Jamaica’s Net International Reserves (NIR) rose approximately US$113 in the first 10 days of 2024 data published by the country’s central bank, the Bank of Jamaica shows. The latest increase to the total of US$770 million that was added in 2023 to over US$870 million since the beginning of 2023.
The January inflows push the total at the close last year of US$4.76 billion to US$4.87 billion and just short of the US$5 billion mark. The build-up of the NIR comes against the background of the tight monetary policy pursued by the country’s central bank that has sucked local money from the financial market, by use of certificates of deposit (CDs). Over the past year, the Bank of Jamaica’s open market instruments mainly CDs have moved up by J$74 billion to $247 billion. Apart from funds being bought from the market, the NIR would also have grown by interest earned on the funds being held as reserves which could be around US$200 million per year based on current interest rates internationally.
Jamaica’s NIR jumps another $100m
Sharp jump in Express Catering profit
Revenues climbed at Express Catering leading to a jump in profits in the first half of the company’s fiscal year to November 2023 as it rides the waves of recovery and growth in the tourism industry, resulting in profit jumping a robust 48 percent to US$187,240 in the November quarter from US$126,808 in 2022 and US$1.03 million for the half year, up 32 percent from US$779,649 in 2022.
Ian Dear, Managing Director of Express Catering
Revenues for the November quarter of 2023 climbed 23 percent to US$5.18 million from US$4.2 million in 2022 and were up 27 percent for the year to date, US$11.58 million compared to US$9.1 million in the previous year. Operating profit climbed 30 percent to US$846,457 for the quarter versus US$653,395 in the previous year and for the half year, it climbed 22 percent to US$2.25 million from US$1.85 million in 2022.
Finance costs took a nice bite out of numbers with an interest cost of US$660,608 in the 2023 November quarter from US$552,584 in 2022 and US$1.2 million for the half year from US$1 million in 2022. Most of the finance cost should be recovered from related companies that owe US$15.4 million and rising each year and is up from US$13.5 million in 2022. Had these funds not been lent out interest cost would have been substantially less with borrowings of US$9.5 million.
Earnings for the latest quarter ended at 0.01 US cents and 0.063 US cents for the half year. ICInsider.com projects 0.36 US or 55 cents Jamaican for the full year and J$1.10 for 2025. Based on these earnings the PE of the stock is only 7.2 or just over half of the market average of 13.2, suggesting a healthy upside for the stock in the months ahead.
Jamaica’s remittances exceed US$3B in 2023
Jamaica had total remittance Inflows of US$268 million in November last year, down 3.4 percent from US$277 million in November 2022, Jamaica’s central bank data show.
For the 11 months to November 2023, remittance inflows to the country amounted to US$3.064 billion, a decline of 1.6 percent compared to 2022 for the same period. The decline is just US$50 million short of the US$3.114 billion for the same period in 2022. The full 2023 outcome could fall short of US$3.4 billion based on the trend for the year to date and would be down on the US$3.44 billion that obtained in 2022.
New high for Transjamaican
Transjamaican Highway traded on Wednesday at a new high of $2.96 on Thursday as traders exchanged 2.66 million shares between $2.88 and $2.97 with the stock gaing 111 percent in the past year.
It was only Tuesday that the stock closed at a new high of $2.91 after 4.4 million shares were traded as investors continue to respond to a surge in profits following the acquisition of its subsidiary.
Operating profit surges at Margaritaville
Turks and Caicos based Margaritaville ended the second quarter of their fiscal year to November 2023 with a profit of US$70,000, down 81 percent from US$360,758 in the second quarter to November 2022, with revenues of US$1.54 million up 14 percent from US$1.35 million in 2022.
Margaritaville – Turks & Caicos
The sharp reduction in profit is due to the company earning one off income in the prior year of US$319,000 but incurred a loss of US$67,884 in 2023 for the half year and US$25,000 in the quarter. Excluding the one off income profit would have surged 67 percent over 2022.
