Profitable growth continues at Access

February 9, 2017 by

Access closed last traded at $30 on the junior market.

Profit grew by an impressive 87 percent at Access Financial Services (AFS) to $142 million after tax for the quarter ending December, last year. In 2015 AFS reported net profit of $76 million for the corresponding period. The result represents a return on average equity of 49 percent.
Profit for the nine months to December rose 67 percent to $494 million and should end up around $740 million for the full year or $2.75 per share.
Net operating income for the quarter ended December 2016 amounted to $378 million, an increase of $83 million, or approximately 28 percent, when compared to the corresponding 2015 period. For the nine months it moved from $917 million to $1.07 billion. Income from loans increased by $30 million or 10 percent to $312 million for the quarter and from $824 million to $931 million of the nine months for a 13 percent increase.
Operating expenses for the quarter, increased by only 4 percent or $8 million when compared to the corresponding period ended December 2015 as a result of an increase in staff cost and other operating expenses. The company recorded a reduction in provision for loan loss based on portfolio risk assessment which showed improved credit quality. For the nine months operating expenses fell to $526 from $581 as loan loss provisions drop sharply from $195 million to just $94 million in 2016. While other operating expenses grew from $145 million to $199 million.
The net loan portfolio continues to show growth, with an increase of $441 million or 20 percent for the quarter since December 2015 to $2.65 billion. The Asset base of the company grew by $443 million which represents an 18 percent increase over the comparative period.

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

Berger’s stellar performance

January 20, 2017 by

Berger price jumped on Friday after posting strong 2016 results.

Berger Paints released results to December, showing profit of $251 million and $1.17 per share for the nine months period, versus $110 million for 2015. Revenues climbed 17.8 percent in the December quarter, to $1.9 billion or 14.4 percent from $1.67 billion in 2015.
For the quarter, earnings were $185 million versus $80 million in the 2015 quarter, with revenues climbing 17.8 percent in the December quarter to $895 million.
Berger ended with cash of $158 million in December, having generated $370 million from operations before build up in working capital. The gross cash inflows, places it in a good position to continue to pay out a rich dividend, which they should do later in the year. According to the cash flow statement, receivables jumped by $378 million over the March 2016 position. That would put it at $700 million, as of December 2016. The majority of this amount should be cleared by the end of March.
Unfortunately, the Berger report does not conform to international standards for reporting interim results. The effect is there is no information on direct and indirect cost and gross profit and the balance sheet carries little information as to the composition of the current assets and liabilities. Accordingly, investors, cannot make proper assessment of its performance.
A final dividend of 20 cents per share totalling $42.864 million was paid July 2016. The stock responded well to the numbers, with investors pushing it to a new record high of $6.75 in early morning trading on Friday, on the Jamaica Stock Exchange. IC Insider.com forecast earnings of $1.10 for the full year to March 2017 and $1.60 for the 2018 fiscal year.

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

Added cost hits Kremi’s profit

January 16, 2017 by

Caribbean Cream (KREMI) sales are still growing but it reported a fall in earnings of five cents for its third-quarter ending November 2016, down from 10 cents a year earlier.
The ice cream company packed on more expenses during the quarter as it secured a distributor and launched a new coffee-rum product while incurring added cost from repair of equipment.
Over nine-months, the company earnings are still up at 36 cents from 33 cents a year earlier in spite of the reduction in the third quarter.
Quarterly revenues rose 5 percent to $271 million from $258 million but the cost of sales increased, cutting gross profit down 13 per cent to $89 million. The increase in direct cost stemmed primarily from increased repairs and maintenance, some of which were unscheduled.
Revenues for the nine months rose 8.3 percent from $818 million to $886 million while profit moved to $137 million from $124 million for the 2015 period. The company is yet to increase prices for its product after an increase two years ago, but are constantly assessing the possibility of doing so, subject to feedback from the market. But Kremi seems to have lots of room to adjust prices with the Nestles’ Buckingham selling a 946 milli-litre container at $802, while Kremi sells at just $421 in the supermarket. With continue attractive growth in volumes they may be reluctant in moving prices as they gain market share.

