Shameful, does the JSE care?
1834 Investments, (formerly The Gleaner Company Limited) advised the Jamaica Stock Exchange that the Audited Annual Financial Accounts for March, 2016 will be late and unavailable for publication by May 30, 2016. 1834 anticipates that it should be available for publication on or before June 30, 2016.
This is bad news for investors and bad news for the capital market. Both the Stock Exchange and the Financial Services Commission who overseas such matters should hang their heads in shame for such failure that have deprived investors of getting important financial information on the company’s operations for more than 8 months.
In the past several companies have changed their year end, as recently as late last year Desnoes & Geddes and Access Financial changed their but provided investor with results for all relevant quarters, but the Gleaner Company who changed theirs to March from December did not do so. Regulators of the Stock Exchange gave some clumsy excuse why they could not ask for the December quarter results.
The rules of the Stock Exchange are quite clear, listed companies are required to submit a quarterly interim financial report within 45 days of each quarter. In the case where a company opts to release an audited account within 60 days of the year-end, they can opt in lieu of a quarterly report within 45 days.
The focus is on reporting quarterly, that comes before the audited. What seems to escape the regulators at the Exchange is that investors are kings and queens and they are to one to be foremost in the minds of the regulators to ensure that their investment is protected. One of the main means is timely financial information. If the exchange understood this they would have ensured that the Gleaner Company would be demanded to release the December results within 45 days.
Based on the exchange’s inadequate surveillance we now have a situation where the Gleaner Company (now 1834 Investments) have not reported financial for what looks like 6 months and who knows when it will release the information.
Markets thrive on information and that is the reason why the JSE opted long ago to the publication of quarterlies rather than a six months interim and it has served investors well.
21 JSE stocks rose 8 declined on Wednesday
The Jamaica Stock Exchange main market ended with two new 52 weeks’ high as Grace Kennedy closed at $92 and Jamaica Producers traded up to $40 with the announcement of a 5 for stock bonus to be considered at its upcoming annual General meeting. The junior market saw Cargo Handlers trading at a new all-time high at the close. The market closed with 39 securities changing hands, accounting for just 4,021,654 units valued at $52,808,843, in all market segments.
The junior market accounted for 2,139,183 shares valued at $12,635,596 of the total level traded.
Investors pushed the price of 21 stocks in the overall market up, 8 down, including 5 stocks rising and 4 declining, from the junior market as two stocks in the main market hit new highs.
The JSE Market Index moved up 1,243.66 points to end at 153,304.61. The all Jamaica Composite Index rose 1,390.88 points to close at 170,282.32 and the JSE combined index climbed 1,481.01 points, to close at 164,013.11.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading showed 15 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 6 with lower offers.
At the end of market activities, Berger Paints traded only 431 shares but rose 12 cents to close at $4.50, Cable & Wireless closed with a 9 cents gain at $1.37 after trading 52,700 units, Caribbean Cement traded 12,575 shares and gained 99 cents and closed at $24.99, Carreras fell 20 cents with 32,147 units trading to close at $65. Ciboney traded 98,000 units and gained 2 cents to close at 18 cents. The price of 1834 Investments gained 9 cents to close at $1.10, with 25,886 units trading, Grace Kennedy traded 1,022 units and gained $1 closed at $92, Hardware and Lumber traded 10,704 shares to rise by $2.50 to $18.50, Jamaica Broilers lost 20 cents to end at $14.40 while trading 26,842 shares. Jamaica Producers jumped $5.01 in trading 76,138 shares at $40, Kingston Wharves closed with a rise of 28 cents to close at $11.80, after trading 2,728 units. National Commercial Bank traded 14,487 shares, to close at $40.25. Pan Jamaican Investment closed trading at $121 as 18,273 shares changed hands, Radio Jamaica lost 1 cent in trading 5,000 shares at $1.31, Sagicor Group rose by 20 cents and ended with 1,270,216 shares changing hands at $22.50. Sagicor Real Estate Fund traded 15,542 shares and ended at $10, Scotia Group rose 50 cents to close at $30.50, while 43,041 units changed hands, Seprod traded 14,202 shares with the price rising 15 cents to $16.90. Supreme Ventures closed at $5.15 with 112,186 shares changing hands, after losing 9 cents and Proven Investments preference share, traded 24,509 units at $5, with a loss of 2 cents.
