Gary Barrow now heads Wigton Windfarm (WIG) management as Chief Executive Officer the company announced that will take place effective on May 6.
The position of Chief Executive Officer is a new one, in addition, the position of Head of Energy which was held by Miss Michelle Chin Lenn will be dispensed with and she will be appointed to the new position of Deputy Chief Executive Officer.
According to the release on these appointments, the Board of Directors of WIG is of the “view that the aforementioned changes, and specifically the appointment of Gary Barrow following a successful recruitment process, will further allow the Company to fully realize its vision of being a profitable, regional conglomerate with successful clean energy and other investments”.
Barrow has a multi-disciplinary background in Engineering, Finance, Technology, Innovation, Business Transformation, Process Re-Engineering, Governance and People Management will allow him to hit the ground running at WIG. His last appointment at the Jamaica Public Service, was Chief Operating Officer. Barrow holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and a Master of Business Administration.
Grace up stakes in Spur Tree Spices
The GraceKennedy a wholly owned subsidiary – GK Investments Limited, purchased 60,000,000 units of shares in Spur Tree Spices thereby increasing its ownership to 20.18 percent. this was the objective Grace had before the company went public.
On Wednesday Spur Tree reported that two directors sold 30 million units each, which seems to have met the demand from Grace, but it may not be the last of the big trades for the company whose products have strong appeal internationally.
The company has been struggling to grow its profit since listing on the Junior Market in 2022. Profit of $116 million fell to $88 million in 2023, with earnings per share of 5 cents last year and 7 cents in 2022.
Spur Three stock traded at $2.42, up 2 cents on the junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Thursday.
Two Lasco companies head to JSE Main Market
Lasco Distributors and Lasco Manufacturing will be graduating to the main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange, effective Wednesday, March 27, 2024.
The companies state in their report to investors and posted on the Jamaica Stock Exchange stated that the exchange approved to graduate to the Main Market.
The Lasco companies were some of the early listings on the Junior Market in 2010, with a listing on October 12, 2010.
In the first year of listing on the Junior Market, Lasco Manufacturing generated revenues of $2.97 billion and a profit of $401 million after tax and reported for the nine months to December last year, revenues of $9.24 billion and profit of $1.7 billion, with Shareholders’ equity climbing to $12.3 billion from $830 million at the end of March 2011.
Lasco Distributors reported revenues of $6.76 billion and a profit of $306 million after tax for the year to March 2011 and generated revenues of $21.86 billion for the nine months to December last year and profit of $1.2 billion, with Shareholders’ equity climbing to $9.25 billion from $727 million at the end of September 2010.
Supply is low for Scotia Group’s stock
The supply of Scotia Group stock is increasingly falling, with only 14 offers for sale of 144,000 shares posted at the close on Friday. The stock price jumped 14 percent this past week to a multi-year high of $46 and is up 20 percent since the start of 2024 and 32.5 percent since the publication of full year results on December 11.
Investors exchanged 135,109 shares on Friday up from 19,113 on Thursday and 80,990 on Wednesday. The number of stocks offered for sale and posted on the JSE site is very low with 144,000 units, supply is likely to increase as trading unfolds during the coming week.
Despite the price move since last year, the stock is attractively priced at a PE of 6 based on this year’s projected earnings of $7.50 and 8.30 based on reported the 2023 earnings of $5.54 per share. The valuation compares with an average of 13.7 for the Main Market based on projected 2023 earnings. At an average market PE, the stock would get to $76 based on earnings for 2023 and more, once investors start pricing in 2024 earnings into the price.
The price broke through the top of a channel, formed in late November. This coming week may determine whether the price will move decidedly higher or stall for a while.
Scotia is not the only stock with shrinking supplies that investors should take note of. Not only is it a bullish signal but it foretells of a sharp rally ahead. Investors should also look at Transjamaican Highway, Stanley Motta, AS Bryden and Seprod.
Mayberry Group swapped for Mayberry Investments
Mayberry Investments ceased to be listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange as of the 13th of December and is replaced by Mayberry Group, the new holding company for the group.
The change follows the court’s approval of the reorganization of the group and permission of the Jamaica Stock Exchange. Shareholders of Mayberry Investments (MIL) will get shares in the group company in exchange for their existing shareholdings in MIL.
Mayberry has shareholders’ equity of $24.5 billion and total assets of $58 billion as of September 2023. MIL last traded on the Jamaica Stock Exchange at $8.08, so far there is no trading in the new shares and no stocks are being offered for sale.
AS Bryden & Sons JSE listing imminent
AS Bryden & Sons Holdings Ltd seems set to be the next listed company on the Main Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange. The company, through its listing agents NCB Capital Market, posted an abridge financial statement on the JSE website on Monday, a sign that the listing will be in days, so far, there are no signs that is will list in Trinidad at the same time.
