Trading on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange resulted in more than twice the amount of funds involved in the market on Tuesday, than the amount on Monday but with slightly less volume.
The market ended trading of 530,843 shares at a value of $24,133,808 compared to 674,102 shares at a value of $11,376,325 changing hands on Monday and ended with 13 securities changing hands, against 20 trading on Monday with the price of 3 rising, 3 declining and 7 remaining unchanged.
Trading closed, with the Composite Index rising 9.15 points to 1,238.85, the All T&T Index adding 0.04 points to 1,703.19, while the Cross Listed Index rose 2.53 points to close at 104.20.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading closed with 5 stocks ending with higher bids than the last selling prices and 4 with lower offers.
Stocks closing with gains| Clico Investments rose 1 cent and settled at $19.51, with 11,063 stock units changing hands, NCB Financial Group added 36 cents and ended at $6.10, after exchanging 5,130 shares and Trinidad & Tobago NGL increased 2 cents and ended at $29.30, trading 38,204 shares.
Stocks closing with losses|Angostura Holdings share fell 1 cent and settled at $15.75, with 178,717 stock units valued at $.8 million changing hands, Republic Financial Holdings shed 1 cent and completed trading at $106, after exchanging 70,412 shares valued $7,463,830 and West Indian Tobacco lost 1 cent and concluded trading of 22 shares at $89.99.
Stocks trading with no price change| Ansa Merchant ended at $38.25, after exchanging 55,722 shares with a value of $2.15 million, Calypso Macro Index Fund traded 2,835 shares to close at $15.81, First Citizens ended at $32.65, after exchanging 625 shares, Massy Holdings completed trading at $47, after exchanging 2,720 units, National Enterprises settled at $8.97, with 2,500 stock units changing hands, One Caribbean Media completed trading at $12, after exchanging 8,132 shares and Scotiabank concluded trading at $64.89, with 154,761 units valued $10,042,335.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
More bucks hit TTSE market – Tuesday
Mayberry Equities profit rises
Mayberry Investments
Strong growth in the Jamaican stock market drove the net assets of Mayberry Jamaican Equities to $15.6 billion at the end of September from $7.4 billion at September last year and from $8.9 billion at the end of December.
Mayberry reported an after-tax profit of $250 million for the September 2018 quarter, up sharply from $65 million in 2017. For the year to September this year, profit rose to $690 million from just $84 million in 2017 but a strong increase of $615 million in the September quarter and $1 billion year to date were the main drivers of the increased results in 2018. The performance resulted in Earnings per share of 21 cents for the quarter and 57 cents for the nine months.
Total comprehensive income for Q3 amounted to $4.25 billion, compared to $295 million for the corresponding quarter of 2017 and the booking of $6 billion for the nine months period reflecting gains from stocks held in the portfolio.
Net Revenues increased to $658 million from just $23 million in the 2017 quarter and is up to $1.26 billion for the nine months to September from a mere $32 million for the similar period in 2017.
Unrealized gains on investment, accounted for the bulk of the income while dividend Income amounted to $69 million in the quarter versus $29 million in 2017 and for the year to September, $296 million versus just $65 million in 2017. The addition of Supreme Ventures to the portfolio would have contributed in a major way to the increase.
Operating expenses increased to $390 million in the quarter from $8 million in 2017, for the year to date it moved to $548 million from $36 million in 2017 due to incentive and management fees for Investment management services and, also, Legal and Professional fees for a corporate loan of $2.2 billion acquired to expand the equity portfolio.
At the end of the quarter the company had cash funds of $1.37 billion and investments of $16.95 billion and amounts due creditors of $482 million and Net Book Value per share moved to J$13.01, at September 30 but fell by October 5, 2018 to $11.96, the company reported on the website of the Jamaica Stock Exchange.
The company’s portfolio comprises 31 securities including, Lasco Financial Services, Caribbean Producers, Blue Power, Iron Rock Insurance and Supreme Ventures.
Prestige profit slips & slides
Prestige Holdings brand – TGIF
Profit at Trinidad’s fast food franchise operators, Prestige Holdings fell a sharp 35 percent to TT$7.7 million for the quarter ending in August, compared to $11.8 million for the similar period in 2017 as economic pressures continued to affect the Twin island state of Trinidad & Tobago, where the bulk of the income is generated.
