NCB Financial, released record full year results and announced an interim dividend of 70 cents per share at the end of the first week in November to be followed this past week, with the announcement that the way is cleared for them to go after another 22 percent of Trinidad and Tobago based Guardian Holdings on Friday with the NCB stock closing at a record high of $137.99.
The stock could make more gains in the week if demands picks up. Technical chart shows NCB Financial heading to $155, an area of potential resistance. The added Guardian ownership will add to earnings per share for the NCB group in the short term but longer-term synergies exits to take advantage of that should add even more to the bottom-line.
With just about all companies releasing quarterly results there is not much firepower that was released to move prices one way or the other, price movements will be more determined by perceived levels of under or overvaluation of individual stocks.
Investors should be keeping their eyes on Seprod that has seen increased supply with the recent public share issue having been allocated, the stock is considered a good buy at current trading of $30 or less. The company also posted results showing strong gains for the nine months. Stationery and Office Supplies that reported third quarter results that started to benefit from profit from the new book manufacturing business and continued strong sales growth. The stock price may well have factored in the good news but supply for sale seems limited.
NCB is stock to watch
Access & Iron Rock back into IC Top 10
Thee are no change to the TOP 10 main market list. The Junior Market has two changes with Iron Rock Insurance and Access Financial returning to the TOP 10, while Stationery and Office Supplies (SOS) and Dolphin Cove moved out.
IC Insider.com lowered the earnings per share for the two that moved out, based on the most recent release of interim results. In addition, SOS moved up in price following the release of nine months results.
Last week’s big new the entry, Scotia Group moved from $50 to close at $55.95 and now awaits the full year results which be out soon, for more direction. Based on IC Insider.com forecast Scotia is set to earn around $4.60 for the 2018 year to October with the PE at just 11 times earnings.
Earnings for General Accident have been adjusted down to 40 cents per share with the latest results now out, but it still holds on to the TOP 10.
The main market closed the week with the overall PE remains at 15.3, the PE of the Junior market is at 15.6 from the prior week.
The PE ratio for Junior Market Top 10 stocks average 9.4 and the main market PE is now 9.7.
The TOP 10 stocks now trade at an average discount of 40 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.
Freeport to distribute 40c per share
The former Jamaica Stock Exchange listing, Montego Freeport made $44 million in profit for the twelve months to March this year which is up strongly from nearly $11 million reported for 2017.
operating revenue was a mere $1.7 million while other income amounted to $101 million versus $36 million in 2017. The financial data extract sent to shareholders does not break out the details of other income, but 2017, the category comprised interest income from investments and receivables for land sale and foreign exchange gains.
The statement of financial position shows shareholders equity at $710 million or $1.26 per share. Shareholders at the general meeting slated for November 30 will vote on a resolution to pay a capital distribution of 40 cents per share in December.
NCB jumps sharply to a new record – Friday
NCB closed at a record high on Friday.
The Jamaica Stock Exchange closed on Friday, with NCB Financial Group jumping $7.58 and ended trading 585,404 shares at record $137.99, after the Financial Securities commission of Trinidad announced clearance for NCB to proceed with the acquisition of up to nearly 52 percent of Guardian Holdings.
Market activity closed with 30 active securities in the main and US dollar markets, compared to 32 on Thursday with the prices of 14 stocks rose, 10 declined and 6 remained unchanged.
The All Jamaica Composite Index lost 1,646.73 points to 388,851.68 and the JSE Index declined by 1,500.36 points to close at 354,287.88.
Main market trading closed with Carreras leading with 4,106,737 units, or 53 percent of the day’s volume, JMMB Group 7.25% preference shares with 862,000 units with and 11 percent of volume traded and NCB Financial with 585,404 units accounting for 7.6 percent of main market volume.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, the Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows just 7 stocks ending with the bid higher than the last selling prices and 2 closing with lower offers.
The market closed with much more trading volume than on Thursday, as 7,711,871 units valued at $172,980,680 changed hands, 
compared with 3,304,274 units valued at $77,547,412 being exchanged, on Thursday.
Trading resulted in an average of 275,424 units valued at over $6,177,881, in contrast to 110,142 shares valued at $2,584,914 on Thursday. The average volume and value for the month to date, amounts to 253,590 valued at $3,374,731, compared to 251,748 valued at $3,117,393. October closed, with an average of 290,851 shares, valued $5,213,901, for each security traded.
