The main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange suffered further declines at the close of trading on Tuesday as declining stocks edged out advancing ones but with securities trading ending with slightly higher volume and value than on Monday.
The main market ended with 4,528,396 units valued at over $129,629,406 trading, compared with 4,388,637 units valued at $106,879,255 changing hands on Monday. A total of 26 securities changed hands in the main and US dollar markets, with prices of 9 rising, 10 declining and 14 remaining unchanged compared to 33 securities trading on Monday.
At the close of the market, the All Jamaican Composite Index lost 1,387.52 points to 409,742.96 and the JSE Index declined 1,264.19 points to close at 373,322.19.
The main market ended with Jamaica Broilers trading 2,226,854 units, accounting for just over 49 percent of the volume, followed by JMMB Group with 908,724 units, 20 percent of the day’s volume and JMMB Group 7.5% preference share with 386,688 units or just 8.5 percent of the day’s volume.
Trading resulted in an average of 181,136 units valued at $5,185,176, in contrast to 137,145 units valued 
at $3,339,977 on Monday. The average volume and value for the month to date, amounts to 119,777 units with a value of $3,292,648, compared to 111,829 units with a value of $3,007,628, previously. November closed, with an average of 405,528 valued at $7,755,942, for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator|The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 4 stocks ending with bids higher than the last selling prices and 3 closing with lower offers.
In main market activity, Caribbean Cement gained $2.50 and finished trading 5,000 shares at $46, Grace Kennedy lost 50 cents and ended trading 80,913 shares at $59, Jamaica Producers finished trading of 13,659 units with a rise of $1 to close at $25, Jamaica Stock Exchange closed with a gain of 80 cents at $10, after trading 102,000 shares, JMMB Group lost $1.48 and ended trading 908,724 shares at $32.52. Kingston Wharves closed at $74.20, with a loss of 
80 cents in trading 620 stock units, Mayberry Investments rose 40 cents and settled at $9.50, with 138,069 units changing hands, PanJam Investment lost $4.50 to close at $62.50, with an exchange of 23,764 stock units, Sagicor Group gained $2.54 to finish trading of 1,880 shares at $42.70, Sagicor Real Estate Fund fell 50 cents to settle at a 52 weeks’ low of $10, with 17,300 shares changing hands, Scotia Group fell 50 cents in trading 164,214 units to close at $54.01, Seprod traded 64,730 shares in dropping 45 cents to close at $31.40, Sterling Investments lost 35 cents and closed at $4.13, with 915 shares, Sygnus Credit Investments lost 44 cents and ended at $10.06 with 16,120 shares changing hands.
Trading in the US dollar market amounted to 4,700 units valued at $470 as Sygnus Credit Investments lost 1 cent and ended at 10 US cents with 4,700 shares changing hands. The JSE USD Equities Index declined by 1.05 points to close at 170.47.
Trading jumps on Junior Market
Knutsford Express traded 16.9m shares
Trading on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange rose sharply on Tuesday as 16.9 million Knutsford Express shares traded, resulting in 17,273,967 units valued at $179,531,161 compared to just 457,558 units valued at $1,689,604 on Monday.
At the close of market activities only 17 securities changed hands versus 27 on Monday with the prices of 2 securities advancing, 10 declining and 5 remaining unchanged and leading the Junior Market Index to decline by 17.30 points to close at 3,131.26.
Trading ended with an average of just 1,016,116 units for an average of $10,560,656 in contrast to just 16,947 units for an average of $62,578 on Monday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 
236,096 units at a value of $1,536,039, versus 143,367 units at a value of $463,182, previously. November, ended with an average of 190,475 units valued at $653,358 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 1 stock ended with a higher bid than their last selling price and 3 with lower offers.
