Results push Junior Market to record 4,613

May 9, 2022 by

The release of results for Junior Market companies since Friday’s market close helped to push the Junior Market to a new record of 4,613.27 points after the market opened on Monday, surpassing the record close of 4,537.15 on Friday, with the index crossing over into the 4,600 mark for the first time.
Spur Tree Spices generated revenues of $237 millionin their first quarter to March, an increase of 40.7 percent over the $168 million in 2021, helped by the newly acquired subsidiary, Exotic Products generated revenues of $73 million for the quarter, with only $2.18M is included in the consolidated revenue of $237 million. Profit before tax was $51 million, an improvement of $28.6M or 128 percent above the $22.4 million for the 2021 quarter. Investors traded 9 million shares for $36 million up to $4.30.

Dolphin Cove reported US$2.3 million in revenue in quarter Q1 2022, up from just US$374,000 in 2021, as visitors to the parks bounced sharply in the quarter to reach 58 percent of the attendance in the first quarter of 2019. Profitability was enhanced by the strict management of costs, with the quarter incurring only US$1.5 million of expenses, a decline of almost US$1 million compared to the first quarter of 2019, reflecting permanent efficiencies that were put in place. Net profit amounted to US$795,000, compared to a loss of US$154,000 in 2021. The stock traded up to $23.25 before settling at $22.51 after trading 131,329 shares.

Fosrich traded 368,000 shares early Monday.

Fontana grew revenues by 24 percent to $1.52 billion, over the $1.22 billion for the 2021 first quarter, with net profits popping by 43.4 percent, to $105 million from $72.9 million in the first quarter last year. Investors traded the stock at $11.18 after an exchange of 158,512 shares.
Fosrich posted blowout results with a 64 percent surge in revenues to $900 million from$549 million in 2021 and profits surging 314 percent to $159 million in the March Quarter from just $38 million in 2021. The investors responded instantly to the news by trading 368,361 shares up to $36.22.

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results, JSE Junior Market, Stock Market Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Profit grows 35% at Wisynco

May 7, 2022 by

Profit before Taxation for the March quarter at Wisynco Group jumped $283 million from $813 million for a 34.8 percent increase to $1.1 billion, from the comparative year ago quarter and for the nine months to March, pretax profit climbed $1.2 billion for a 46.4 percent increase to $3.9 billion, up from $2.7 billion in the prior year.  After provision for taxes on profit, earnings attributable to stockholders rose 24 percent to $831 million from $673 million earned for the preceding year.

Wisynco ended at $25 on Friday.

The current quarter “includes foreign exchange loss of $35.4 million compared with a $68 million foreign exchange gain for the 2021 quarter,” the directors William and Andrew Mahfood stated in their commentary on the results.
The results equate to earnings per share of 22 cents for the quarter, up from 18 cents in the 2021 quarter and 79 cents, up from 59 cents in 2021 for the nine months. ICInsider.com projects earnings of $1.20 for the year to June or $4.4 billion, with earnings of $1.70 or $6.3 billion in 2023.
The 2022 quarter’s revenues rose 27.8 percent to $9.7 billion, the highest in the company’s history, above the $7.6 billion achieved in the 2021 third quarter.  Revenues for the nine months rose at a much slower pace than the current quarter of 20 percent to $28.4 billion, from $23.6 billion in 2021.
“Revenues were driven by strong demand in all product categories and channels. Usually, our Q1 and Q2 Revenue patterns represent our higher earning quarters, however, this Fiscal Q3 trended higher than Fiscal Q1 and Q2, reflecting the anticipated bouncing back of our economy from the Covid measures being relaxed. Additionally, our increased focus on Exports continued driving growth in the channel and we are embarking on additional strategies to continue this trajectory,“ the Mahfoods stated.
The period was not without its challenges. Cost of sales rose 31 percent in the quarter to $6.6 billion resulting in gross profit rising at a much slower pace of 21.6 percent to $3.1 billion from $2.6 billion in the previous year. “Gross Margin at 32.3 percent was 170 basis points lower than the 34 percent for the corresponding quarter in the prior year due mainly to our LNG plant experiencing disruption in energy supply resulting in the company having to spend an additional $81m to purchase electricity,” the directors reported. They went on to state, “additionally, we had production downtime which led to some higher costs of production as well as increased input costs.”

