Scotia Group reports a 14 percent increase in profit compared to the period in 2016. The banking group added $718 million more in profit to $5.7 billion for the six months to April 2017 over 2016.
Net income for the second quarter rose 16 percent to $3.4 billion, versus $2.94 billion in the same period in 2016. Total revenues for the April quarter amounted to $16.7 billion while in 2016 the group generated revenues of $11 billion while revenues for the six months ended at $23 billion versus $21 billion.
“The positive movement was achieved through increased loan and transaction volumes across our business lines,” the Group stated in a report accompanying the results. Net interest income after impairment losses for the six month period was $12.2 billion, $399 million or 3 percent above the same period in 2016
“Net fees and commission income amounted to $4.4 billion, driven by higher transaction volumes and the growth in our credit card, merchant services, and asset management business. Insurance revenue increased by 31% given the growth in core insurance business and actuarial reserve release from changes in assumptions on valuation of the portfolios. Net gains on foreign currency activities and financial assets amounted to $1.3 billion based on trading volumes,” the Group stated.
Operating Expenses amounted to $11.1 billion for the six month period, an increase of $300 million or 3 percent compared to prior year. Salaries and staff benefit costs increased by $201 million, which was offset by lower other operating expenses of $87 million. Asset tax increased by $112 million or 12% to $1.1 billion due to the increase in the Group’s assets.
Impairment losses on loans amounted to $975 million, up $367 million from last year as higher write-offs on unsecured retail loan portfolio grew by $7 billion or 4 percent year over year, with loans after allowance for impairment losses, increasing to $164.2 billion.
Jamaican Teas dominate Junior Market
Jamaican Teas was the only dominant trade on Thursday.
Trading on the Junior Market was dominated by Jamaican Teas accounting for 79 percent of volume traded and the bulk of the valued on Thursday. Trading ended with 8 stocks rising and 6 falling with 20 securities traded versus 22 on Wednesday.
A total of 3,831,459 units valued $19,055,812 traded, compared to 801,626 units valued $6,349,583 on Wednesday as the market index inched forward 3.84 points to 3,256.94.
At the close of trading, 7 stocks having bids higher than their last sale prices and 4 closed with lower offers.
The Junior Market ended trading with an average of 191,573 units for an average value of $952,791 compared to 36,438 units for an average value of $288,617, on the previous trading day. 
The average volume and value for the month to date are 154,183 units valued at $800,786 compared with 146,705 units valued at $770,385, previously, In contrast May closed with averages of 89,339 units and $596,722.
At the close of the market, AMG Packaging gave up 35 cents and closed at $4.45 with 19,226 units changing hands, CAC 2000 gained 28 cents to close at $7.50 in trading 3,760 units, Cargo Handlers recovered $1.50 of Wednesday’s fall and closed at $16.50 with 3,062 shares trading, Caribbean Cream traded 2,600 units to end at $8, Caribbean Producers traded 48,115 units gaining 15 cents to end at $3.50, Eppley had 9,227 units changing hands to close of $12. General Accident closed 20 cents down trading with 25,227 shares to end at $2.70, Honey Bun had 500 shares changing hands to close at $7 after rising 15 cents, 
Jamaican Teas rose 5 cents to $4.30 with 3,028,443 units trading, Jetcon Corporation ended at $14.60 with 6,762 shares trading, after falling 28 cents, Knutsford Express traded 108,125 shares in closing at $16, Lasco Distributors rose 20 cents and ended trading 2,680 units at $7.45, Lasco Financial fell 20 cents, with 2,477 shares changing hands to end at $3.80. Lasco Manufacturing fell 18 cents to $4.81 in trading 178,193 shares. Main Event rose 15 cents and ended trading 41,289 shares at $6.65. Medical Disposables ended at $6 with 13,168 units crossing the exchange, Sweet River rose 36 cents and ended with 400 units changing hands at $3.86, supply of tTech came out with 260,000 units trading with a fall of 19 cents at $7.51 and Eppley 10% preference share, ended with 4,200 units changing hands at $6.60.
NCB dominates trading Wednesday
NCBFiniancial Group traded more than 4 million shares on Wednesday.
NCB Financial Group dominated trading with more than 4 million shares valued at $286,797,356. The trade accounted for 92 percent of the value traded on the main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
Trading in the main market ended with 5,393,689 units valued at $311,918,709. The US dollar market accounted for 195,859 units valued at US$55,370. On Tuesday, the main market accounted for 1,999,970 units valued at just $31,629,345, well below normal levels.
