Ciboney gains 107% & Transjamaican 93% for 2023

It was not a great year for Jamaican stocks in 2023, with all three Jamaica Stock Exchange markets declining, with the Main Market dropping 9 percent, marginally below the 10.2 percent fall in the JSE Index in 2022. The Junior Market slipped 2.5 percent for the year compared to a 16.3 percent gain in 2022 while the USD market fell 1.2 percent compared with a 14 percent rise in 2022. Main market stocks were helped considerably by the market recovering 6.5 percent since early December with the market closing with a bullish tone.
Ciboney was the Jamaica Stock Exchange best performing stock for 2023 in the Main Market with gains of 107 percent, followed by Transjamaican Highway, with an outstanding performance, ending the year up 93 percent and paid a dividend of 18.7 cents for an overall return to investors from the start of the year of 106 percent. The next best performing stock was AS Bryden, the Trinidad based, majority Jamaican ownership, up by 47 percent from the listed price of $22.50 in November. Buoyed by improved results for the fiscal year 2023 and the first quarter profit results to September, Wisynco Group gained 22 percent and Stanley Motta 14 percent followed by the Trinidad based Massy Holdings up 13 percent, in a year when only 13 stocks posted gains in the main market.
Losing stocks were plentiful during the year, with 38 or 78 percent decline in the Main Market.
The worst performing stock was the real estate development company, First Rock Real Estate Investments with a 46 percent decline, followed by Palace Amusement down 44 percent, Guardian Holdings sinking 39 percent, Jamaica Stock Exchange and Berger Paints both losing 37 percent, followed by Pulse Investments down 34 percent and Key Insurance with a fall of 32 percent.