Ansa McAL the parent company of Ansa Coating that is currently involved with attempt to buy out all the minority shares in Berger Paints Jamaica, tumbled $2.80 in trading on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange on Monday.
At the close of the market 15 securities changed hands compared to 12 on Friday with the prices of 4 advancing, 5 falling and 6 closed with prices unchanged, with one trading at a 52 weeks’ high. A total of 285,854 shares traded at a value of $1,798,521 compared to Friday’s trades of 751,888 units valued at $8,886,453.
The Composite Index dropped 4.05 points to 1,242.16, the All T&T Index declined by 9.27 points to 1,773.09 and the Cross Listed Index added 0.17 points to close at 95.59.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer ended with 2 stocks with bids higher than last selling prices and 8 with lower offers.
Gains| The last traded price of the securities rising and the volume changing hands are First Caribbean International Bank closing at $8.15, with gains of 5 cents, exchanging 7,040 shares, JMMB Group gained 3 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $1.40 with 9,480 shares trading, Massy Holdings advanced 49 cents to $50.49 with a mere 2 units changing hands and Unilever Caribbean with a 1 cent gain, settled at $46.02 with 112 units.
Losses| The last traded price of the securities declining and the volume changing hands are Ansa McAL tumbling $2.80 to $63 with just 100 units trading, First Citizens with a loss of 24 cents to $31.75 with 11,149 shares valued at $353,982. Republic Financial Holdings traded 4 cents lower, to $101.85 with 5,000 shares valued at $509,250, Sagicor Financial ended at $8.14, losing 1 cent in trading 2,130 shares and Scotiabank was down 2 cents to close at $58 with 695 units changing hands.
Firm Trades| The last traded prices of securities and the volume traded unchanged at the close of trading are, Angostura Holdings exchanged 15,856 shares at $15, Clico Investment traded 150 units at $21.50, Ansa Merchant Bank closed at $40 with 550 units. National Flour Millsclosed at $2 exchanging 226,000 shares valued at $452,000, Trinidad Cement remained at $4.21 with 5,000 shares and Trinidad & Tobago NGLsettled at $23.01 trading 2,590 shares.
Ansa McAL tumbles $2.80
Continued weakness on TTSE
The Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange closed on Friday with 11 securities changing hands compared to 15 on Thursday and all three market indices falling.
At the close, 4 stocks advanced, 4 declined and 3 were unchanged as 236,075 shares traded at a value of $4,854,889 compared to Thursday’s trades of 381,687 valued at $1,583,237. Ansa McAL accounted for $3,081,659 of the total traded on Friday.
The Composite Index declined by 2.22 points to 1,237.33, the All T&T Index lost 0.26 points to 1,783.79 and the Cross Listed Index was down 0.57 points to close at 92.78.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer ended with 4 stocks with bids higher than last selling prices and 6 with lower offers.
Gains| The last traded prices of the securities rising and the volume changing hands are Ansa McAL advancing 21 cents, and closing at $65.80 with 46,839 shares. Clico Investment traded 63 cents higher to $21.40 with 3,000 units, Grace Kennedy with a gain of 1 cent, closed at $2.86 with 33,000 shares and JMMB Group ended gaining 3 cents to close at $1.33, in exchanging 15,195 shares.
Losses| The last traded prices of securities declining and the volume changing hands are Massy Holdings with a loss of 1 cent to end at $48.99 with 920 units, National Enterprises closing at $10.37, after losing 10 cents while exchanging 3,045 units, NCB Financial Group lost 10 cents, in closing at $5 with 36,733 shares and Trinidad & Tobago NGL closed at $22.99, with a loss of 1 cent trading 4,502 units.
Firm Trades| The last traded prices of securities and the volume traded unchanged at the close of trading are First Caribbean International Bank trading 5,000 shares at $8.02, Guardian Holdings closing at $15 with 69,828 shares valued at $1,047,420 and Sagicor Financial at $8 with 18,013 shares changing hands.
