Profit jumps 18% for Grace

July 30, 2026 by
GraceKennedy delivered an 18 percent jump in after tax profit of $2.4 billion for the June 2026 quarter, from a 6.26 percent increase in revenues of $45.6 billion. For the half year, profits rose 11.76 percent to $4.75 billion from a 4.6 percent rise in revenues to $93 billion.

Grace delivered Interest and Other income along with its share of results of associates and joint ventures amounting to $2.17 billion, up 21 percent over the $1.79 billion in the second quarter in 2025. For the six months to June, the Group delivered an increase of 6.6 percent to $3.8 billion from $3.567 billion in 2025.

The Group took a $1.4 billion hit in other comprehensive income for the quarter and $1.7 billion for the half-year. These resulted mainly from re-measurement of post-employment benefit obligations and foreign exchange loss adjustments.
Earnings per share came in at $2.41 for the quarter and $4.78 for the half year, putting it on track for $10 for the year. Net asset value per share amounts to $95.86 at the end of June. The stock closed trading on Wednesday at $74 with a PE of 7.4 times 2026 earnings and a good long term buy. The group declared a dividend of 70 cents per share, payable in September.

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Profit surges 159% at Paramount Trading

May 18, 2026 by
Profit for the third quarter ending February, this year jumped 159 percent to $24 million from $9.3 million at Paramount Trading, from a 5.7 percent rise in revenues for the quarter to $433 million from $409 million. Net profit jumped a solid 380 percent to $110 million from a loss of $39 million for the nine months period, from a mere 5.5 percent rise in revenues to $1.26 billion compared with $1.2 billion for the same period in the previous year.

Gross profit margin increased to 43 percent in the third quarter from 37.87 percent in the corresponding period in 2025 and for the year to date, rose to 43.85 percent from 35.15 percent in 2025, resulting in gross profit climbing 20.4 percent to $187 million in the February 2026 quarter from $155 million in 2025 and for the year to date it rose sharply by 31.7 percent to $554 million from $421 million, growing sharply to $32 million after tax compared to just $9.3 million in the third quarter of 2025.
Administrative, selling and distribution expenses rose 8.5 percent to $137 million in the third quarter from $126 million in the 2025 period and increased a mere 2 percent to $384 million in the nine months, from $378 million, as selling and Distribution expenses declined 58 percent to $7.2 million in the nine months ended February, from $17 million in 2025. Finance cost declined in the quarter to $20 million from $23 million in the same quarter in the prior year and from $66 million to $64 million for the nine months.
The operations generated Gross cash flow of $137 million, after working capital consumed $59 million and ended cash funds of $85 million at the end of the period and investments of $96 million.
Current assets ended the period at $1.45 billion inclusive of receivables of $516 million, cash and bank balances of $86 million. Current liabilities ended the period at $563 million and Net current assets of $887 million.

Shareholders’ equity close the third quarter amounts with $1.14 billion with long term borrowings amounting to $469 million and short-term borrowings of $84 million.
Earnings per share for the quarter was 1.6 cents and 7.2 for the nine months. IC Insider.com projects earnings of 10 cents per share for the current 2026 fiscal year, giving it a PE of 10.8 times based on the last traded price of $1.08 on the Jamaica Stock Exchange Junior Market. With the market average of 14, the stocks is undervalued. The big question, can the company keep on building on this platform? Recent history, leaves that as the real big question.
The company paid a dividend of 2.6 cents per ordinary share in December 2025.

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Profit explosion at Transjamaican

May 11, 2026 by
Profit surged a solid 46 percent at Jamaica’s premier toll operators –Transjamaican Highway to US$13.2 million, for the quarter to March this year, compared to US$9.1 million in 2025. The vastly improved profit performance flowed from revenues that jumped an almost incredible 29 percent to US$29 million, from US$22.5 million for the 2025 first quarter.

Management indicated that “increased commuter traffic across the network was one area that contributed to the growth in revenues.

While revenues were climbing sharply, helped by US$3.5 million earned from the Mandeville leg of the highway, which came on stream during the period, costs remained subdued, with a 9 percent rise to US$12.3 million from $11.3 million in 2025. Taxation rose from US$3 million to US$3.55 million.

The company reported earnings per share of 0.0106 US cents, equivalent to 16.74 Jamaican cents per share, which puts the full year earnings at 67 Jamaican cents for the year. At this level of earnings, the stock is priced around 11 times current year’s profit.

