The Jamaica Stock Exchange main market had the largest fall ever as Scotia Group fell $3.01 and NCB Financial dived $17.40, as 15 stocks declined, 10 rose and 10 held firm and making big dents into the market indices on Thursday.
At the close, the All Jamaica Composite Index diving 12,616.74 points to close at 397,188.61 and the JSE Index declined by 11,495.27 points to close at 361,883.79.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 6 stocks ending with bids higher than the last selling prices and 6 closing with lower offers.
A total of 35 securities traded including 5 in the US dollar market, compared to 32 trading on Wednesday.
Trading ended with 5,646,169 units valued at $146,430,983 changing hands, compared with 3,255,602 units valued at $64,853,916 on Wednesday.
Trading closed with Carreras leading with 1,796,079 units and 31.8 percent of the day’s volume, followed by Victoria Mutual Investments with 631,604 units and 11.2 percent of volume traded and Caribbean cement trading 621,915 units or 11 percent of the day’s volume.
Trading resulted in an average of 188,206 units valued at over $4,881,033, in contrast to 101,738 shares valued at $2,026,685 on Wednesday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 345,251 shares, valued $6,238,100 and previously, 357,984 shares, valued $6,357,141. September closed, with an average of 1,022,243 shares valued $15,752,876, for each security traded.
In the main market activity, Barita Investments climbed $1 to close at a record high of $21, with 6,500 shares trading, Caribbean Cement lost $1.23 in trading 621,915 units to close at $48.72, Grace Kennedy lost 75 cents and ended trading 4,193 shares at $58.55, Jamaica Broilers lost 50 cents to close at $31.50, with 30,918 stock units changing hands, Kingston Wharves fell $1.02 in exchanging 57,215 stock units, to close at $81.05, Mayberry Investments lost 59 cents and settled at $10.62, with 57,215 units, Mayberry Jamaican Equities traded 177,801 to close at a record high of $13 after 177,801 shares were traded, NCB Financial Group dropped $17.40 and ended at $111, trading 498,447 shares, 138 Students Living lost 79 cents while trading 3,100 shares and closed at $3.81, Pulse Investments added 50 cents to $3, trading 100,000 shares, Sagicor Group rose 77 cents to $42.80, trading 10,679 shares, Salada Foods lost $3.15 and ended trading at $21.80, with 7,950 stock units, Scotia Group dropped $3.01 trading 271,275 units to close at $53, Seprod jumped $3.40 and finished trading at $39, with 6,440 shares changing hands, Stanley Motta rose 45 cent in closing at $5 trading 3,555 shares and Supreme Ventures fell 51 cents to end at $17, with 222,000 shares changing hands.
Trading in the US dollar market closed with 147,541 units valued at $214,248 changing hands as JMMB Group 5.75% preference shares traded 100,000 units and gained 5 cents to end at $2.05, JMMB Group 6% preference shares traded 177 units and lost 1 cent to end at $1.07, Productive Business Solution lost 4 cents in trading 171 shares to end at 55 cents, Proven Investments ended trading with 41,883 to close at 21 US cents and Sygnus Credit Investments US dollar ordinary share traded 5,310 units to end at 11 US cents. The JSE USD Equities Index declined by 5.10 points to 162.68.
7 stocks fall on TTSE on Thursday
Stocks mostly rose in trading on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange on Thursday, with the price of 1 security rising, 7 declining and 10 remaining unchanged.
The market ended trading of 143,335 shares at a value of $2,574,472 compared to 505,143 shares at a value of $9,376,075 changing hands on Wednesday and ended with 18 securities changing hands, against 13 trading on Wednesday.
Trading closed, with the Composite Index declining by 5.87 points to 1,234.66, the All T&T Index fell 5.69 points to 1,698.98, while the Cross Listed Index declined 0.83 points to close at 103.63.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading closed with 4 stocks ending with higher bids than the last selling prices and 4 with lower offers.
Stocks closing with gains| First Citizens rose by 10 cents to $32.75, after exchanging 1,376 shares.
Stocks closing with losses| Ansa Mcal dropped $1.49 and completed trading 18 units at $55.50, Grace Kennedy closed with a loss of 24 cents at $2.75, with 2,970 stock units changing hands, JMMB Group shed 7 cents to end at $1.63, after exchanging 45,892 shares, LJ Williams B share lost 5 cents and settled at 70 cents, after exchanging 100 shares, Republic Financial Holdings ended trading 5 cents lower at $105.95, after exchanging 590 shares, Scotiabank fell 5 cents and completed trading at $64.80, with 19,888 units and Trinidad Cement traded with a loss of 4 cents at $2.70, after exchanging 1,000 shares.
Stocks trading with no price change|Clico Investments closed at $20, with 13,600 stock units changing hands, First Caribbean International Bank completed trading 190 units at $8.50, Massy Holdings ended at $46.92, after exchanging 579 shares and trading at an intraday 52 weeks; low of $48.85. National Enterprises ended at $8.97, with 28,539 stock units changing hands, National Flour completed trading 2,728 units at $1.70, NCB Financial Group settled at $6.15, after exchanging 11,964 shares, One Caribbean Media concluded market activity at $12, after exchanging 1,868 shares, Prestige Holdings completed trading 533 units at $7.54, Trinidad & Tobago NGL settled at $29.40, after exchanging 10,000 shares and West Indian Tobacco completed trading of 1,500 shares at $90.
