Profits up at Jamaica Producers

May 15, 2013 by

Jamaica Producers (JP) recorded improved profits for the quarter ended March this year, with after tax profits up 30 percent, hitting $85.5 million for the company’s shareholders. The 2013 performance compares to $65.8 million reported in 2012. The improvement is in spite of finance cost rising by $22 million and taxation by $42 million. The group’s directly managed operations did not fare as well as in the prior year as a $43 million profit made in 2012 was turned into a loss of $12.6 million. Damage to the agricultural segment by hurricane Sandy resulted in a loss in that division of $55 million which compares unfavourably to a profit of $38 million last year, as revenue declined $89 million to $450 million. The group is reporting improvement in its European operations with a profit of $60 million, which is up from just $7.4 million in 2012.

Revenues | Overall, revenues moved up from $1.74 billion in 2012 to $1.86 this year. Profits were helped by gain on sale of fixed assets and investments amounting to $98.7 million. In 2012, gains were $40 million and the 2013 gain was offset by a one-off charge of $36 million. Share of associated company’s profits contributed $99.6 million versus a small loss in 2012.

Dom Rep operations fully-owned | JP acquired ownership of all the shares in the Dominican Republic operations where banana chips are produced for the Latin American market. The company says it benefited from growth in exports of juice to northern Europe from its Holland juice operations, cost cutting and increased efficiency from a new packaging plant.

Financially strong | The group has equity of $5.2 billion and loans of $1.2 billion of which just $68 million is due within twelve months. Short-term liquid funds amount to $485 million at the end of the quarter. The challenge for JP is to build on the performance of the first quarter and show satisfactory improvement in its core business to justify the investments in those areas.

Stock outlook | The 2013 performance so far could help the stock price recover some of its former sparkle. How much is uncertain.

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

FX: Tuesday, 14th May 2013

May 15, 2013 by

Tuesday, 14 May 2013

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JSE: Tuesday, 14th May 2013

May 15, 2013 by

Indices rise but decliners outnumber advancers

In Tuesday’s trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange 3 stocks advanced and 7 declined. It’s been some time since the advance/decline ratio was negative, nevertheless the main market indices actually registered advances. The level of trading was moderate with just over 2 million units trading for a value of $9.3 million.

At the end of trading there were 8 stocks with bids above the last selling price and only two with offers below the last sale price.

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

TTSE: Tuesday, 14th May 2013

May 15, 2013 by
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Moderate Price movements

Trading volume in the main market was 1,231,545 shares valued at $7,881,995.28. Trinidad Cement traded 1,036,555 shares for a value of $984,727, followed by Scotiabank Trinidad & Tobago with a volume of 85,000 shares for $5,894,750. Angostura Holdings accounted for 55,125 shares with a value of $496,136.  14 securities of which 5 advanced, 4 declined and 5 traded firm.

Scotia Investments was the day’s largest gainer, increasing $0.15 to end the day at $1.70. Conversely, Clico Investment Fund suffered the day’s greatest loss, falling $0.05 to close at $21.04 while trading a volume of 66,564 shares valued at $1,400,198.

3 stocks traded at 52 weeks high on Tuesday while there were 5 stocks with bids above last selling price and 5 with offers below the last selling price.

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FX: Monday, 13th May 2013

May 14, 2013 by

Robust FX trading

USD | The foreign exchange market enjoyed high levels of trade on Monday as the equivalent of US$47.29 million were bought while selling amounted to US$50.44 million. This is in contrast with last week’s Monday’s trade in which US$41.2 million were purchased and US$44.4 million sold.

However, the selling rate for the US dollar slipped from Friday’s close to end at J$99.018 (Friday J$99.058) as US$48.6 were sold and US$44.2 million were bought at J$98.52, slightly lower than Friday’s buying rate of J$98.58.

GBP | Sellers to authorized dealers sold £1.3 million at an average of J$149.30 while dealers sold £1.16 million at an average of J$152.72 compared to Friday, when it was sold at J$153.07.

CAD | CAD$1.63 million were bought at an average of J$95.77, a sharp decline from Friday’s rate of J$97.21 and the amount sold was CAD$897,257 at an average rate of J$97.86, slightly higher than Friday’s trades which took place at J$97.79.

Highs & Lows | The highest selling rate for the US dollar remains over J$104 while the lowest is at $81.16. The Pound was sold at a high of $158.68 and a low of $147.56 and the Canadian at a high of $102.45 and a low of $95.15.

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TTSE: Monday, 13th May 2013

May 14, 2013 by

Moderate Monday

Trading on the Trinidad & Tobago stock exchange was moderate with a volume of 219,942 shares crossing the floor of the Exchange valued at $2,641,580.

