Two Lasco companies head to JSE Main Market

February 12, 2024 by

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.

Filed Under: Breaking News, Company News, General Business News Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Profit doubles at the NCB Group

February 9, 2024 by

NCB Financial reported profits attributable to the groups’ shareholders of $3 billion, more than twice the $1.4 billion for the 2022 December quarter, with earnings per share of $1.32 versus just 60 cents in 2022. Total comprehensive income ended at $6.2 billion for the latest quarter versus $24 billion in the December 2022 quarter.
ICInsider.com projection is for earnings of $8.50 per share in 2024.
Net revenues from banking and investment activities rose to $19.5 billion from $18.8 billion in 2022 and insurance activities delivered net revenues of $14.9 billion compared to $9.5 billion in the prior year. Net operating revenues amount to $34.5 billion compared to $26.9 billion in 2022.
Staff costs ticked slightly higher to $13.6 billion from $13.1 billion in the prior year but depreciation charges more than doubled from $1.2 billion in 2022 to $2.4 billion, while other expenses rose from $8.2 billion to $9.6 billion in 2023.
Importantly, credit impairment losses fell from $1.17 billion in 2022 to $ 877 million in the December 2023 quarter.
Loans advanced to customers rose just under 5 percent to $621 billion from $592 billion in the prior year and up 1.3 percent over September at $613 billion, a development that is going to be a drag on earnings in the near term.
The stock climbed to $69.75 in early morning trading on Friday, up from $65.05 at the close on Thursday.
Shareholders’ Equity ended the period at $160 billion up from $133 billion at the end of December 2022. The company’s directors are meeting on February 16 to consider a dividend payment.

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

Dolla profit slows in final 2023 quarter

February 7, 2024 by

Dolla Financial led trading on Tuesday with 7.19 million shares before the release of full year results.  The company reported results for the financial year 2023, with a profit Verizon 54 percent to $430 million from $280 million in the previous year but earnings per share dipped to 17 cents from 18 cents in 2022.
Revenues rose 64 percent from $740 million in 2022 to $1.2 billion in 2023.
The company reported profits of $103 million in the December quarter which was flat compared with the previous year after taxation, from revenues that rose 21 percent to $321 million from $265 million in the December quarter of 2022.
Net interest income grew 18 percent to $266 million in the December 2023 quarter from $225 million in the prior year and moved 57 percent from $661 million for the 12 months in 2022 to $1 billion in 2023.
Dolla ended the year with shareholders’ equity of $988 million at the end of the year from $721 million and borrowed $2.25 billion at the end of the year costing it $206 million in interest during the year compared with interest of $79 million on $1.4 billion due lenders at the end of 2022. Loans granted to customers amount to $2.84 billion up 84 percent from $1.73 billion at the end of 2022.
The company is highly leveraged currently and may well have seek additional long term equity to be able to increase borrowing in order to maintain the aggressive growth that it experienced in the past.
The stock closed at a near record of $2.98 in Tuesday’s trading at a historical PE of 17.5 and above the market average of 13.4.

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

Supply is low for Scotia Group’s stock

February 5, 2024 by

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.

Filed Under: Breaking News, Buy Rated, Company News, General Business News Tagged With: , , , , ,

Fosrich heading back to market

February 1, 2024 by

Junior Market listed FosRich is considering another Public Offer of shares to the market, a release from the company to the Jamaica Stock Exchange indicates and if approved would represent the second public offering of shares in less than a year.

The company offered 55,729,647 shares to the public in July 2023 at $2.50 each which was fully taken up.
According to the Stock Exchange release, the directors will meet on February 6 to consider a recommendation to shareholders at an extraordinary meeting, the issue of the additional ordinary shares, at a time to be determined.
The company’s nine-month results, show revenues of $2.86 billion, up 11 percent from $2.58 billion in 2022 resulting in a profit plunging to just $135 million from $388 million in the prior year with earnings per share of 3 cents compared to 8 cents in 2022 in the prior period. The company reported a loss of $27 million in the third quarter compared to a profit of $90 million in the similar 2022 quarter
Fisrich shares traded 3.2 million shares with a gain of 17 cents yesterday to close at $2.47.

Filed Under: Breaking News, Company News, Company Results, Initial Public Offers Tagged With: , , , ,

Top 5 JSE dividend paying stocks now

January 26, 2024 by


Companies with earnings that are consistently growing are usually the best dividend paying stocks to invest in if income is a prime objective. They will have more room to make increased dividend payments in the future.
Investors looking for the best dividend paying stocks on the Jamaica Stock Exchange should take the above factors into consideration. It is also a good factor to consider when buying stocks that are likely to increase in value over time.
On the Jamaica Stock Exchange, the Main Market, Carreras is the king of dividend payment with a yield of 11 percent based on the latest stock price of $8 in 2023, followed by Transjamaican Highway and at 7 percent, Scotia Group at 5 percent based on the last dividend paid of 40 cents and annualised, at a then stock price of $34. What is interesting about Scotia is the traditional metric is for the company to pay between 40 to 50 percent of profits.
Scotia historically pays just above 40 percent of profit, but that seems to have been interrupted as a result of the negative impact that flowed from the Covid 9 economic dislocation. The company reported earnings of $5.54 and that would suggest an annual dividend of $2.20 which would translate to a dividend yield of 6.7 percent with 2024 likely to be higher.
The Junior Market has two stocks with attractive yields Dolphin Cove and MailPac at 7 percent each. The payout for MailPac represent a full years’ profit.
Yields may have dipped in some cases but that does not change the longer term prospects.

