The Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange ended trading on Tuesday in 18 securities against 13 on Monday, with 6 advancing, 3 declining and 9 trading unchanged at the close.
Market activity resulted in 455,641 shares at a value of $3,802,302, compared to 138,647 shares at a value of $2,163,356.
At close of the market the, Composite Index the Composite Index rose 0.48 points on Tuesday to 1,243.80, the All T&T Index fell1.43 points to 1,711.46, while the Cross Listed Index gained 0.33 points to close at 104.43.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows the market continuing to be weak as it closed with 1 stock ending with a higher bid than the last selling price and 1 with a lower offer.
Stocks closing with gains| Calypso Macro Index Fund traded 410 units and added 6 cents to close at $15.80, First Caribbean International Bank gained 9 cents and concluded trading of just 10 shares at $8.49, Grace Kennedy rose 15 cents and settled at $2.95, with 50,735 stock units changing hands, Massy Holdings finished 5 cents higher and completed trading at $47, after exchanging 25,000 shares, Trinidad & Tobago NGL concluded trading of 3,344 shares, lost 5 cents and ended at $30.05 and West Indian Tobacco added 2 cents and concluded the trading of 2,256 stock units at $88.55.
Stocks closing with losses| Gaurdian Media having last traded in November last year dived $1.98 to a 52 weeks’ low of $16, after exchanging a mere 10 shares, JMMB Group lost 10 cents in closing at $1.70, after exchanging 267,000 shares and Scotiabank ended trading of 2,400 units after falling 1 cent to $65.
Stocks trading with no price change| Agostini’s completed trading at $21.11, after exchanging 54,565 shares, Ansa Merchant ended at $40, after just 10 shares traded, Clico Investments settled at $20, with 10 stock units changing hands, First Citizens ended at $34.91, after exchanging 1,857 shares, Guardian Holdings ended at $16.60, exhanging 1,900 units, LJ Williams exchanged 32,000 B shares share to close at 75 cents, NCB Financial Group ended trading at $6.15, after exchanging 1,563 shares, Republic Financial Holdings completed trading at $103, after exchanging 1,494 shares, Sagicor Financial settled at $7.75, trading 9,010 stock units and Unilever Caribbean settled at $26.85, with 2,067 stock units changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
6 stocks rise on TTSE – Tuesday
Cost control boost Purity’s profit
Cost fell and profit margin rose at Consolidated Bakeries in the June quarter, this year, as the company put in a vastly better performance in the quarter than for the similar period in 2017.
For the half year, administrative, selling and distribution cost rose just 2 percent to $166 million but declined 6 percent to $79 million in the June quarter. While sales revenue grew 10 percent for the six months to $493 million and less than one percent to $221.5 million in the latest quarter. Input cost climbed just 3 percent for the half year, compared to 2017 and fell 4 percent for the quarter, giving rise to increased profit margin in the first half of the year to 38 percent, from 34 percent in 2017 and in the June quarter, to 35 percent from 31 percent in the year ago period.
Profit rose from a loss of $8.5 million in 2017, for the six months to June, to a profit of $22.6 million this year and earnings per share of 9 cents, but the company is reporting a loss of just $891,000 after tax credit of $128,000, a big improvement over the loss in the prior year’s quarter of $14 million. Full year’s profit should end at around 17 cents per share. If achieved, it would be the first time since the year it listed that profit has been this high.
Administrative expenses fell 13 percent to $42 million in the quarter and increased marginally in the six months period to $92 million from $91.6 million. Distribution and sales expenses declined 4 percent to $33 million. Finance cost rose in the quarter, to $3.6 million from $812,000 in 2017 and from $2.5 million to $6.8 million for the half year.
Gross cash flow brought in $38 million but growth in receivables, inventories, addition to fixed assets of $35 million offset by loan inflows and increased payables position ended at a negative $3 million. At the end of June, shareholders’ equity stood at $736 million with borrowings at just $115 million. Net current assets ended the period at $100 million inclusive of trade and other receivables of $96 million, cash and bank balances of $99 million. Current liabilities ended the period at $140 million.
The stock traded at $2.17 on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange with a PE ratio of 12 times 2018 earnings. Net asset value is $3.31 with the stock selling at just 66 percent of book value. The company is the only Junior Market stock to be selling at a discount to net asset value. This means management has a lot of work to do to break even and much more to reach the average of the market of a premium of more 400 percent.
Calm day for TTSE stocks – Monday
The Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange ended trading on Monday in 13 securities against 16 on Friday, with 1 advancing, 2 declining and 10 trading unchanged at the close.
Market activity resulted in 138,647 shares at a value of $2,163,356, compared to 178,893 shares on Friday, valued at $1,418,005.
At close of the market the, Composite Index the Composite Index rose 2.12 points on Monday to 1,243.32, the All T&T Index added 0.11 points to 1,712.89, while the Cross Listed Index gained 0.57 points to close at 104.10.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows the market continuing to be weak as it closed with 4 stocks ending with higher bids than the last selling prices and 2 with lower offers.
Stocks closing with gains| Massy Holdings ended trading of 2,600 shares and rose 3 cents to settle at $46.95.
Stocks closing with losses|First Citizens closed with a loss of 1 cent and completed trading 2,094 shares to close at $34.91 and Trinidad & Tobago NGL closed with a loss of 5 cents at $30, after exchanging 2,205 shares.
