Gooden buys 10% of Elite Diagnostic

April 10, 2022 by

Reports reaching ICInsider.com is the chairman of Elite Diagnostic acquired more than 35 million shares on Friday, with the majority coming from Excel Investments, that owned the largest block of 130 million or 36.9 percent of issued shares.
The trade means that Gooden, who previously owned a mere 242,230 or a fraction of one percent, will now own around 10 percent of the company, the third largest shareholder behind Excel with 85,231,108 units and NCB Capital Market with 66 million shares or 18 percent.
Gooden, a very knowledgeable person in the investment field, also heads NCB Capital Market and controls the largest block of shares in the company of 28 percent, compared to Excel with 27 percent.
The Elite Diagnostic trade was the largest block of shares trading on Friday, accounting for 76.5 percent of all Junior Market trades on that day, but trading ended with 85.2 million units on the offer to sell at $2.57 and 30 million on the bid to buy at $2.50. ICInsider.com gathers that the amount on offer is not up for sale and should have been cancelled before the market closed.
The purchase is a strong endorsement for the stock and the company’s future that ended as the number one choice in this weeks’ ICTOP10 Junior Market listing.
The results for the second quarter to December stated, “continued spread of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continued to negatively impact the operations of the company. Revenue continues to be impacted as social distancing protocols reduce the number of patients booked per day.”

Elite CEO Warren Chung & shareholder in Excel Investments chatting with a shareholder at Elite’s 2018 AGM.

ICInsider.com understands that the restriction placed for curfews restricted business as the offices could not be opened late, thus affecting business.
Gooden most likely would have seen the prolonged trend of year over year and quarter over quarter growth in revenues and the strong positive cash flow the company continues to generate and prospects for more expansion of the business as solid credentials for future earnings and profit.
For the six months to December last year, the company generated a profit of $7 million but had positive cash inflows of $83 million, with revenues rising 22 percent from $236 million to $288 million with eth December quarter rising 16.6 percent from $128 million to $148 million. Profit in the second quarter increased from $3 million in 2020 to $7.3 million. Importantly gross profit margin is an astounding and attractive 66 percent.

 

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JFP lists on Monday

March 13, 2022 by

Trading of shares that were recently offered to the public in JFP Limited, will commence on Monday on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange and bring the total listings on the market to 44 and will move to 45 on Tuesday after the listing of Edufocal.
A total of 280 million ordinary shares were offered to the public with the issuing opening on February 21 and closed the offer being oversubscribed.

JFP production

Employee Reserve Pool applicants received 100 percent of their application with the balance not applied for was made available for Key Partner Reserve Pool who received all they applied for. GK Investments Reserve Pool applicants got all shares applied for, applicants from the General Public got 12,500 shares plus approximately 22.8 percent of the excess shares applied for above the Base Allotment. The oversubscription should provide a bounce for the stock when it opens.

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Edufocal lists on Tuesday

March 12, 2022 by

Trading of shares in EduFocal that offered 129,689,219 ordinary shares to the public on March 3, will commence on Tuesday as the company shares will be listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange Junior Market on that day and will bring the total listings on the market to 45.
The offer was oversubscribed, with Key Strategic Partners in this reserved pool will receive all their predetermined amount.
Applicants who applied for more than their predetermined amount will receive a pro-rata allocation of approximately 59.67 percent of the excess shares for which they applied, with any excess transferred to the General Public Pool.
All applicants from the General Public received 10,000 shares and approximately 16.57 percent of the excess shares.
Although the offer was handily oversubscribed, ICInsider.com gathers there were applications that came in after the close just after the issue opened and closed minutes after opening so there is added demand that should provide a bounce for the stock.

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Fesco raised $1 billion for expansion

March 10, 2022 by

Future Energy Source Company (FESCO), secured debt financing for One Billion Dollars, the company informed the Jamaica Stock Exchange to be used for general corporate purposes that support FESCO’s growth objectives.
The facility is a five years corporate bond to be listed on the Private Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange, with NCB Capital Markets acting as Arranger. The proceeds will be utilized including working capital, operating expenses and capital expenditure related to the expansion of its dealership network and service station footprint and funding the entry into the consumer cooking gas and LPG market.
Fesco recently traded at an all-time high of $8.49 but closed on Wednesday at $5.28 after listing in April 2021 at just 80 cents per share. The company reported revenues of $8 billion for the nine months to December last year, almost doubling the $4.45 billion in the corresponding 2020 period and generating a profit of $171 million versus $92 million before tax.
Included in the expansion plans is the equipping large industrial corporate customers with digitally equipped tanks that will dispense fuel based on individual cards for each driver that will easily track usage for each vehicle as well as the acquisition of cooking gas cylinders in preparation for starting delivery of that service. According to CEO Jeremy Barnes, the plan is to have 22 branded stations within three years.
The company currently has 16 Fesco branded service stations in operation, with the newest one on Beechwood Avenue in Kingston the only one owned and operated by them.