Following the end of the quarter, a dividend of US$13 million, equivalent to all the profit generated in the quarter, was paid in April, an increase of 30 percent over US$10 million paid in the first half of 2025.

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Profit jumps 36% at Supreme Ventures

April 23, 2026 by
Jamaica’s leading gambling company, Supreme Ventures, delivered a robust performance for the March 2026 quarter, with net profit jumping a solid 36 percent after tax, to $703 million, up from $514 million for the first quarter of 2025, resulting in earnings per share of 26.67 cents.

Gaming income rose 4.6 percent to $14.46 billion, with gross profit improving to $3.30 billion, with revenues up from $13.8 billion in 2025 and gross profit of $3.16 billion. Direct costs increased 10.5 percent to $11.1 billion, compared with $10.67 billion in 2025, well above the revenue gains.

Selling, general and administrative costs climbed marginally to $2.31 billion from $2.22 billion in 2025 in the quarter.

Segment results show Lottery bringing in revenues of $6 billion, marginally ahead of the $5.94 billion in 2025, delivering segment results of $1.4 billion, up from $1.34 billion in 2025. Sports betting raked in $4.43 billion compared to $4.25 billion, resulting in segment results of $517 million versus $509 million. Pin Code generated income of $3.86 billion, up 8.4 percent from $3.56 billion in the first quarter last year, segment results of $110 million versus $98 million.

The operations had positive cash flows of $632 million up from $290 million in 2025, resulting in Cash and cash equivalents of $1.77 billion, an increase from $1.2 billion at the end March 2025. The group also has investments of $2.2 billion.

Management states that “the Group remained compliant with all financial covenants and that the hurricane caused an estimated $1.6 billion reduction in gross ticket sales and had a $100 million negative impact on net profit. Nevertheless, terminal recovery in the lottery segment reached 98%, and targeted measures, such as deploying additional terminals and using generators and Starlink connectivity, supported ongoing operations.” 

The company confirmed a dividend of 22.89 cents per share, totaling $60.4 million, to be paid to shareholders on Thursday, July 2, to those on record at May 7, 2026. Dividends of $77.28 million were paid during the March quarter. 

The shares are listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange and  last traded at $15.57 on Wednesday.

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50% jump in profit at Wisynco

February 9, 2026 by
Profit jumped 50 percent after tax for Wisynco Group for the December quarter to $1.5 billion, compared to $1 billion in 2024, with earnings per share of 39 cents compared to 26 cents in the December 2024 quarter. The solid profit performance was firmly grounded on a 14 percent revenue bounce to $16.2 billion, from $14.2 billion in the group’s 2024 second quarter and up a mere 2 percent for the first quarter revenues.

Wisynco Q2 profits jump 50%.

Revenues for the half year rose by a slower 12.2 percent pace than the second quarter, to $32.4 billion, from $28.9 billion in 2024, while profit after tax rose by just 19 percent to $2.96 billion from $2.49 billion. “The sustained improvement in sales is a result of our significant capital outlay in production capacity, therefore being able to meet demand and the introduction of new product lines, including our new brewed products and an improvement of 14 percent in our exports. We formally launched our brewed product at the start of Q2 and the response to the products that have been placed on the market has been encouraging,“ Andrew and William Mahfood stated in their report to investors.

Gross Profits jumped 26.7 percent over the prior year second quarter to $5.9 billion from $4.7 billion of the prior year, whilst gross margins climbed to 36.6 percent up from 32.9 percent for the same quarter last year.  For the half year gross profit climbed 15.4 percent to $11.56 billion from $10 billion in 2025 with gross profit margins of 35.72 versus 34.72 in 2025.

Wata one of Wisynco best known brands

Selling and Distribution expenses rose 7.7 percent during the second quarter to $3.47 billion from $2.95 in 2024 and climbed 10.5 percent for the six months to $20.8 billion from $18.8 billion in 2024. Administrative expenses for the quarter amount to $631 million, 10.4 percent more than the $571 million for the 2024 quarter. It rose 2.8 percent to $1.2 billion for the six months from $1.18 billion in 2024. Finance costs jumped from $115 million to $245 million in the latest quarter and rose from $118 million to $401 million in the six months. Finance expenses were partially offset by finance income of $139 million in the 2025 first quarter, up from $119 million in 2024 and for the half year, $291 million up from $245 million.

