Trading picked up on the Junior Market with 10 securities trading, the most for some time, and ended with 1,459,016 units changing hands valued at $$1,840,696. The JSE Junior Market Index rose 12.24 points to close at 836.83, juts 4 points from the all-time high. The price of 5 stocks advanced, none declined with 1 closing at a 52 weeks’ high.
At the close of the market, there were 4 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and only 3 with lower offers. The junior market ended with 3 securities closing with no bids to buy and 7 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale.
Stocks trading in the junior market are, AMG Packaging ending with 15,100 shares changing hands at $3.30, Caribbean Cream trading 1,020,000 shares at 96 cents for a new 52 days closing high but traded as high as $1.05. Caribbean Producers with 11,000 shares trading, 
closed higher by 12 cents at $2.90. Consolidated Bakeries traded only 100 units at $1, Derrimon Trading finished with 2,335 shares to close unchanged at $2.04, Jamaican Teas ending trading 12,700 shares to gain 6 cents to $2.61, Lasco Distributors ended with 133,688 shares trading, 3 cents higher at $1.50, Lasco Financial Services finished trading with 19,575 units, the price was unchanged at $1.30. There was dealing in 216,282 Lasco Manufacturing’s shares as the stock traded higher by 1 cent to $1.35 and Eppley 2019 preference share exchanged 28,236 units at $6.
Junior market inches away from high
Junior market inches up
Caribbean Cream traded at a 52 weeks high on Thursday of 95 cents in response to improved full year results.
At the close of the market, there were 5 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and only 1 with a lower offer. The junior market ended with 3 securities closing with no bids to buy and 6 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale.
Stocks trading in the junior market are, AMG Packaging ending with 30747 shares changing hands, 5 cents higher at $3.30, Cargo Handlers finished with 1,500 units with a gain of 25 cents to a new all-time high of $22, Caribbean Cream ended trading with 500,000 shares with an increase of 10 cents at a 52 weeks’ high of 95 cents. Consolidated Bakeries with 100,000 shares traded 6 cents higher at $1, Knutsford Express finished trading with 8,000 shares to closed unchanged at $6. Lasco Distributors traded 235,030 shares trading, 1 cent higher, at $1.47, Lasco Financial Services finished trading with 24,030 units as the price regained 7 cents to $1.30. There was dealing in 52,425 Lasco Manufacturing’s shares as the stock traded lower by 4 cents to $1.30 and Eppley 2019 preference share closed trading 48,700 units at $6.
7 stocks rose on junior martket
Caribbean Producers enjoyed another day trading high volume
At the close of the market, there were 6 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and only 2 with lower offers. The junior market ended with 4 securities closing with no bids to buy and 5 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale.
Stocks trading in the junior market are, AMG Packaging ending with 137,533 shares changing hands to close higher by 25 cents at $3.25, Blue Power closed with 230 shares trading at $8.81, Cargo Handlers finished with 20,000 units to close with a gain of 25 cents to a new all-time high of $21.75, Caribbean Producers with 717,178 shares trading lower by 12 cents to $2.88, Derrimon Trading finished trading with 47,549 shares to closed unchanged at $2.04, General Accident Insurance concluded trading with 55,800 shares changing hands to close 2 cents higher at a 52 weeks’ high of $1.82. Lasco Distributors
traded 5,000 shares trading, 1 cent higher, at $1.46, Lasco Financial Services finished trading with 322,888 units, the price slipped 7 cents to $1.23. There was dealing in 6,918 Lasco Manufacturing’s shares as the stock traded lower by 1 cent to $1.34, Medical Disposables contributed 30,000 shares with the price rising 20 cents, to $1.90, Paramount Trading ended trading with 10,000 shares to end with an increase of 39 cents at $3.99. Eppley 9.5% preference share closed trading with 17,150 units and put on just 1 cent to $6.01 and the company’s 2019 preference share exchanged 245,000 units at $6.
Juniors near all-time high
Activity on the Junior Market closed with 6 securities trading and ending with 680,118 units changing hands valued at $867,840. The JSE Junior Market Index declined 25.07 points to close at 811.00, with the price of 3 stocks advancing and 4 declining, two stocks reached new 52 weeks high, with one hitting an all-time high.
The index is just 29 points from the all-time high of 840.18 reached in July 2013, this level is likely to be history once the Lasco companies report earnings, which should be the end of May, based on past reporting time frame. With nearly a third of the market closing with bids ahead of the last traded price, the all-time high should be easily taken out in a matter of days. The junior market is lagging the gains of the main market Jamaican stocks with gains of just 14 percent in 2015 and 33 percent from the low of July 2014, compared to 26 percent for the Main market and 39 percent respectively.