Angostura Holdings was the volume leader with 104,400 shares changing hands for a value of $939,600.00, followed by Point Lisas Industrial Port Development Corporation with 74,000 shares being traded for $266,400. Investors bought 9,174 Republic Bank shares with a value of $1,009,135. National Flour Mills enjoyed the day’s largest gain, increasing $0.05 to end the day at $0.86 as 15 securities traded of which 5 advanced and 10 traded firm. There were no stocks recording price declines. While there are signs of further price gains for some stocks, there are some that indicate they are likely to suffer a price decline as there are sellers who have not been able to find buyers for some time with the price they are offered at either being at the last selling price or below.

Five stocks closed with bids over the last selling price.

Stocks to watch this week | Investors should keep a close eye on the following stocks as they have the potential to record price gains. These are Ansa MaCal, One Caribbean media, Republic Bank, Scotia Bank and West Indian Tobacco.

TTSEMay13

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Jamaica: Trade deficit narrows

May 13, 2013 by

Jamaica enjoyed some encouraging news at the start of the year as the country’s perennial trade deficit narrowed although by a small margin, according to data from Statistical Institute of Jamaica (Statin). Earnings from Non-traditional exports commodities that rose by US28.2 million or 47.5 per cent to US$87.7 million and a cut in the trade deficit with the USA and a reduction in CARICOM imports were the main contributors to this improved position. The deficit was reduced by US$1.2 million to US$401 million for the first month of the year. The improvement came against the back ground of a declined local currency and a sharp narrowing of central government’s fiscal deficit.

The deficit with the United States contracted sharply moving from US$116.4 million to US$78.5 million for the same period.

Jamaica exported 7.7 per cent or US$10.9 million more goods in January this year than was done for the similar month in 2012 resulting in earnings of US$152 million. Imports on the other hand, was a mere US$9.7 million or just 1.8 percent more in January than the same month last year as US$553 million was expended on imported items.

The major commodities to record increases were “Chemicals”, “Food”,“Misc. Manufactured Articles” and Imports of “Chemicals’ which rose sharply by 59.6 per cent or US$36.5 million to US$97.6 million due to higher imports of ethanol products. “Food” increased by Flags_globe150X150US$30.5 million to US$92.2 million or 49.4 per cent and accounted for 16.7 per cent of the import bill. “Misc. Manufactured Articles” accounted for US$34.7 million of imports compared to the US$34.2 million in 2012. “Mineral Fuels, etcetera” which accounts for 32.2 per cent of imports declined by US$71.7 million or 28.7 percent and was valued at US$178.6 million while “Manufactured Goods” declined with a value of US$45.8 million down from US$49.5 million in the similar 2012 period.

Traditional Domestic Exports earned US$58 million in January 2013, a decrease of US$19.4 million or 25.1 per cent when compared to the same period in 2012, due to decreased earnings in two of the three commodity groups, “Mining and Quarrying” and “Manufacture”. “Mining and Quarrying” fell by 0.1 per cent to US$53.5 million in the 2013 review period due to lower earnings from Bauxite. This was valued at US$10.5 million, down from US$11.1 million.  “Manufacture declined by 85.0 per cent or US$19.4 million, moving from US$22.8 million in January 2012 to US$3.4 million in the current 2013 review period.

Caricom_logo150X150CARICOM Trade | The country imported US$56.1 million from CARICOM, a decline of 16 per cent amounting to US$10.7 million. A reduction in the value of imports in “Mineral Fuels, etcetera” and “Chemicals” contributed to the overall decline in CARICOM imports. “Mineral Fuels, etcetera” decreased by 30 percent or US$14.3 million to US$33.2 million.

Exports to the Region rose by US$0.5 million or 10.5 percent to US$5.1 million during January 2013. STATIN stated that during 2012, Jamaica’s expenditure on merchandise imports grew by  2.4 per cent or US$155.5 million  to US$6,594.9 million compared to the previous year. Earnings from total exports rose by US$87.5 million or 5.4 per cent to US$1,709.8 million.”

Filed Under: Economy Tagged With: ,

JSE: Monday, 13th May 2013

May 13, 2013 by

Market highest since February 8th

The market is at the highest level based on the All Jamaica Index since February 8th this year, but it has some way to go before it takes out the 2013 high of January 4 when the all Jamaica index was at 91,721. Grace Kennedy put on $2.25 today, to close at $58 based on 6,185 units trading at $58, Desnoes and Geddes put on 33 cents to close at $4.50 after the company reported improved nine months results on Friday but with lower third quarter profits than the year before quarter due to costs relating to staff separation. The company traded 82,500 units, all at $4.50. Scotia Bank put on $1.96 to close at $21.98 while trading a mere 5.965 units.