The operation includes, Prestige Holdings’ of KFC, Pizza Hut, Subway and Starbucks, Weekenders Trinidad Limited (TGI Fridays Trinidad) and Prestige Restaurants Jamaica, (TGI Fridays Jamaica).
Revenues slipped in the quarter to $268 million from $273 in 2017 quarter, dragging down gross profit to $90 million versus $95 million in the 2017 period, as cost of sales remained flat at roughly $178 million in both periods.
For the nine months to August, revenues increased a mere 1 percent to $790 million and profit after tax declined 24 percent to $21 million, from $27.7 million in the previous year. For the 2017 fiscal year, the company reported $32.9 million in after tax profit, from revenues of $1.04 billion.
Earnings per share for the nine months ended at 34 cents compared to 45 cents for the same period in 2017. The results were generated from an average number of 123 restaurants, the company stated in a release with the quarterly results.
Other operating expenses were flat in the quarter but rose moderately, by just $5 million to $170 million for the nine months. Administrative expenses edged up slightly, in both the quarter and year to date period, to $20.6 million from $20 million and from $61 million to $63.7 million respectively.
According to the Chairman, Christian Mouttet in his report to shareholders, “our less than stellar performance for the nine months of 2018, as mentioned in my Half Year Report, has been driven primarily by higher costs, a still recovering local economy and consumers who are very price and value sensitive. As mentioned then, we are implementing initiatives and making changes to our operations that over time will improve our performance and strengthen our business. Additionally, we opened our tenth Pizza Hut restaurant in Princes Town on 1 October 2018.”
“We do not anticipate any significant changes in the macroeconomic environment in the short term and expect to finish the year broadly in line with the previous nine months.”
The Board approved an interim dividend of 12 cents per common share (2017 – 14 cents) to be paid on October 31.
Prestige closed the period with shareholders’ equity of $290 million, Current assets of $131 million and Current liabilities of $131 million. Non-current liabilities amounted to $54 million. The stock closed at $7.52 or a PE ratio of 17 on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange on Monday.
Barita could spike higher this week
Barita last traded on the JSE as high as $20 on Friday.
The main market of the stock exchange ended the week at another record close with a number of individual stocks hitting new highs but this coming week could well be more challenging, investors have to bear in mind that the supplies for several stocks are very limited and could result in big price movements as happened last week.
Technical chart shows NCB Financial heading to $155 but it traded at new high of $134 during the past week which is not very far from the target of potential resistance. Whether it goes higher during the coming days is anyone’s guess but it is worth watching. Caribbean Cream moved up to $7.90 from $6.16 at the end of the previous week. The company posted better profit results in the August quarter but with less gains than in the first, as administrative cost rose to negate some of the top line growth. Those results may be unlikely to move the stock forward in the short term.
The Junior Market continues to inch forward as it appears that investors are waiting on results. They got Caribbean Cream and Paramount Trading at the end of week, but no major upward price movement is expected.
Caribbean Cream sales & profit slowed in Q2.
The indicators point to continued increased interest in the main market stocks with a number of them are high on the list to watch for this week with less indications that Junior Market stocks will move upwards in droves anytime soon. Stocks of interest this week are Grace Kennedy, Barita Investments with limited supply and technical indicators pointing to a price of $22.50 initially before going on to $27.50. Berger Paints, Jamaica Producers has very little stock offered for sale and that could result in a sharp spike in price at any time, Mayberry Jamaican Equities (MJE), Mayberry Investments that will benefit from increased profit of MJE, NCB Financial, Wisynco Group that has gone back above the $10 price level, CAC2000 that is very scarce, Main Event and Stationery and Office Supplies that seem to have exhausted selling at $09.50 with $10 being the possible next level. A number of these have limited supplies for sale.
With the average PE of the market now at a comfortable 16 times 2018 earnings, stocks valued less than the market average could see increased interest as investors look for bargains.