At the close of the market activity, AMG Packaging ended with a loss of 5 cents at $1.80, with 5,500 stock units changing hands, Blue Power concluded trading of 440 units, with a loss of $1.04 to end at $6, Caribbean Producers traded 660 units with a loss of 9 cents at $5.35, Derrimon Trading ended at $2.70, with 10,000 shares changing hands, Elite Diagnostic finished at $3, 
as 20,074 stock units changed hands. Everything Fresh traded 292,113 shares after declining by 2 cents to close at an all-time low of $1.28, Express Catering ended trading with 11,808 shares, 30 cents higher at $8, FosRich Group traded 1,500 shares at $3.80, Honey Bun ended with a loss of 30 cents at $3.50, exchanging 1,610 units, Indies Pharma traded 23,980 shares and lost 3 cents to close at $3.13, Jetcon Corporation ended trading of 20,400 stock units with a loss of 25 cents to end at $3.15. Key Insurance traded 182 units with a loss of 95 cents at $4, Knutsford Express closed with a loss of 90 cents at $10.60, in exchanging 16,856,182 shares, Lasco Distributors ended with a loss of 10 cents at $3.80, with 6,200 shares trading, Lasco Manufacturing fell 4 cents to close at $3.12, with 12,908 units being exchanged, Main Event settled at $6, in trading 9,410 shares and tTech ended at $5.19, with 1,000 shares changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Trading picks up on TTSE – Tuesday
Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange market activity on Tuesday ended with trading in 17 securities against 12 on Monday, with 4 advancing, 6 declining and 7 remaining unchanged on a day when the volume a value of trading rose sharply on Monday’s levels.
Mora Ven Holdings traded for the first time since March 2016 and suffered a loss at the end of trading. At close of the market, the Composite Index declined 5.48 points on to 1,301.43, the All T&T Index fell 3.14 points to 1,694.14, while the Cross Listed Index lost 1.08 points to close at 122.83.
Trading ended with just 256,224 shares at a value of $4,449,130 compared to 45,974 shares at a value of $849,166 on Monday.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer ended with 3 stock with the bid lower than the last selling price and 4 with lower offers.
Stocks closing with gains| First Citizens added 4 cents and settled at $32.80, after exchanging 676 shares, Massy Holdings increased 5 cents and ended at $46.05, in exchanging 100 shares, National Flour rose 5 cents and completed trading of 14,494 units at $1.70 and Trinidad & Tobago NGL closed with a gain of 3 cents and settled at $29.23, with 20,169 shares trading.
Stocks closing with Losses| Guardian Holdings shares fell 75 cents and completed trading at $17.25, with 3,000 units, JMMB Group closed with a loss of 5 cents and closed at $1.75, after 
exchanging 64,810 shares, Mora Ven Holdings that is listed on the Second Tier Market, exchanged 1,000 shares and declined by $2.01 to end at 52 weeks’ low of $12.48. NCB Financial Group shed 10 cents and settled at $8.60, after exchanging 200 shares, Sagicor Financial lost 25 cents and ended at $9.50, with 700 stock units changing hands and Scotiabank ended trading of 205 units after falling by just 1 cent to close at $64.73.
Stocks closing firm| Clico Investments ended at $20.20, with 88,083 stock units changing hands, Grace Kennedy ended at $3, trading 300 stock units, LJ Williams B share settled at 75 cents, after exchanging 33,500 shares, One Caribbean Media concluded at $10.50, in trading 3,790 shares, Prestige Holdings completed trading of 10,484 units at $7.50, Republic Financial Holdings closed at $107.26, after exchanging 15,613 shares and West Indian Tobacco completed trading at $95.07, with 100 units changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Fontana corrects & explains Q1 figures
Fontana senior management team
Following IC Insider.com article, pointing to errors in the Fontana prospectus issued to the public on Thursday, December 6, the company subsequently corrected the errors and uploaded the corrected prospectus on the Jamaica Stock Exchange website.
“Please note that Fontana Limited attaches hereto its unaudited financial information for the period ended 30 September 2018. This information is updated from the financial information that is presented in the prospectus of the Company dated Thursday, 6 December 2018. The effect of the update is a revision to the Statement of Cash Flows where the profit before taxation and depreciation charges were inadvertently omitted. The Company also updated a typo to the Share Price of the Company from $2 to $1.88 on page 14 of the prospectus”, the company stated in a release on the JSE website.
The directors and management advised that the pricing error arose from a change in the original planned price of $2 that to $1.88 but the price, the price stated in the body of the document was overlooked. The error in the cash flow arose from the links to the cash flow from the work sheet did not copy over the figures for profit and depreciation when the final document was completed and no one picked up the omission prior to the publication of the error.
The directors at their investors briefing on Monday also addressed the matter of the sharp jump in inventories and the increase in the company’s first quarter profit over the prior year as well as the pace at which they will commence further expansion after the opening of the Waterloo Road branch in 2019. Inventories for the Christmas season were imported earlier than in 2017 the directors stated. Apparently, the movement in the exchange rate of the Jamaica dollar played a role as well as some concerns regarding the pricing of supplies out of China. The financial controller, Judale Smith indicated that the gross profit margins are usually 36 percent but it had fallen in the 2017 first quarter as they had to source some goods at higher prices that affected the margins, as such the 2018 figures better reflect what the out turn should be like.