In the main market activity, Caribbean Cement jumped $4 to close at $50 in trading of 48,646 shares, Grace Kennedy fell 60 cents to end trading of 63,596 shares at $55, Jamaica Producers gained $1.50 to end at $24.51, trading 650,876 shares, Jamaica Stock Exchange lost 84 cents, in closing at $10.16, trading 96,393 shares, JMMB Group declined $1 to $33, with an exchange of 231,551 shares, Kingston Wharves rose $1.90 to $77.90 trading 2,683 shares, Mayberry Investments rose 43 cents to settle at $10, in exchanging 46,773 units, NCB Financial Group jumped $7.58 and ended trading of 585,404 shares at $137.99. PanJam Investment 
gained 60 cents in closing at $65.70, with an exchange of 40,135 stock units, Sagicor Real Estate Fund rose 50 cents and settled at $12, trading 12,010 shares, Salada Foods lost $1 to close at $20.50 as 19,000 shares traded, Scotia Group rose $2.49 trading 100,792 to close at $55.99, Seprod lost $1 to end trading of 209,641 shares at $28.50 and Supreme Ventures added 49 cents and ended at $16.99, with an exchange of 100 shares.
Trading in the US dollar market amounted to 52,105 units valued at $12,214. JMMB Group completed trading at $1.05 with 2,704 stock units and Proven investments completed trading 49,401 shares and lost 1 cent to end at 19 U$ cents and rose 0.5 cents. The JSE USD Equities Index fell 2.22 points to close at 157.43.
Junior Market jumps 34 points – Friday
The Junior Market Index advanced by 34.58 points to close at 3,208.39 at the close on Friday as 23 securities traded versus 28 on Thursday with 6 stocks rising, 10 declining and 7 remaining unchanged.
At the close, investors exchanged 956,921 units valued at $3,959,209 compared to 1,426,982 units valued at $5,935,222 on Thursday.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator closed Friday with 3 stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices, while 3 closed with lower offers.
Trading ended with an average of 41,605 units for an average of $172,139 in contrast to 50,964 units for an average of $211,972 on Thursday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 101,813 units valued at $501,965 and previously 101,813 units valued at $501,965. October, ended with an average of 69,421 units valued at $347,455 for each security traded.
At the close of trading, AMG Packaging gained 5 cents to end at $1.80, trading 15,810 stock units, Blue Power concluded trading 19,170 units at $4.80, CAC2000 finished trading at $16, while exchanging 20,200 shares, Caribbean Cream ended trading of 19,950 shares, with a loss of 98 cents at $5.02, Caribbean Producers finished trading with a loss of 25 cents at $5.75, in exchanging 18,630 units. Derrimon Trading ended with a loss of 10 cents at $2.60, with 96,381 shares changing hands. Everything Fresh rose 20 cents in trading 73,762 shares to close at $1.80, Express Catering ended trading 117,837 shares, with a loss of 6 cents at $7.49, FosRich Group lost 2 cents to end at $3.84, with 43,049 shares changing hand, General Accident finished trading 1,000 shares at $4. Honey Bun ended 2 cents higher at $4, with 8,781 units changing hands, Indies Pharma fell 5 cents and ended trading 20,039 shares to close at $3, Jamaican Teas settled 48 cents higher at $4.38, trading 14,000 shares, Jetcon Corporation traded 78,210 stock units, but fell 
20 cents to $3.80, Key Insurance traded 200 units with a loss of 9 cents at $3.16. Knutsford Express closed at $12, with 13,000 shares changing hands, Lasco Distributors lost 20 cents to close at $3.80, in an exchange of 60,406 shares, Lasco Financial concluded trading of 60,000 stock units at 4 cents higher at $5.05, Lasco Manufacturing gained 24 cents to $3.44, with 11,568 units changing hands. Medical Disposables ended trading at $7.50, with 2,123 shares SSL Venture Capital traded 4,599 shares and lost 1 cent to end at $1.75 and Stationery and Office traded 16,206 shares at $9.98. In the junior market preference segment, Derrimon Trading ended with a loss of 36 cents at $2.15, with 242,000 shares changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Guardian & Republic in big Friday push
The Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange indices rose at the close of trading on Friday as Guardian Holding rose $1.02 to $18 following release of news that NCB Financial Group would be making a bid to acquire 22 percent more of the company’s shares and Republic Holdings jumped $3.30 to help push the market.
Market activities ended with 14 securities trading versus 21 on Thursday, with 7 advancing, 4 declining and 3 remaining unchanged. The market closed with one stock ending at 52 weeks’ low as 434,574 units valued at $3,501,297 traded, compared to 326,195 units valued at $6,427,017 changing hands on Thursday.
The Composite Index jumped 11.82 points on to 1,243.30. The All T&T Index gained 16.90 points to 1,700.81, while the Cross Listed Index added 0.90 points to close at 105.79.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading closed with 2 stocks ending with higher bids than the last selling prices and 4 with lower offers.
