent increase in imports and a 320 percent increase in trans-shipment.
Direct cost rose faster than the growth in revenues with an increase of 29 percent. Administrative expenses remained relatively stable during the quarter at $21 million but other operating expenses declined to 158 million from $20.5 million.
The Group’s total assets grew to $2.33B in the first quarter of 2015, an increase of 3 percent from December 2014 when the asset base was $2.26B. Working capital continues to remain strong having improved from $49M at December 2014 to $65M in March 2015. The shareholders’ equity stood at “PLIPDECO will continue to embark on various endeavours as determined in its strategic plan. These include among other things infrastructural improvements, information technology upgrades (some already implemented during the first quarter 2015), and continuation of the Port expansion project. The preceding undertakings would further enhance efficiency and productivity to effectively position PLIPDECO in its drive towards continued growth$1.966 billion” Ian Atherly, Chairman of the company told shareholders in his report accompanying the quarterly results.
At the rate of income generation in the first quarter Point Lisas could earn around $1.70 per share excluding cap gains in 2015. The stock which is listed on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange and traded as high as $8.25 in 2007, last traded at $3.69. The net asset value of the stock is $49.60.
The stocks is undervalued and seems to be an interesting, IC Insider is maintaining a BUY RATED status on the stock.
JSE profit surged – 2016 could be big
Jamaica Stock Exchange reported a huge jump in first quarter earnings showing profit of $87 million or 62 cents, up from a loss of $3 in 2014, after tax. Revenues jumped from $82 million to $253 million, on the back of 10 fold increase in cess, due to primarily to the transfer of ownership of the controlling interest in Scotia Group, from the Canadian parent, to one set up to own the Caribbean entities directly.
Total cess income jumped to $161 million compared to only $15 million. Access Financial managing director switched ownership of his shares to a company, resulted in a transaction over the exchange of $1 billion and Pan Jamaican Investments had a $1.3 billion transaction in March. While the latter two unusual transactions would have increased the cess around $12 million, the cess for Scotia Group is estimated by IC Insider at around $120 million, leaving around $40 million as cess from normal ongoing operational activities. Trading values grew by 27 percent in the first quarter, including the two transactions in March. Fee income which rose by 67 percent would have been partially impacted by the big one off transactions, but increased value traded and a slight increase in listing fees would also have helped.
In the second quarter to mid May trading has increased 333 percent to $2.6 billion, the amount is equal to the total value traded for the entire second in 2014. The increased value of trading will lead to increased fees. In the 2014 second quarter, income from cess was only $10 million and fee income $45.5 million. Not only will the cess rake in more funds from the increased volume of trading now on the way but also from an increase in the rate charged for cess over the 2014 level.
While the increased trading activity so far will lead to increased fees for the second quarter, the potential income will be no more than around $100-120 million and will be sufficient to produce a profit for the quarter and help in lifting profit for the full year beyond $1 per share.
Looking forward, with more unit trust schemes being set up there will be more demand for stocks to satisfy the demand of equity funds. The Stock Exchange is poised to take over repo trading and acting as the registrar for them and result in additional fee income is going in the not too distant future, also of great import is that rising stock values increases the base for listing fees to be levied in 2016.
The exchange has cash and investments of $500 million with a working capital ratio of 2:1 and equity of $650 million. The stock remains IC Insider BUY RATED and is now available at $3.50 which it traded at on Friday, but won’t remain that way forever and investors should be buying this one for big long-term gains.
19 stocks rose only 3 fell on JSE
Hardware & Lumber gained $1.25 to a new high of $12 in response to news that Grace is in negotiation to sell their interest in the company
The rally started last year fuelled by falling money market rates with Treasury bill rate falling from over 9 percent to below 7 percent. The current rally is be fuelled by rising profits from the majority of companies reporting first quarter results.
The JSE Market Index lost 507.33 points to 98,992.10, the JSE All Jamaican Composite index fell 567.23 points to close at 109,396.05 and the JSE combined index declined 237.32 points to close at 101,419.02.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows 15 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 2 with offers that were lower.
Stocks in the main market trading to close at a 52 weeks’ high, are Berger Paints, Desnoes & Geddes, Hardware & Lumber, Jamaica Stock Exchange, JMMB Group and Mayberry Investments. In trading, Barita Investments ended with 622,050 shares changing hands to close at $2.35, Berger Paints closed with 55,162 shares trading, 27 cents higher at $2.35, Cable & Wireless finished trading with 619,569 shares to gain 1 cent to 47 cents, Caribbean Cement saw trading in 3,351 shares, to close 1 cent higher at $4.21. Carreras closed with 32,376 shares changing hands to close 35 cents up at $49.35, Desnoes & Geddes finished trading with 14,650 shares and gained 10 cents in trading to close at $7.20, Grace Kennedy concluded trading with 307,283 units trading with the last price unchanged at $64.50, Hardware & Lumber completed trading in 9,092 shares changing hands and jumped $1.20 at $12 as investors responded to news that Grace is discussing selling their stake in the company. Jamaica Broilers had dealing in 48,730 units traded at $5.16 to remain unchanged at the end. Jamaica Stock Exchange contributed 244,616 shares, the price jumped 60 cents or 21 percent in response to the company’s huge jump in their first quarter results showing profit of $87 million or 62 cents and ended at $3.50. Trading was halted for an hour after the price exceeded 15 percent. JMMB Group ended with 27,855 shares changing hands to close up by 10 cents at $9.60, Mayberry Investments closed with 12,289 shares trading at $3,after adding 12 cents, National Commercial Bank finished trading with 468,084 units unchanged at $30.50. Pan Jamaican Investment ended trading with 14,769 units 12 cents higher, at $58.25, Sagicor Group closed with 191,168 shares trading 15 cents lower at $12. Scotia Group finished trading with 88,383 shares changing hands to close 84 cents lower at $25.16, Seprod saw trading in 335,400 shares ending 25 cents up at $18.50 and Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.50% preference share ended with 68,650 units trading with a 5 cents rise to $2.15.
