T&T Citizens Bank IPO oversubscribed

August 12, 2013 by

Word out of the Twin Island state of Trinidad & Tobago indicates that the Citizens Bank of Trinidad IPO, which went on sale July 15th and should have closed on Friday, August 9, is to be closed today. The new closing date is due to Friday being a public holiday in Trinidad.

The stock, which was priced at $22 per share for the IPO, is said by our sources to heavily oversubscribed from last week. The oversubscription is in line with comments heard by IC Insider out of Trinidad prior to the opening of the public offer suggesting that the shares will be avidly taken up. The stock, which has a PE of 11 times earnings at the IPO price, is expected to jump in price when listed later this month.

The government of Trinidad & Tobago is expected to benefit from the proceeds of $1.1 billion from the issue.

The take up of the issue is welcomed news for the Trinidad & Tobago stock exchange. Not only will the number of companies be increased but the new issue will generate additional revenue from annual listing fees as well as fees when the shares are traded.

The exchange is set to collect an annual listing fee of TT$130,000 plus TT$25,000 for the trading symbol and a fee for each trade amounting 0.30 percent of the consideration. The Central Depository will also garner fees for each trade as well.

Related Posts | First Citizens’ $1B IPO opens today

Filed Under: Company News, General Business News, Initial Public Offers, Stock Market, TTSE Market Tagged With: , ,

Keep an eye out and buy!

August 12, 2013 by

Monday, 12th August 2013 | With the Emancipendence Holiday season over, will the markets be back on track? Our ‘Stocks to Watch‘ list previews some of the action expected in the markets this week.

Buy Rated Stock | New to our Buy Rated list is Sagicor. Our analysts were quite impressed by their recent quarterly report and will publish their reasons why in the upcoming days. Meanwhile, we reviewed the latest quarterly report from another Buy Rated stock, Barita Investments. In our opinion “At the current price in the $2.32 range . . . investors could reap good returns from this stock in 2014, if not before.”

Better than a broker’s ‘buy’ recommendation, IC Insider has no vested interest in any stock transaction or conflict of interest. Our research is backed by published reports of the company’s performance and insights of future earnings that can be found at ICInsider.com. The final decision to buy, or not, is your personal choice.

Related posts | Profits up at Barita | Sagicor undervalued despite $B NDX hit

To find published reports for a Buy Rated stock on IC Insider, please use category ‘Buy Rated’ under Company News or enter the company name, in full or part at ‘Search IC Insider’.

Watch&BuyAug12th

Filed Under: Company News, JSE Main Market, Stock Market, TTSE Market Tagged With: ,

Pan Jam dividend set at 45 cents

August 10, 2013 by

Pan-Jamaican Investment Trust declared a second interim dividend of $0.45 per share payable on September 20, 2013 to shareholders on record as at August 23. The ex-dividend date is August 21, 2015.

Pan Jamaican made a payment of $1.10 cents in March and forego what would have been a second payment in June. The payment to come is a reduction in the amount that is normally paid per quarter.

Related Post | Pan Jam’s profit dented too

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

Profits up at Barita

August 9, 2013 by

Barita Investments showed vastly improved numbers for the June quarter with profits of $99 million compared to $48.5 million in the same quarter last year. The June quarter numbers had no taxes applied compared to corporation tax of $22.5 million charged for the 2012.

The results swung the loss at the end of the March quarter to a profit of $78.6 million year-to-date for the current financial year, down from a profit of $191.5 million for the same period to June last year. The nine months results is a huge improvement over the loss reported for the six months to March this year. The improvement in the latest quarter came from a nearly $30 million increase in foreign exchange trading and gain on sale of investment of $47 million more than in 2012. However, net interest income fell from $119 million down to $78 million but this may be due to a shift of the investment portfolio to foreign currency denominated investments to take advantage of the weakness in the Jamaican dollar currency, rather than a permanent shift in reduction in net interest margins.

The improved June results seem to bear the fruits of what management indicated would be a diversification of revenue streams by increasing product offerings and growing non-interest income.

Barita Investments suffered a $240 million hit in February as they wrote off investment gains which related to the government’s bond swap. In a release to shareholders, the company in commenting on the March results, stated “without the impact of the National Debt Exchange, the financial performance would have surpassed the prior year to date profits of $143 million”.

Graph_arrow_up150x150March quarter | For the second quarter of the financial year, losses of $98 million were incurred and year-to-date $20 million. The company was able to grow income with the main drivers being dividends, which grew by $13 million, foreign exchange trading and translation gains with an increase of $78 million and unit trust operations. Operating expenses at the end of the second quarter were $240 million compared to $226 million for the same period of 2012.