The operations generated Gross cash flow of $4.7 million, growth mainly in receivables, inventories, addition to fixed assets and investment in associated companies of $2.45 billion, offset by proceeds from investments and funding the payment of $866 million dividends, resulted in a $2 billion outflow of funds, reducing Cash and Cash Equivalents to $5.2 billion, at the end of the period.
Current assets ended the period at $21.4 billion, including trade and other receivables of $6.9 million, cash, bank balances and investment securities of $10.3 billion.
Current liabilities ended the period at $8.6 billion and net current assets at $12.7 billion.
At the end of December, shareholders’ equity amounts to $30.6 billion with long term borrowings at $5.9 billion and short term at $955 million.

ICInsider.com computation projects earnings of $1.80 per share for the fiscal year ending June 2026, with a PE of 13 times the current year’s earnings based on the last traded price of $23.62 on the Jamaica Stock Exchange Main Market. Net asset value is $8.17, with the stock selling at a premium of 2.77 times book value, well above the average for Main Market companies.  The company declared a dividend of 23 cents payable of March 4 versus a similar amount in April 2025.

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Profits climb at NCB Group

November 14, 2025 by
Jamaica’s largest financial conglomerate, NCB Financial Group, reported profits for the fiscal year to September of $23 billion, attributable to shareholders of the Group or $9.59 per share, with profit of $4.2 billion or $1.73 per share for the September quarter compared with a loss of $330 million in 2024.

The group benefited from a $15 billion one-time gain on the sale of a subsidiary; excluding this, earnings would have been just $13 billion for the year, compared to $13.3 billion generated in 2024 and earnings per share from continuing operations would be $7.60, up from $5.62 in 2024.
The group declared a dividend of 50 cents per share, which will be paid in December and will bring the full year to $2.per share.

The stock is severely undervalued, with a PE ratio of only 5.2 times 2025 earnings and even less based on 2026 earnings, which ICInsider.com projects to rise. The stock, which now trades around $40 each, trades well below the net asset value of $77. Holding back the group is the stagnation in lending, with loans falling to $618 billion from $626 billion in 2024.
NCB is accorded the ICInsider.com BUY RATED award.

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TransJamaican dividend yields now 6.4%

September 14, 2025 by
TransJamaican Highway board of directors declared an interim dividend payment of 12.92 cents per share payable on October 24, to shareholders on record as at the close of business on October 3, 2025. The ex-dividend date is October 3.

Total dividends for this year amount to 25.5 cents, with a yield of 6.4 percent, including a dividend of 12.58 cents paid in April.
The company’s prospectus in 2020 stated, “based on the projected operating profits, distributable reserves and cashflows, the Company is projecting dividend yield, averaging 5.3 percent to 8.7 percent in 2020-2025 and an average of 24.5 percent to 35.8 percent thereafter on the Offer Price”. The stock was offered to the public at $1.41 and would result in a dividend payment between 34.5 and 50.5 cents per share, starting in 2026, with a yield of 8.6 to 12.6 percent based on the last traded price of $4.
The yield is going to help push the stock price higher into 2026, along with earnings for the current year of around 50 cents per share.

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Profit inches up at Scotia Group

June 10, 2025 by
Profit declined 7.3 percent to S5 billion at Scotia Group for the April 2025 quarter, compared to $5.4 billion in the similar period last year, as total operating revenues rose by a billion dollars to $15.6 billion from $14.6 billion in the comparable quarter in 2024.

Profit grew 7.8 percent to $9.2 billion after tax for the six months to April, over the previous year. A drop in loan loss provisions to $651 million in the latest quarter from $1 billion in the 2024 second quarter and $1 billion for the half year, down from $1.25 billion in 2024, helped to boost the group’s profit performance.

Operating expenses grew faster than revenues, climbing 23 percent, with an increase of $1.5 billion to $8.3 billion, wiping out the increase in operating income in the second quarter. Corporation taxes amounted to $2.3 billion in the quarter, compared to $2.4 billion in the prior year.

Total operating revenues for the six months ended April 2025, net of expected credit losses, grew by 9.5 percent, or $2.9 billion, to $33.4 billion from $30.5 billion in 2024. This was primarily driven by the growth in loans, which led to an increase in net interest income of $1.9 billion, or 8.5 percent, and an increase in other revenue of 13 percent.

The Group’s asset base grew by $87 billion or 12.9 percent to $764 billion as at April 2025, with loans increasing 14.7 percent to $324 billion. Since the October close of the 2024 fiscal year, loans only grew in the second quarter, at 15 percent per annum, much slower than the 16.3 percent increase in the 2024 fiscal year.