The company has shareholders” equity of TT$576.2 million of Jamaican J$13.25 billion as of June 2023 with total borrowings exceeding shareholders equity with long term loans of TT$285 million and medium term borrowings about two TT$534 million.
Current assets stand at TT$1.19 billion, with inventories and trade receivables amounting to TT$976 million and current liabilities at TT$576 million.
Sales revenue for the six months to June amounts to TT$1.18 billion with gross profit of TT$304 million, for a 25.7 profit margin. Pretax profit amounts at TT$74 million an after tax profit of TT$56 million.
Massey Holdings is trading around 10 times current year’s earnings if this is achieved by Bryden it would value the stock at J$12 billion or just a bit below book value.
The company focuses is on the distribution of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and the sales divisions are grouped into three teams specialising in Premium Beverages, Food & Grocery, and Hardware & Housewares.
Seprod owns 54 percent of Bryden, which was acquired in 2022.
General Accident to jump Junior Market
General Accident Insurance advises that it has successfully applied for graduation of its listed ordinary shares from the Junior Market to the Main Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange, which will take place effective September 27,
General Accident spreading wings
According to the company, since being listed on the Junior Market over ten years ago, the Company has grown its gross written premium almost seven-fold. In addition to its market leadership in Jamaica, the Company has established a regional presence in Barbados and Trinidad. The Directors of General Accident believe the successful application reflects its growth, increasing scope and ability to comply with the applicable governance standards for companies listed on the Main Market.
The company with more than $15 billion in annual premium income reported a profit of $577 million last year and $246 million for the six months to June this year up from just $41 million for the same period in 2022. ICInsider.com projected profit of more than $1 billion for 2023.
The move follows Eppley another member of the Musson Group that migrated from the Junior Market in December 2018.
100% gains for Transjamaican
Transjamaican Highway, after three and a half years of listing on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, came good in 2023 with the stock closing just over 100 percent for the year to date, when the price last traded at $2.84 on Monday, up 103 percent for the year to date, after hitting an intraday high of $2.88 at the start of trading on Monday.
The stock, which IPOed just before Jamaica at J$1.41 and one US cent for those shares designated in US dollars, was hit with Covid-19, languished in the market at that level but mostly lower until this year, when it finally broke out in March to now become the second best-performing stock of the exchange for 2023, following Ciboney that is now up 186 percent.
A year ago, the price was $1.30 is now up by 118 percent, even then the climb is far from over, with earnings poised to hit the J$0.30 range for 2023 and investors already paying up to the equivalent of J$3 in the US dollar market for the shares.
The increased interest in the stocks comes on the heels of the company acquiring the previous maintenance operators and effectively improving the profitability by US$12 million per annum.
For the March 2023 quarter, the Group reported revenues of US$18 million, 21% more than the US$14.9 million for the same quarter in 2022 and delivered a profit of US$5 million, up US$4.3 million compared to just US$0.7 million for the 2022 period.
SOS to split stocks into 9 units
Shareholders of Stationery and Office Supplies seem set to enjoy the benefit of splitting existing stock into nine ordinary shares for each they own to take effect and will result in the total number of shares jumping from 250.12 million units to 2.251 billion effective on July 25.
To accommodate the split, shareholders will be asked to vote on a resolution to be tabled at the company’s annual General meeting of July 25 to effect the split and will also be asked to vote to increase the number of shares to 500 billion units, with effect from July 25.
The shares of SOS that hit a record high of $34.98 on Wednesday closed at $33.89 on Thursday on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange.
Stock split news lift SOS to a record $26
Investors in office supply Junior Market listed company Stationery and Office Supplies are having a grand time, with the company reporting two highly profitable years with 2023 starting off on a promising note for another year of record profits.
Stationery & Office Supplies hit a new high after the proposed stock split announcement.
Over the past year, shareholders will receive dividends amounting to 38 cents per share with the second payment in July. To add icing to the cake, the announcement on Monday that the board of directors will meet on Wednesday to consider a stock split has pushed the share price to a record high of $26 in early trading on Tuesday, with an increase of 52 percent for the year to date on top of 179 percent gain in 2022. Up to late May, the stock was trading in the $15 region, a level that it was at for weeks.
In premarket trading there were several bids amounting to over 306,000 units at $26, the maximum the stock will trade at initially, against 23,811 on offer up to $26. Trading in the stock is halted until 10:30 but currently, there are 21 bids at $26 to buy 282,981 shares. On the other hand, the lowest offer is at $30.50 with 23,000 units, followed by 575 shares at $34.96 and 28,774 units at $35.01 and then 42,277 stock units at $44.97.