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Fontana raises J$500 million for expansion

December 24, 2021 by

Junior Market listed Fontana raised $500 Million of debt capital by way of a private placement of bonds to support the company’s continued growth, which includes plans to develop a warehouse and distribution centre in Kingston and a new store Portmore, the company disclosed.

Artist impression of the Portmore store.

Scotia Investments acted as Lead Arranger and Broker for the company that reported its most successful year in 2021, with revenues climbing 14.2 percent to $5.2 billion and profit of $512 million, up a robust 85 percent from $277 million in 2020. The company reported a rise of 17 percent in revenues to $1.3 billion for the September 2021 quarter over that of 2020 and profit after tax rising 35 percent to $61 million. The Portmore expansion, which was telegraphed to investors in late 2018 when it went public, is expected to add to growth in revenues and profit and provide investors with an investment vehicle that seems set to deliver good growth prospects for the future.
“The transaction was executed at a time when BOJ policy rates were increased for the first time in 13 years. The Ministry of Finance and Planning had also recently reopened Government of Jamaica long-term bonds that were taken up at yields that indicated that the long-term rates in the Jamaican Dollar debt space were increasing. Stanley Thompson, Senior Manager Capital Markets said, “In light of the changing market conditions, we pursued a fixed to variable rate bond structure. This financing strategy provided Fontana with the most competitive rate in the short term with the potential for a lower rate in the future if market rates reduce in the longer term.”
Raymond Therrien, COO at Fontana, noted that “Fontana is firmly capitalized for our expansion plans for Portmore in 2022 and continued growth in the various markets we serve across Jamaica.  We continue to explore acquisition opportunities as we grow the Fontana brand. Timing and certainty of execution were important to us. When we approved this transaction, our expectation was to have it closed before the calendar year end.”
Fontana owns and operates a chain of Pharmacies in Kingston, Montego Bay, Mandeville and Och Rios.

 

 

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VM Investments buying Mutual funds

November 24, 2021 by

VM Investments (VMIL) has entered into an agreement with Republic Bank (Barbados) to acquire all the ordinary shares in Republic Funds (Barbados) Incorporated, the owner and operator of the Republic Bank Barbados family of Mutual Funds.

VM Investment to acquire Mutual funds.

The funds comprise  Republic Property, Income and Capital Growth Funds. The transaction completion is subject to the approval of regulators in Barbados and Jamaica. “VMIL is in an unprecedented growth mode, and we continue to be keen on strategically expanding our footprint throughout the region,” said Rezworth Burchenson, CEO of VMIL.

“VMIL was selected as the preferred bidder following rigorous pre-defined criteria,” VMIL stated. The required regulatory approval process is expected to be completed within six to nine months but could be extended depending on various factors.
ICInsider.com gathers that the total assets under management by the fund could be in the region of J$1.55 billion.
VMIL, a publicly listed company on the Jamaica Stock Exchange since 2017, reported a 69 percent increase in nine months profit to $612 million over the same period in 2020. Profit after tax for the September quarter jumped 82 percent to $348 million, over 2020 out turn of $191 million.
Growth in profits flowed from a 33 percent surge in revenue for the nine months to $1.77 billion, from $1.3 billion in 2020 and a 33 percent increase in the September quarter from $615 million to $818 million. The “performance was primarily driven by the improved investment climate which contributed to significant growth in gains from investment activities which increased by $520 million (270.71 percent) compared with the same period in 2020. These activities generated revenues of $712.17 million for the period,” VMIL informed investors in the release of the results.
Shareholders’ equity increased by $668 million from $3.9 billion at the end of September 2020 to $4.56 billion at the end of  September and net book value per share ended at $3.04, up from $2.60 in 2020.
The company reported earnings per share of 41 cents for the nine months and 23 cents for the quarter and could hit 70 cents for the full year with a low PE of 8.6, well below the average for the Main Market of 15.4 at the last traded price of $6.10.  the stock is one of ICInsider.com TOP10 stocks.