At the close of the market, there were 7 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and only 2 with lower offers. The junior market ended with 3 securities closing with no bids to buy and 9 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale.
Stocks trading in the junior market are, AMG Packaging with 37,855 shares at $3, Cargo Handlers with 3,700 units at a new all time high of $20.11, after putting on 1 cent, Caribbean Producers had 501,000 shares trading at $3.10 with a gain of 10 cents, with the offer at the close, was $2.99 to buy 100,000 units. Lasco Distributors with only 1,285 shares trading, closed at $1.43, Lasco Financial Services had 134,913 units trading and ended at $1.30 with a gain of 10 cents and Lasco Manufacturing traded just 1,355 shares with a gain of 14 cents to $1.35, for a new 52 weeks’ high.
Junior market trading picks up
Activity on the Junior Market picked up on Thursday with a number on new highs recorded as investors increased their exposure to the segment of the market that has been late to the rally.
The market closed with 10 securities traded and ending with 2,839,792 units changing hands valued at $6,035,405. The JSE Junior Market Index rose 28.36 points to close at 785.93, with the price of 6 stocks advancing and 1 declining. At the close of the market, two stocks closed at new 52 weeks’ high and two hit 52 weeks’ high during trading but retreated. At the end of trading there were 4 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 1 with the offer lower. The junior market ended with 3 securities closing with no bids to buy and 10 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale.
Stocks trading in the junior market are, Access Financial traded 2,000 units and lost $1.89 to end at all-time high of $15.09. AMG Packaging price moved up in trading to $3 with 9,000 and closed with a gain of 74 cents, the stock was halted during trading for an hour and then was reopened at minutes before the close at which time it officially traded. Caribbean Producers traded 1,089,045 units between $2.75 and $3, where it closed with a gain of 25 cents. 
Dolphin Cove gained 30 cents with 1,000 shares trading, to close at a new 52 weeks’ high, of $9.50. General Accident Insurance had 1,152,419 shares trading, at a new 52 weeks’ high of $2, the stock traded as low as $1.75 but closed 10 cents higher than Wednesday’s closing price, at $1.80, Lasco Distributors had 177,909 shares trading to close with a loss of 3 cents at $1.40, but traded between $1.37 and $1.43. Lasco Financial Services closed with a gain of 7 cents as 175,000 shares traded, to end at $1.20. Lasco Manufacturing trading of 212,000 as high as $1.30, a new 52 weeks’ high but ended with a closing price of $1.20, Medical Disposables traded only 2,000 shares at $1.70 after losing 10 cents and Paramount Trading had 19,419 units trading at $3.60.
NCB pushes index
National Commercial Bank traded 508,263 shares at a new 52 weeks’ high of $27 on the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Monday morning
and helped to push the all Jamaican Index by 388 points. The stock subsequently traded at $28, while Supreme Ventures traded 20,000 units at a new 52 weeks’ high of $3.10.
Trading resulted in 13 securities trading including 3 from the junior market. A total of 658,835 units traded at 10.45am. Carreras traded 3,878 units but slipped back $1 to $45. Stocks not trading as yet but look promising are Caribbean Producers with the bid at $2.70 to buy 18,348 shares, the stock last traded at $2.70 on Friday. AMG Packaging had a bid for 21,262 shares at $2.33 compared to last sale of $2.26, Caribbean Cream with a bid to buy 535,715 shares at 70 cents versus last sale of 65 cents, Dolphin Cove with 95,864 shares on the bid at $9.20 where it traded this morning, General Accident Insurance having a bid for 663,735 units at $1.70 the same as the last price.
Juniors record no price change
Activity on the Junior Market closed with 5 securities trading and ending with just 67,673 units changing hands valued at a mere $109,559. The JSE Junior Market Index remained unchanged at 732.52, with no prices changing at the close.
At the close of the market, there were 4 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 1 with a lower offer. The junior market ended with 4 securities closing with no bids to buy and 10 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale.
Stocks trading in the junior market are, AMG Packaging had 10,000 shares trading at $2.26, Blue Power closed at $7.51 with 3,400 shares changing hands, Consolidated Bakeries traded 990 shares at 82 cents, Lasco Distributors 10,000 shares traded between $1.43 and Lasco Manufacturing traded 43,283 shares and closed at $1.07.