Sharp dip in JSE volume on Thursday
Investors pushed the price of 16 stocks in the overall market up, 11 down, including 3 stocks rising and 4 declining, from the junior market. The JSE Market Index moved up 13.42 points to end at 153,882.45. The all Jamaica Composite Index rose 15.01 points to close at 170,928.55 and the JSE combined index gained 44.21 points, to close at 164,532.54.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading showed 12 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 10 with lower offers.
At the end of market activities, Barita Investments ended with 20,617 units trading, to close at $3.05, with a fall of 45 cents, Berger Paints rose 10 cents with 5,389 shares to close at $4.38, Cable & Wireless gained 7 cents and closed at $1.33 after trading 227,698 units, Caribbean Cement traded 3,800 shares to close at $26. Carreras jumped $1.99 with 300 units trading to close at $66, Grace Kennedy traded 18,430 units to gain 90 cents and closed at $89, the price of 1834 Investments declined by 3 cents in trading 34,839 units to close at 99 cents, Jamaica Broilers closed with a rise of 14 cents at $14.64 while trading 13,182 shares. Jamaica Producers traded 2,000 shares at $35, Kingston Wharves loss 13 cents in trading 4,000 stock unit at $11.52, Margaritaville Turks traded just 200 shares and gained 2.5 cents to end at a record 20 US cents, National Commercial Bank traded 10,108 shares, to close with a rise of 14 cents at $39.99. Pan Jamaican Investment pulled back $3.94 to close trading at $121 with 3,969 shares changing hands, Radio Jamaica rose 15 cents in trading 33,600 shares at $1.27, Sagicor Group ended with 201,084 shares changing hands, and gained 30 cents, to end at $22.50. Scotia Group closed with a gain of $1.70 to end at $32.70 while 20,246 units changed hands, Seprod lost 50 cents and closed at $17.50 with 21,667 shares trading, Supreme Ventures closed at $5.39 with 41,000 shares changing hands after rising 59 cents and Proven Investments traded at 18 US cents with 21,329 shares.
138SL dominates – Wednesday
Investors pushed the price of 16 stocks in the overall market up, 11 down, including 8 stocks rising and 4 declining, from the junior market. The JSE Market Index moved up 445.09 points to end at 153,869.03. The all Jamaica Composite Index rose 497.77 points to close at 170,913.54 and the JSE combined index gained 233.84 points, to close at 164,488.33.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading showed 14 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 6 with lower offers.
At the end of market activities, Cable & Wireless reacted negatively to news that there is no planned buy out of local shareholders and lost 16 cents and closed at $1.26 after trading 431,515 units, Caribbean Cement traded 621,000 shares to close at $26, Carreras traded 111,082 units with the price rising 41 cents to close at $64.01. Grace Kennedy rose 10 cents with 69,224 shares trading to close at $88.10, the price of 1834 Investments rose by 2 cents in trading 28,349 units to close at $1.02, Jamaica Broilers closed with a fall of 15 cents at $14.50 while trading 13,760 shares. Jamaica Producers traded 43,641 shares at $35, JMMB Group traded 7,330 shares at $9.80, for a 10 cents loss. Kingston Wharves traded 60,957 at $11.65, Mayberry Investments traded 61,305 shares at $3.99 after falling by a cent, National Commercial Bank traded 80,771 shares, to close with a rise of 10 cents at $39.85. Pan Jamaican Investment pulled back 6 cents to close trading at $124.94 with 25,981 shares changing hands, Radio Jamaica rose 2 cents in trading 11,920 shares at $1.12, Sagicor Group ended with 172,274 shares changing hands, but fell 80 cents, to end at $22.20. Scotia Group closed with a gain of $1 to end at $31 while 16,216 units changed hands, Supreme Ventures closed at $4.70 with 50,959 shares trading after rising 5 cents, Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.5% preference share ended with 45,500 units trading at $2.11 after falling by 3 cents.