True Juice bottled and distributed by Wisynco.

Selling and Distribution expenses increased 16 percent for the quarter to $1.78 billion from 1.54 billion in 2021 and increased 12.8 percent to $5.2 billion in the nine months from $4.6 billion in 2021. Administrative expenses fell in the latest quarter to $289 million from $339 million in 2021 and slipped slightly to $1.02 billion from $1.03 billion for the nine months. Depreciation fell from $782 million to $718 million for the nine months and taxation jumped 108 percent from $465 million to $957 million and 86 percent from $141 million to $265 million for the quarter.
Gross cash flow brought in $4.3 billion and $3.3 billion after working capital growth and ended at $1.2 billion after investments, addition to fixed assets and paying $1.5 billion in dividends.
But the group remains in robust financial health, with shareholders’ equity of $17 billion and long term borrowings at $1 billion, while short term loans stood at $800  million. Current assets ended at $16 billion, including trade and other receivables of $3.6 billion, and inventories of $3.4 billion, while cash, bank balances, and investments stood at $9.2 billion. Current liabilities ended the period at $5.8 billion and net current assets ended at $10.4 billion.
The stock traded on the Main Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange at $25 at a PE of just over 20 times earnings and seems to be heading for the mid $30 region over the next twelve months.

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: , , , ,

MPC Caribbean’s awful reporting

April 24, 2022 by

Disclosure of relevant information by listed companies provides information for proper investment decision making and reduces concerns and mistrust if all materially important information is disclosed, thus improving investor confidence in those companies.
In order to deliver pertinent information to investors, management including directors of listed companies will have to go beyond providing the minimum information stipulated by law or accounting regulations.
Against that background, it is instructive to examine MPC Caribbean Energy a company with its shares listed on the Jamaica and Trinidad stock exchanges.  In looking at this company and its extremely poor reporting it is worth noting that the state-owned Development Bank of Jamaica invested US$1 million in the company’s shares. It has become the norm that companies that hold subsidiaries must consolidate the financial results of the subsidies with that of the parent company so that investors can get a full picture of the financial performance and standing of the group as a whole.
The company has been an excellent example of how not to communicate with investors as they destroy credibility with investors. That is pitiful when it is considered that it has a need to go back to the market for fresh capital to continue expansion.
The company made two public share offers to raise funds from the public with both coming up short of the target, due to poor communication and the management’s lack of understanding investors and how to communicate with them effectively.
MPC recently reported comprehensive income of US$1.14 million for the year to December 2021, flowing from the net change in unrealized gain on investment amounting to $1.136 million less expenses of US$205 million. Both the auditors and directors failed to inform investors as to the true nature of the gain. At the end of the year, the above mentioned gains, pushed shareholders’ equity to US$20.8 million with total funds invested at US$30.9 million.
The auditors’ report states, “as required by IFRS 10.31, the Company has reflected the 85.69 percent ownership in MPC CCEF at fair value through profit or loss.”
Of course, the above method of providing financial Statements to investors is clearly not acceptable for a publicly listed company as investors are not getting a clear picture of what is happening within the group. The question that arises is whether the fair value gain is equal to normal profit from operations or not? Investors should not have to guess about this. This is important due to the most important method that investors use to value companies.
In addition, shareholders should know what is the income, expenses and profit that are generated by the group and what the full financial status is. The current approach does not disclose this information which is critical, but awfully sad. There is no other company on the JSE that reports in the above manner.