EM>Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Profit jumps 56% at Knutsford Express
The company’s latest results is encouraging that investors’ wait for full recovery of the price may not be far away. Profit jumped 56 percent in the August quarter to $88 million from $57 million in 2017 from Sale revenues that rose 23 percent for the quarter to $293 million from $237 million in 2017.
The company still has not provided investors with relevant information to be able to see what gross profit margin they are enjoying to better determine how well the operation is being managed.
Expenses rose at a slower pace than revenues, climbing 16 percent to $211 million from $181 million. Earnings per share rose to 18 cents for the quarter, up from 11 cents on 2017. IC Insider.com is forecasting 75 cents per share. The stock traded at $11.5 on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange, with a PE ratio of 15 times 2019 earnings.
Gross cash flow brought in $108 million but growth in receivables, inventories, addition of $61 million to fixed assets net cash flows used up just $4 resulting in with cash and bank balances of $134 million plus short term investments of $96 million. At the end of August, shareholders’ equity stands at $714 million with borrowings at just $71 million. Net current assets ended the period $280 million well over Payables of $34 million.
7 stocks rose on TTSE on Wednesday
Stocks mostly rose in trading on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange on Wednesday, with the prices of 7 securities rising, 2 declining and 4 remained unchanged.
The market ended trading of 505,143 shares at a value of $9,376,075 compared to 530,843 shares at a value of $24,133,808 changing hands on Tuesday and ended with 13 securities changing hands, against a same number trading on Tuesday.
Trading closed, with the Composite Index rising 1.68 points to 1,240.53, the All T&T Index adding 1.48 points to 1,704.67, while the Cross Listed Index rose 0.26 points to close at 104.46.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading closed with 4 stocks ending with higher bids than the last selling prices and 4 with lower offers.
Stocks closing with gains| Clico Investments rose 49 cents and ended at $20, with 307,017 stock units changing hands, Guardian Holdings closed with a gain of 1 cent and completed trading 124,882 units at $16.90, National Flour gained 5 cents and ended trading 15,000 units at $1.70, NCB Financial Group finished trading with 5 cents and settled at $6.15, after exchanging 25,980 shares, Prestige Holdings closed with an increase of 2 cents and completed trading at $7.54, with 410 units, Trinidad & Tobago NGL added 10 cents and settled at $29.40, after exchanging 16,700 shares and West Indian Tobacco closed with a rise of 1 cent and completed trading of 971 units at $90.
Stocks closing with losses|Massy Holdings traded with a loss of 8 cents and closed at $46.92, after exchanging 3,153 shares and Scotiabank fell 4 cents and completed trading of 2,175 units at $64.85.
Stocks trading with no price change|JMMB Group ended at $1.70, after exchanging 2,248 shares, Republic Financial Holdings concluded trading at $106, after exchanging 611 shares, Sagicor Financial ended at $7.69, with 5,350 stock units changing hands and Unilever Caribbean ended at $25.50, trading 646 stock units.
EM>Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Early Xmas gift for Seprod stakeholders
Shareholders of Seprod and management and directors are in for an early Christmas present as Facey Group on Behalf of the International Finance Corporation offers 91,914,894 shares for sale at a price well below the level the stock has been trading at in recent times.
The offer is being made to the public but 55 million shares are reserved for staff, managers, executives, directors and former directors and shareholders of Seprod including Facey Consumer staff.
The offer is at a discounted price of $23.99. Last week the stock traded as high as $62 as limited selling of the stock in the market led investors to bid the price up to acquire some that were on sale, but pulled back to $49.50 on Friday and traded at $39 on Tuesday as investors reacted to the offer.
Up to 30 million shares are reserved for staff, managers, executives, directors and former directors of the Company and its subsidiaries. 15 million shares are reserved Shares for shareholders of the company (with JCSD accounts) as at August 31 and 10 million shares are reserved for the Lead Broker.
According to a spoke person for the Facey Group, the shares are a part of the shares that were acquired when the Company has reached an agreement with Seprod to acquire the consumer business consisting of distribution of consumer and pharmaceutical products in Jamaica earlier in the year. As part of that arrangement, Facey Group holding in Seprod was restricted to less than 50 percent and the shares being offered for sale was held as nominee on
behalf of International Finance Corporation who had invested in the group as a part of an agreement for them to continue to recover their investment when an IPO was effected. The shares were priced at the time they were initially issued when they were trading at $28, IC Insider.com was advised.
For the six months ended June 2018, Seprod generated revenues of $10.44 billion, an increase of $2.07 billion or 25 percent over the corresponding period in 2017. Net profit increased 29 percent for the period to $598 million in the 2017 period. The 2018 results are bolstered by the transfer of the former Jamaican dairy operations of Nestle within the Group effective January, this year.
The directors’ report stated that, “had these operations been included in the Group’s results in 2017, the increase in revenues for the six months ended 30 June 2018 would have been $1.20 billion or 13 percent and the increase in net profit would have been $77 million or 15 percent.”
For the June quarter, revenues rose 33 percent to $5.48 billion with gross profit rising sharply to 36 percent from 24 percent in 2017, with gross profit hitting $1.96 billion and profit after tax coming in at $325 million attributable to Seprod’s shareholders, 37 percent ahead of the 2017 out turn.
Based on the expansion of Seprod foot print and new ventures recently entered into, the future of the group seems solid and this could be bettered if they can put the ongoing losses of sugar behind them.