The main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange climbed new shortly after trading opened on Wednesday, with the All Jamaican Composite Index surging over 366,792.29 points level but by after 13 minutes of trading it shot up 6,924.07 points to 372,546.73.
With less than a minute after opening the All Jamaica Composite Index rose 1,169.63 points to a new record of 365,792.29 within a minute of opening but that was before NCB Financial traded and jumped to a record high of $125. The JSE Index climbed 1,065.66 points to a record 334,189.24 initially and then to a higher high of 339,432.19 having added 6,308.61 after the NCB jump.
The Junior Market added less than a point to 3,267.31 but Derrimon Trading that will trade x split with the approval of a 10 to 1 stock split is yet to trade.
All Jamaica jumps to 372,546 points
Big bounce in Fosrich profit
Fosrich Group reported profit of $30 million for the June quarter, an increase of 630 percent over the $4 million reported for the prior year’s reporting period.
Profit before tax climbed to $60.6 million for the half year to June, for an increase of 144 percent over the $25 million for the similar period in 2017 and by an increase of 234% over the post-tax profit of $18 million, reported for the prior reporting period.
Having listed on the Jamaica Stock exchange Junior market in 2017, profits are now free form taxes for a period of 5 years. Earnings per stock unit ended at 12 cents for the half year and 6 cents for the quarter and should end up just around 27 to 30 cents, if the trend continues.
During the second quarter, the company enjoyed an 18.7 percent hike in income to $320 million, from $270 million for the prior year. For the half year, sales revenues were just up by 5 percent to $592 million from $565 million in 2017.
Gross profit for the quarter, rose 23 percent to $141 million from $115 million, in the prior reporting period and for the six months to June gross profit increased just 6 percent to $269 million. Gross profit margin slipped from the first quarter to 44 percent with the margin for the six months ending at 45 percent. Other income for the year-to-date benefited from foreign exchange gains of $15 million.
Administrative expenses fell $14 million for the half year, to $198 million and slipped just slightly for the quarter to $102 million from $103 million. According to the Managing Director, Cecil Foster, “the decrease was driven primarily by efficiencies gained from the management of staff and related costs, reductions in selling and marketing expenses, reduced insurance costs and reductions in damaged goods write-off and warranty expenses. The cost savings were partially offset by increases in staff training, legal and professional fees, rent and bank charges,” management indicated.
Finance cost for the year-to-date was $28.5 million compared to $19.6 million for the prior reporting period, but rose 68 percent in the June quarter to $17.5 million. “This increase is being driven by a new working capital line of credit obtained to assist with the financing of operations. This new facility was obtained at more favourable rates than the previous bank facilities,” Foster advised, in his commentary on the interim results.
Inventories rose sharply from $625 million in December to $808 million in June, receivables declined to $148 million from $156 million. Amounts due to creditors fell sharply from $297 million as of December to just $35 million. The company paid off amounts due on overseas line of credit thus reducing foreign exchange risk. The switch contributed to a sharp rise in loans from $384 million to $795 million.
“The company continues to closely manage inventory balances and the supply-chain, with a view to ensuring that inventory balances being carried are optimised, relative to the pace of sales, the time between the orders being made and when goods become available for sale, to avoid both overstocking and stock-outs. Monitoring is both at the individual product level and by product categories,” foster advised shareholders.
Part of the loans was on lent to an affiliated company that is completing an apartment complex on Shortwood Road, the managing director confirmed to IC Insider.com. The financials show $243 million due form them. The amount due incurs interest at 12.5 percent rate, Foster stated. The line allowed the company to stock up on some commodities at low prices relative to what normally obtains in the trade.
Shareholders’ equity now stands at $670 million, up from the $609 million at December 2017. Fosrich trades on the Junior Market at $2.80 on Tuesday, just around 10 times earnings.
7 stocks fall on TTSE – Tuesday
The Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange, declined at the close of trading on Tuesday as declining stocks overwhelmed the one stock to advance.
The market closed with 17 securities changing hands against 15 on Monday, 1 advanced, 7 declined and 9 remained unchanged and trading of 2,159,977 shares at a value of $8,188,631, compared to 168,289 shares valued $2,804,863, previously traded.
At close of the market the, Composite Index the Composite Index lost 2.33 points to 1,220.77, the All T&T Index declined 0.41 points to 1,696.33, while the Cross Listed Index slipped 0.59 points to close at 100.16.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading closed with 1 stock ending with a higher bid than the last selling price and 3 with lower offers. Two companies closed with prices at 52 weeks’ low.