At the close of the market, the All Jamaica Composite Index rose 338.37 points to close at 262,492.90, the JSE Market Index gained 308.29 points to 239,160.76 and the JSE US dollar market index lost 0.43 points to 214.03.
At the close of trading, 25 securities changed hands with 3 trading in the US dollar market, leading to 7 stocks advancing and 9 declining.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading in the main and US dollar markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 8 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 4 with lower offers.
The main market ended trading with an average of 215,748 units valued at a mere $12,476,748 for each security traded, compared to an average of 74,073 units valued at $1,171,457 on Tuesday. The average volume and value for the month to date ended at 116,619 units with an average value of $4,001,676 compared with an average of 91,837 units with an average value of $1,882,908 on the previous trading day. The average volume and value for May ended at 358,008 units and $9,037,303.
In market activity, Barita Investments traded 8 cents lower to close at $7.02, with an exchange of 1,500 shares, Berger Paints closed at $19.50, with gains of 75 cents, trading 2,417 shares, Cable and Wireless exchanged 171,723 stock units at $1.25, Caribbean Cement closed at $28.82, losing 18 cents with 97,166 shares traded, Carreras lost 1 cent, closing at $84, with 53,352 shares changing hands, Grace Kennedy closed at $42.95, with 12,043 units trading, Jamaica Broilers traded 25,692 shares at $17.50, , Jamaica Producers lost 10 cents to close at $16, with 12,947 units changing hands. Jamaica Stock Exchange closed at $7.10, trading 37,700 shares, JMMB Group exchanged 236,760 units at $20, with a loss of 88 cents, Kingston Wharves closed at $31 while losing of 40 cents in exchanging 24,529 shares, Mayberry Investments gained 9 cents to close at $5.08, with 90,380 shares traded, NCB Financial Group closed at $70, after losing 80 cents in exchanging 4,079,621 shares, 138 Student Living closed at $4.49 trading 1,055 units, 1834 Investments gained 12 cents to close at $1.55, with 2,498 shares changing ownership. 
PanJam Investment closed at $34.70, with an exchange of 19,793 shares, Portland JSX traded 2,800 units at $10.15, Radio Jamaica gained 2 cents to close at $1.67 exchanging 195,500 shares, Sagicor Group closed at $34.25, losing 55 cents with an exchange of 30,881 shares, Sagicor Real Estate Fund traded 41,866 shares at $11. Scotia Group closed at $43.50 exchanging 60,031 shares, Scotia Investments traded 15 cents higher to close at $38, with 111,026 shares changing ownership, Seprod closed at $29.90, trading 12,511 shares while Supreme Ventures gained 10 cents to close at $7.50 exchanging 26,886 shares. Margaritaville Turks gained 0.01 US cent to close at 35 US cents, with 6,500 ordinary shares changing hands, Proven Investments lost 0.29 US cents in trading 188,359 ordinary shares at 28 US cents, Sterling Investments US ordinary share, closed at 11 US cents with 1,000 units exchanged and JMMB Group 7.5% preference share closed at $1.15, with trades of 43,012 units.
Big price changes for Junior Market
Blue Power jumped $3.50 to close at $56.5.
There were big price movements on the Junior Market at the close on Wednesday with reduced volume and value going through the market compared to Tuesday. Trading ended with 6 stocks advanced and 5 declined with 22 securities traded, the same as on Tuesday and market index slipped 7.28 points to 3,253.10.
A total of 801,626 units valued $6,349,583 traded, compared to 982,035 units valued $8,762,028 on Tuesday. At the close of trading, 7 stocks having bids higher than their last sale prices and 1 closed with a lower offer.
The Junior Market ended trading with an average of 36,438 units for an average value of $288,617 compared to 44,638 units for an average value of $398,274, on the previous trading day. The average volume and value for the month to date are 146,705 units valued at $$770,385, compared with 174,272 units valued at $890,827, previously, In contrast, May closed with averages of 89,339 units and $596,722.
