The Jamaican dollar recorded further gains at the close of foreign exchange Tuesday with the selling rate of J$128.46 for one US dollar, down from J$128.50 it ended at on Monday.
Inflows into the local foreign exchange market generated just US$23.84 million in all currencies while US$22.52 million was sold to the public. In USA dollar trading, inflows into the system ended at US$21.54 million while selling amounted to only US$20.36 million. Inflows are well down on the US$61 million that entered the system last week Tuesday and outflows the US$46 million of all currencies then traded.
The selling rate for the Canadian dollar inched up to J$99.01 compared to J$98.94 at the close on Monday, while the British Pound cost more at the close on Tuesday with J$166.91 buying the British currency versus J$166.38 on Monday but the Jamaican dollar gained value against the euro, with it taking J$145.20 to buy the European common currency on Tuesday versus Monday’s rate of J$146.61.
Jam$ gains on reduced trading
Falling stocks dominate on TTSE – Tuesday
Falling prices had the upper hand in trading on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange on Tuesday resulted in 3 stocks advancing, 4 declining and 7 holding firm as 14 securities changed hands, the same as on Monday, leading to a fall in all market indices.
Trading closed with 450,749 securities changing hands at a value of $7,406,212 compared to Monday’s trades of 1,204,518 valued at $18,120,647.
The Composite Index declined 1.20 points to 1,208.05, the All T&T Index lost 0.49 points to 1,790.45 and the Cross Listed Index was down 0.26 points to close at 83.83.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer ended with 4 stocks with bids higher than last selling prices and 6 with lower offers.
Gains| JMMB Group gained 3 cents to close at $1.26, with an exchange of 14,445 shares, Massy Holdings closed at $50, gaining 1 cent, with trades of 19,677 units valued at $983,848 and Scotiabank closed at $58.03, with a rise of 2 cents trading 501 shares.
Losses| Clico Investment lost 1 cent to close at $22.50 exchanging 52,200 shares valued at $1,174,548, First Caribbean International traded 10 cents lower to close at $7.60 exchanging 2,500 shares, Guardian Holdings lost 1 cent, to end at $16.09 with 2,159 shares changing hands and Unilever Caribbean closed at a 52 weeks’ low of $51.25, with a loss of 75 cents trading 40,000 shares valued at $2,050,000.
Firm Trades| Agostini’s traded 1,906 units at $20, Ansa Merchant Bank exchanged 35,227 shares at $40 at a value of $1,409,080, Berger Paints closed at $4.05, with 550 units changing hands, National Enterprises traded 700 units at $10.50. NCB Financial Group closed at $4.05 exchanging 248,158 shares valued at $1,005,490, One Caribbean Media closed at $15.01, with 11,925 shares trading and Trinidad & Tobago NGL exchanged 20,801 units at $21.90 valued at $455,548.
JSE majors in moderate fall – Tuesday
Main market stocks declined on the Jamaica Stock Exchange at the close on Tuesday and just barely taking a small bite out of the strong gains on Monday. At the close, the All Jamaica Composite Index declined 335.47 points to close at 259,509.13, the JSE Market Index fell 305.65 points to 236,442.21 and the JSE US dollar market index dropped 5.99 points to close at 174.47.
At the close of trading, 23 securities changed hands in the main market with 2 trading in the US dollar market, leading to 10 stocks advancing and 9 declining. Three securities ended trading at a new closing high. The main market ended with 3,076,517 units valued at $75,479,037 changing hands compared to 2,897,944 units valued at $74,825,788 at the close on Monday. Trading in the US dollar market accounted for 2,038,184 units valued at US$473,952.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading in the main and US dollar markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 4 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 3 with lower offers.
The main market ended trading with an average of 133,762 units valued at $3,281,697 for each security traded compared to an average of 120,748 units valued at $3,117,741. The average volume and value for the month to date ended at 127,255 units with an average value of $3,199,719 compared with an average of 120,748 units with an average value of $3,117,741 on the previous trading day. The average volume and value for June ended at 218,951 units with an average value of $3,871,959.