Looking forward, earnings for this year which ends in September, is unlikely to match that of 2012 due to the debt swap charge. But looking beyond that one-off charge, the results from ongoing earnings make the stock a very attractive medium investment. Revenues could be boosted above normal as the indicators are that the stock market activities will pick up strongly going forward.

Barita is an investment bank with a stockbrokerage arm and unit trust operations. The company is listed on the Jamaican Stock Exchange. At the current price in the $2.32 range and with signs of the local stock market exhibiting increasing interest, investors could reap good returns from this stock in 2014, if not before.

Insider call | Barita Investments is an IC Insider Buy Rated stock.

Related Posts | Barita, Lasco Financial get thumbs up |  NDX hits out Barita’s profit

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

Lasco Distributors, more room to profit

August 8, 2013 by

Lasco Distributors reported an 11 percent drop in pretax profits in the 12 months ended March this year even as sales climbed 10.6 percent for the same period. The March quarter revenues only grew by one percent, pulling down what was a more robust increase up to the December quarter. But things seem to be back on track in the June quarter as revenues are up 15 percent to $2.31 billion, an increase of $303 million over the corresponding period last year and profit is up to $164.2 million, an increase of 21 percent or $28.5 million over the same period in 2012. Earnings per stock improved from 4 cents in June 2012 to 4.9 cents in June 2013 quarter based on the new amount of shares issued.

LASCO Distributors continues to introduce new brands to market. Most recently, Baby Yum Infant Cereal and Breathezy, a generic alternative for Asthma Management, were launched.

Operating Expenses to Sales ratio was 13.1 percent compared to 14.1 percent, a significant improvement over the corresponding period last year.

LascoPills150x150“Revenue and profit performance was due to the increased volumes, aggressive marketing activities and improvement in efficiencies,” the company’s Chairman Lascelles Chin stated recently. He went on to say that “It is commendable that even with increased marketing activities and the introduction of new products each year, the company was still able to contain operating expenses. LASCO Distributors continues to do very well and will expand its range with exciting products and grow its revenues with brands from pharmaceutical principals, as well as our own LASCO brands.  This will be bolstered in particular from the new products to come from the LASCO Manufacturing expansion.”

The company is looking good going forward, especially after September when the Lasco Manufacturing factory expansion is completed and starts production of new products which will be marketed by the distribution company. IC Insider is forecasting that sales will pick up in the second half of the company’s year and earnings increase to $840 million or 25 cents per share for the year ending March 2014.

The company was able to reduce inventories from $1.28 billion at the end of March to $967 million, as such cash and investments increased from $507 million to $817 million over the same period. Current assets exceed current liabilities by $1.69 million at the end of June. There is virtually no debt financing at the end of the quarter and the equity is at a little over a $2 billion.

Insider call | Lasco Distributors is an IC Insider Buy Rated stock.

Related posts | All 3 Lasco companies approve splits | LASCO Distributors lowers profit

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

Honey Bun growth slows to a crawl

August 6, 2013 by

The year 2013 is the year of the snake in the Chinese’ calendar and the crawling pace that the snake normally exhibits is pretty much what’s happening to Honey Bun, a Junior Market listed company. Increased sales and profit which in slowed down in the first quarter of this year, has slowed even further in the latest quarter to June. Revenues crawled along at just 5 percent over the 2012 quarter compared to 20 percent in the Easter-boosted March quarter. Even then, the March quarter growth was slower than the near 32 percent growth for the first 3 months of the financial year.

Revenues were $161 million in the June 2013 quarter up from $154 million in 2012 and profit was only $2.3 million down from $7.5 million in 2012. For the year to date, sales are $540 million, up 17.9 percent from $458 million in the prior year. Profit on the other hand is flat at $40.8 million versus $41 million in 2012.

Gross profit in the latest quarter actually fell by $2.5 million compared to 2012, but year-to-date gross profit is up 9 percent while administrative expenses are up even more by 16 percent to $125 million. The increase to June clouds what has been taking place earlier. There was one-third jump in administrative and other expenses to $41.6 million, up from $31.3 million a year ago.

The company generated $189.6 million in sales in the March quarter up from $160 million in 2012 and for the six months $381.5 million versus $305.8 in the prior year.

Management attributed the reduced margin to rising prices for flour and other inputs, which could not be passed on to consumers at the same pace as the cost hikes. For the March quarter, management stated that sales improvement was as a result of increased sales to new markets and exports, which increased by over 150 percent, year over year for the 3 months.

Healthy finances | The company continues in a healthy financial state with working capital at a ratio of 3 to 1 inclusive of cash and investments amounting to $75 million. This cash is up from $24 million at the end of September last year. Receivables grew at the end of the quarter to $61 million compared to $43 million in 2012.