Operating revenues for the half year were US$3.34 million in 2023, up 20 percent from US$2.78 million in 2022 and delivered net profit of US$299,734 for the half year down 34 percent from $455,196 in 2022 that was boosted by the one off other income of US$319,128. Excluding the one time other income, profit would have jumped 120 percent.
Profit for the Quarter before interest expenses and other income was US$100,145, up 42 percent from US$70,403 in 2022 and grew 94 percent to $378,800 for the half year versus US$193,844 in 2022.
The company reported that the average spend per passenger was US8.29, for the quarter, with earnings from the 185,739 passengers that cruised on 51 vessels, compared to the prior year with earnings from 168,000 passengers, for an average spend of US$8.05. The total passenger count for the six months to November 2023 was 411,728, compared to 343,456 for the same period in 2022 and produced revenue of US$8.12 per passenger. The performance for the year to November is still below that in 2019, the company stated.
Earnings per Share ended at 0.104 US cents for the November quarter and for the six months 0.534 US cents. The stock traded at J$15 on the JSE Main market on Tuesday.
Scotia Group & Transjamaican at 1 year high
Scotia Group and Transjamaican Highway stock prices hit 52 weeks’ closing high on Tuesday while Sagicor X Fund closed at a 52 weeks’ low of $7.85 at close of the Main Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange at the early stage of a bull market run that is returning to the market, with investors pumping more money into stocks but ended with fewer shares at the end of trading that on Monday.
The volume of stocks traded declined by 52 percent, but the value jumped by 54 percent than on Monday, after an exchange of 48 securities down from 55 on Monday, with prices of 19 rising, 18 declining and 11 ending unchanged as the market closed with an exchange of 7,620,490 shares for $62,076,383 compared with 15,892,941 units at $40,238,845 on Monday.
Trading averaged 158,760 shares at $1,293,258 compared to 288,963 units at $731,615 on Monday. Trading month to date, an averages 202,242 shares at $1,483,266, in comparison to 205,891 units at $1,499,211 on the previous day in comparison with December with an average of 264,266 units at $3,755,946.
Transjamaican Highway led trading with 4.42 million shares for 58 percent of total volume followed by Wigton Windfarm with 706,792 units for 9.3 percent of the day’s trade and Sagicor Real Estate Fund with 402,277 units for 5.3 percent market share.
The All Jamaican Composite Index climbed 2,400.43 points to close at 359,385.57, the JSE Main Index advanced 1,467.74 points to end the day at 322,832.91 and the JSE Financial Index popped 0.81 points to wrap up trading at 69.14.
The Main Market ended trading with an average PE Ratio of 13.4. The JSE Main and USD Market PE ratios are based on the last traded prices and earnings forecasts by ICInsider.com for companies with the financial year ending around August 2024.
Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows nine stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and four with lower offers.
At the close, Caribbean Cement increased 50 cents and ended at $56 while exchanging 454 units, First Rock Real Estate climbed $1 to $8, with 16,755 stocks crossing the market, General Accident dipped 65 cents in closing at $4.70 after an exchange of 3,901 shares. GraceKennedy fell 95 cents to close at $77.05 with investors transferring 33,887 stock units, 
Jamaica Broilers dropped $1.02 to end at $32.50 with 20,709 shares crossing the exchange, JMMB Group sank 67 cents in closing at $24 with trading of 15,379 stocks. Margaritaville lost $2.58 to end at $15 in switching ownership of 31,000 units, Massy Holdings declined by $1 to $88 with investors swapping 211,913 stocks, Mayberry Group rose 86 cents to close at $8.41 after an exchange of 1,699 shares. NCB Financial shed 40 cents to $67 with investors trading 13,181 units, Pan Jamaica skidded 42 cents to $50 with an exchange of 92,892 stocks, Scotia Group jumped $2.47 to end at a 52 weeks’ closing high of $41.50, with 35,353 units crossing the market and Stanley Motta popped 88 cents in closing at $6.15 with investors dealing in 31,297 shares.
