FirstCaribbean aborts IPO for NYSE listing.
Firstcaribbean International Bank (FCI) announced that they have withdrawn their planned initial public offering ahead of its plan to list on the New York Stock Exchange.
The Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange advised today, that they received notice from FCI advising of the withdrawal of the US registered public offering and listing of its shares on the NYSE in view of market conditions at this juncture. FCI had filed a registration statement in December 2017 relating to this public offering and proposed listing on the NYSE under the symbol “FCI”.
The company is the second Caribbean based banking group to have moved forward with plans to list on that stock exchange. The first was NCB Group in 2013, incurring a $680 million hit from the costs relating to aborted Initial Public Offering (IPO) in the 2013 fiscal year to September, according to the company’s audited financial statements.
The banking group was attempting to raise fresh capital in the international market, during the turbulent period ahead of the country reaching an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The amount involved was written off against income thus helping to depress profits for the year.
NCB lost $700M in its aborted NYSE IPO plans in 2013.
Since then NCB has gone on to report record profits in 2017 with a 28 percent increase in the first quarter to December last year. At the same time FCIB that struggled for several years as it was battered by Caribbean countries in deep recession only saw a rebound in fortunes in recent years.
In 2013, the FCIB group adjusted profit was just US$35 million rising to $83 million in 2014 and onto $123 million the following year then $143 million in 2016 and $151 million last year, but revenues have just barely grown as loans have stagnated with US$6.36 billion in 2017 from US$6.3 billion in 2013.
Profit before corporate taxes rose 6.8 percent to $105.8 million, for the three months ended March 2018, over the corresponding period in 2017 for Trinidad and Tobago’s 
The Board approved the payment of a first interim dividend of 82 cents per share to be paid on 21 May 2018, an increase over 76 cents paid in the similar period in 2017.
Market activity on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange ended on Friday with trading in 13 securities against 14 on Thursday, with 2 advancing, 2 declining and 9 remaining unchanged.
Losses| 
There was just modest volume trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange main market on Thursday with the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index jumped 2,036.04 points to 324,977.98 and the JSE Index advanced by 1,855.07 points to 296,091.67.
Trading resulted in an average of 108,162 units valued at an average of $1,672,560 for each security traded. In contrast to 216,141 units for an average of $3,540,055 on Wednesday. The average for the month to date is 846,561 shares with a value of $4,577,870 and previously 897,409 shares with a value of $4,795,531. In contrast, March closed with an average of 626,526 units with an average value at $20,492,207 for each security traded.
The Junior Market fell at the close of trading on Thursday with 19 securities changing hands, versus 20 on Wednesday, with gains in 8, declines in 7, while 4 remained unchanged. The Junior Market Index declined by 15.38 points to close at 2,901.15. 
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows just 6 stocks ending with bids higher than the last selling prices and 3 with lower offers.
Jamaican Teas ended trading with a loss of 3 cents at $5 and an exchange of 29,556 stock units, Jetcon Corporation traded 9 cents higher at $4.25, with 11,763 units, Knutsford Express ended at $14, with 18,116 shares, Lasco Distributors concluded trading with a loss of 13 cents at $4.02, with 295,257 stock units. Lasco Financial finished at $5.20, with 7,000 units, Lasco Manufacturing rose 1 cent to settle at $4, with 28,500 shares, Main Event ended trading 10 cents higher at $6.20, with 47,452 shares, Medical Disposables traded with a loss of 10 cents at $5, after exchanging 10,647 shares, Stationery and Office closed with a loss of 10 cents at $5.90, swapping 17,722 units and tTech fell 2 cents to $5.78, with 28,532 shares changing hands.
Trading volumes rose but the total sum traded declined on the Main Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Thursday with 4,971,238 units valued at $81,421,271 changing hands compared to 3,313,428 units valued at $132,584,977 on Wednesday. 
PanJam Investment lost 60 cents and closed at $42, with 5,000 stock units, Radio Jamaica finished with a fall of 5 cents at $1.05, exchanging 50,000 shares. Sagicor Group settled at $37.50, with 28,720 shares and Sagicor Real Estate Fund climbed 50 cents to $15, with 10,344 shares. Scotia Group traded at $52, trading 9,220 units, Seprod finished trading at $34, with 3,735 shares, Supreme Ventures ended at $11.75, with a rise of 5 cents, trading 532,107 shares, Victoria Mutual Investments gained 13 cents and concluded trading at $4.38, with 124,747 stock units and Wisynco Group finished trading at $10.50, with 477,649 units changing hands.
Gains| Sagicor Financial closed with a gain of 10 cents and concluded trading at $7.80, with 105,000 units and 
Trading volumes declined sharply in the Jamaica foreign currency market on Thursday, but the average trading rate against the US dollar fell, with inflows of US$27.57 million of all currencies and sale of US$34.96 million. 
A total of 29 offers from dealers amounting to $18.35 million were presented for sale to Bank of Jamaica in the second buy side of 