Decline continues for JSE main market – Monday
NCB declined again on Monday.
The Jamaica Stock Exchange All Jamaican Composite Index lost 1,361.35 points to close at 411,130.48 on Monday and the JSE Index declined by 1,240.34 points tot close at 374,586.38.
The market suffered from declines primarily in Caribbean Cement, Jamaica Producers, NCB Financial, Sagicor Group and Supreme Ventures but good gains mainly in Grace Kennedy and Panjam Investment helped to ease the fall.
At the end, 33 securities changed hands in the main and US dollar markets with prices of just 11 rising, 14 declining and 8 remaining unchanged compared to 28 securities trading on Friday.
The main market ended with 4,388,637 units valued at $106,879,255 trading, compared with 5,896,056 units valued at $161,797,148 changing hands on Friday.
The main market ended with JMMB Group trading 1,006,420 units, accounting for just over 23 percent of the volume, followed by Portland JSX with 840,399 units 19 percent of the day’s volume and Scotia Group with 471,694 units 10.75 percent of the day’s volume.
IC bid-offer Indicator|The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 8 stocks ending 
with bids higher than the last selling prices and 3 closing with lower offers.
Trading resulted in an average of 137,145 units valued at over $3,339,977, in contrast to 226,771 shares valued at $6,222,967 on Friday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 111,829 units with a value of $3,007,628 compared to 128,316 units with a value of $3,599,881, previously. November closed, with an average of 405,528 valued at $7,755,942, for each security.
In main market activity, Barita Investments rose 89 cents to end at $32, with 35,028 shares changing hands, Caribbean Cement dropped $5.50 and finished trading 40,130 shares at $43.50, Grace Kennedy rose 41.50 and ended trading 9.525 shares at $59.50, Jamaica Producers finished trading of 50,113 units with a fall of $1 to close at $24, NCB Financial Group lost $2.90 to end trading of 89,435 shares at $147, PanJam Investment gained $1.95 to close at $67, 
with an exchange of 27,500 stock units, Portland JSX closed trading with 840,399 units after rising by 50 cents to end at $9, Sagicor Group fell 84 cents to finish trading of 142,802 shares at $40.16, Sagicor Real Estate Fund fell 50 cents to settle at $10.50, with 331,702 shares changing hands, Seprod traded 22,517 shares and dropping 35 cents to close at $31.85, Stanley motta fell 60 cents in trading 30,338 shares at $4.60, Supreme Ventures lost 99 cents and ended at $16, with 94,982 shares exchanged.
Trading in the US dollar market amounted to 592,387 units valued at $130,626 as Proven Investments ended at 22 US cents with 592,387 shares changing hands. The JSE USD Equities Index closed with a rise of 0.20 points to close at 171.52.
Junior Market trading levels plunge
Junior market volume contracts.
Trading on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange dropped to just 457,558 units valued at $1,689,604 compared to 990,418 units valued at $3,442,516 on Friday as 27 securities changing hands versus 23 on Friday.
At the close of market activities, the prices of 9 securities advanced, 7 declined and 8 remained unchanged. The Junior Market Index declined by 30.50 points to close at 3,148.5. Everything Fresh crashed to a new low at the close with no bill posted to buy at the close.
Trading ended with an average of just 16,947 units for an average of $62,578 in contrast to 43,062 units for an average of $149,675 on Friday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 143,367 units at a value of $463,182, versus 172,792 units at a value of $556,427, previously. November, ended with an average of 190,475 units valued at $653,358 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows23 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 2 with lower offers.
At the close of the market activity, Access Financial closed at $50.50, with 150 shares changing hands, AMG Packaging ended 15 cents higher at $1.85, with 5,200 stock units being traded, CAC 2000 finished at $16.90, with an exchange of 5,000 shares, Cargo Handlers settled at $15 trading of 1,000 shares, Caribbean Cream ended trading 28,848 shares with a loss of 70 cents at $5.30. 