Filed Under: Company News, Dividends, Investment2023 Tagged With: , , , ,

Sharp jump in Express Catering profit

January 23, 2024 by

Revenues climbed at Express Catering leading to a jump in profits in the first half of the company’s fiscal year to November 2023 as it rides the waves of recovery and growth in the tourism industry, resulting in profit jumping a robust 48 percent to US$187,240 in the November quarter from US$126,808 in 2022 and US$1.03 million for the half year, up 32 percent from US$779,649 in 2022.

Ian Dear, Managing Director of Express Catering

Revenues for the November quarter of 2023 climbed 23 percent to US$5.18 million from US$4.2 million in 2022 and were up 27 percent for the year to date, US$11.58 million compared to US$9.1 million in the previous year. Operating profit climbed 30 percent to US$846,457 for the quarter versus  US$653,395 in the previous year and for the half year, it climbed 22 percent to US$2.25 million from US$1.85 million in 2022.
Finance costs took a nice bite out of numbers with an interest cost of US$660,608 in the 2023 November quarter from US$552,584 in 2022 and US$1.2 million for the half year from US$1 million in 2022. Most of the finance cost should be recovered from related companies that owe US$15.4 million and rising each year and is up from US$13.5 million in 2022. Had these funds not been lent out interest cost would have been substantially less with borrowings of US$9.5 million.
Earnings for the latest quarter ended at 0.01 US cents and 0.063 US cents for the half year. ICInsider.com projects 0.36 US or 55 cents Jamaican for the full year and J$1.10 for 2025. Based on these earnings the PE of the stock is only 7.2 or just over half of the market average of 13.2, suggesting a healthy upside for the stock in the months ahead.

Filed Under: Breaking News, Company News, Company Results

Operating profit surges at Margaritaville

January 17, 2024 by

Turks and Caicos based Margaritaville ended the second quarter of their fiscal year to November 2023 with a profit of US$70,000, down 81 percent from US$360,758 in the second quarter to November 2022, with revenues of US$1.54 million up 14 percent from US$1.35 million in 2022.

Margaritaville – Turks & Caicos

The sharp reduction in profit is due to the company earning one off income in the prior year of US$319,000 but incurred a loss of US$67,884 in 2023 for the half year and US$25,000 in the quarter. Excluding the one off income profit would have surged 67 percent over 2022.
Operating revenues for the half year were US$3.34 million in 2023, up 20 percent from US$2.78 million in 2022 and delivered net profit of US$299,734 for the half year down 34 percent from $455,196 in 2022 that was boosted by the one off other income of US$319,128. Excluding the one time other income, profit would have jumped 120 percent.
Profit for the Quarter before interest expenses and other income was US$100,145, up 42 percent from US$70,403 in 2022 and grew 94 percent to $378,800 for the half year versus US$193,844 in 2022.
The company reported that the average spend per passenger was US8.29, for the quarter, with earnings from the 185,739 passengers that cruised on 51 vessels, compared to the prior year with earnings from 168,000 passengers, for an average spend of US$8.05. The total passenger count for the six months to November 2023 was 411,728, compared to 343,456 for the same period in 2022 and produced revenue of US$8.12 per passenger. The performance for the year to November is still below that in 2019, the company stated.
Earnings per Share ended at 0.104 US cents for the November quarter and for the six months 0.534 US cents. The stock traded at J$15 on  the JSE Main market on Tuesday.

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

Main Event disappoints in Q4

January 16, 2024 by

Fourth quarter revenues at Main Event dropped significantly dropped 26 percent to $335 million from $455 million in 2022 with profit plunging 117 percent to a loss of $8 million from a profit of $47 million in 2022.
The company reported profits for the year of $207 million, rising a solid 37 percent from $151 million for 2022, from a 24 percent rise in revenues to $1.92 billion, up from $1.49 billion in 2022, with earnings per share of 69 cents versus 50 cents for the previous year.
ICInsider.com projects earnings of 90 cents per share for the 2024 fiscal year.
Gross profit for the quarter fell to $249 million from $211 million in 2022 and for the year to date, it rose by 28 percent to just over $1 billion from $755 million. Administrative and other expenses rose 37 for the year to $795 million from $579 million in 2022 but were flat for the quarter at $195 million in both years.
The company ended the year in a healthy cash position with $456 million in the bank.

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

Profit plunges at Paramount

January 14, 2024 by

Profit dropped sharply at the Junior Market distributor, Paramount Trading for the November 2023 half year to $82 million from $149 million in 2022 and plunged from $65 million in the November quarter 2022 to just $25 million in the latest quarter.  
Operating revenues declined by 27 percent to $439 million in the November quarter from $601 million in the similar quarter in 2022 and for the half year, revenues fell by 28 percent from $1.2 billion to just $865 million. The company generated nearly $15 million in other operating income for the quarter versus a loss of $3, million in 2022, with the half year bringing in $33 million up from $27 million in 2022.
The company’s management attributes the reduction in revenues and profits, “primarily in the food grade and SIKA-construction segments that resulted from a one-off supply challenge and the expiration of a large building project respectively”. They also indicate that “the technical grade segment which accounted for 52% of total revenue performed one percent above the prior year. The lubricant segment also performed well with a 10 percent growth in revenues.”
Gross profit declined at a slower pace than the fall in revenues with the November quarter suffering a 19 percent fall from $202 million in 2022 to $164 million in 2023 and for the half year it declined 17 percent from $435 million down to $363 million. At the same time, administrative, selling and distribution costs rose marginally by 2.5 percent in the November quarter to $120 million from $117 million in 2022 and for the half year it declined 1.2 percent from $242 million down to $239 million.
Profit resulted in 1.6 cents earnings per share for the quarter down from 4.2 cents in the similar period in 2022 and 5.3 cents for the six months to November, a fall from 9.6 cents in the prior year.

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