Grace Kennedy seems ready to break out of the $60 range as there is no big supply on offer now and during the past
Caribbean Cement price is stuck in the mud for now.
week, it traded as high as $75. Caribbean Cement keeps trading between $46 and $50, but there appears no real desire to move the price forward, this one could be negatively affected by foreign exchange losses in the September quarter. Kingston Wharves has always had limited supply, so it could move higher going forward, even the valuation is rich. Supply of JMMB Group has dried up and that could create the environment for the price to continue to move higher, it is also one of the lower valued stock in the main market. Investors need to bear in mind that the price is currently at a resistance level at $37, so it may move sideways with an upward bias for a while, unless strong buying pushes over this level.
An overall view of stocks indicates that the main market continues to be steered higher by an upward sloping support line as well the 45 and 125 day moving averages, lending support just below. The Junior Market is being guided by an upward rising long-term support line and a golden cross. The golden cross is a very strong bullish long-term signal, but market needs fuel of rising profits.
Witco jumps $1 in TTSE trading – Monday
3 for 1 stock split coming for Witco
West Indian Tobacco climbed $1 in exchanging just 32 shares, to end at $90 in trading on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange on Monday as investors await the result of the 3 for 1 stock split vote on October 30.
The market enjoyed heightened levels of participating securities trading on Monday with 20 securities changing hands including two with just 3 units each, against 19 trading on Friday.
Trading closed with the price of 5 rising, 4 declining and 11 remaining unchanged, leading to the Composite Index rising 0.32 points to 1,229.70, the All T&T Index adding 0.75 points to 1,703.15, while the Cross Listed Index shed 0.02 points to close at 101.67.
The market ended trading of 674,102 shares at a value of $11,376,325 compared to 184,966 shares at a value of $3,912,783 changing hands on Friday.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading closed with 7 stocks ending with higher bids than the last selling prices and 4 with lower offers.
Stocks closing with gains| First Caribbean International Bank gained 1 cent and concluded trading 1,000 units at $8.50, Guardian Holdings rose 14 cents to $16.89, with 59,854 units trading, National Enterprises finished trading after an increase by 1 cent and settled at $8.97, with 60,000 stock units changing hands and Scotiabank ended trading with an increase of 4 cents at $64.89, with 159 units changing hands.
Stocks closing with losses| First Citizens shares fell 5 cents and ended at $32.65, after exchanging 16,783 shares, Sagicor Financial share fell 1 cent and settled at $7.69, trading 453 stock units, Trinidad & Tobago NGL shed 3 cents and ended at $29.28, after exchanging 13,184 shares and Trinidad Cement lost 1 cent and completed trading at $2.74, after exchanging just 3 shares.
Stocks trading with no price change| Ansa Mcal concluded trading of 140,003 units at $56.99, Ansa Merchant ended at $38.25, after exchanging a mere 3 shares, Calypso Macro Index Fund traded 871 shares to close at $15.81, Clico Investments settled at $19.50, with 18,426 stock units changing hands, JMMB Group completed trading at $1.70, after exchanging 4,580 shares, Massy Holdings completed trading at $47, after exchanging 2,355 shares, National Flour concluded trading at $1.65, with 7,687 units, One Caribbean Media completed trading at $12, after exchanging 4,105 shares, Prestige Holdings concluded market activity at $7.52, with 2,958 units, Republic Financial Holdings completed trading at $106.01, after exchanging 3,058 shares and Unilever Caribbean settled at $25.50, with 244 stock units changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Jamaica US interest rate tango
Interest rates and the direction in which they are heading have important messages for investors as they indicate the changes that may take place in various investments.
In short, rising rates mean that fixed assets will decrease in value while falling rates will result in fixed assets value increasing, assuming all other elements remain fairly static. Jamaica has seen a long period of excessive interest rates and bouts when the rates fell below the rate of inflation by a wide margin. When real interest rates were excessively low as in the 1983 to 1984 period and 1991 to 1993, the local dollar came under major pressure and lost much of its value. When the rates went excessively high between 1993 to 2004 it resulted in major dislocation and mayhem in the economy. The latter was the period when the financial system collapsed. After 2005, real interest rates were mostly positive against the United States rates. This period was one of the more stable for the value of the local dollar even when there were some periods when the currency lost value due to real negative interest rates. Treasury bill rates are now below 2 percent, it is likely to provide negative returns for some investors and with rates in the United States rising, this position is unlikely to remain at these low levels for too long.