In market activity, Berger Paints gained $1.50 to close at $16.50 while exchanging 7,536 shares, Cable and Wireless lost 1 cent and closed at $1.10, with 100,957 stock units switching owners, Caribbean Cement closed at $28, with 1,350 shares traded, Carreras traded $1.01 higher, closing at a 52 weeks’ high of $90.01, with 1,725 shares changing hands, Grace Kennedy gained $2 to close at $42 in trading 1,400 units. Jamaica Broilers lost 30 cents, closing at $17.70, with an exchange of 26,548 shares, Jamaica Producers closed at $15.70 with gains of 70 cents while trading of 28,804 shares, Jamaica Stock Exchange closed at $7.10, gaining 5 cents trading 18,990 shares, JMMB Group closed at $20 exchanging 2,648 units, Kingston Wharves lost 50 cents to close at $29.50 trading 90,917 shares, Mayberry Investments closed at $4.60, with 1,112 shares changing hands. 
NCB Financial Group closed at $68.55, with a loss of $1.45 after exchanging 145,990 shares, PanJam Investment closed at $35.20, losing 31 cents with trades of 16,532 shares, Portland JSX lost 99 cents, with 1,052 units traded, Proven Investments added 1 cent to close at a 52 weeks’ closing high of $24.01 in exchanged for 2,200,900 shares, Pulse Investments closed at a new high of $4.35, with gains of 60 cents and with 65,062 shares changing hands. Radio Jamaica traded 69,640 shares at $1.60, Sagicor Group closed at $33.10, with gains of 50 cents in trading 147,145 shares, Sagicor Real Estate Fund exchanged 1,000 units at $12.10. Scotia Group closed at $45, with a loss of 70 cents and an exchange of 42,725 shares while Supreme Ventures closed at $7.77, and lost 1 cent with 50,318 shares changing hands. Proven Investments US ordinary shares, closed at 22 US cents, having lost 0.02 US cent trading 2,068,184 units, JMMB Group US 6% preference share gained 0.02 US cents to close at US$1.12 with trades of 15,718 units, JMMB Group 7.5% preference share lost 2 cents, closing at $1.11 with 51,966 units exchanged and JMMB 7.5% preference share closed at $1.85, with 2,200 units traded.
Q1 non-traditional exports surge
Jamaica’s Non–Traditional Domestic Exports jumped sharply in the March 2017 quarter to almost equal Traditional Domestic Exports with just US$9 million separating the two.
The non-traditional exports was one of the bright spots in the country’s external trade performance which saw the trade deficit widening in the quarter as oil imports almost doubled in the quarter growing by 81 percent.
Non–Traditional Domestic Exports earned US$146 million, a stunning 42 percent or US$43 million increase over the similar 2016 period, this compares with Traditional Domestic Exports during the first quarter which were valued at US$155 million, a mere increase of US$7.7 million or 5.2 per cent over the first quarter of 2016.
The merchandise trade deficit worsened to US$996 million compared to US$795 million in the similar quarter of 2016, the Statistical Institute of Jamaica reported.
The second half of 2017 should see an improvement in traditional exports as the Alpart alumina plant is now back in production.
This SOS IPO who are the connections?
The McDaniel family owned Stationery and Office Supplies (SOS) after 50 years of serving their more than 3,000 clients, are heading in a new direction. No longer content to hug up 100 percent of the company the family is now are embarking enjoining the public to ride on with them to the next level.
In furtherance of this new thrust SOS is now seeking to list on the Jamaica Stock Exchange Junior Market with an initial public offering 50,024,100 ordinary shares, to raise approximately $95,048,200 before expenses. The issue is inclusive of 22,500,000 reserved shares some of which are being sold at $1.60 for staff, with the rest being made available to the general public at $2 per share the offer opening at 9 on July 19th, with the closing set for 4:30 P.M. on July 26th.