Caribbean Producers finished trading just 300 units for 9 cents higher at $5.44, Derrimon Trading rose 5 cents to $2.70, with 25,539 shares changing hands, Elite Diagnostic finished 13 cents higher at $3, with an exchange of 75,051 stock units, Everything Fresh traded 53,250 shares after dropping 37 cents to close at an all-time low of $1.30, Express Catering ended trading of 3,212 shares with a loss of 30 cents at $7.70. FosRich Group traded 22,511 shares 20 cents higher at $3.80, General Accident finished trading at $3.75, with 763 shares changing hands, Honey Bun ended at $3.80, and ended trading 11,500 units, Indies Pharma traded 66,038 shares and rose just 1 cent to close at $3.16, Jetcon Corporation ended trading with 26,409 stock units having gained 8 cents to $3.40, Key Insurance traded just 182 units with a loss of 3 cents at $4.95, KLE Group finished trading with 543 shares for 10 cents higher at $3.10, Knutsford Express closed at $11.50, while swapping just 350 shares, Lasco Distributors ended 20 cents higher at $3.90, with 93,058 shares traded. Lasco Financial concluded trading with 2,000 stock units and lost 5 cents to close at $4.10, Lasco Manufacturing finished trading with 8,100 units but lost
29 cents to close at $3.16, Main Event settled with a loss of 50 cents at $6, in exchanging 4,329 shares, Medical Disposables ended trading with 5,063 shares at $6.40. Paramount Trading lost 43 cents to close at $2.52, with 741 shares traded, SSL Venture Capital traded 2,590 shares after gaining 1 cent to close at $1.82, Stationery and Office finished trading 30 cents higher at $8.80, with 15,270 stock units trading and tTech ended at $5.19, with 561 shares changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Trading levels sinks on TTSE – Monday
Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange Head Quarters
In market activity on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange on Monday ended with trading in 12 securities against 11 on Friday, with 3 advancing, 1 declining and 8 remaining unchanged on a day when the volume a value of trading fell sharply below Friday’s levels.
At close of the market the Composite Index gained 1.39 points to 1,306.91. The All T&T Index inched 0.24 points higher to 1,697.04, while the Cross Listed Index gained 0.35 points to close at 123.91.
Trading ended with just 45,974 shares at a value of $849,166 compared to 90,409 shares at a value of $1,156,662 on Friday.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer ended with 3 stock with the bid lower than the last selling price and 6 with lower offers.
Stocks closing with gains| JMMB Group concluded trading 3 cents higher at $1.80, after exchanging 750 shares, National Flour ended trading of 600 units and rose 2 cents to $1.65, and Sagicor Financial added 51 cents to end at $9.75, with 30,248 stock units changing hands.
Stocks closing with losses| Trinidad & Tobago NGL fell 3 cents to settle at $29.20, after exchanging 185 shares.
Stocks closing firm| Ansa Mcal completed trading at 3,338 units at $55, Clico Investments ended 
at $20.20, with 1,669 stock units changing hands, Grace Kennedy closed at $3, with 4,000 stock units changing hands, Massy Holdings ended at $46, after exchanging 2,041 shares, One Caribbean Media concluded trading at $10.50, after exchanging 90 shares, Republic Financial Holdings closed at $107.26, after exchanging 50 shares, Scotiabank completed trading at $64.74, with 1,960 units and West Indian Tobacco completed trading of 1,043 units at $95.07.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
I Create another IPO coming soon
iCreate, a fairly new company that is involved in the creative industry is at an advanced stage of planning to raise funds publicly by way of an IPO, ahead of a potential listing on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange.
According to the company’s website, they are a Creative Institute, developed with the aim of filling the gap in skills training and development of creatives in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean. As a part of the creative eco-system, students are provided with a wide range of career opportunities in the Creative Economy, while being a key partner of the Advertising Industry, Film Production Companies, Animation and Gaming Companies, and Creative Outsourcing initiatives.
iCreate partners with the University of the Commonwealth Caribbean (UCC) as its Creative Training arm for courses offered in Jamaica and the Caribbean. iCreate is also partnered with the Digital Marketing Institute, to become the only institution in the Caribbean licensed to deliver their Digital Marketing Diploma programme.
The majority shares are currently owned by eMedia Interactive Group with Sagicor Investment said to hold 19 percent of the shares. The total of just over 123.5 million shares issued are issued currently that will go to 196 million if the IPO is fully taken up. The issue should be coming to the market place soon, by the end of the year or early in 2019. Tyrone Wilson is the Managing Director of the Group.
Also expected to list in 2019 are Wigton Wind Farm which will provide an investment more for income than growth. Also exploring listing are a paint company and a manufacturing company from central Jamaica.