 

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Mayberry Jamaica shed 50m Lumber shares

October 29, 2021 by

Lumber Depot dominated trading with

Lumber Depot, the 2019 spinoff of the Junior Market listed Blue Power, reported record first quarter results to July, with profit of $72 million, up from $30 million in 2020, with earnings per share of 10 cents and attracted increased buying in the stock as the results hit the exchange on September 8.
Mayberry Jamaican Equities (MJE) pounced on the renewed buying interest and sold just under 50 million units in the market up to October 20.MJE slashed their holdings of 181,538,726 shares, with 25.7 percent of total issued capital at the end of July to 132,468,464, but they remained the largest shareholder at 18.76 percent.
Over the same period, Blue Power Group, the second largest shareholder, reduced their 101,989,250 holdings to 14.4412 percent to 98,989,250 or 14.02 percent. Blue power in January held 113,989,250 shares, with a 16.14 percent holding.  Kenneth Benjamin, a director of Blue Power, holdings in January of 49.95 million rose to 59,954,650 units or 8.4893 percent but slipped to 58.4 million in October.
Since October 20, the average daily trade in the stock has been 773,546 units, with the lowest trade, 522,227, on the 21 of the month.

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Barita APO to be priced at $80

August 24, 2021 by

Barita Investments‘ directors have approved the issue of 125 million ordinary shares at $80 each, with an option to upsize the amount issued by 62.5 million shares to raise $15 billion in an additional public issue (APO).
The New Ordinary Shares will be reserved for the benefit of certain specified investors in amounts determined at the discretion of the Company. The APO should open on September 3, or such other date as determined by the Group Chief Executive Officer and is to close on September 21, or such other date as determined by the Group Chief Executive Officers.
The original notice to the Jamaica Stock Exchange stipulated the issue of up to 160 million units that could have been upsized 80 million shares. Since the first notice to the Jamaica Stock Exchange, on August 5, the stock price moved up from the low $83.90 to $92.77, with the proposed price being a discount of nearly 14 percent.
The company reported nine months results to June, with profit after tax for the June quarter coming in at $1.6 billion, up a strong 62 percent from $990 million reported in 2020 June quarter and ended the quarter, with earnings per share of $1.48 versus $1.21 in 2020. Earnings for the nine months ended at $3.38 per share from after tax profit of $3.67 billion, up 82 percent from $2 billion in 2020.

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Big savings from Kremi’s power plant

August 10, 2021 by

In collaboration with Power Factor Technologies, a power engineering services company, Caribbean Cream has embarked on a major project to install a 630 kilowatt capacity Combined Heat & Power plant fueled by LNG at the company’s premises.

Caribbean Cream post big gains in profit in Q1.

The cost of the project is estimated to be just under US$2 million. The company expects to complete installation and commissioning of the power plant before the end of 2021. “While the company will remain connected to JPS, as to ensure sufficient power supply in the event of higher energy demand, we anticipate greater efficiency and increased market reach,’ a release from the company stated.
The company incurred utility costs of $204 million in the last financial year and is set to grow with more production and expanded cold storage space. Historical data indicates that water is approximately 10 percent of the utility bill; based on this, the electricity cost is currently around $180 million.
“One electricity unit for running machines and the use of heat from electrical generation to be used to heat water and oil to do pasteurization is the maximization of energy efficiency of the plan” an engineer who ICInsider.com spoke to states, the cost savings will be significant, with the estimated savings he stated could be in the region of two thirds which ICInsider.com puts at over $120 million per annum.
The company reported a profit of $101 million for the financial year to February this year, with the first quarter to May coming out at $54 million twice the 2020 first quarter profit.

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30% Cement plant expansion on the blocks

August 9, 2021 by

Caribbean Cement Company has decided to expand its plant during the second half of 2022 to increase its production capacity by thirty percent.
The company “currently produces and supplies over One Million Metric Tonnes (1,000,000 MT) of cement to the local market annually. The planned capacity upgrade is expected to increase CCCL’s production by Three Hundred Thousand Metric Tonnes,” the company disclosed in a release to the Jamaica Stock Exchange.
“This planned capacity upgrade also involves the implementation of state-of-the-art technologies which will introduce novel grinding additives to the manufacturing process to reduce the clinker content in the cement produced by [CCC]. In addition, this upgrade is intended to minimize Jamaica’s carbon footprint by optimizing the heat consumption involved in the cement production process”, the release from the company further stated.
“The total investment for this capacity upgrade is estimated at Thirty Million United States Dollars, the Company stated. The planned expansion comes against the background of a 33 percent rise in the sale of cement by the company in the June quarter following a 31 percent increase in the first quarter and complaints by some dealers about a shortage of cement in the local market at a time when demand is at an all-time high.
The company’s shares that are listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange closed at $94.90.

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