Property that Carreras previously occupied, now sold for $395m
Shareholders who have been enjoying a bumper period of high returns on their shares since 2014, should see another pay out from the net proceeds of this sale.
Carreras fetches $395m for property
February 10, 2015 by
Shareholders who have been enjoying a bumper period of high returns on their shares since 2014, should see another pay out from the net proceeds of this sale.
C&WJ revenues up 27% in Q3
February 10, 2015 by
“In the Third Quarter we have continued to build momentum through our investment-led Project Marlin and we are continuing to deliver top line growth” Phil Bentley, Chief Executive of CW Communications, commented in a release of the group’s third quarter results today.
“Investments in our mobile networks have improved coverage and reliability and we saw mobile data grow a further 23 percent with traffic carried on our networks increasing by over 35 percent. Fibre investments have focussed on our Caribbean markets and are key to generating growth in the Broadband & TV segments. We continue to work with Governments and Regulators to gain the required approvals for completion of the Columbus acquisition and are on track to close before our fiscal year end” Bentley stated.
The groups CEO went on to say “Mobile revenue (53 percent of Group revenue) was up 4 percent in the Third Quarter driven by growth in LIME and Panama, up 10 percent and 4 percent respectively. LIME growth was driven by continued subscriber additions in Jamaica, 18 percent where investment in our 4G mobile network led to constant currency revenue growth of 27 percent and an NPS gain of 11 points, whilst in Barbados our “Upgrade Barbados” marketing campaign led to 6 percent revenue growth and our market-leading LTE service in Cayman drove revenue growth of 3 percent. Panama mobile growth followed a strong increase in subscribers, primarily within prepaid, as a result of increased promotions leading up to and through the holiday season.”
C&W to take one off hit
February 10, 2015 by
Cable & Wireless Jamaica (C&W) lost the case against Digicel for funds withheld for calls terminated on Digicel network over several years. C&W in losing the case and will have to fork out more than $1.5 billion to settle the matter.
“It was fully provided for in the books of CWC Plc our parent. Now that we have settled and intend to payout, exceptional charge will hit our numbers and amount due to the parent will be credited to the nearly, $42 billion in loans already due them.” Gary Sinclair the company’s Chief Executive stated in a response to IC Insider’s query about the amount already booked in the 2014 audited accounts.
A note in C&W 2014 financial statements states, “a suit was filed by Digicel against Cable and Wireless for $349.3 million plus $1.3067 billion claiming bad debt retained by the company under the interconnection and in respect of the company’s “homefone” service. This matter was consolidated with another claim filed by Digicel seeking an account of amounts charged and withheld under the interconnection agreement. The company counter claimed for $525.5 million being retention billed from 2003 to 2007. There are provisions with respect to the portions of this consolidated matter.”
The 2013 audited accounts note indicates that there is provision for the devaluation/retention portion of the consolidated claim, but this amounted to just $13 million.
C&W booked Digicel’s claim before
February 4, 2015 by
News broke on Tuesday that Cable & Wireless Jamaica is to pay Digicel $1.5 billion from wrongly withheld funds for interconnection calls made by cable & wireless fixed line customers. The stock plummeted 20 percent to close at 40 cents on the news. This is a classic case of sell first and ask questions after.
Information in the company’s last audited accounts indicate that the amount was already accounted for in full or in part, the March 2014 financial statements. According to a note in the financial statements, a suit was filed by Digicel against Cable and Wireless for $349.3 million plus $1.3067 billion claiming bad debt retained by the company under the interconnection and in respect of the company’s “homefone” service. This matter was consolidated with another claim filed by Digicel seeking an account of amounts charged and withheld under the interconnection agreement. The company counter claimed for $525.5 million being retention billed from 2003 to 2007. There are provisions with respect to the portions of this consolidated matter.
Even if the company had to pick up the full cost in 2014/15 accounts, it would effectively be of a one off nature and should not affect 2015/16 results which is what investors should be focusing on. At any rate, investors ought to be looking at results based on normal operating income and expenses to determine investment decisions.
8th largest NCB owners sold out
February 2, 2015 by
One of National Commercial Bank’s (NCB) top ten shareholders sold off their shares in trading on the Jamaica Stock exchange today, and pocketed more than half a billion.
The latest NCB results list York Seaton and Harriet Maragh as joint holders with 27,111,000 shares amongst the listed shareholders. The amount was sold in trading on Monday with Mayberry Investments being the selling broker and Scotia Investments the buying broker. The shareholding represents 1 percent of the NCB group shares, and was traded at $20.50 each and amounted to $555.77 million in total. The holding was the 8th largest in the NCB group.
York Page Seaton is one of the major owners of Y.P. Seaton and Associates Company Limited, Construction, Development, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Contractors and located in Jamaica.
Kingston Properties sells property
January 29, 2015 by
Kingston Properties sold its office and warehouse property located at 83 Hagley Park Road effective January 6, 2015 for approximately Two Hundred and Thirty Million Dollars ($230 million). The property was sold to Medical Disposables & Supplies a junior market listed company.