One time cost hits Broilers Q2 profit
Jamaica Broilers recorded profits attributable to stockholders of $230 million or 22.42 cents per stock unit for the October 2018 quarter, down sharply by 48 percent from $446 million generated in the same period in 2017.
The major contributor to the decline was as a result of foreign exchange losses of $231 million.
For the half year to October net profit fell moderately to $644 million compared to $658 million for the similar period in 2017. Sales revenue for the quarter amounted to $13.6 billion, an 18 percent increase over the $11.5 billion generated in the corresponding quarter of the previous year and rose 12 percent to $25.7 billion in the six months to October from $23 million in 2017.
Gross profit inched up by just 3 percent for the quarter to $3 billion, compared to $2.96 billion in the previous year and climbed 10 percent from $5.63 billion to $6.22 billion for the six months to October. Gross profit margin collapsed in the quarter to 22.4 percent from 25.7 percent in 2017 while year to date, it came in slightly lower than the 24.5 percent in 2017 at 24.2 percent.
Jamaica Operations reported segment result of $1.35 billion, 28.4 percent above last year’s $1.05 billion. The directors attribute the improvement to increased poultry sales which was up 7 percent to $17.2 billion and enhanced inventory management. Revenue for increased by 24 percent over the prior year to $7.38 billion. “The increase was driven by increased sales of main products – fertile eggs and baby chicks, as well as, feed sales from the acquired feed mill”, Management stated. US Operations reported a segment result of $666 million, down slightly from $674 million for the 2017. The “decrease
Christopher Levy – Jamaica Broilers President and Chief Executive.
was primarily attributable to one-off staff cost elements and acquisition costs related to the recent feed mill purchase; these cost elements are not expected to recur”, the directors stated. Haitian Operations increased market share of table eggs to 34 percent, compared to 31 percent of the market at the end of the second quarter last year. Revenue for the Haitian Operations increased13.4 percent over the prior year but the segment result drifted down moderately to $85 million from $86 million in 2017.
The Other Caribbean Operations reported segment results of $1.23 billion an increase of $1 billion over the corresponding quarter of 2017, mainly due to the net results of the JBGL Stockholders Nominee, driven by the unrealised fair value gains and eliminated on consolidation of the Group.
Distribution costs, increased 16 percent for the quarter to $482 million and 7 percent for the six months to $918 million. Administrative cost grew by just 5 percent in the quarter to $1.94 billion and 13 percent for the half year to $4.2 billion. The results also include the operating expenses of the new hatchery in Pennsylvania and the costs associated with the formation of the Shareholders’ Trust – these costs were not in last year’s comparative results.
IC Insider.com projects earnings is $2.30 for the current fiscal year to April and $3 for 2020.The stock is listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange and trades at $29.50 for a PE of 15.6 times current year’s estimated earnings, with a premium of 127 percent net book value per share and seems to be fairly valued, currently.
Shareholders’ equity stands at $12.9 billion with borrowed funds at $12.8 billion and cash and investments of $3.9 billion. Current assets total $20.66 billion verusus current liabilities of $14.45 billion.
Scotia & Grace out of IC Top 10
The Jamaican stock market saw quite a bit of volatility during the past week resulting from some sharp price movement of some stocks.
The pullback could well be that the market will soon be entering the period when institutional investors are likely to enter the market to reposition their portfolio ahead of the start of the new years and could result in a usual Santa Claus rally starting around the middle of the month.
In the end, Lasco Financial came under selling pressure and closed the week at $4.15 to reenter the TOP 10 list of the Junior Market and 
displaced Jamaican Teas TOP 10 last week. In the main market TOP 10 two changes took place with Sagicor Group having fallen to $41 and JMMB Group trading at $34 replacing Scotia Group that reported poor fourth quarter results and declining in price from the $60 region of the previous week to close at $54.05 while Grace Kennedy moved up in price and the earnings per share has been adjusted to $4.80 from $5.30 the combination of which pushed them from the TOP list.
The main market closed the week with the overall PE remains at 15.6, the PE of the Junior market remains at 15.9. The PE ratio for Junior Market Top 10 stocks average 8.8 and the main market PE is 
now 9.9. The top Junior market stocks are selling at a discount of 13 percent to those of the main market stocks even as the overall average PE for both markets are almost equal. This is an indication that there may be more gains to be had from these Junior Market stocks than those in the main market.
The TOP 10 stocks now trade at an average discount of 45 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 39 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.