Shareholders deserve better from MPC

The structure between the listed company and its subsidiary is confusing with each having similar names making it much more difficult to understand which one does what. The company’s management is German, which adds uncertainty to it. The directors by and large are not well known and the manner of communicating with the public makes it abundantly clear that they are not in sync with investors.
Another issue that exists with the company, is that directors tend to use industry jargon in their commentary. The December report starts with – “In the fourth quarter of the year, the commercial and technical performance of the underlying assets of the Company’s investment in the Investment Company were within the expected range. Necessary technical measures were carried out, thereby, stabilizing the production of the underlying assets. ”That is great but they go on to spoil it by talking about OpEx value in the next paragraph. What is OpEx value? They know but few others do.
The bright spot is to be found in the Outlook released at the time of the interim report. “After implementing all the technical measures to resolve limitations that took place in the course of 2021, we are looking forward to 2022. In addition to the expected performance improvement of the underlying assets, the Investment Company expects to further diversify its portfolio with the operational asset Monte Plata Phase 1 Solar Park (33.4 MWp) in the Dominican Republic. The expansion of the Monte Plate Asset with Phase 2 (40.5 MWp) is progressing well and financial closing with the senior lenders FMO and DEG is expected to take place in Q2 2022. The completion of the acquisition remains subject to CNE approval, which is expected to be obtained in the course of Q1 2022. The start of operations of the expanded solar park with a total capacity of 74 MWp is targeted for Q2 2023. The PPA was signed on 15th October 2021 for a period of 15 years starting from the Commercial Operation Date. It will become the largest asset in the portfolio expanding the geographic footprint to a total of four countries incl. Jamaica, Costa Rica, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic.”
Here again, investors are left in the dark as none except the directors have any indication as to what is to be expected. Investors cannot be asked to invest in companies with such poor reporting. The Jamaica Stock Exchange owe the investing public to bring this terrible reporting and lack of information on the finances of the group to an end. The least that can be done is for investors to be presented with the audited accounts of the subsidiary along with those of the listed company for the annual as well as quarterly, that way the full picture will be disclosed.

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results, General Business News Tagged With: , , ,

SVL profit for Q1 surges 68%

April 24, 2022 by

Gaming company Supreme Ventures posted a net profit of $1 billion for the 2022 first quarter to March, an increase of $400 million or 68 percent compared to the first quarter in 2021, resulting from Gaming income climbing just 18.7 percent to $12.7 billion, compared to $10.7 billion generated in the corresponding period in 2021.
“This huge uplift in profitability for the three months is a result of several factors including the hugely successful re-introduction of the popular Instants “Scratchaz” game and our successful implementation of significant cost-savings initiatives,” Gary Peart, Executive Chairman, stated in his report accompanying the results.
“Total gross ticket sales for the quarter was $27.7 billion, an increase of 164 percent over the corresponding period in 2021, as customers welcomed new initiatives that positively impacted their pockets during a difficult economic downturn,” Peart continued to state.
Direct expenses amounted to $9.8 billion and were $1.2 billion, or 13 percent, higher than the $8.7 billion incurred for the 2021 first quarter. Peart further reported that “with a continued focus on expense management, we have further invested in expanding the business as we prepare for the reopening of the economy and the expected upturn that will result. The increased cost resulted from the higher amounts paid to our key partners and regulators during the quarter.”
Gross profit for the quarter amounts to $2.9 billion, representing a rise of $864 million or 42.8 percent compared to the $2 billion pulled in during the first quarter of 2021.
Segment results show the Lotteries segment being the star performer in the group, accounting for nearly 93 percent of segment results in generating gaming income of $6 billion, a 31 percent increase of $1.4 billion in revenues, while segment results showed an increase of 82 percent to $1.2 billion from $630 million in 2021.

Supreme Ventures traded at a new high of $33.41 on Friday.