The Company reported pretax profits of $53 million in 2016, from sales of $702 million, with earnings of 26.5 cents per share, resulting in a PE of 7.5 before tax. Earnings for 2017 is estimated at around 40 cents on a pretax basis at an attractive PE of 5.6 times 2017 earnings. Revenues for the first six months of 2017, are up almost 20 percent over the similar period in 2016. Office furnishing and fixtures account for approximately 60 percent of sales revenues and stationery and office supplies for 40 percent management advised IC Insider.com.
The Company estimates that the expenses in the invitation will not exceed $12,000,000 inclusive of General Consumption Tax and an expanded marketing and publicity spend, expected to not only drive interest in the IPO but create greater awareness about the company. and its products.
Minimum raise| The Company needs to raise at least $50,000,000 to qualify for listing on the Junior Market. If that amount is not achieved an application will not be made for the shares to be admitted to the Junior Market and all funds will be returned to the persons who made them.
History| The Company started business in July 1965 under the guidance of Richard Hing, George Hew and David McDaniel. In 1970, the Company became wholly owned by the McDaniel family when all of the issued ordinary shares were acquired by David and Marjorie McDaniel. The Company now operates out of a 35,000 square feet warehouse, office and showroom on Beechwood Avenue in Kingston 
and a 3,000 square feet location in Montego Bay that houses 1,200 square feet of office and showroom space and a 1,800 square foot warehousing facility supported by a staff complement of sixteen. The Head Office currently employs eighty-three team members. Eleven delivery vehicles are operated by the company including trucks, which support delivery to customers.
Products|The Company now sells and market office supplies and stationery items, modular office furniture, partitions, metal products, chairs, cabinets and shelving. The Company is the sole local distributor for the leading international brands in office furniture – Fursys and Boss. In 2011, lower priced items were introduced to meet growing demand, by introducing the first of two proprietary brands, the first being the “Image” brand and shortly thereafter in 2012, the Company introduced its second brand “Torch”. SOS also does a small amount of sales to the eastern Caribbean and will be seeking expand business into that Region. According to the company’s management, the increased warehouse space will be critical to this effort. A lesser known service the company carries out, is the servicing of office equipment. This area they indicate has room for increased revenues and profit.
During the last six years, the Company added commercial shredding to its suite of services offered to the general public. The service has become popular among entities which have large volumes of waste paper and other sensitive material that stores data, but are concerned about improper disposal methods. The Company’s states that its “shredding facility meets international best practice standards and has the capacity to shred up to 5,000 pounds of paper per day as well as the destruction of tapes, hard drives and compact discs. The Company’s shredding facility offers the customer the ability to view an on-line real-time video stream of the shredding process being undertaken on-site on their behalf, or if preferred the customer may also be present when the shredding process is being undertaken”.
The directors of the company are, David McDaniel, Marjorie McDaniel, Allan McDaniel, Stephen Todd, Kerri (McDaniel) Todd, Kelli (McDaniel) Muschett, Anthony Bell, Gary “Butch” Hendrickson and Evan Thwaites.
Stationery & Office Supplies heads to market
The Mcdaniel family owned Stationery and Office Supplies are heading for listing on the Jamaica Stock Exchange Junior Market with an initial public offering 50,024,100 ordinary shares.
The issue is inclusive of 22,500,000 reserved shares, some of which are reserved for staff at $1.60 per share, with the rest being made available to the general public at $2 per share the offer opening at 9 on July 19th, with the closing set for 4:30 P.M. on July 26th.
The Company reported pretax profits of $53 million in 2016 for earnings of 26.5 cents per share resulting in a PE of 7.5 before tax. Earnings for 2017 is estimated at around 36 cents on a pretax basis or a PE of an attractive 5.6 times 2017 earnings.
Jam$ starts July with more gains
The Jamaican dollar recorded further gains on the first trading day of July and closed Monday with the selling rate of J$128.50 for one US dollar down from J$128.62 it ended June at. Inflows into the local foreign exchange market generated US$51 million in all currencies while US$46 million was sold to the public.
In USA dollar trading, inflows into the system ended at US$46 million while selling amounted to US$41 million. Inflows are slightly ahead of those for the first Monday in June but outflows are up a bit for the United States currency as well as for all currencies traded.