In the preference segment, 138 Student Living preference share rallied $36.45 and ended at $167.27 closing with an exchange of 4 stock units.
Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.
Main Event disappoints in Q4
Fourth quarter revenues at Main Event dropped significantly dropped 26 percent to $335 million from $455 million in 2022 with profit plunging 117 percent to a loss of $8 million from a profit of $47 million in 2022.
The company reported profits for the year of $207 million, rising a solid 37 percent from $151 million for 2022, from a 24 percent rise in revenues to $1.92 billion, up from $1.49 billion in 2022, with earnings per share of 69 cents versus 50 cents for the previous year.
ICInsider.com projects earnings of 90 cents per share for the 2024 fiscal year.
Gross profit for the quarter fell to $249 million from $211 million in 2022 and for the year to date, it rose by 28 percent to just over $1 billion from $755 million. Administrative and other expenses rose 37 for the year to $795 million from $579 million in 2022 but were flat for the quarter at $195 million in both years.
The company ended the year in a healthy cash position with $456 million in the bank.
Jamaica’s inflation jumps
Price increases in Jamaica rose at a slower pace than for November with Statin reporting that the All-Jamaica Consumer Price Index increased by 0.5 percent for December 2023 compared with a steep 1.6 percent increase in November.
The latest monthly movement “was mainly due to an upward movement of 2.5 per cent in the index for the ‘Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels’ division as a result of higher prices for rent, electricity, water and sewage rates, “ Statin stated in their release.
The point-to-point inflation rate (December 2022 – December 2023) was 6.9 per cent an increase over the 6.3 percent to November.
Profit plunges at Paramount
Profit dropped sharply at the Junior Market distributor, Paramount Trading for the November 2023 half year to $82 million from $149 million in 2022 and plunged from $65 million in the November quarter 2022 to just $25 million in the latest quarter.
Operating revenues declined by 27 percent to $439 million in the November quarter from $601 million in the similar quarter in 2022 and for the half year, revenues fell by 28 percent from $1.2 billion to just $865 million. The company generated nearly $15 million in other operating income for the quarter versus a loss of $3, million in 2022, with the half year bringing in $33 million up from $27 million in 2022.
The company’s management attributes the reduction in revenues and profits, “primarily in the food grade and SIKA-construction segments that resulted from a one-off supply challenge and the expiration of a large building project respectively”. They also indicate that “the technical grade segment which accounted for 52% of total revenue performed one percent above the prior year. The lubricant segment also performed well with a 10 percent growth in revenues.”
Gross profit declined at a slower pace than the fall in revenues with the November quarter suffering a 19 percent fall from $202 million in 2022 to $164 million in 2023 and for the half year it declined 17 percent from $435 million down to $363 million. At the same time, administrative, selling and distribution costs rose marginally by 2.5 percent in the November quarter to $120 million from $117 million in 2022 and for the half year it declined 1.2 percent from $242 million down to $239 million.
Profit resulted in 1.6 cents earnings per share for the quarter down from 4.2 cents in the similar period in 2022 and 5.3 cents for the six months to November, a fall from 9.6 cents in the prior year.
Profit rise 23% in Q2 at Knutsford Express
Profit at Jamaica’s intra-island luxury bus service, Knutsford Express, rose 23 percent for the quarter ending November 2023 to $72 million up from $59, million in 2022 and 10 percent for the half year to $158 million from $143 million in 2022.
Knutsford Express
Revenues for the second quarter and the half year were up 19 percent respectively to $473 million from $398 million for the November 2022 quarter and for the half year, to $965 million from $830 million in 2022.
Profit resulted in 14 cents earnings per share for the quarter and 32 cents for the six months to November. ICInsider.com projects 85 cents for the year to May 2024.
The company generated net cash from operating activities of $225 million up from $173 million in 2022 but ended with cash outflows of $32 million that arose from payments of dividends, purchase of property and loan repayment, reduced the funds at the end of May of $87 million to $55 million at the end of November.