At the close of the market, AMG Packaging ended at $4.80 with 2,966 units changing hands, Blue Power jumped $3.50 to close at $56.50 in trading 2,000 units, Cargo Handlers lost $2.90 and closed at $15 with 1,171 shares trading and seems to be heading lower with just one bid at $10.50 in the market currently. The stock has fallen 50 percent from its high of $30 this year. Caribbean Cream traded 4,500 units to end at $8 after gaining 48 cents, Caribbean Flavours traded 3,000 units to end at $12, Caribbean Producers traded 60,066 units and lost 15 cents to end at $3.35, Consolidated Bakeries climbed 60 cents and ended at $3.20 with 122,586 shares changing hands, Derrimon Trading rose 10 cents and ended at $9.50 with 9,897 shares being exchanged, Dolphin Cove fell $1.98 to end at $18 with 3,000 shares trading, Eppley had 500 units changing hands to close of $12. General Accident closed trading with 10,000 shares to end at $2.90, Honey Bun had 19,271 shares changing hands to close at $6.85, 
ISP Finance dropped $4 to $24 with 9,400 units trading, Jetcon Corporation ended at $14.88 with 77,087 shares trading, after falling to a low of $13 during trading, Knutsford Express traded 82,185 shares in closing at $16, Lasco Distributors ended trading 250,200 units at $7.25, Lasco Financial fell 5 cents, with 45,887 shares changing hands to end at $4. Lasco Manufacturing rose 18 cents to $4.99 in trading 22,700 shares. Main Event dropped 70 cents and ended trading 37,123 shares at $6.50, after the company audited accounts for the year to October 2016 shows lower profit than for the 11 months to September. Medical Disposables ended at $6 with 20,772 units crossing the exchange, Sweet River ended with 5,006 units changing hands at $3.50 and supply of tTech has dried up with few units being offered for sale. Investors traded 12,309 units with a gain of 10 cents at $7.70.
Jamaica main market stocks fall -Tuesday
Trading in the main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange closed on Tuesday with more stocks declining than rising leading to a second straight days of decline in the market indices. At the close the All Jamaica Composite Index declined 620.51 points to 262,154.53, the JSE Market Index fell 565.35 points to 238,852.47 and the JSE US dollar market index lost 1.08 points to 214.46.
Trading ended with 28 securities changing hands with 1 trading in the US dollar market, leading to 10 stocks advancing and 13 declining. Trading in the main market ended with 1,999,970 units valued at just $31,629,345 changing hands compared to 1,059,661 units valued at a mere $8,670,794 at the close on Monday. Trading in the US dollar market accounted for 52,647 units valued at US$14,909.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading in the main and US dollar markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 7 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 3 with lower offers.
The main market ended trading with an average of 74,073 units valued at a mere $1,171,457 for every security traded compared to an average of 36,540 units valued at a mere $298,993 on Monday. The average volume and value for the month to date ended at 91,837 units with an average value of $1,882,908 compared with an average of 97,758 units with an average value of $2,120,059 on the previous trading day. The average volume and value for May ended at 358,008 units and $9,037,303.
In market activity, Berger Paints closed at $18.75, with gains of 75 cents exchanging 131,922 shares, Cable and Wireless lost 5 cents to close at $1.25 trading 23,220 stock units, Caribbean Cement traded 9,754 shares at $29, Carreras added 1 cent, in closing at $84.01, with 2,961 shares changing hands, Grace Kennedy closed at $42.95, losing 5 cents trading 9,185 units, Jamaica Broilers traded 46 cents lower to close at $17.50, with 83,176 shares being exchanged, Jamaica Producers gained 10 cents to close at $16.10, with 76,301 units changing hands. Jamaica Stock Exchange closed at $7.10, with a loss of 29 cents trading 7,200 shares, JMMB Group traded 132,068 units at $20.88, with gains of 38 cents, Kingston Wharves lost 60 cents, in closing at $31.40, while exchanging 3,034 shares, Mayberry Investments gained 29 cents to close at $4.99, trading 11,005 shares, NCB Financial Group closed at $70.80, gaining 25 cents after exchanging 94,931 shares, 1834 Investments lost 7 cents to close at $1.43 trading 7,000 shares. Palace Amusement soared to an all-time high of $340, gaining $110 with just 103 shares traded, PanJam Investment closed at $34.70, with a loss of 30 cents, trading 131,937 shares, Portland JSX closed at $10.15, with 1,000 shares changing hands, 
Pulse Investments traded $1.50 lower to close at $14.50, with 24,000 shares exchanged, Radio Jamaica lost 5 cents to close at $1.65 in trading 553,296 shares, Sagicor Group added 55 cents to close at $34.80, with an exchange of 11,800 shares while Sagicor Real Estate Fund lost 50 cents to close at $11, with 22,715 shares changing hands. Salada Foodsadded 95 cents, closing at 52 weeks’ high of $10, with 2,000 shares. Scotia Group fell 30 cents, closing at $43.50 exchanging 96,431 units, Scotia Investments traded $1.35 higher to close at $37.85, with 20,165 shares, Seprod closed at $29.90, trading 17,520 shares while Supreme Ventures lost 9 cents to close at $7.40 exchanging 524,816 shares. Proven Investments traded down marginally with 52,647 ordinary shares at 28.29 US cents, Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.5% preference share closed at $2 with trades of 1,492 units and JMMB Group 7.5% preference share closed at $1.15 exchanging 938 units.