Many investors are focusing currently on extracting attractive gains from the local stock market and real estate investments, this may stave off increased interest in US dollar investments for a while. The chart shows that there need not be a huge premium for local Treasury bill rates over those in the US, see the period on the chart from 2005 on wards.
With interest rates at current low levels, investors have been revaluing stocks by increasing the Price Earnings ratio they are prepared to pay for them. The trend in interest rates locally is worth watching to see where they could be in 2019 and what if any impact they may have on asset values going forward.
More gains for Jamaican dollar
The Jamaican dollar gained almost one percent in value for the past week, with the selling rate ending the week at J$132.55 to one US dollar, an improvement over the J$133.80 it was sold for at the close of the previous week.
The local currency closed on Thursday with the selling rate at $133 and buying at $131.77, on Friday the buying rate closed at $131.33 or 44 cents less than on Thursday.
Unlike the previous week when dealers bought $48.8 million in US currency and the equivalent of US$56.6 million in all currencies and sold $46 million in US currency and US$53.2 million in all currencies, this past Friday only US$32 million was purchased in United States dollars and US$34.8 million in all currencies with US$43.74 million sold in US dollars with a total of US$44.67 million of all currencies.
On Wednesday coming, Bank of Jamaica will have it last scheduled sale for October when it auctions off US$10 million to the market that could lead to further revaluation of the local dollar.
Grace, Proven, Access & Iron Rock in TOP 10
Grace Kennedy HQ
Decline in the prices of three stocks during the week and gains by others resulted in changes to the IC Insider.com TOP 10 list this week.
Grace Kennedy pulled back to $59.50 and Proven Investments down to 21 US cents and Access Financial falling, with the offer at $45.50, Dolphin Cove and Iron Rock declining to $4.50 moved into the top stock list, taking the place of Sagicor Group that moved up to $42.55 and Salada Foods that moved up to $24.95 in the main market, while Caribbean Cream that fell to $6.16 to enter last weeks’ list moved up in price to $7.68 and with a slight downgrade to earnings to 
65 
cents per share, fell out of the top list and Caribbean Producers climbed to $7 and is also out.
The main hit new historical highs on Friday resulted in the overall PE for the main market rising to 16.3 up from 15.8 from the previous week, the PE of the Junior market remained unchanged at 15.8.
The PE ratio for Junior Market Top 10 stocks average 9.5 and the main market PE is now 9.9, marginally higher than the prior week’s level, as the market continues to see an upward revaluation of the multiple.
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 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.
Record high for JSE – Friday
The Jamaica Stock Exchange main market captured another record high, in trading on Friday, with the All Jamaica Composite Index hitting 419,855.25 with just 40 minutes before midday.
The market pulled back by the close to end at a record close to be up by 32 percent for the year. At the end of trading, the All Jamaica Composite Index advanced by 1,454.53 points to record closing high of 418,450.70 and the JSE Index gained 1,325.24 points to record close of 381,255.95.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 9 stocks ending with bids higher than the last selling prices and 2 closing with lower offers.
A total of 30 securities traded including 1 in the US dollar market, compared to 32 trading on Thursday with the prices of 11 securities rising, 16 declining and 3 holding firm.
Barita Investments ended at a 52 weeks’ closing high of $20, Mayberry Investments closed at an all-time high of $11.50, and Jamaica Producers ended at a 52 weeks’ closing high of $33 and Sagicor Group traded at a 52 weeks’ intraday high of $43.01.
Trading ended with 17,261,656 units valued at $203,142,878 changing hands, compared with 5,137,117 units valued at $72,997,097 on Thursday.
Trading closed with Wisynco Group with 8,160,974 units and 47.3 percent of the day’s volume, dominating trading, followed by JMMB Group 7.5% preference share with 6 million units and 34.75 percent of volume traded and Scotia Group trading 960,106 units or 5.6 percent of the day’s volume.