The Sports Betting segment reported $287 million and gaming income increased 16.6 percent by $490 million, to $3.5 billion, over the first quarter of 2021. PIN codes sales saw an increase of $116 million or 3.9 percent to $3 billion for the quarter, resulting in segment results of $85 million, almost doubling that earned in 2021.
Cash inflows from operations hauled in $1.65 billion, up from $1 billion in 2021, but mainly due to dividends paid amounting to $686 million, purchase of shares in a subsidiary and purchase of property and equipment, the company used up $935 million of the surplus at the end of December last year of $4.4 billion.
At the end of the period, Shareholders’ Equity stood at $4.55 billion and was augmented by borrowing $6 billion in long term loans and $443 million in short term funding. Current Assets ended the quarter at $7.6 billion, up from $7.1 in the previous year’s first quarter. Current Liabilities stood at $5.7 billion compared to $3.7 billion at the end of 2021 first quarter. Cash funds and short term investments ended the period at $3.4 billion, down from $5 billion in 2021.  Net current assets deteriorated over the past year ending at $1.9 billion compared to $3.45 in March last year.
Earnings per share for the quarter is 37.79 cents, up 68 percent over the EPS in 2021 of 22.46 cents, if the trend continues, earnings for the full year should hit the $1.60 mark for the year with a PE of 20 at Friday’s closing price of $32. The company will pay a dividend of 34.01 cents per share on May 20.

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: , ,

Profit surges 156% at AMG Packaging

April 18, 2022 by

Profit at AMG Packaging surged 156 percent in the February quarter, to $18 million after tax from $7 million in 2021, even after suffering a loss on foreign exchange of $4 million versus a $4 million gain in the prior period. For the six months to February, profit jumped 150 percent to $53 million from $21 million in 2021.
The increase in profit follows moderate growth for 2021 over the previous year when the company posted $61 million after tax compared to $56 million in 2020.
Sale revenues rose 32 percent for the quarter, to $217 million from $165 million in 2021 and jumped 44 percent for the six months, to $487 million from $338 million in 2021.
The cost for inventories used in production increased slightly less than growth in revenues, with a rise of 30.5 percent in the latest quarter to $117 million compared to 2021, million ut cots rose faster than six months sales, after increasing 48.5 percent for the half year to $273 million. Direct costs rose well below the increase in revenues for both the quarter and six months, up just 10 percent to $38.7 million and 27 percent to $79 million for the six months.
Gross profit margin in the February quarter remained at 28 percent, similar to the 2021 half year and rose to 28.3 percent in the latest quarter from 24 percent for the 2021 quarter. Operating profit rose just 52.5 percent in the quarter to $61 million from $40 million and spiked 41 percent for the year to date, to $135 million from $93 million in 2021.
Administrative expenses rose 6 percent to $24 million in the quarter and 7 percent in the six months to $46 million. Depreciation increased to $7.6 million in the quarter from $6 in 2021 and $13.7 million for the six months from $12.3 million in 2021. The increased charge in the second quarter results from the addition to the factory and equipment for box production. The company will enjoy reduced production costs due to the new equipment that will replace an older machine. Finance costs declined in the quarter to $1.7 million, from $2 million in 2021 and $4.2 million to $3.6 million for the six months.
Taxation on profit moved from $919,135 in the February 2021 second quarter to $3.2 million in 2022 and for the half year, it jumped from $3 million to $13.5 million.

New addition to the AMG factory

Gross cash flow brought in $85 million. Increased working capital saw the amount falling to $52 million. Funds were reduced to $12 million after adding $26 million in fixed assets and loan payment of $10 million, thus pushing cash and equivalent on hand of $131 million at the start of the year, falling to $143 million at the end of February.
At the end of February, shareholders’ equity stood at $661 million, with long term borrowings at $99 million and short term at $13.5 million. Current assets ended the period at $509 million, including Inventories of $207 million, trade and other receivables of $150 million, and cash and bank balances of $143 million. Current liabilities ended the period at $188 million and resulted in net current assets ending at $321 million.
Earnings per share came out at 3 cents for the quarter and 10 cents for the year to date. IC Insider.com forecasts 35 cents per share for the fiscal year ending August 2022 and a 60 cents per share projection for 2023. The PE stands at 11 times the current year’s earnings and 6 times 2023 earnings based on the price of $3.70, the stock last traded on the Jamaica Stock Exchange Junior Market.

