All three main indices of the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange, closed higher on Thursday, with the Composite Index rising 3.71 points to 1,217.83, the All T&T Index adding 0.06 points to 1,689.65, while the Cross Listed Index inched 1.02 points higher to close at 100.28.
At close, 12 securities changed hands, with the price of 8 rising, 2 declining and 2 remaining unchanged, against 12 trading on Wednesday.
The market ended trading of 110,652 shares valued $1,395,005, compared to 75,767 shares valued $1,249,873 changing hands on Wednesday.
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| Calypso Macro Index Fund gained 1 cent in trading 600 units to close at $15.82, Clico Investments rose 1 cent and ended at $20, with 3,777 shares changing hands, First Caribbean International Bank added 10 cents and completed trading of 66,163 units at $8.50, First Citizens increased 5 cents and settled at $32.80, after exchanging 1,600 shares, NCB Financial Group rose 8 cents and settled at $5.68, exchanging 1,000 shares. Sagicor Financial closed with a gain of 1 cent and ended at $7.52, with 1,782 stock units changing hands, Scotiabank gained 3 cents and completed trading of 3,000 units at $64.95 and West Indian Tobacco finished trading 39 shares with a gain of 5 cents at $87.55.
Stocks closing with losses| JMMB Group closed with a loss of 1 cent and concluded at $1.69, after exchanging 16,000 shares and Trinidad & Tobago NGL closed with a loss of 23 cents and settled at $29, after exchanging 14,076 shares.
Stocks trading with no price change| Guardian Holdings completed trading at $17, with 2,365 units and National Enterprises ended at $8.95, with 250 stock units changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
All 3 TTSE market indices rose – Thursday
All Jamaica bolts to record 385,502
The All Jamaica Composite Index jumped to a new record shortly after trading opened on now trades at 385,137.38 but jumped 6,732.02 points to a record 385,502.72 points at 10:54 am.
The JSE index climbed 6,133.64 points to a record 351,236.58 points as a number of main market stocks traded at record prices and others recorded sizable gains to help push the market higher. The market crossed through several new highs in the morning with the first being at 9.35 at 381,944.28, followed by a series of other highs. The Junior Market added 32 points to trade at 3,388.43 after one hours trading.
All Jamaica jumps 5,536 points
The JSE market index climbed 5,043.95 points to a record 350,146.89 points as a number of main market stocks traded at record prices and others recorded sizable gains, to help push the main market higher. The market saw several new highs for the early morning session, with the first being at 9.35 am at 381,944.28, followed by 8 other highs. The Junior Market added 15.76 points to trade at 3,372.13 after one hours of the market opening. At 10.34 am, the main market slipped a bit to be at 383,775.68 on the All Jamaica Composite Index.
4 all for TTSE stocks – Wednesday
The Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange, closed on Wednesday, with 12 securities changing hands, with the price of 4 rising, 4 declining and 4 remaining unchanged, against 16 trading on Tuesday.
The market ended trading in 75,767 shares valued $1,249,873, compared to 141,167 shares valued $2,427,154 changing hands.
At close, the Composite Index the Composite Index lost 2.33 points on Wednesday to 1,214.12, the All T&T Index added 0.57 points to 1,689.59, while the Cross Listed Index inched 0.09 points higher to close at 99.99.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading closed with 4 stocks ending with a higher bid than the last selling prices and 2 with lower offers.
Stocks closing with gains| Calypso Macro Index Fund gained 1 cent in trading 1,100 units to close at $15.81, Guardian Holdings finished trading of 7,635 units with a gain of 10 cents to close at $17, Massy Holdings closed with an increase of 19 cents to $47.20, after exchanging 352 shares and Trinidad & Tobago NGL ended trading with a rise of 23 cents and ended at $29.23, after exchanging 31,485 shares.
Stocks closing with losses| Clico Investments closed with a loss of 1 cent to settle at $19.99, with 1,095 stock units changing hands, First Citizens closed with a loss of 7 cents to close at $32.75, after exchanging 1,688 shares, Grace Kennedy shed 5 cents and settled at $2.70, with 30,000 stock units changing hands and NCB Financial Group lost 7 cents and ended at $5.60, in exchanging 1,000 shares.