Trading resulted in an average of 595,230 units valued at $7,004,927, in contrast to 197,581 shares valued at $2,807,581 on Thursday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 406,926 shares, valued $7,181,976 and previously, 387,353 shares, valued $7,202,432. 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 gained 50 cents and closed at a 52 weeks’ high of $20, trading with 10,951 shares, Grace Kennedy lost $1.48 and ended trading at $59.50, exchanging 93,322 shares. Jamaica Broilers jumped $3.87 in trading 44,646 stock units to close at $32.42, Jamaica Producers finished $3 higher to a record close of $33 with 9,964 units changing hands, JMMB Group gained $1.01 and ended at $35.01, trading 
21,829 shares, Kingston Wharves fell 50 cents in exchanging 10,448 stock units, to close at $82, PanJam Investment closed 70 cents higher to $65.50, with 40,350 stock units trading, Sagicor Real Estate Fund rose 40 cents to $14.90, trading 11,223 shares, Salada Foods fell $1 to $25.50 in trading 550 shares, Scotia Group lost $1.10 trading 960,106 units to close at $58, Seprod dropped sharply by $12.50 and finished trading at $49.50, with 2,000 shares changing hands, Supreme Ventures dived $3.39 to end at $17.51, with 69,706 shares changing hands and Wisynco Group advanced 45 cents to end at $10.30, trading 8,160,974 shares.
Trading in the US dollar market closed with 4,897 units valued at US$1,046, changing hands as Proven Investments was the sole stock trading and fell 1 cent to close at 21 US cents. The JSE USD Equities Index lost 2.53 points to 168.68.
Republic jumped $2.25 in TTSE trading – Friday
Republic Bank traded at a 52 weeks’ high.
Republic Financial Holdings recorded the biggest price movement in trading on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange on Friday, in jumping $2.25 in exchanging 9,667 shares, to end at a 52 weeks’ high of $106.01.
For the second trading day, the market enjoyed heightened levels of participating securities trading on Friday with 19 securities changing hands against 18 trading on Thursday.
Trading closed with the price of 6 rising, 5 declining and 8 remaining unchanged, leading to the Composite Index rising 8.20 points on Friday to 1,229.38, the All T&T Index adding 7.51 points to 1,702.40, while the Cross Listed Index rose 1.22 points to close at 101.69.
The market ended trading of 184,966 shares at a value of $3,912,783, compared to 674,102 shares at a value of $4,897,703 changing hands on Thursday.
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 3 with lower offers.
Stocks closing with gains | First Caribbean International Bank finished trading 300 units and rose 9 cents to $8.49, Grace Kennedy closed with an increase of 29 cents to $2.99, with 30 stock units changing hands, Guardian Holdings ended trading of 562 units after gaining 3 cents to settle at $16.75, National Flour finished trading 2,979 units and rose by 5 cents to $1.65, and Trinidad & Tobago NGL concluded trading with a rise of 6 cents to $29.31, after exchanging 1,700 shares.
Stocks closing with losses| Clico Investments closed with a loss of 1 cent and at $19.50, with 41,149 stock 
units changing hands, Prestige Holdings closed with a loss of 4 cents and settled at a 52 weeks low of $7.52, trading 30,234 units, Sagicor Financial shed 6 cents and completed trading at $7.70, with 63,499 stock units changing hands, Scotiabank lost 5 cents and settled at $64.85, with 191 units trading and Unilever Caribbean ended trading 75 cents lower to close at a 52 weeks’ low of $25.50, with 910 stock units changing hands.
Stocks trading with no price change| Angostura Holdings completed trading at $15.76, with 11,122 stock units changing hands, Calypso Macro Index Fund traded 4,974 shares to close at $15.81, First Citizens closed at $32.70, after exchanging 1,870 shares, JMMB Group ended at $1.70, after trading 3,136 shares, Massy Holdings ended at $47, in exchanging 406 shares, National Enterprises completed trading at $8.96, with 150 stock units changing hands, Trinidad Cement ended at $2.75, after trading 1,787 shares and West Indian Tobacco settled at $89, with 10,300 units changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
