Directors and management at TransJamaican Highway (TJH) are enjoying a bountiful period of a fistful of dollars from their recent investment in the company’s shares fueled by a sharp cut in cost with the acquisition of the Subsidiary that was costing them around US$12 million per year and placing them in a position to enjoy a potential of more than tripling of profits over that generated in 2022 from ongoing operations.
Trades by directors and connected parties in listed companies may speak volumes about what is currently occurring in their operations and can be a short term signal to follow. Not all trades have immediate significance, as they may be for reasons unrelated to the company’s performance, like the need for cash or reallocation of investments; regardless, investors would be well advised to take a keen interest in such actions.
The latest announcement of worth is the sale of director TJH that sold 10,457,450 of the company’s shares on June 29, when the average price was $2.45 but traded as high as $2.50, this trade looks like profit taking and seems as if it connected with a big purchase by Steven Gooden who bought 20 million units on March 21, 2023 at a time when the stock was trading at an average of $1.35 with a total of 30.87 million being traded for the day, that included a 2.2 million purchase by a member of the Audit Committee and follows an 800,000 share purchase by a member of the Audit Committee on May 19, 2023. According to the financial report for March this year, John Bell, who previously owned 1.8 million shares, ended with 4.2 million shares, and Ian Dear owned 693,459 shares at the end of the quarter, with none in December. Susan Garriques moved her holdings from 5.042 million to 6.042 million.
Steven Gooden bought 20 million TJH shares in March 2023.
Gooden could have sold around 10.5 million units at $2.50 and fully paid for the 20 million he bought.
A senior manager bought 1,000,000 TJH shares on March 23 and March 24, a director bought 693,459 shares, this seems to be Ian Dear, and a member of the Audit Committee bought 200,000 TJH shares; the other previous trades took place between December 21 and 23, last year when the Chairman of the Audit Committee traded 1,091,164. Bell is the Chairman of the Audit Committee.
TJH released first quarter results with profit before tax of US$6.7 million, an increase of US$5.5 million compared to US$1.2 million for the first quarter of 2022. This increase in profitability mainly resulted from savings realized on the cost to operate the motorway following the acquisition of the Operator and now Subsidiary, plus higher revenues earned for the quarter. Net profit ended at US$5 million, up from just US$0.7 million for the 2022 quarter. ICInsider.com has projected earnings to 0.02 US cents per share or 31 Jamaican cents, indicating much more room for the price to run. At a price that is now less than ten times 2023 earnings, the stock is ICInsider.com Buy Rated.