The sentiments of the market can be gleaned from the advance decline ratio of stock price movements in today’s trade. Advancing stocks continued the trend of last week with advancing stocks outnumbering declining stocks on the Jamaica Stock Exchange. 7 stocks registered price advances and only 3 fell. The movement helped in moving the All Jamaican index up by 828.77 closing at 83,660.42. The main market index closed up 470.76 points to close at 84,479.12 on a day when 21 stocks traded. Stocks with a mere $9,004,591.79 value traded in market.

Stocks to watch this week | Grace Kennedy, Carreras, Jamaica Broilers, National Commercial Bank, Scotia Investments, Blue Power, Honey Bun, Jamaican Teas, General Accident.

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

Salada’s stock price may be stuck

May 13, 2013 by

Salada Foods, best known as producer of Mountain Peak instant coffee, reported lower profits for the March 2013 quarter as sales were lower, emanating from price reductions implemented to stimulate sales and market penetration. The reduction resulted in sales for the quarter falling 15.6 percent to $141 million a $26 million decline. Six months sales were up nevertheless by 2.5 percent. Administrative expenses rose 27 percent to $40.6 million to $50 million for the six months period. The increase is attributed primarily with the commencement of operations for Mountain Peak Foods which is the company used to acquire the Roberts brands of processed condiments.

For the six month period, sales were $294 million and $286 million in the similar period in 2012. Profit for the period after tax came in at $55 million while the 2012 net figure was $54 million.

Salada is clearly very conservatively managed as can be seen from some of the financial ratios. The company has a large current asset ratio of 9 to 1, well above accepted norms, with cash of $223 million. There was no interest bearing debt on the books and equity was a high $668 million.

Stock outlook | The earnings for this year which ends in September should exceed a $1 per share. This could mean that the stock may not have much room to climb in the current market environment. There are limited supplies of the company’s stocks to trade, so anything is possible with the stock price if demand comes in for them.

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

Profits on the improve for D&G

May 13, 2013 by

Desnoes & Geddes is reporting improved results for the nine months to the end of March this year with profits after tax up 30% to $1,050 billion, however in the latest quarter, profits was down 18% to $243 million after tax. The company took a $152 million charge, in the third quarter for making workers redundant, flowing from the decision to transfer the sales and distribution of its products to Celebration Brands, a joint venture company with Pepsi. The company’s management indicates that the amount written off in the quarter is 50 percent of the total separation cost. Based on these numbers Investor’s Choice, a sister publication to ICInsider.com, is projecting 66 cents per share earnings for the year after the one off staff separation cost, but expect earnings to close in on $1 per share in the 2013/14 year as growth in sales and cost cutting improve profits.

Overseas production | The results reflect the decision last year to switch the production and sales of Red Stripe to the USA. Export sales are down as a result, but so is cost relating to exports. The difference is a plus for the bottom line for D&G. Marketing cost is one area of major savings as the company no longer picks up that cost in the USA market. Gross margin for local and exports climbed during the nine months period. Local sales grew to $2.67 billion up from $2.56 billion in 2012 and for exports it was $564 million in the current fiscal year versus $450 million, but exports earnings jumped to $530 million after marketing cost, a large improvement over $127 million reported in 2012. General selling and administration cost rose from $906 million to just $938 million for the 2013 period.

DG_logo150X150Local sales climbed 12 percent over the same period in 2012 and was driven by the launch of the new beer, Talawah, a stronger performing spirits portfolio and price increase, the company reported. Local marketing cost increased by $21 million primarily due increased spend to promote and televise Red Stripe Premier League football.

Financial position | The group is in a healthy financial position as the improved results have contributed to cash moving from $230 million in March 2012 to $1.964 billion, after paying $560 million in dividends in December last year. Current assets exceed current liabilities comfortably by almost two to one, borrowed funds were only $157 million.

D&G has in the past stuck to paying out around 80 percent of profits as dividends and if this policy is maintained then the upcoming dividend to be considered this week should be around 30-35 cents per share. With the present price being $4.15 the annual yield will be around 12 percent making the stock very attractive.

Stock outlook | Investor’s Choice’s analysis points to the prospect of potential good growth levels for this company, as the local economy as well those overseas, show improvements in the years ahead. The major risk to this company is any weakness in the economy and potential for government to impose addition taxes on the products. On the positive side, the company is dominant in the local market and is enjoying increased acceptance of the flagship product Red Stripe overseas.

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