Stocks closing with gains| Scotiabank concluded trading of 560 shares and rose 66 to end at $65.02.
Stocks closing with gains| When the market closed, First Citizens fell 1 cent to end at $34, after exchanging 2,918 shares, Gaurdian Media closed with a loss of 25 cents and completed trading at a 52 weeks’ low of $15.75, after exchanging 100 shares, Grace Kennedy shed 12 cents and settled at a 52 weeks’ low of $2.70, with 1,550,000 stock units changing hands, Guardian Holdings lost 10 cents and ended at $16.90, trading 5,000 units, JMMB Group ended trading 1 cent lower at $1.70, after exchanging 268,008 shares, Sagicor Financial concluded trading with a loss of 24 cents and settled at $7.51, with 300 stock units changing hands and Trinidad & Tobago NGL traded with a loss of 9 cents and ended at $29.41, after exchanging 44,065 shares.
Stocks trading with no price change| Agostini’s completed trading at $21.11, after exchanging 100 shares, Calypso Macro Index Fund traded 3,290 units to close at $15.80, Clico Investments settled at $20, with 2,396 stock units changing hands, Massy Holdings completed trading at $47, after exchanging 430 shares, National Enterprises settled at $8.95, with 164,535 stock units changing hands, National Flour closed at $1.75, in the exchange of 112,600 units, NCB Financial Group ended at $5.67, after exchanging 3,558 shares, Republic Financial Holdings completed trading at $103.52, after exchanging 1,722 shares and West Indian Tobacco concluded trading of 395 shares at $87.90.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
All Jamaica breaks 366,000 points
Ending trading at a new record close on the first trading day of September, the Jamaica Stock Exchange climbed new intraday high on the second trading day of the month, with the All Jamaican Composite Index surging over 366,000 points level.
At 12 minutes after opening the All Jamaica Composite Index rose 2,142.96 points to a record 365,464.29 and by 28 minutes after opening it jumped 2,697.72 points to 366,019.05 and the JSE Index climbed 1,952.48 points to a record 332,979.28 and within 2 minutes of 10 o’clock it jumped 2,457.93 to a record 333,484.73
Later on, the market pulled back, with the all Jamaica Index up 1,751.53 to 365,072.86 and the JSE index gaining 1,595.84 to 332,622.64 as NCB Financial pulled back to $112.
The Junior Market lost 17.36 points to 3,255.01.
Major contributor to the early gains, is NCB Financial with a rise to $114.95 from a close of $112 on Monday.
Harris Group buys Antiguan paint business.
Harris Paints Group, the parent company of Jamaican B-H Paints, recently purchased the assets of Lee Wind Paints in Antigua.
The Harris group of companies was established in Barbados in 1972 and is one of the Caribbean’s manufacturers of architectural finishes, building products and industrial coatings.
The group expanded with the acquisition of Brandram-Henderson (B-H Paints) in 2006, a Jamaican paint manufacturer that was founded in 1961.
Harris employs over 200 people across the region, and manufactures paint in Barbados, Dominica, St. Lucia, Guyana and Jamaica. The group distributes paints and related products to over 15 countries in the Caribbean.
Ian Kenyon, CEO-Harris Paints Group, said that the company looked forward to establishing a new manufacturing facility, increasing their investment in the country and that it would provide important strategic access to new export markets such as the BVI, US Virgin Islands, as well as Turks and Caicos.
Over the past six years the Harris Group has seen consistent profitable topline growth across its operations. Kenyon said that these results were achieved despite some very challenging conditions. “The Caribbean has experienced difficult economic times in many of the markets and this has been compounded by the recent severe weather systems across the region, yet our teams in each of the 15 countries we currently sell to, have responded magnificently and have been very successful in achieving profitable market growth and increasing shareholder value. He added, “we are very optimistic about our future as we have built very strong springboards for growth with our investments in infrastructure and have a very exciting portfolio of new product and service innovations ready and primed to launch over the next few years”
This year, the Harris Group also invested and successfully implemented a new state-of-the art enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that integrates all manufacturing plants and functions across the Caribbean, including at the B-H facility in Kingston, providing improved business efficiency and a comprehensive digital platform that will strengthen their marketing capability.