Caribbean Cream is one of NCBCM’s recommendations

“Selling and distribution costs in the quarter increased by 38 per cent or $3.8 million as a result of increased marketing expenditure which included the launch of our new coffee rum cream in pints and quarts. We are also outsourcing the delivery of our products. We are anticipating greater efficiencies in the distribution of our products,” said management.
Sales are still going ahead of last year Christopher Clarke told IC Insider.com in response to questions posed to him. We had a series of breakdown of equipment and our two year scheduled maintenance occurred in the quarter Clarke advised.
Sales over the important Christmas period and gross profit continue to be satisfactory, but raw material cost inched up a bit Clarke indicated.
In light of the lower than expected third quarter numbers, IC insider.com revised its estimate for earnings to 55 cents for the current year ending in February and 90 cents for 2018.

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

Five for one stock split for AMG

December 17, 2016 by
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AMG Packaging to split stock by 5.

AMG Packaging to split stock by 5.

AMG Packaging directors agreed a stock split, for each ordinary share of the company to be subdivided into five units. The matter is to be decided at the upcoming annual general meeting of in January.
The move by AMG continues a trend that has been seen since Lasco companies split their stocks 10 units for each one issued in 2013, continuing with Jamaican Teas early in 2016 and a string of others since, which have all helped in increasing the value of the shares. Investors are betting that the same will happen here as they responded to the announcement on Thursday, driving the price up by $3 in exchanging 7,999 shares at $21.50. The announcement confirms an earlier report by IC Insiders’ that the company was set to split the stock.
For investors to benefit fully from a rising stock price, the company will need to improve on its 2016 results of $83 million or 81 cents per share, with the start-up of the tissue operation, dragging profits down by $41 million as a result of start-up and operating cost and sales of tissue paper of only $2.3 million.
If approved at the Annual General Meeting, the issued capital of the company will move from 102,378,857 shares to 511,894,285 with the authorised capital jumping from 140,000,000 shares to 700,000,000. The split is to allow for greater liquidity in the shares as the stock has been trading infrequently.
The 2016 results saw a major improvement in cost of sales which fell from $483 million to $451 million and includes cost of inventories expensed of $320 million and $380 million in 2015. The cost of inventories recognized as an expense includes $33 million and in 2015, $54 million in respect of write -downs of inventories to net realisable value.

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Scotia hikes dividend on profit rise

December 7, 2016 by

Jackie Sharp - CEO Scotia Group

Jackie Sharp – CEO Scotia Group

Scotia Group raises dividend with the Board of Directors approving a final dividend of 45 cents per stock unit in respect of this financial year, which is payable on January 18, 2017 to stockholders on record as at December 27, 2016.
The proposed payment brings the total payment for the year to $1.71 and represents a 6 percent increase in dividends year over year and a dividend payout ratio of 47.08 percent of profit. The final payment means that the 2017 payout should be no less than $1.80, with the proposed payment setting the stage for future quarterly payments. Scotia Group released results with earnings per share ending at $3.63 compared to $3.19 for 2015.
At the same time Scotia Investments held dividends at 45 cents per share the same amount they have been paying in recent times although the company report net profit of $1.35 billion for the year ended October compared with $1.02 billion for the prior. The 2016 profits rose by 32 percent or $325 million net income of $537 million for the quarter ended October, up from $288 million the quarter ending October 2015.
Strong gains of $527 million in fee income, foreign exchange trading gains and gains on financial assets were the main contributing areas that gave rise to the increased profit for the year, for Scotia Investments with earnings per share of $3.19.

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

Quick about turn at Key Insurance

November 16, 2016 by

Natalia Gobin-Gunter Chairman and Deputy Managing director inserting name strip to indicate listing of Key Insurance on the junior market.

Natalia Gobin-Gunter Chairman and Deputy Managing director inserting name strip to indicate listing of Key Insurance on the junior market.