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: , , , ,

Knutsford Express revenues & profit nearing normal

April 18, 2022 by

Knutsford Express, the Montego Bay based cross country luxury transport, is set to deliver increased revenues and profit for the fiscal year to May, compared to 2021, but the results will be far from normal levels, nine months’ results to February show.
Revenues and profit for the third quarter reveal that things are not far from normal, following the economic fallout in 2020 from the impact of the covid-19 virus. Revenues for the nine months rose 70 percent to $775 million from $456 million in 2021 and delivered a profit of $52 million, a big turnaround from a loss of $55 million in 2021, but the third quarter numbers saw revenues jumping 63 percent to $301 million from $185 million same the similar quarter in 2021 with a profit of $37 million compared to a slight loss of $1 million.

Knutsford Express

Revenues in the latest quarter are just 5 percent below the $318 million generated in the February 2020 quarter when the company reported a profit of $40 million before tax and for the nine months with revenues then, of $925 million or 20 percent higher than the current period, with a profit of $113 million before tax.
Administrative and other operating costs rose 39 percent from $515 million in the nine months to February 2021 to $716 million in 2022, with the third quarter ending with $258 million, up 38 percent versus $187 million in 2021. Depreciation rose from $87 million for the nine months in 2021 to $107 million in 2022. Finance cost amounts to $7 million in the 2022 latest quarter against $4 million in 2021 and year to date $17 million, compared to $11.4 million in 2021.
Gross cash flow brought in $190 million, a $144 million addition to fixed assets offset by loan inflows of $50 million, increased payables and dividends paid of $40 million, resulting in cash on hand at the beginning of the period of $132 million falling by $36 million.
At the end of February, shareholders’ equity stood at $845 million, with long term borrowings at $223 million and short term debt at $21 million. Current assets ended the period at $357 million, including trade and other assets of $103 million, cash and equivalent of $236 million. Current liabilities amount to $94 million at the close of the period and net current assets of $263 million.
Earnings per share for the quarter was 8 cents and 9 cents for the nine months. ICInsider.com projections suggest earnings per share for the fiscal year to May at 20 cents and 2023 at 50 cents.
The February quarter results fall in a period when tourism flows to the country were down around a third compared with the 2020 period, suggesting a better period ahead for traffic as the company benefitted from patronage from visitors coming into the island. Accordingly, the coming fiscal year should see the company’s revenues and profit bouncing sharply over that of the current fiscal year.
The stock last traded on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange at $7.99, with a PE of 40 versus the market average of 24, the PE falls to 16 versus 13 for the market.

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: , , , ,

Rate hike pushes earnings higher at Scotia

April 15, 2022 by

If there was much competition in the banking sector in Jamaica, Scotia Group would be on its way out of business, unless they mended the poor service there are currently dishing out to customers.

Scotia Group stock could deliver handsomely in 2022.

The banking arm is delivering some atrocious customer service of late such as bouncing cheques for no funds when such accounts were adequately funded. Customers can’t get the use of the transfer of funds feature, for the credit cards are expired but no one within the bank advises of the expiration and the availability of the new card. Even when communication is made, with the bank, months pass without action. What about tokens that don’t work, leading to a nightmare trying to get the problem resolved. The service has rotted recently and they need to do something about it fast.
Though the service has gotten lousy of late and some may say it never was good, investors may find positives that they can profit from, at least that is what the group’s first quarter results to January this year show, thanks partly to the action by the country’s central bank. Most investors would not come to that conclusion from the net profit for the quarter compared to that in 2021, for while the 2021 quarterly profit came in at $1.75 billion, the latest results were only up marginally by $34 million to $1.784 billion. On the surface, there is nothing to get excited about, but closer examination tells a different story.
The results were vastly better than the $1.12 billion reported for the October quarter which suffered from a big drop in revenues. Loans fell in the quarter from $208 billion at the end of October to $201 billion at the end of January while investable funds grew to $339 billion from $321 billion at the end of October but net interest income climbed to $6.16 billion from $5.7 billion in the October quarter coming from a rise in gross interest income of $454 million quarter over quarter. Interest cost was static at $452 million. There was a strong improvement in net fee and commission income that rose from $1.1 billion in the October quarter to $1.5 billion but was a bit lower than the $1.67 billion in the January 2021 period, other revenues dropped from $973 million to $295 million in the latest quarter compared to January 2021.
Net interest income increase “was primarily attributable to an increase in interest earned on the investment portfolio and improved retail loan performance,” Scotia Group reported in their release of the quarterly results.