According to the Group, “loan book continues to perform well with mortgages increasing year over year by 24 percent, consumer loans by 14 percent, credit cards by 8 percent and commercial loans by 7 percent.” Deposits, an important fuel for funding loans and investments, increased 10 percent to $514 billion from $467 billion a year ago.

Scotia Group declared a dividend of 45 cents to be paid on July 17, bringing the half-year payment to 90 cents, up from 80 cents for the similar 2024 period.
Earnings per share for the April quarter amount to $1.61 and $2.96 for the half year. ICInsider.com projects earnings of $8.20 for the year ending October 2025.
The stock is ICInsider.com BUY RATED. At the last traded price of $54.91, the stock trades at an attractive PE of 6.7, well below the market average of more than 13. Most importantly, the critical aspect of the business is lending, and the ability to generate reasonable yearly increases in amounts lent out, thus driving revenue growth.

The present state of the Jamaican economy, including lower debt-to-GDP, which allows for greater fiscal space that will facilitate continued lower interest rates, should result in growth in earnings for years to come. With that, investors can look forward to increased dividend payments and stock price appreciation.

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ANSA McAl delivers a TT$2.5B blow to shareholders

May 20, 2025 by

Shareholders in ANSA McAl are set to lose TT$2.5 billion in 2025 from their investment in the company, following the directors decision to suspend dividend payments, (currently $320 million per year) for 3 years, with the stock price dropping 21 percent from $58 to $46 up to the end of last week.

In addition to losing the $320 million per year for the next three years, shareholders have already chalked up a loss on their shares of $2.1 billion, following the announcement in March, and it could get worse, with the bid to buy the stock at $45 and the offer to sell at $46, last Friday. The dividend suspension will conserve TT$951.5 million for the three years based on $1.80 paid in 2024, 2023 and 2022, but it has had a detrimental impact on shareholders.

In addition to cash savings from the suspension of dividends, the company will save the cost of servicing the twice-yearly dividend payment and will incur less interest expense as a result of the suspension.
ANSA McAL, the majority owner of Berger Paints Jamaica, decided to suspend dividend payments due to the acquisition of a company for US$327 million, which resulted in a US$$200 million loan.
This decision was published on March 21st, 2025, in the Chairman’s statement, which accompanied the audited financial results.  According to the report, “ANSA McAL is confident that the reinvestment of dividends for this three year period will yield far greater long-term benefits – enhancing its competitive position, supporting expansion into new markets, and unlocking new growth opportunities. Moreover, ANSA McAL fully expects the result of this strategic decision to be a significant appreciation in its share price, ensuring that shareholders benefit from a stronger, more resilient, and more valuable company.”
Some shareholders do not buy the optimism expressed by the directors, at least not now. For the year ending December last year, revenue grew by 5 percent to $7.4 billion and profits climbed just over 10 percent to $571 million from $517 million in 2023. On the surface, the stock should have been rising, instead, it has fallen from a 2025 high of $61. Compounding the issue, revenue grew 9.6 percent to $1.8 billion for the March 2025 quarter. Profits for the quarter dived 50 percent to $54 million from US$107 million as finance cost surged from $10 million to $52 million.

The directors commenting on the 2024 results stated, “Beyond these outstanding financial results, we took a bold step forward in our long-term strategy by completing the largest acquisition in our 143-year history. The US$327 million acquisition of BLEACHTECH LLC, a leading US-based chlor-alkali producer, is a transformative move that positions us for even greater success.”
At the end of March, Shareholders’ equity stood at TT$8.2 billion. At the end of December last year, borrowed funds amounted to $2.6 billion, just around 32 percent of shareholders’ equity. With the leverage level so low, there seems to be no need to suspend dividends and, by extension, destroy shareholders’ investment.

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TransJamaican Highway 36% oversubscribed

March 20, 2025 by
The public issue of 1.75 billion shares in TransJamaican Highway by the government of Jamaica was oversubscribed with the offer attracting 22,000 applicants amounting to $12 billion, the Prime Minister of Jamaica disclosed in his budget presentation today.

The initial offer was increased to 2.45 billion units by an additional 750 million shares with a total consideration of $8.82 billion and resulted in a 36 percent oversubscription.
The result is that over $3 billion will be available to come into the secondary market when refunds are made.
Since the opening of the public issue, Transjamaican announced a dividend of 12.58 cents payable in April, while the stock closed trading today at $4.17.

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