“Net proceeds of the sale are expected to be invested in other properties. Over the five years holding period, Total Return which includes annual cash yield and capital appreciation, net of transactions costs was 13.2% annually,” the company said in a release to the Jamaica Stock Exchange.
Kingston Properties is primarily involved in the ownership and rental of commercial properties in the Kingston area and residential units in Miami. The company reported rental income of $77.4 million up from $66.6 million in the nine months to September 2013 and net profit of $4.5 million.
US to normalise Cuban relations
December 17, 2014 by
The long period or US embargo in trade in goods and services, with Cuba since the Castro regime seized power in the late 1950s, seems set to be reversed, according to a report earlier today.
According to Bloomberg news U.S. will begin to normalize relations in a surprising move by the Obama administration that will loosen a trade and travel embargo that is among the last remnants of Cold War policy. The action means not simply the opening of a U.S. embassy in Havana but the lifting of restrictions that have limited commerce and kept aficionados from legally bringing Cuban cigars to U.S. soil.
The change in the US attitude could have far reaching implications for Jamaica and the rest of the region specifically, as it affect tourism trade.
Cable & Wireless acquires Dekal Wireless
December 11, 2014 by
Cable & Wireless Jamaica (C&W) advised that a member of the CWC Group of companies entered into an agreement to purchase all the shares in the parent company of Dekal Wireless Jamaica on November 9, 2014.
Subject to the relevant regulatory approvals, Dekal Wireless Jamaica Limited will in the interest of efficiency be operated by Cable & Wireless Jamaica. Dekal Wireless the release said is a licensed provider of wireless internet services to rural Jamaican communities. C&W further stated “that this collaboration will increase internet availability to previously under-served communities; improve prepaid internet accessibility via laptops, tablets or smartphones to more consumers, islandwide.”
This is the second company to be acquired by the CWC group within a matter of a month.The acquisition will add customers and income to C&W and help to cut overhead cost in the new acquisition.
$1.2B gaming losses force SVL to act
December 8, 2014 by
$1.2 billion is the number for losses at the Gaming and Hospitality segment at Supreme Ventures Limited Revenues in three years. Losses worsened from $252 million in 2012 when it jumped to $553 million last year but was down to $376 million up to September this year from $440 million in 2013.
There were no noticeable improvements in the losses in the September quarter. The substantial losses amounting to 47 percent of profit in the lottery segment in 2013 and 31 percent in 2014, with no noticeable reduction in the losses, forced management hands to take action. The losses in this segment coupled with losses in sport betting, contributed significantly in negating the profits from the lottery segment.
On December 1, (SVL) advised that they will close operations at the Odyssey Gaming Lounge at Market Place in Kingston and Castle Gaming Lounge VLT operations, in Portmore on December 1. SVL advised that the Lottery and Sports Betting Unit at the facility in Portmore will remain open for normal business operations and that it will focus all its energies on the flagship gaming lounge – Acropolis Barbican, with enhancements to its offerings in these locations.
The company further advised, that it will focus its energies on the continued development, of what it says is its profitable Acropolis Gaming Lounge. Over the next two to three months SVL will be expand the gaming floor, along with greater focus on improving the customer experience through wider game options, increased payouts and improved food & beverage offerings. The consolidation will result in a re-allocation of staff and other resources to meet the expanded needs at Acropolis Barbican. However, approximately 20 positions will be made redundant, after a reallocation of staff resources to meet the new needs at Acropolis Barbican. Will those changes be enough to eliminate the more than $500 million loss in the segment is left to be seen? The move should reduce the losses going into 2015 with less rent and staff cost.
The company also has to deal with the Sports betting losses which worsened even as revenues climbed from $177 million in 2013 to $418 million in 2014. The sharp growth in sports betting is attributable to betting on world cup football games. The segment lost $87 million in 2013 and $148 million in 2014 so far.
138 Student Living gets money
December 5, 2014 by
138 Student Living Jamaica received the full amount they sough from the capital market, when the initial public offer, was fully taken up at the close of the offer, on Thursday 4 December, JMMB Securities Ltd reported to the Jamaica Stock Exchange.
According to a release from the brokers “all of the Ordinary Shares and Preference Shares offered for subscription by the Company, valued at $500m in the aggregate were fully taken up. All Applicants will receive a full allotment of the amounts that they applied for.”
The Company offered 82,900,000 Ordinary Shares at $4 each and initially, 33,680,000 subject to an option to increase the amount up to 60,000,000 Cumulative Redeemable Preference Shares at $5. In addition shareholders of the company offered for sale 15,716,667 ordinary shares at $4 each to raise $62.8 million and received $31.3m.
The Company will now apply to the Jamaica Stock Exchange for the listing of the Ordinary Shares and the Preference Shares on the Main Market of the JSE.