Audrey Tugwell Henry Scotia group’s CEO

Since the end of January, the Bank of Jamaica hiked the overnight rate to 4.50 percent from 2.5 percent, this move will drive an increase in net interest income for the group as the cost of funds will remain fairly flat while investments income balloons.
Expected credit losses on loans rose from $430 million in 2021 to $569 million in the January quarter this year but show an improvement over the $819 million in the October quarter. Net interest income after credit losses rose to $5.6 billion from $5.4 billion in 2021. Net fees and other income fell from $5.44 billion in the January 2021 quarter to $4.78 billion in 2022, resulting in a total net income of $10.37 billion, down from $10.8 billion in 2021.
Lower costs helped with the 2022 results, with expenses falling to $6 billion from $6.5 billion, net of asset tax of $1.36 billion in 2022 versus $1.26 billion in 2021, Other operating costs fell by $500 million from January 2021 to $2.8 billion in 2022.
Other comprehensive income shows an unrealized loss of $1 billion on investments compared to just $123 million in the 2021 first quarter.
Segment results provide another view of developments within the group that could point to the way forward. The Treasury segment delivered 22.4 percent more revenues from third parties to hit $763 million with a profit before tax of $138 million up from $120 in 2021. The retail division suffered a decline of 15 percent, with revenues from third parties hitting $4.57 billion from $5.38 billion in 2021 resulting in profit before tax of $103 million, down sharply from $492 million in 2021. Corporate and Commercial Banking pulled in net income of $2.7 billion, down from $2.8 billion, with profit surging to $1.44 billion versus $967 million in 2021. Investment Management pulled in $822 million in revenues with a profit of $404 million, from revenues of $878 million in 2021 with a profit of $718 million.  The insurance division raked in $1.33 billion in revenues up from $984 million, with profit jumping to $857 million from $567 million. The segment classified as Other, generated revenues of $217 million and a profit of $175 million and delivered revenues of just $83 million and a profit of $30 million in 2022.
The Group’s assets grew by $38 billion or 6.9 percent to $591 billion at January 2022. This was predominantly, a result of the growth in cash resources of $42 billion or 32.4 percent due to increased deposits and places the group in a good position to expand the loan portfolio when demands pick up, with the resurgence now taking place in the wider economy.
A dividend of 35 cents per stock unit in respect of the first quarter, was approved for payment on April 20 to stockholders on record as of March 29.