Stocks trading with no price change| Clico Investments concluded trading of 51,040 stock units at $20, First Caribbean International Bank ended at $8.40, with 1,278 units changing hands, Guardian Holdings exchanged 10,100 units at $16.60, JMMB Group settled at $1.80, after exchanging 2,725 shares, LJ Williams B Share completed trading of 5,000 shares at 75 cents, National Flour ended at $1.70, trading 4,304 units, NCB Financial Group completed trading at $6.15, after exchanging 49,632 shares, Republic Financial Holdings settled at $103, in exchanging 1,020 shares, Sagicor Financial concluded trading 2,720 stock units at $7.75 and Scotiabank ended at $65.01, with 3,929 units changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
JSE stocks retreat from Thursday’s record
The All Jamaican Composite Index of the Jamaica Stock Exchange and the JSE index fell more than 2,000 points as main market stocks retreated from Thursday’s record close as the market set its sight on breaking through the 350,000 mark this coming week.
At the close, the All Jamaican Composite Index dropped 2,312.28 points to 346,726.53 and the JSE Index dived 2,106.75 points to 315,907.02. Market activities resulted in 31 securities trading including 3 in the US dollar market compared to 27 securities trading on Thursday.
At the end of trading, the prices of 12 stocks rose, 12 declined and 7 traded unchanged. Trading in the main market ended with 12,389,267 units valued $54,066,117, compared to 7,549,926 units valued at $378,631,059 on Thursday.
The day’s volume was led by, JMMB Group 7.5% preference share concluded trading at $1.03, with 8,590,090 shares with 69.3 percent of the traded volume, followed by Mayberry Equities that closed at $9 in trading 1,046,000 shares, for just 8.4 percent of the day’s volume after trading at an intraday high of $10 and Supreme Ventures with 604,043 units and 4.9 percent of the main market volume.
Stocks with major price changes| Caribbean Cement jumped $2.50 and finished at $47.50, trading 73,872 shares, Grace Kennedy rose 85 cents and ended trading at $59.50, with 41,775 shares, JMMB Group lost $1 and ended at $29, exchanging 120,176 shares, Mayberry Investments gained 39 cents to settle at $7.89, with 10,100 units, PanJam Investment fell 80 cents and concluded trading 42,221 shares and closed at $51.60, Portland JSX lost 50 cents and ended at $8 trading 2,700 units, Sagicor Real Estate Fund dived $2.90 to $12, with 11,200 shares, Salada Foods shed $1 to close at $17, in exchanging 48,271 units, Scotia Group rose 50 cents in traded 113,232 shares to close at $53, Seprod finished trading 4,500 shares, and gained 59 cents to close at $36.10, ended at $15, with 21,164 shares after losing 30 cents, Victoria Mutual Investments lost 42 cents in concluding trading at $3.51, with 604,043 stock units and Wisynco Group fell 25 cents and finished trading 105,450 shares to end at $9.05.
Trading in the US dollar market closed with Margaritaville traded 9,700 shares and ended at 18 US cents Proven Investments trading 44,500 shares, falling 0.09 cent and closed at 19.01 US cents and Sygnus Credit Investments traded 9,000 shares and rose 0.03 cent to 10 US cents. The JSE USD Equities Index slipped 0.12 points to end at 159.24.
Trading resulted in an average of 492,474 units valued at over $1,930,933, in contrast to 290,382 shares valued at $14,562,733 on Thursday. For the month to date an average of 231,530 shares valued at an average of $4,665,985 versus 211,092 shares valued at an average of $4,956,066 on Thursday. July closed with an average of 169,022 units valued at $3,514,756, for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 5 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 4 closing with lower offers.
Watch Lasco Financial
When persons connected with the management of a listed company trade shares in the company other investors are well advised to take note.
In some cases it means nothing, but in others it can be a telltale sign of things to come. One such trade that could be telling is embodied in a release to the Jamaica Stock Exchange by Lasco Financial Services that advised that eight connected parties purchased a total of 15.05 million shares in the company on August 9. The average price of the stock on the day the block traded, was $5.29, placing a value on the block of more than $75 million, that is no small change and is more likely than not to be a vote of confidence in the future fortunes of the company.
The purchase takes place after generating revenues of $555 million, $235 million or 74 percent more than the corresponding period in 2017 and importantly, grew $55 million over the $500 million generated in March quarter and may be suggesting the possibility of quarterly growth going forward for a while. Profit before taxation, jumped 62 percent to $132 million from $81 million in 2017. Profit after tax ended the quarter 50 percent higher than the year before at $101 million and could end up around $500 million for the full year for earnings per share around 40 cents.
The strong increase in revenues and profit comes from continued growth from the original business lines and was boosted by the acquisition of CrediScotia business in late 2017.
Profit before loan Interest more than doubled from $83 million to $172 million but funds borrowed to purchase the CrediScotia portfolio pushed interest cost to $41 million up from just $2 million in 2017.
At the end of the quarter, loans and receivables was at $1.8 billion with the majority being loans and the company borrowed $1.5 billion to help fund the acquisition and provide working capital. Shareholders’ equity was $1.47 billion.
This one is worth watching keenly as a long term buy with the large profit margin in lending.
Prices jump in July in Jamaica
Inflation rose 1 percent in July, exceeding the 0.4 percent rise in June bring inflation for the year to July to 0.7 percent after the All Jamaica Consumer Price Index recorded negative inflation to June of 0.3 percent.
Inflation for the past twelve months to July rose 3.2 percent.
The upward movement in the July 2018 CPI was influenced mainly by a 3.4 percent rise in “Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels,” the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) stated. This resulted Statin said from increased electricity, water and sewage rates. Electricity, Gas and other Fuels and Water Supply and Miscellaneous Services Related to the Dwelling, registering increases of 5.8 percent and 1.6 percent respectively.
Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages recorded an increase of 0.9 percent, influenced by a 2.9 percent upward movement in the prices of Vegetables and Starchy Foods. A 0.8 percent increase in the index for the Transport division due primarily to higher petrol costs also contributed to the movement in the inflation rate.