Low junior market activity on Friday
The Junior Market closed out the week with very low activity as just 3 securities traded compared to 9 on Thursday, ending with 226,263 units changing hands valued at $227,820. The JSE Junior Market Index is up 0.53 points to close at 741.27, with the price of none advancing, 1 declining and 1 remaining unchanged from the last traded prices on Thursday.
At the close of the market, there were 2 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 1 with the offer that was lower. The junior market ended with 5 securities closing with no bids to buy and 11 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale.
Some buyers have backed off their bids with the interested party in AMG Packaging dropping the bid that was at $2.50 up to Thursday. The bid is now back at $2.26 the last price the stock traded at Caribbean Cream closed with the bid for 73,530 shares at 68 cents 3 cents higher than the last price of 65 cents. Offers for the stock are over $1.
Stocks trading in the junior market are, Consolidated Bakeries trading 101,388 shares in closing at 82 cents, Knutsford Express had 896 shares trading at $5.80 and Lasco Manufacturing traded 123,979 units and lost 3 cents to $1.10.
7 junior stocks set to rise
The bid on AMG is at $2.50 v $2.26 last sale, after reporting a 35% rise in profit.
At the close of the market, there were 7 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and only 1 with the offer that was lower. The junior market ended with 5 securities closing with no bids to buy and 12 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale. Noted amongst the stocks with higher bids are AMG Packaging with a bid of $2.50 against the last selling price of $2.26. The company reported 35 percent increase in 6 months profit and an even greater increase in the November quarter Caribbean Cream reported increased profit for the full year and the February quarter of $49 million or 13 cents for the twelve months and 5 cents for the quarter or $18 million. .
The bid for the stock is 66 cents versus the last price of 65 cents. Caribbean Flavours, Lasco Financial, Lasco Manufacturing and Medical Disposables all have bids higher than the last selling prices. The three Lasco companies should be reporting full year results at the end of April.Stocks trading in the junior market are, Cargo Handlers that gained 10 cents in trading 2,200 shares, to close at an all-time high of $20.10. Caribbean Producers with 2,100 units put on 5 cents to $2.35, Jamaican Teas gained 2 cents to end at $2.55 while trading 11,606 shares, 15,400 Lasco Distributors’ shares traded at $1.37 and Lasco Manufacturing lost 5 cents in closing at $1.05 while trading 63,531 shares.
AMG profit up 35%
AMG Packaging, managed a 35 percent growth in profits of $31.7 million for the six months to February this year, the company’s latest financial report shows, thanks to a 194 percent jump in second quarter profit that reached $16 million up from only $5.5 million in 2014.
IC Insider’s forecast, is for profit of $85 million or 85 cents per share for this year and $1.50 for 2016. While profit surged, revenues rose a modest 8 percent in the February quarter and only 4 percent for the six months with sales volume having declined by 9 percent for the half year. The volume decline comes against the background of a 24 percent increase in units sold for the period to February 2014, resulting in a 42 percent jump in revenues. Helping to boost profit, was an improvement in the gross profit margin for the latest quarter to 24 percent versus only 16 percent in 2014 and 23 percent for the six months, compared to 19 percent in 2014.
Gross profit for the quarter amounting to $35.5 million, increased by a very strong 63 percent from 2014 and 27 percent for the six months, to near $70 million. Flat inventory cost and a reduction in other direct cost laid the foundation for the improvement in direct input cost and a swelling of the profit margins. Administrative cost rose 30 percent for the quarter and 29 percent for the year to date period well ahead of revenue growth, thus negating some of the top line improvement.
Cost got hit, with the Jamaican dollar losing value, resulting in 28 percent more Jamaican dollars having to be found to purchase one US dollar, since September 2012. The price of paper on the world market, increased by 22 percent, from US$720 per tonne at September 2012, to US$830 in August 2013 and to US$875, which it has been since June last year.
Receivables are down by $13 million from the amount of $81 million at the end of August last year and so too is amounts in payables by $10 million from $71 million. Cash funds fell slightly to $19 million from $22 million while inventory is up from to $118 million at August to $120 million, which is nearly 4 months supplies based on sales in the quarter and is up from just two and a half months back in 2013 and seems to be a hedge against devaluation of the Jamaican dollar. Borrowings fell from $97 million at February 2014 to $58 million with $14 million to be repaid during the next twelve months, the decline will help reduce cost with lower interest payments going forward.