Filed Under: Buy Rated, Company News, Company Results Tagged With: , , ,

SOS driving sales and profit into 2022

March 9, 2022 by

“The fourth quarter of 2021 also provided a substantial increase year-over-year as Stationery and Office Supplies was able to post a $13.3 million profit compared to a loss in the previous year 4th Quarter of $8.2 million from sales of $103 million up 45 percent from $71 million in 2020, to record the best December quarter in SOS’ history” the director advised shareholders in their commentary on the full year results.
The company “had a very strong year in 2021 as revenues and gross profit grew by double digits, gross profit percentage increased to 51.2 percentage while expenses were held to a modest 3 percent increase. SOS was, therefore, able to record its second highest pre-tax profit figure in its history of $105M.”
“For the fourth quarter, we put an emphasis on Christmas sales which is normally our slowest time of the year so that greatly helped” Allan McDaniel, the company’s recently appointed CEO, informed ICInsider.com. Revenues for the company’s 2022 first quarter are said to be the company’s best first quarter ever up to early March, with expansion in the BPO sector seeming to be playing a major role.
The company seems set to deliver its best full year results in 2022 barring any major negative developments. If revenues excluding book production grow by 18 percent profit should reach $210 million for EPS of 85 cents versus 43 cents for 2021, but ICInsider.com projects sales revenue growth of 28 percent and profit to reach $275 million and EPS of $1.10.
Segment results from the audited financial statements paint an interesting picture with Furniture revenues dropping 37 percent to $462 million from $734 million in 2020 but Stationery and Others surged 207 percent to $614 million. The small books segment saw revenues climbing 26 percent to $48 million. ICInsider.com consulted with the company about the substantial changes in the revenues for the two large segments and was informed that there are to be adjusted and will likely show that that the Furniture segment remained flat while Office supplies grew by 45 percent over 2020. With the expansion in the BPO industry, there are good prospects that the furniture segment could see a major move in sales in 2022.
Cost of sales climbed 9 percent to $574 million from $527 million in 2020, but gross profit surged 24 percent to $551 million from $445 million in 2020.
Administrative and general expenses rose 9 percent to $320 million from $287 million, while selling and promotional expenses rose 7 percent to $80 million from $75 million in 2020,

Stationery & Office Supplies hit new high after posting good Q2 results.

Depreciation and amortization cost slipped from $28 million to $26 million and Finance expenses fell from $15 million to $11 million.
The performance generated gross cash inflows of $142 million, but increased inventories, and receivables consumed $124 million, with the company ending up with negative funds flow after paying $40 in dividends and loan repayment of $42 million that resulted in cash of $34.5 million down from $97 million at the end of 2020.
Notwithstanding, the dislocations caused by the Coronavirus, the company’s financial position continues to improve, with shareholders’ equity climbing to $677 million from $610 million in 2020, borrowed funds amount to $137 million, down from $172 million at the end of 2020. Current assets rose to $524 million from $460 million with Inventories climbing to $296 million from $233 million and trade and other receivables moving from $99 million to $124 million. Current liabilities fell by $40 million to $105 million.
The company has an excellent management team, with the stock being ICInsider.com BUY RATED, with a price of $7.20 and a PE of 6.6 times 2022 earnings and 16.7 times last year’s earnings.

Filed Under: Buy Rated, Company News, Company Results

Huge jump in trading at Jamaica Stock Exchange

March 5, 2022 by

Trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange climbed sharply for the first two months and three days of 2022, well above the similar period last year with both the Main and Junior markets showing strong increases in volumes and value of trading.
In 2021, the Junior Market traded 422 million shares in the first two months valued at just over $1 billion that climbed to 137 percent to 577 million shares valued 212 percent higher at $2.17 billion but trading for the first three days of March is up a strong 543 percent over the similar period in 2021.
Main Market trading climbed 111 percent in volume and 184 percent in value to 712.7 million units at $6.35 billion up from 641.8 million units valued at $3.46 billion.  For the first three days of March, the value of stocks traded on the Main Market is $1.765 billion and is up a stunning 674 percent for the same period in 2021. March dollar value trading is 48 percent of this year’s February and the value of Junior Market trading for the first three days of March amounts to $426 million or 36 percent of the value of stocks traded for February this year.
Not only are the numbers for March so far are now at 65 percent of the entire value traded in March 2021 in the Main Market, with the Junior Market at 36 percent of the $1 billion traded for March 2021.
The trend if continued is positive for the two main stock exchange markets and suggest a big rise in stock price and a big jump in revenues and profits at Jamaica Stock Exchange that generated income of 1.93 billion last year up just 12.6 percent from $1.71 earned in 2020 and profit of $497 million up 22 percent over the $407 million earned in 2020 after tax as the company held cost to $1.24 billion up 8.7 percent above $1.14 billion in 2020. Taxation ate into the profits, taking $244 million compared to $212 million in 2020. The company reported 71 cents per share for 2021 but this seems set to explode sharply higher in 2022 if the above trading trends continue.
The company remains in a very healthy financial position with current assets ending the year at $881 million and current liabilities of $235 million and generating cash inflows of $777 million for the year. The JSE ended with shareholders’ equity of $1.9 billion in 2021 up from $1.5 billion in 2020.
The JSE is not only benefitting from increased trading for 2022 but will be seeing new listings during the year that will provide added income and profits for them.
The stock traded at $16.95 on Friday at a PE ratio of 24 but the PE seems poised to fall sharply for 2022 with the strong growth in revenues from existing business as well as a result of new listings, accordingly, ICInsider.com places an ICBUY RATED approval on the stock.