Equity was $297 million and loan borrowing at a low of $24 million at the end of June. The stock last traded at $4 each but could well decline somewhat with these results. This year’s earnings at the end of June was 43 cents. The September quarter’s results are difficult to predict as it is the worse quarter of the year for the company. As such, the EPS at year end in September is likely to be lower than for the nine months based on past years’ numbers.

Related post | Honey Bun not so sweet in Q1

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

Barita, Lasco Financial get thumbs up

August 5, 2013 by

Monday, 5th August 2013 | Two weeks into the earnings season and quarterly reports continue to flow in. How will the markets respond? Our ‘Stocks to Watch’ list gives clues for some of the market action expected this week.

Buy Rated Stock | New to our Buy Rated list are Barita Investments and Lasco Financial, which brings the number to 5 companies that have received a ‘two thumbs-up’ based on our review of their 2nd quarter results.

Other companies that reported results and solidified their position on our Buy Rated list are Access Financial and Lasco Manufacturing.

Better than a broker’s ‘buy’ recommendation, IC Insider has no vested interest in any stock transaction or conflict of interest. Our research is backed by published reports of the company’s performance and insights of future earnings that can be found at ICInsider.com. The final decision to buy, or not, is your personal choice.

Related posts | LASCO Financial small but tallawah | Access growth continues | LASCO Manufacturing profits in the future 

To find published reports for a Buy Rated stock on IC Insider, please use category ‘Buy Rated’ under Company News or enter the company name, in full or part at ‘Search IC Insider’.

StockswatchAug5 Image courtesy of ImageryMajestic/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Filed Under: Company News, FX Market, JSE Main Market, Stock Market, Stocks to watch, TTSE Market Tagged With: , ,

Cement profit surge – not so fast

August 5, 2013 by

Caribbean Cement Company is reporting a major change in fortunes in the latest quarter ending June from a loss of $497 million in the first quarter to a profit of $359 million in the June quarter. For the six months to June, the Group is reporting loss of $137 million, compared to a loss of $1,204 million in the corresponding period of 2012.

The loss of $137 million is after charging $701 million of non-cash foreign exchange losses compared to $136 million of foreign exchange losses for 2012. In the June quarter, Forex loss is $252 million but interest cost fell by $62 million and is down $60 million for the year to June. The bright light is not all that it appears to be at first sight as the results benefited from the write back of $591 million of withholding taxes on interest that was due to the parent company which have been reversed. The write back results from the restructuring of the parent company debt into preference shares.

Management states that, “We note that even before the write back of the withholding taxes, operating profit for the second quarter had improved over the prior quarter from $98 million to $153 million. This improvement is principally as a result of increased revenue from the 3% price adjustment in the domestic market in April and a doubling of export sales volumes in the second quarter, due primarily to our entry into the very vibrant Panama market.”

cementpour150x150The numbers are saying that excluding extraordinary charges or income and assuming business is maintained at least at the current levels then a small profit should be eked out quarterly.  The preference shares which are redeemable are effectively participating shares and are entitled to receive the same amount of dividend per share as the ordinary shares. There will only be a total of 115 million preference shares to 851 million ordinary shares.

Sales | Revenues for the quarter is up to $3 billion from $2.4 billion last year and $2.68 billion in the 2013 first quarter. Local sales in tonnes was the same as the first quarter but exports grew to 68,000 versus 33,000 in the first quarter. Local tonnage is up year to date by 20,000 tonnes but exports are below last year six months by 34,000 tonnes. Last year the local company exported cement to Trinidad as the plant there was under strike.

The restructuring of US$75 million of debt due to Trinidad Cement, contributed shareholder’s equity moving from negative $2.939 billion at the beginning of 2013 to positive $4,501 million at the end of June. The restructuring of the debt was completed with the conversion of US$37 million to preference shares, in accordance with the approval given by the shareholders at the Annual General Meeting, and with TCL making a capital contribution of US$38 million to defray the balance.

Caribbean Cement’s management stated that “they experienced operational gains through significant improvements in our plant efficiency, in particular specific energy consumption, following expenditure of approximately US$5 million in capital maintenance and upgrade works earlier in the year. As a result of the improved performance, we have been able to meet our debt obligations over the last six months. With the restructuring of the intra-group debt, the threat of foreign exchange translation losses has been significantly mitigated. We expect to maintain the improvement in export sales and grow these even further as we enter new markets in South America. While we do not foresee any meaningful growth in the domestic market, with careful cost management and the expected growth in export earnings, we expect to maintain these favourable results over the rest of this year”.

The June results is pointing to earnings per ordinary share of around 40 cents for a twelve month period. With these results, the stock which has risen from a low this year of 60 cents to a $1 recently, could enjoy further gains in the period ahead.