The selling rate for the Canadian dollar dipped to J$98.94 compared to J$99.39 at the close on Friday while the British Pound cost slightly less at the close on Friday with J$166.39 buying the British currency versus J$166.58 on Friday and the Jamaican dollar also gained value against the euro, with it taking J$ 146.61 to buy the European common currency on Friday versus Friday’s J$147.94.
Juniors drop – Monday
The Junior Market lost ground on Monday as the market index fell 26.30 points to end at 3,195.95 as declining socks just edged out advancing ones.6 to 5. Volume traded suffered a 66 percent reduction and the value of stocks trading dropped 63 percent, compared to trading on Friday.
The junior Market closed with 18 securities versus 23 on Friday leading to only 500,614 units valued at $2,920,659 trading compared with 1,459,166 units valued at $7,939,041 on Friday.
Trading closed with 6 stocks having higher bids than their last traded prices and 5 closing with lower offers.
The Junior Market ended trading with an average of just 28,812 units for an average value of $162,259 compared to 63,442 units for an average value of $345,176 on Friday. In contrast, June closed with averages of 395,969 units valued at $1,799,200 for each security traded.
At the close of the market, stocks trading and their last traded price are: AMG Packaging closed at $4.05 with a mere 594 units changing hands, Cargo Handlers traded 8,204 shares and fell 9 cents to $15.90, Caribbean Producers gained 19 cents in trading only 373 shares to close at $3.69, C2W Music traded 6,000 shares to close at 43 cents, Derrimon Trading ended at $8.05 with 11,912 shares changing hands, Dolphin Cove dropped $3 and ended at $17 with 753 shares trading, Eppley jumped 95 cents and closed with 6,000 units, changing hands at $12.95 General Accident fell 35 cents and closed trading with 500 shares at $3, ISP Finance gained 50 cents to end at $18.50 with 14,547 units changing hands. Jamaican Teas traded 49,146 shares, to end at $4.20, 
Jetcon Corporation fell 14 cents and ended at $5.35 with 349,980 shares trading, KL E Group traded 30,000 shares to end at $2.10. Knutsford Express traded 3,700 shares but lost 70 cents to end at $15. Lasco Distributors ended at $7 after trading 2,350 units, Lasco Financial gained 5 cents with 100 shares changing hands, to end at $3.80, Main Event jumped 75 cents and ended trading 6,242 shares at $6, Paramount Trading lost 2 cents to end at $3 with 5,973 units trading and tTech ended with 2,623 units changing hands to close at $7.80.
In other news, another Junior Market listing is set to hit the market in July, this one will be a big hit with investors, with a low offer price in the region of $2 and historical PE of 8 times 2016 earnings and an even lower PE, based on 2017 earnings, with revenues growing around 20 percent. IC Insider.com will provide a full update very soon.
JSE majors make big gains again – Monday
Scotia Group accounted for 46 percent of the volume traded on Monday.
Big movement in a number of main market stocks of the Jamaica Stock Exchange drove the indices up sharply at the closed on Monday and adding to the big gains on Friday. The All Jamaica Composite Index jumped 1,871.36 points to close at 259,844.60, the JSE Market Index climbed 1,705.02 points to 236,747.86 and the JSE US dollar market index lost 0.51 points to close at 180.46.
At the close of trading, 24 securities changed hands in the main market with 1 trading in the US dollar market, leading to 10 stocks advancing and 7 declining. Pulse Investments, fresh from a 6 for 1 stock split closed at a new 52 weeks’ high at the conclusion of trading. The main market ended with 2,897,944 units valued at $74,825,787.51 changing hands compared to 1,531,947 units valued at $26,473,230 at the close on Friday. Trading in the US dollar market accounted for 83,800 units valued at US$19,274.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading in the main and US dollar markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 8 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 2 with lower offers.
The main market ended trading with an average of 120,748 units valued at $3,117,741 for each security traded compared to an average of 66,606 units with an average value of $1,151,010 on Friday. The average volume and value for June ended at 218,951 units with an average value of $3,871,959.