Filed Under: Buy Rated, Company News, Company Results, JSE Combined, Stock Market

Tropical Battery profit explodes in Q1

February 27, 2022 by

Tropical Battery reported stunning first quarter results to December, with profits surging 198 percent from just $19 million in 2020 to $56.7 million as revenues jumped 46.8 percent to $662 million and encouraging investors to react positively to the surprising numbers right out of the block by driving the price up 18 percent for the day of the release and 37 percent for the year to date.
Earnings per share climbed from 1.5 cents to 4.4 cents for the quarter.ICInsider.com forecast is for profit of $280 million, with earnings per share of 22 cents, for the year to September, more than five times 2021 full year earnings, with potential for the price to deliver gains of 153 percent.
Battery Sales jumped 52 percent from $389 million in the 2020 December quarter to $591 million while Tyre Sales rose from $6.5 million to $8 million and Accessories contributed $67 million compared to $60 million in 2020, just 11 percent more.
The big push in sales was facilitated by a recovery in the local economy but importantly, increased inventory levels that doubled from $434 million at the end of December 2021 to $873 million which is up from $609 million at the end of September last year, would have played a big role in increasing revenues. The increase in sales “was achieved through an increase in balanced inventory arrivals and a tremendous effort on the part of our sales team to surpass targets by bringing in new customers,” the company managing director and deputy managing director advised in their interim report to shareholders.
Other Income slipped 14 percent to $2.6 million and interest Income dropped 39 percent to $3.6 million.
Improvement in profit margin remained at 30 percent for both quarters and resulted in gross profit rising 44 percent to $196 million from $136 million in 2020 as cost of sales rose just ahead of the increase in revenues.
Administrative expenses rose 10 percent to $114 million in the quarter from $104 million in 2020. Depreciation charges jumped 79 percent to $16 million. Finance costs rose 13 percent, to $15 million from $13.5 million in 2020.

Tropical Battery line of products

The operation generated gross cash flow of $73 million but ended up with negative inflows of $30 million after increase in working capital and addition to fixed assets and ended with cash funds of $144 million. At the end of the quarter, current assets rose to $1.6 billion from $1.09 billion in 2020 while current liabilities moved from $343 million at the end of December 2020 to $679 million, leaving net current assets at $933 million. Payables rose to $564 million from $223 million at the end of 2020, at the same time shareholders’ equity stands at $883 billion with borrowings at $568 million.
“With our more-than-adequate levels of inventory, we see a bright year ahead. We are also currently expanding our top-selling retail store, located on Grove Road, just off Half Way Tree Road in Kingston, which will allow us to increase sales at this location even further, and achieve higher profitability, given that retail margins are better than our wholesale margins while offering greater comfort and convenience for our team members and customers with a substantial increase in square footage. We plan to increase our retail presence island-wide in the coming quarters. The company rolled out new products in the quarter and plan to launch more in the March quarter”, the company stated in a report to shareholders, jointly signed by Alexander Melville, Managing Director and Daniel Melville Deputy Managing Director.
The stock traded at $1.74 on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange with a PE ratio of just 8 times 2022 earnings compared to an average of over 19 for the market and sits at the top of ICTOP10 Junior Market listing.

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