5 TTSE stocks fall 3 rise
The Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange continue to slip on Thursday as 15 securities changed hands compared to 17 on Wednesday with all market indices falling.
At the close, 3 stocks advanced, 5 declined and 7 were unchanged at the last traded prices as 381,687 shares traded at a value of $1,583,237 compared to Wednesday’s trades of 142,022 valued at $2,320,841.
The Composite Index declined by 3.01 points to 1,239.55, the All T&T Index dropped 3.80 points to 1,784.05 and the Cross Listed Index was down 0.30 points to close at 93.35.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer ended with 2 stocks with bids higher than last selling prices and 3 with lower offers.
Gains| The last traded prices of the securities rising and the volume changing hands are Agostini’s that gained 1 cent and closing at a 52 weeks’ high of $20.53 with a mere 29 units, First Caribbean International Bank closed at $8.02 with a 1 cent gain in exchanging 200 units and Scotiabank with gains of 3 cents, closed at $58.03 with 2,925 shares.
Losses| The last traded prices of securities declining and the volume changing hands are Ansa McAL ending with a loss of 20 cents, to $65.59 with 251 units, First Citizens closed at $32, after losing 1 cent and exchanging just 19 units, Guardian Holdings traded 50 cents lower to $15 with 10,000 shares. 
NCB Financial Group lost 5 cents, closing at $5.10 with 4,518 shares and Trinidad Cement closed at $4.20, with a loss of 1 cent trading 225 units.
Firm Trades| The last traded prices of securities and the volume traded unchanged at the close of trading are Grace Kennedy in exchanging 21,000 shares at $2.85, Massy Holdings closing at $49 with 7,536 shares valued at $369,182, National Flour Mills trading 318,544 shares at $2 valued at $637,088. Prestige Holdings closed at $10.80 with only 9 units, Sagicor Financial held firm at $8 with 1,097 units, Scotia Investments remained at $2.25 with trades of 10,000 shares and Trinidad & Tobago NGL exchanged 5,334 shares at $23.
Buy Berger – Sagicor Investments
Berger Paints is worth more than $20 per share.
While the directors of Berger Paints are recommending minority shareholders accept an abysmally low $10.88 for the shares with one condition that the bidders as a result of the Offer its holding will most likely exceed 75 percent of the holdings.
No information was given as to how this was possible. Interestingly two entities that control more than 25 percent of the total shares in the company don’t appear ready to sell at least not at the low price offered.
Sagicor Investments, a subsidiary of Sagicor Group who controls more than 10 percent of Berger Paints shares have issued an analysis of the company and the fairness of the offer. They are advising investors to hold or buy more shares at the current low price. It would be an odd situation that the subsidiary of the group are recommending a buy or hold recommendation and the parent did the opposite. A fair conclusion is that they will not sell, in which case the offer fails as most investor thing it will.
Sagicor Investments concluded, “the business has made significant strides in the past three years. This has resulted in the company achieving phenomenal financial success as the company implemented its strategic goals. With a solid foundation established operational and financial performance should continue to improve over the medium term. Though the attractive dividend policy may change, the future earning potential should see the stock trading at a price to earnings ratio within the range of 10X – 12X. The stock is currently trading below this range.”
“Having considered the anticipated economic outcome along with challenges facing the company, including the strengthening purchasing power of domestic consumer, the growth trend in the construction industry and moderate growth in overseas market, the 12 month price target is within a range of J$17.05 to J$20.46.”
Carib Beer brewed in Trinidad by Ansa McAl Group
“Given the price expectation, the current offer of $10.88 is at a significant discount to the value of the company’s shares. Investors would better serve maintain the current position or take the opportunity to increase the position in the stock given the fall-off in the current market price. While there are risks, relating to changes in the management agreement and delisting, the future earning potential of the company should compensate for holding the stock.”