Paltry Jamaica Stock Exchange trades – Monday
Trading in the main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange closed on Monday with a sharp fall in volume and value traded and a drop in the market indices. The All Jamaica Composite Index declining 1,197.69 points to close at 262,775.04, the JSE Market Index fell 1,091.23 points to 239,417.82 and the JSE US dollar market index closed at 215.54.
At the close of trading, 31 securities changed hands with 2 trading in the US dollar market, leading to 10 stocks advancing and 9 declining. Trading in the main market ended with 1,059,661 units valued at just $8,670,794 changing hands, compared to a much higher, 3,774,318 units valued at $94,412,872 at the close on Friday. Trading in the US dollar market accounted for 98,500 units valued at US$28,311.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading in the main and US dollar markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 7 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 4 with lower offers.
The main market ended trading with an average of 36,540 units valued at a mere $298,993 for every security traded, compared to an average of 145,166 units valued at $3,631,264 on Friday. The average volume and value for the month to date ended at 97,758 units with an average value of $2,120,059 compared with an average of 128,368 units and $3,030,592 on the previous trading day. The average volume and value for May ended at 358,008 units and $9,037,303.
In market activity, Berger Paints closed at $18, with a loss of 64 cents exchanging 41,750 shares, Cable and Wireless closed at $1.30 trading 62,785 stock units, Caribbean Cement traded 99 cents lower to close at $29, with an exchange of 3,486 shares, Carreras lost $5 with 950 shares changing hands and closed at $84, Grace Kennedy advanced $2.01 to close at $43, trading 28,738 units, Jamaica Broilers closed at $17.96, gaining 6 cents with 38,773 shares being exchanged, Jamaica Producers lost 50 cents to close at $16 trading 43,524 units. Jamaica Stock Exchange closed at $7.39 with an exchange of 21,947 shares, JMMB Group traded 36,475 units at $20.50, Kingston Properties traded 49 cents higher to close at $11.49, with 1,224 shares changing owners, Kingston Wharves exchanged 1,108 shares at $32, Mayberry Investments lost 5 cents to close at $4.70, with an exchange of 50,700 shares, NCB Financial Group closed at $70.55, losing 44 cents after exchanging 6,431 shares, 138 Student Living exchanged 2,900 stock units at $4.49 and 1834 Investments gained 10 cents to close at $1.50 trading 16,000 shares. 
PanJam Investment closed at $35 trading 3,430 shares, Portland JSX lost 35 cents to close at $10.15, with 3,700 shares changing hands, Pulse Investments traded $2 lower to close at $16, with 9,313 shares, Radio Jamaica exchanged 145,825 shares at $1.70, Sagicor Group added 5 cents to close at $34.25 trading 39,824 shares and Sagicor Real Estate Fund rose 82 cents to close at $11.50, with 2,177 shares changing hands. Salada Foodsgained 55 cents, closing at $9.02, with an exchange of 350 shares, after trading at a 52 weeks’ intraday high of $10. Scotia Group dropped $2.10 and closed at $43.80, exchanging 6,424 shares, Scotia Investments traded $1.35 lower to close at $36.50, with 750 shares changing ownership, Seprod closed at $29.90, with gains of 38 cents trading 500 shares, Sterling Investments closed at $16.90, gaining $1.40 with 5,000 shares changing hands while Supreme Ventures added 29 cents to close at $7.49 exchanging 62,690 shares. Margaritaville Turks exchanged 4,500 units at 34 US cents, Proven Investments traded 94,000 ordinary shares at 28.49 US cents, Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.5% preference share closed at $2 with trades of 5,984 units and JMMB Group 7.5% preference share closed at $1.15 exchanging 415,000 units.
Trading volume drops for Junior stocks
Junior Market stocks closed lower on Monday.
The Junior Market closed on Monday with reduced with 997,351 units valued $7,021,540 trading, compared to 5,891,343 units valued $15,986,987 on Friday. At the close 7 stocks advanced and 7 declined with 19 securities traded, compared to 20 on Friday. The market index declined 15.37 points to 3,317.28.