Stocks closing with gains| Calypso Macro Index Fund rose 4 cents in trading 500 shares to close at $15.85, Grace Kennedy concluded trading 18 cents and ended at $3, with 2,678 stock units changing hands, Guardian Holdings concluded trading with a gain of $1.02 completed trading at $18, with 10,000 units, NCB Financial Group added 5 cents and settled at $6.55, after exchanging 6,000 shares, Republic Financial Holdings concluded trading with a gain of $3.30 concluded at 
$107.06, after exchanging 6,083 shares, Scotiabank increased 11 cents and completed trading at $64.50, with 3,175 units and Trinidad & Tobago NGL rose 2 cents and settled at $29.43, after exchanging 17,033 shares.
Stocks closing with losses| Clico Investments ended trading 4 cents lower and ended at $20, with 45,383 stock units changing hands, First Caribbean International Bank concluded trading with a loss of 5 cents and completed trading at $8, with 50,600 units, Sagicor Financial traded with a loss of 5 cents and ended at a 52 weeks’ low of $7.25, with 3,000 stock units changing hands and Trinidad Cement closed with a loss of 1 cent and concluded at $2.70, after exchanging 24,738 shares.
Stocks trading with no price change| First Citizens settled at $32.75, after exchanging 278 shares, JMMB Group concluded at $1.84, after exchanging 265,000 shares and Massy Holdings concluded at $46.80, after exchanging 106 shares.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
NCB to go for 52% of Guardian Holdings
NCB had a good 2018 fiscal year with strong profit gains.
NCB group had made an offer to take over up to 62 percent of the shares at US$2.35 and received offers well in excess of this amount. Some minority shareholders objected to the pricing and took the matter to the Commission. While the new price will cost NCB more than originally agreed if they were to go for the original target, Guardian has now made more profit and would therefore be worth more than at the time the original offer was made.
The NCB Group already owns 29.9 percent of the Guardian shares and just needs to pick up 22 percent of the overall shareholdings to land them the majority of the shares. The two largest shareholders in the Guardian had signed an agreement to sell to NCB.
In effect the minority shareholders action resulted in a negative outcome for those shareholders who had originally offered their shares for sale.
Falling stocks dominate JSE main market – Thursday
The Jamaica Stock Exchange main market lost more ground on Thursday, with volume exceeding Wednesday’s levels by a wide margin.
Market activity closed with 32 active securities in the main and US dollar markets, compared to 33 on Wednesday with the prices of 8 stocks rose, 18 declined and 6 remained unchanged.
The All Jamaica Composite Index lost 299.44 points to end at 390,498.41 and the JSE Index declined by 272.83 points to close at 355,788.24.
Main market trading closed with Jamaica Producers leading with 650,876 units, or 19.7 percent of the day’s volume, Seprod with 616,205 units and 18.7 percent of volume traded and 1834 Investments with 443,270 units accounting for 13.4 percent of main market volume.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, the Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows just 2 stocks ending with the bid higher than the last selling prices and 3 closing with lower offers.
The market closed with much trading volume than on Wednesday as 3,304,274 units valued at $77,547,412 changed hands, compared with 7,229,792 units valued at $190,325,727 being exchanged, on Wednesday.
Trading resulted in an average of 110,142 units valued at over $2,584,914, in contrast to 225,931 shares valued at $5,947,679 on Wednesday. The average volume and value for the month to date, amounts to 251,748 valued at $3,117,393, compared to 265,815 valued at $3,175,481. October closed, with an average of 290,851 shares, valued $5,213,901, for each security traded.
In the main market activity, Barita Investments lost $1 to close at $19, trading 140,000 shares, Berger Paints lost $1.40 and ended at $18.60, with 6,680 stock units, Caribbean Cement dived $4 to close at $46 in trading of 500 shares, Grace Kennedy rose 60 cents to end trading of 10,836 shares at $55, Jamaica Producers dipped 99 cents to end at $23.01, trading 650,876 shares, Jamaica Stock Exchange lost 84 cents, in closing at $10.16, trading 96,393 shares, JMMB Group rose $1.60 to $34, with an exchange of 63,957 shares, Kingston Wharves dropped $2 to $76 trading 14,080 shares, Mayberry Investments shed 43 cents to settle at $9.57, in exchanging 13,638 units, NCB Financial Group rose 40 cents and ended trading of 164,248 shares at $130.41. PanJam Investment gained 60 cents in closing at $65.10, with an exchange of just 1,775 stock 
units, Sagicor Group declined 90 cents to $38.65, trading 37,603 shares, Sagicor Real Estate Fund fell 98 cents and settled at $11.50, trading 64,571 shares, Scotia Group rose $4.70 trading 90,583 to close at $55.99, Seprod rose $2.50 to end trading 616,205 shares at $29.50, Sterling Investments lost 75 cents and closed at $19.75, trading 800 shares, Supreme Ventures lost 50 cents and ended at $16.50, with an exchange of 156,532 shares and Sygnus Credit Investments Jamaican dollar based ordinary share dropped 95 cents in trading 33,550 units at $11.05.