Key Insurance recovered from a loss of $21 million in the June quarter to a profit of $84 million in the September quarter, up from a loss of $284,000 in the 2015 third quarter and also reversed the loss in the six months to June this year of $18 million.
The second quarter was negatively affected by an Insurance claims of $747 million compared to just $82 million in 2015 for the same period. In the September quarter the insurance company benefited from a positive turn around for claims.
The claims experience in the second quarter forced the company’s management to review the insurance claims and reserves quarterly rather than annually in the past. The end result is that claims seem to be back to normal in the third quarter with a net recovery in claims of $228 million as opposed to an expense of $193 million expensed in 2015.
Nine months profit ended at $66 million compared to $68 million for the 2015 period and seems set to reach $120 million for the full year, for earnings per share of 35 cents. At this level of earnings, the stock has a PE of 6, the lowest in the junior market.
Key generated net premium income of $166 million up 25 percent over 2015 and $451 million for the nine months, an increase of 28.5 percent. Administrative expenses rose from $77 million in the 2015 third quarter to $100 million in 2016 and for the nine months to $281 million from $220 million.
The stock last traded at $2 on the junior market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange.

Filed Under: Buy Rated, Company News, Company Results, Stocks to watch Tagged With:

Cargo Handlers updates results

November 14, 2016 by

CAR H 2015-06-26Cargo Handlers updated their results for the full year to September following IC Insider’s posting of a report that the company reported results with errors relating to the number of shares used to compute earnings per share.
Cargo Handlers posted their full year profit of $154 million after tax, up from $136 million in 2015 and $30 million for the fourth quarter versus $29 million in 2015. The company originally reported earnings per share as 40 cents for the quarter and $3.30 for the 12 months, based on what they showed as a weighted average number of shares held during the period.
The company split its stock into 10 units for each one held, subsequent to the year-end and would not result in computing the average number of shares in issue. With a stock split or stock bonus the earnings per share is to be computed on the full amount of shares issued at the time of the financial report and the historical earnings per share would be revised based on the new issued shares in issued.
The updated report now shows earnings of 79 cents per share for the last quarter and $4.11 for the full year. The company’s stock last closed at $11.80 on the junior market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange.

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With:

Seprod profit up & dividend jumps

November 14, 2016 by

Seprod announced a dividend of $2.63, driving the stock to a new 52 weeks' high of $30.

Seprod announced a dividend of $2.63, driving the stock to a new 52 weeks’ high of $30.

Seprod looks set to pay out all of their 2016 profit in dividend in November, with a payment of $1.36 billion. Chairman Paul Scott told IC Insider that the payment was due to gains made from the sale of shares previously held in Grace Kennedy, giving rise to investment gains of $874 million to September.
The board approved a big pay out of two dollars and sixty-three cents ($2.63) per share on November 28, to all shareholders on record as at November 18. The stock will trade ex-dividend on November 16. The dividend will consume $1.36 billion of the company’s cash and investments which stood at $3.9 billion at the end of September.
Seprod reported profit before losses attributed to minority shareholders in its subsidiary of $127 million for the September quarter versus a loss of $66 million in 2015 and $943 million for the nine months period compared to $375 million in 2015. Earnings per share amounts to 39 cents for the last quarter and $2.09 for the nine months as sale revenues declined to $11.1 billion for the nine months from $11.2 billion in 2015 but with the last quarter rising by 10 percent to $3.5 billion.
According to Scott the future looks bright going forward. “We are breaking even in the sugar operations with 11,000 tonnes of sugar produced last crop, Seprod Group.
Seprod banking on growth in its dairy operations making big contribution to profit.