At the close of trading, 4 stocks having bids higher than their last sale prices and 3 closed with lower offers.
The Junior Market ended trading with an average of 89,906 units for an average value of $369,555 compared to 294,567 units for an average value of $799,349, on the previous trading day. The average volume and value for the month to date are 217,483 units valued at $1,055,012 compared with 281,272 units valued at $1,397,740, previously, In contrast, May closed with averages of 89,339 units and $596,722.
the close of the market, Blue Power lost $2 to close at $53 with 696 units changing hands, CAC 2000 rose 2 cents and closed at $7.22 with 4,640 shares trading, Cargo Handlers eased by 10 cents and closed at $17.90 with 1,063 shares trading, Caribbean Flavours traded 1,513 units to end at $12, Caribbean Producers traded 487,000 units at $3.50, Derrimon Trading rose 50 cents and ended at record close of $9.50 with 170,374 shares changing hands, Dolphin Cove fell 2 cents and ended at $19.98 with 983 shares being swapped, General Accident closed trading with 50,000 shares to end at $2.90, Honey Bun climbed by 56 cents with just 9,225 shares changing hands to close at $6.10, 
Teas closed trading with 2,200 shares, at $4.50. Jetcon Corporation ended at $14.88 with 110,950 shares trading, after adding 88 cents, Knutsford Express traded 81,774 shares and gained 89 cents, in closing at a record high of $16.89, Lasco Distributors lost 30 cents and ended trading 4,127 units at $7.20, Lasco Financial fell 25 cents, with 11,325 shares changing hands to end at $4.05, Lasco Manufacturing fell 23 cents closed at $4.85 in trading 37,127 shares. Main Event lost 10 cents and ended trading 10,531 shares at $6.90, Medical Disposables ended at $6 with 1,407 units crossing the exchange, Paramount Trading rose 3 cents and ended with 12,200 shares changing hands at $3.04 and tTech had just 216 units changing hands at $8 after gaining 49 cents.
JSE main market jumps – Friday
Carreras closed at a new high of $89 on Friday.
The closing indices in the main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange closed strongly higher on Friday by more than 2,000 points even as the advance decline ratio was almost one to one. The market closed with 27 securities changing hands including 1 trading in the US dollar market. At the close, 10 stocks advanced and 9 declined.
Trading levels in the main market ended at 3,774,318 units valued at $94,412,872 compared to 2,282,207 units valued at $48,598,384 at the close on Thursday. Trading in the US dollar market accounted for 27,750 units valued at US$7,906.
The All Jamaica Composite Index advanced 2,195.29 points to close at 263,972.73 the JSE Market Index climbed 2,000.15 points to finish at 240,509.05 and the JSE US dollar market index gained 0.45 points to close at 215.54.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading in the main and US dollar markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 10 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and none with lower offers.
The main market ended trading with an average of 145,166 units valued at $3,631,264 for each security traded, compared to an average of 111,569 units valued at $2,429,919 on Thursday. The average volume and value for the month to date, are 128,368 units and $3,030,592. The average volume and value for May ended at 358,008 units and $9,037,303.
In market activity, Barita Investments traded 10 cents lower to close at$7.10, with an exchange of 82,225 shares, Berger Paints gained 10 cents, closing at $18.64 with trades of 9,642 shares, Cable and Wireless closed at $1.30, trading 541,675 shares while Caribbean Cement exchanged 4,915 shares at $29.99. Carreras jumped $4 to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $89, with 13,837 shares changing hands, Grace Kennedy lost 1 cent to close at $40.99 exchanging 1,141,371 units, Jamaica Broilers closed at $17.90, losing 10 cents with 57,091 shares traded at the same time Jamaica Producers lost 20 cents to close at $16.50, with 82,100 shares traded. Jamaica Stock Exchange gained 19 cents, closing at $7.39 with an exchange of 165,761 shares, JMMB Group closed at $20.50, with gains of 50 cents trading 79,537 units, 
Kingston Properties traded 50 cents lower to close at $11, with 15,277 shares, Kingston Wharves exchanged 15,524 shares at $32, Mayberry Investments lost 5 cents to close at $4.75, with an exchange of 39,790 shares, NCB Financial Group was down 1 cent to $70.99, after exchanging 69,538 shares, 138 Student Living exchanged 2,900 shares at $4.49. PanJam Investment closed at $35, with gains of 50 cents trading 5,955 shares, Portland JSX added 35 cents to close at $10.50, with 1,417 shares changing ownership, Pulse Investments traded 1,000 shares at $18, Radio Jamaica exchanged 7,216 shares at $1.70, Sagicor Group lost 40 cents to close at $34.20, with trades of 179,803 units. Scotia Group closed at $45.90, with gains of $1.91 exchanging 430,372 shares, Seprod closed at $29.52, with a loss of 48 cents trading 1,221 stock units, Sterling Investments closed at $15.50, with 350,890 shares changing hands, Supreme Ventures gained 20 cents to close at $7.20 exchanging 306,881 shares. Proven Investments traded 27,750 ordinary shares at 28 US cents, Jamaica Money Market 7.5% preference share gained 18 cents, closing at $2 with trades of 2,500 units and JMMB Group 7.5% preference share closed at $1.15, with a gain of 5 cents in exchanging 165,880 units.