In market activity, Barita Investments gained 50 cents to close at $7 trading 20,000 shares, Berger Paints traded $2.97 lower to close at $15 in exchanging 6,667 shares, Cable and Wireless lost 5 cents and closed at $1.11, with 43,470 stock units switching owners, Caribbean Cement closed at $28, with 21,600 shares traded. Carreras traded 8,560 shares at $89, Grace Kennedy closed at $40, but lost $1 trading 25,931 units, Jamaica Broilers gained 40 cents to close at $18, with 25,055 shares changing hands, Jamaica Producers lost $1 and closed at $15 with 39,402 units trading. Jamaica Stock Exchange closed at $7.05, gaining 5 cents and trading 21,349 shares, JMMB Group closed at $20, with gains of 3 cents while exchanging 22,733 units, Kingston Wharves gained 15 cents to close at $30, trading 23,419 shares, 
Mayberry Investments closed at $4.60, losing 50 cents with an exchange of 888 shares. NCB Financial Group closed at $70, after exchanging 107,711 shares, PanJam Investment closed at $34.89, with 36,102 shares changing hands, Portland JSX traded 1,002 units at $11, Pulse Investments closed at a new high of $3.75 after a 6 for 1 stock split, with 58,504 shares changing hands, Sagicor Group closed at $32.60, with a loss of 49 cents trading 19,778 shares, Sagicor Real Estate fund gained 10 cents to close at $12.10, with 8,519 shares changing owners. Scotia Group accounted for 46 percent of the volume traded in the market and the price jumped $2.70 to close at $45.70, with 1,337,205 shares having been traded, Seprod added $1.93 to close at $30 in exchanging 7,966 shares while Supreme Ventures closed at $7.78, with a rise of 33 cents with 12,351 shares changing hands. Proven Investments US ordinary shares closed at 23 US cents, with an exchange of 83,800 units, JMMB Group 7.5% preference share closed at $1.13, with 996,000 units exchanged, JMMB 7.5% preference share closed at $1.85, with 26,358 units traded and Proven 8.25% preference share lost 5 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ low of $5.10, with 27,294 units traded.
One Caribbean Media takes 91% of trade
One Caribbean Media dominated market activity Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange on Monday with 91 percent of both the 1,204,518 units traded and the value of $18,120,647 traded. Monday’s trading compared to Friday’s 2,080,937 units valued at $4,909,138.
Trading resulted in 14 securities changing hands compared to 15 on Friday and at the close on Monday, 4 stocks advanced, 3 declined and 7 were unchanged.
The Composite Index gained 0.07 points to 1,209.25, the All T&T Index lost 0.10 points to 1,790.94 and the Cross Listed Index rose 0.03 points to close at 84.09.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer ended with 4 stocks with bids higher than last selling prices and 7 with lower offers.
Gains| Clico Investment closed at $22.51, gaining 1 cent with 12,000 shares traded, National Enterprises added 1 cent, closing at $10.50 with an exchange of 650 units, One Caribbean Media traded 1 cent higher to close at $15.01, exchanging 1,093,186 shares valued at $16,408,722 and 
Scotia Investments closed at $2, with gains of 4 cents trading 1,000 units.
Losses| Angostura Holdings closed at $15, losing 1 cent with an exchange of 7,772 shares, Massy Holdings lost 1 cent to close at a 52 weeks’ low of $49.99, with 5,360 shares changing hands and National Flour Mills closed at a 52 weeks’ low of $2.20, with a loss of 9 cents trading 1,500 shares.
Firm Trades| Ansa Merchant Bank exchanged 6,800 shares at $40, Berger Paints closed at $4.05, with trades of 2,551 units, Prestige Holdings traded 200 units at $10.74. Sagicor Financial closed at $8.50, exchanging 35,000 units, Scotiabank remained at $58.01, with 5,615 shares valued at $325,700 trading, Trinidad & Tobago NGL exchanged just 87 units at $21.90 and Trinidad Cement closed at $4.14, with 32,797 shares changing hands.