Seprod banking on growth in its dairy operations making big contribution to profit.

before interest charges and expectation of 16,000 tonnes of sugar being produced in 2017, which should be profitable,” Scott told IC Insider. There is also the expectation of higher price for sugar in 2017 than in 2016. The added tonnage if achieved could result in around $300 million more in revenues with most of it flowing to the bottom line of a The next three years should see a slate of new products being produced with the dairy operations being a major contributor to this thrust with the local and Caribbean markets being targeted. Seprod in it unassuming style quietly produced some of the better returns to shareholders of listed companies, in the last 5 or so years has seen profit stagnated with the tightness in the economy and gig losses in the sugar operation. Recent results and pick up in economic activity locally and with the rate of exchange of the Jamaican dollar having adjusted against the back ground of relatively inflation has given the company a competitive edge in a number of areas which it seems poised to take advantage of in growing the business.
The stock last trade at $27.50 on the main market of Jamaica Stock Exchange and looks like a buy for the further.

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

Record profit for National Commercial Bank

November 11, 2016 by

NCB con springNational Commercial Bank ended its financial year to September with record profits helped by strong loan growth and big loan recovery of loans that were previously quarantined as doubtful.
The big Jamaican bank posted profit after tax and minority interest of $5 billion for an increase of 34 percent over the similar period in 2015 and a rise of 27 percent for the full year to $15.6 billion.
Earnings per share ended at $2.03 for the fourth quarter and $6.35 for the year. NCB recovered bad loan resulting in a positive flow of $291 million in the last quarter reducing the full year charge to $612 million compared to $1.8 billion in 2015.
Revenues net of interest expense rose 12 percent to $13.6 billion for the quarter and 9.6 percent to $52 billion for the full year. Net interest income grew 8.3 percent for the year to $28.1 billion. NCB results of a boost from Associated company profit, that rose from $122 million to $443 million in the September quarter and to $832 million from $434 million in 2015.
Loans, the critical contributor to revenue growth grew a strong 14.3 percent for the year to reach $189 million while investment securities declined modestly.
The group declared a dividend of 90 cents per share bring the full year payment to $2.25. The stock which remains IC Insider Buy Rated, last traded on the Jamaica Stock Exchange at $45.50 and is in strong demand with limited supply.

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JSE feeds public with erroneous info

November 9, 2016 by

CAR H 2015-06-26 001Jamaica Stock Exchange is one of Jamaica important financial institutions. It is responsible for billion of dollars of investments. Investors rely on it to be transparent and to provide accurate and timely information on which investment decisions can be made. Why does the feed the public with erroneous information, and leave it out in the public without moving speedily to correct same?
Cargo Handlers posted their full year results to September, with profit of $154 million after tax, up from $136 million in 2015 and $30 million for the fourth quarter versus $29 million in 2015.
All of the above is fine but the company is reporting earnings per share as 40 cents for the quarter and $3.30 for the 12 months, based on what they have erroneously claimed are based on the weighted average number of shares held during the period. That of course is nonsense. The company split its stock into 10 units for each one held, subsequent to the year-end, hence there were no additional shares issued up to September. Even if the stock split occurred during the financial year, the split would not give rise to computing the average number of shares in issue. With a stock split or stock bonus the earnings per share is to be computed on the full amount of shares issued at the time of the financial report. Only when fresh capital is introduced from outside the company, would the weighted average number of shares be computed.
JSE signThe earning per share is in fact 80 cents, for the 2016 last quarter and $4.16 for the 12 months. Unfortunately, the Stock Exchange posted the results with the error from Monday and they are still on the website with no change to date and no note to inform investors of the error. If the Jamaica Stock Exchange wants to be taken seriously it needs to do better than this.
Cargo Handlers last quarter’s net position flowed from a 17 percent rise in revenues to $78 million and 29 percent increase for the full year to $324 million. Other operating expenses rose 19 percent for the quarter to $39.8 million and for the full year 28 percent to $132 million.
The numbers may not show it fully, but growth may have slowed considerably, as such growth in profit in the medium term could be quite moderate as can be gleaned from the movement in the quarterly results. At a price of $12 per share, with 375 million units issued the stock price is a tad rich currently with one of the highest junior market PE ratios at 30 times the 2016 earnings. Expectations of investors in the stock have to be that the December quarter’s earnings will rise close to 50 percent, to justify the current price. That level of profit increase looks steep.

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