Junior stocks trade at new highs
The Junior Market enjoyed a day with a positive index move on Thursday as two stocks traded at intraday highs but with closing prices mostly down as 4 advanced and 8 declined as a total of 19 securities traded compared to 20 on Wednesday.
The market index rose 12.13 points to close at 3,344.03 as 5,091,552 units valued $37,926,494 traded compared to 1,267,600 units valued $7,528,786 changing hands on Wednesday. At the close of trading, 7 stocks having bids higher than their last sale prices and 2 with lower offers.
The Junior Market ended trading with an average of 267,976 units for an average value of $1,996,131 compared to 63,380 units for an average value of $376,439, on the previous trading day. 
May ended with averages of 89,339 units and $596,722.
At the close of the market, Access Financial traded at a new high of $52 but ended at $50 with 13,657 units changing hands, Cargo Handlers lost $1.01 and closed at $18 with 1,000 shares trading,Caribbean Producers lost 19 cents with 258,000 units changing hands at $3.60, Consolidated Bakeries rose 15 cents trading 107,844 shares to close at $2.90, Derrimon Trading rose 25 cents and ended at $9 with 10,000 shares changing hands, Dolphin Cove ended at $20 with 8,555 shares trading, Eppley had 24,915 units changing hands to close of $12, after trading at a new high of $13, General Accident closed trading with 46,733 shares to end at $2.90, Jamaican Teas dropped 33 cents and closed trading with 11,484 shares, at $3.67. 
Jetcon Corporation lost 80 cents to end at $14 with 1,001,600 shares trading, KLE Group closed with 25,676 shares trading at $1.80 with a loss of 22 cents. Lasco Distributors lost 20 cents and ended with 1,169,175, units trading at $7, Lasco Financial fell 3 cents, with 30,050 shares changing hands, to end at $4.37, Lasco Manufacturing shed 12 cents and closed at $5.08 in trading 2,114,373 shares. Main Event ended trading of 106,775 shares at $6.50, Medical Disposables jumped 85 cents and ended at $6 with 12,393 units trading, Paramount Trading ended with 988 shares changed hands at $3.10, tTech had 126,334 units changing hands at $7.50 and Eppley 10% preference share, ended with 22,000 units changing hands at $6.60 after rising 10 cents.
Is the end of king sugar nigh?
What is happening to the local sugar industry is a disaster, one made worse by the Chinese taking over the country’s two largest factories.
To read that the already ridiculously low forecast of just 100,000 tons of sugar is being lowered to 91,000, says eloquently, that the industry is in a major crisis and in urgent need of major surgery.
Frome Sugar Factory the report states, closed the crop with only 20,451 tons of sugar from 247,000 of canes, that is a yield of 12 tonnes of cane to a ton of sugar which can be considered poor. In the late 1970s and very early 1980s, Frome produced over 70,000 tonnes of sugar and Monymusk around 50,000 tonnes.
What is really happening in the industry? Long Pond in Trelawny, use to produce around 15,000 tonnes per crop and Dunkenfield just under that. Canes that went to Bernard Lodge that use to produce over 40,000 tonnes of sugar was going to Monymusk. What the data is indicating is that the three smaller factories are producing close to their historical norm, so what exactly is happening why the two big factories are dying.
Pricing maybe a problem but it appears that weak management with lack of experience is the major reason. The reality is that even if Frome continued production to the end of the crop, they cannot be profitable at roughly a third of capacity. Whatever, the factors, the government needs to pay urgent attention to the two large factories. In reality there are just not enough canes in the fields to make for a viable factory operation at either Frome or Monymusk and there are no signs that this critical aspect of the industry is being addressed in the areas close to these factories.