Trading in the US dollar market amounted to 40,126 units valued at $5,783. Proven investments completed trading 21,126 shares to end at 20 U$ cents and rose 0.5 cents and Sygnus Credit Investments US dollar based ordinary share dropped 2 cents in trading 19,000 units at an all-time low of 8 US cents. The JSE USD Equities Index fell 3.13 points to close at 159.65.
9 Junior Market stocks rose 6 fell – Thursday
Investors brushed aside the less than spectacular results of a number of Junior Market companies and drove the majority of stocks higher at the close of trading on Thursday with 9 stocks rising, 6 declining and 13 remaining unchanged as 28 securities traded versus 25 on Wednesday.
At the close, the market Index lost 12.58 points to close at 3,173.81, with an exchange of 1,426,982 shares valued at $5,935,222, compared to 3,017,657 units valued at $9,935,529 on Wednesday.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator closed Thursday with 3 stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices, while 2 closed with lower offers.
Trading ended with an average of 50,964 units for an average of $211,972 in contrast to 120,706 units for an average of $397,421 on Thursday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 101,813 units valued at $501,965 and previously 108,057 units valued at $537,578. October, ended with an average of 69,421 units valued at $347,455 for each security traded.
At the close of trading, Access Financial closed at $49.50, with 5,027 shares changing hands, Blue Power concluded trading with a loss of 69 cents to close at $4.80, with 6,230 units, CAC2000 closed at $16, trading 6,000 shares, Caribbean Cream ended trading of 21,255 shares at $6, Caribbean Producers finished trading 49 cents higher at $6, with 28,021 units changing hands. Consolidated Bakeries closed trading of 13,636 shares at $2, Derrimon Trading ended at $2.70, in exchanging 102,629 shares, Dolphin Cove rose $1.50 higher to $16.30, swapping 2,200 shares, Elite Diagnostic finished with a loss of 10 cents at $3.20, with 50,984 stock units trading. Everything Fresh lost 15 cents in trading 140,457 shares to close at of all-time low of $1.60, Express Catering ended trading at $7.55, with 112,354 shares, FosRich Group traded 46 cents higher at $3.86, with 26,616 shares, GWest Corporation closed at $1.90, with 2,550 stock units trading, Honey Bun ended 47 cents higher at $3.98, exchanging 10,900 units. Indies Pharma ended trading 20,357 shares to close at $3.05, Jamaican Teas settled at $3.90, with 21,126 shares, Jetcon Corporation ended 
trading 312,323 stock units, with a loss of 50 cents at $4, KLE Group finished trading of 104,000 shares, with a loss of 59 cents at $3.41, Knutsford Express closed at $12, exchanging 3,933 shares. Lasco Distributors ended at $4, swapping 104,153 shares, Lasco Financial concluded trading of 124,755 stock units to close 16 cents higher at $5.01, Lasco Manufacturing finished 2 cents higher at $3.20, with 173,000 units having been exchanged, Medical Disposables ended trading 592 shares, with a loss of 15 cents at $7.50, SSL Venture Capital traded 1,900 shares at $1.76 and Stationery and Office finished trading 301 stock units and rose 48 cents higher to $9.98. In the junior market preference segment, CAC2000 9.5% closed 16 cents higher at $1.16, with a mere 110 shares changing hands, Eppley 8.25% concluded trading of 100 units in gaining 29 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ high of at $6.35 and Eppley 9.5% finished at $6, with 31,473 shares changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Treasury bill rates inched higher
Bids for Treasury bills for three offerings for the government of Jamaica that were auctioned on November 15 in the amounts of $700 million each resulted in modest increase in two and a slight decline in another.
The auction attracted $826,712,000 for the 91 days issue, $1,097,475,700 for the 182 days bill and $1.997 billion for the 283 issue. The bills attracted in less amounts than the previous auction in October by $895 million and $1.4 billion each for the other two issues.
Average Yield ended at 1.95181 percent for the 91 days instrument, up from 1.786 percent in October. The 182 days Treasury bill inched up to 1.98594 percent from 1.954 percent but the 283 instrument, slipped modestly, to 2.05676 percent from 2.064 percent.