Related posts | Carib Cement profit mired in concrete

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

Grace’s profit up 41% in June quarter

August 5, 2013 by

Thanks to good pick up in other income and increased segment profit from the food division, GraceKennedy’s profit before tax was pushed up by 53 percent to $1.19 billion and 41 percent after tax of $703 million in the second quarter of the year to June.

In the first quarter, profit after tax was up by just 4 percent and 13.5 percent before tax but the results were negatively affected by the cost associated with the government debt swap. For the year to June, after-tax profit increased by 21 percent over 2012 to $1.39 billion with revenues being up 8 percent to $33.9 billion. The second quarter revenues were up 12 percent to $17.2 billion versus the 4 percent in the first quarter.

In the first quarter, the retail and money transfer divisions did well in growing profits. Banking and investment recorded a loss of more than $200 million while the huge food division only eked out a very small increase over 2012 figures. In the second quarter things looked better all-round except for Insurance which recorded a loss of $100 million compared to a break even position in the first quarter. In the second quarter, the food division contributed $170 million of the increased profit as sales climbed by $1.33 billion compared $470 million in the first quarter. Retailing with just $144 million more sales contributed $74 million more to profits. Banking and investments’ contribution in the second quarter was $229 million, while money transfer contributed $55 million to the increase in profits for the quarter.

In 2012, the first quarter was the highest for revenues than any other quarter, while the profit in the second quarter of 2012 was the lowest. The big jump in profit in the latest quarter is unlikely to repeat at that level for the remaining of the year but earnings seem set to reach between $9.50 and $10 per share for 2013.

GraceRev&ProfitSummary

Grace is a dominant player within the Jamaican market in its traditional business of food and trading and its focus on overseas markets for expansion and growth is obvious. Any meaningful growth in these two areas in the local market would have to come from growth in the economy, which is not likely to happen for a few years due to fiscal deficit reduction. Grace’s deeper involvement in investing in overseas markets with a physical presence could provide the needed market intelligence to grow by acquisitions and thus speed up the growth rate as well as providing a solid platform for the company to introduce some of its existing products to a wider populace.

Increased lending by banks, or the pace of it, gives a good indication about likely growth in profits. As such the 17 percent annual growth of lending by the group’s commercial bank, First Global, is a good indication that there should be pretty healthy growth in profits going forward, subject to strong control on non-performing loans. Banking, of course, is only one area of the group’s business.

Grace is financially solidly based with equity of $33 billion and total assets of $107 billion at the end of June.

The shares are trading at around 6 times this year’s earnings and sells for just under 60 percent of book value and approximately 30 percent of sales, making it historically cheap but relatively adequately priced. This should be a good medium to long term buy — don’t expect an explosive movement in the stock price unless the entire market were to do the same.

Related posts | Dividends: Carreras cuts, Grace ups | Grace looking up

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

Access growth continues

August 5, 2013 by

Access Financial Services is reporting another successful quarter but at a slower pace of 22 percent for the June quarter than for the first quarter. For the six months to June, earnings are up a still strong 34 percent to $119.59 million and $89.38 million in the same period last year. First quarter earnings increased 47 percent to $61.5 million from revenues of $173 up $19 million over 2012 first quarter. For the June quarter earnings came in at $58 million from revenues of $197.6 million versus $47.5 million in June 2012 based on revenues of $166.8 million.

Revenues for the year which was up by 13 percent in the first quarter is up 18 percent in the second quarter over 2012 and up 16 percent year to date. In the June quarter, revenues grew by $20 million over that of the March quarter but expense increased by $23 million led by a $11.5 million increase in provision for bad loans which resulted in slightly lower profit for the quarter versus the first quarter.

The results are coming off of a successful 2012 when it clocked up earnings of $238 million from an increase of 47 percent from revenues of $661 million.

The company’s growth is emanating from very strong growth in loans which increased from $643 million in March 2012 to $758 million at the end of March this year and to $776 million at the end of June. The last quarter is the period of greatest demand for loans and therefore the most profitable period.

Access is primarily involved in payroll lending at high interest rates amounting to about 60 percent per annum but they have been moving to more rapidly expand their offering to the small business sector. Investor’s Choice projects $1.37 per share earnings for 2013 and recommends the stock as a good buy.

The company has increased profits in each year and the stock has grown from $18.30 to the equivalent of $90 each (the stock was split into 10 units for each 1 owned and now trades at $9 each). Investors would have received a dividend in each year since the listing amounting to 65 cents based on last year’s earnings, 45 cents for 2011 earnings and 31 cents per share based on 2010 earnings — not bad for those who backed the issue.

Insider Call | Access Financial Services is a IC Insider Buy Rated stock.

Related Posts | Access Financial defying IPO critics | 20/20 Hindsight: Access Financial IPO

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