Stocks trading with no price change| JMMB Group completed trading of 246 shares at $1.70, Point Lisas settled at $3.70, with 643 stock units changing hands, Prestige Holdings ended trading 500 units at $9.50 and Scotiabank concluded market activity at $64.92, after exchanging just 23 shares.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
NCB pushes All Jamaica within touch of 380K
The main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange traded at a new record territory on Wednesday morning a mere 3 minutes of opening passing and went on to yet a higher level at 5 minutes later while passing other records along the way to the recent high.
The All Jamaica Composite Index rose 3,015.46 points to 379,946.02 and the JSE Index gained 2,747.43 points to a record 346,173.52.
The Junior Market that slipped 33.18 points in earlier trading is now down just 4.45 to 3,364.67.
Sagicor Real Estate Fund traded the most share of just under 8.7 million units at $11.75. NCB Financial now trades at $122 with the bid at the last sale price.
Express Catering profit up but concerns linger
Profit at Express Catering (ECL) jumped 290 percent to US$3.5 million on increased revenue of 10 percent to $15.7 million. A fall of $1.4 million in administrative cost to $6.6 million and a near $1 million rise in gross profit accounted for the bulk of the profit growth.
Earnings per share came in at 0.021 US cents. With the Starbucks franchise, which should be in full operation for the entire 2019 fiscal year and continued strong showing in tourist arrivals, revenues should climb much faster than the 10 percent experienced for 2018, helping to boost profit, which IC Insider.com is estimating at 0.035 US cents or Jamaica 45 cents.
Of grave concern is that while the company is incurring $333,000 in preference dividends on $3.5 million preference shares, amounts owing by related parties, rose from $3.6 million last year to $6 million to May, but ECL gets no income from it. That seems partially on the way to be corrected, based on information provided the company’s Chief Execuitive.
The preference shares issued is exactly the same amount due on debt owing to the company by a related party and reported in the financials for the first time in the 2017 fiscal year. While the amount owed by Margaritaville Limited increased by $2.3 million with no interest payable, Express pays dividends on the preference shares. No interest is paid to Margaritaville St. Lucia by Express for an amount due to the former, partially countering the position against the dividend payable. The preference shares, denominated in US dollar, is obligated to pay dividend at 9.5 percent per annum. That is high for a US dollar instrument now, as well as when it was contracted. These matters are clearly an untidy for a listed company with amounts owing to and from related entities, with some incurring a charge while others are not.
IC Insider.com spoke with Ian Dear who is Chairman of the company on this issue. Dear advises that the dividend to be paid shortly will result in Margaritaville Limited repaying US$4.8 million of the debt in September and it is not expected that the account will return to the above level in the future. Regardless of the above payment, the situation requires regularizing to ensure equity and transparency for the investing public.
Dear went on to state, “The balance of US$5.99 million at May, due from Related Parties is made up of 3 separate Related Party accounts with amounts due from ECL as well as amounts due to ECL. This is a carry forward from the period when ECL was a fully owned subsidiary of MCL Group. The company will take steps to cancel the non-active balances by paying down the amounts due to Related Parties and collecting from Related Parties amounts due to ECL. The company declared recently a dividend of US$6 million that will result in a further substantial reduction of the existing balance.”
“The existing Preference Shares were entered into at a time of higher interest rates. Since then rates have trended downwards. ECL is currently engaging funding institutions with a view to refinancing this debt. Redemption costs as well as Arranger fees will be critical factors in this decision,” Dear, Chairman & CEO informed IC Insider.com.
Dear also confirmed that the annual results had very little revenues from the Starbucks store. He also indicated that there will be three stores initially, in the Sangster International Airport of which two opened around 2 months ago and the third was opened last week. Annual revenues should be in the order of $1 million per annum, IC Insider.com estimates.
Unless otherwise stated, all amounts are denoted in US dollars.
All Jamaica trades at new intraday record
The main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange traded at a new record territory on Wednesday morning within 3 minutes of opening and went on to yet a higher level at 5 minutes later.
The Main market which has slipped back slightly since to be at 377,639.34 for the All Jamaica Composite Index for a gain over Tuesday’s close of 376,930.26. The All Jamaica Composite Index traded with a gain of 1,728.19 points to 378,658.45 and then went on to 378,793.40. The JSE Index rose 1,574.58 points to a record 345,000.67 and then went further to 345,123.62 for a total gain of 1,697.53.
The Junior Market Index slipped 33.18 points to 3,335.94 Derrimon Trading pulled back to $2.75 from $3 and Paramount Trading fell to $2.60 from $2.75 from the close on Tuesday.