IC Insider.com got wind of a letter by Ideal Group of companies that commented a possible delisting Berger, “we are the largest minority shareholder in Berger Paints at 12%+ of the Company. We find the offer price of $10.88 by ANSA McAL to be woefully-inadequate and have chosen to reject the offer. In fact, given that the share price is now on or around $11 per share, we are buying Berger at this attractive price level, not selling.”
The letter goes on to say, “we are also aware that another leading minority shareholder, shares our views and has also rejected the offer. In fact, they are buying via the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE). Both parties between themselves own around 25 percent of BRG’s issued share capital.”
On investors on Monday bought 60,411 of the company’s shares, on Tuesday 153,142 units, on Wednesday 129,140 shares and on Thursday 148,982 units around or above $11 per share, a clear enough indication that the smart money is not buying into the Berger directors unfortunate recommendations.
Low trading interest for TTSE
Trading activity on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange was just moderate on Monday with just 10 securities changing hands, with only 93,727 shares traded valued $1,208,281 as companies accounting for only 32 units.
On Friday 15 securities traded accounting for 156,178 units valued at $2,255,149 and resulted in
1 stock advancing, 6 declining and 3 remaining unchanged.
The Composite Index declined 0.80 points to 1,243.62, the All T&T Index fell 0.42 points to 1,790.91 and the Cross Listed Index slipped 0.16 points to close at 93.52.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer ended with 4 stocks with bids higher than last selling prices and 7 with lower offers.
Gains| First Citizens gained 4 cents and closed at $32 with 1,500 shares changing hands, is the only security trading with an increase price at close.
Losses| The last traded prices of securities declining and the volume changing hands are Ansa McAL that lost 1 cent, trading just 15 units at $65.79, 
Guardian Holdings lost 10 cents, in closing at $16.10 with a mere 10 units, JMMB Group closed at $1.30, losing 2 cents while exchanging 27,887 shares. National Flour Mills with a loss of 4 cents, to close at a 52 weeks’ low of $2 with 3,236 shares. Trinidad & Tobago NGL slipped 1 cent to $22.99 trading 5,614 shares and West Indian Tobacco closed at a 52 weeks’ low of $125.46, after losing 1 cent with just 7 units.
Firm Trades| The last traded prices of securities and the volume traded unchanged at the close of trading are Ansa Merchant Bank exchanging 4,056 shares at $40, Clico Investment trading 35,920 shares at $20.75 valued at $745,211 and NCB Financial Group remained at $5.10 with 15,482 shares changing hands.
6 stocks rise 1 fall on TTSE
Republic Financial Holdings dominated trading on the TTSE on Thursday.
Activity on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange was the most robust it has been for several weeks on Thursday, with 18 securities changing hands compared to 12 on Wednesday. Advancing stocks climbed to 6 with 1 declining and 11 unchanged.
At the close, 623,687 shares traded, valued $14,619,055 compared to Wednesday’s trades of 185,605 units valued at $2,920,184. Republic Financial Holdings dominated trading with 68 percent of the value of securities traded while NCB Financial Group and Trinidad & Tobago NGL,, accounted for 11 percent and 9 percent respectively.
The Composite Index gained 1.02 points to 1,245.95, the All T&T Index advanced 2.35 points to 1,791.71 and the Cross Listed Index lost 0.05 points to close at 94.05.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer ended with 3 stocks with bids higher than last selling prices and 6 with lower offers.
Gains| The last traded prices of the securities rising and the volume changing hands were Clico Investment added 10 cents, closing at $20.70 with 25,050 shares valued at $517,285, First Citizens advanced 25 cents to close at $32 with 13,991 shares valued at $447,173, Guardian Holdings gained 10 cents and ended at $16.39 in exchanging 7,566 shares. Prestige Holdings gained 5 cents trading 500 units, closing at $10.70, Republic Financial rose 9 cents to close at $102 with 97,510 shares valued at $9,938,129 and Trinidad & Tobago NGL traded 25 cents higher to $23 with 58,033 shares valued at $1,333,816.
Losses| JMMB Group is the only security declining with a loss of 3 cents to $1.32 with 12,851 shares.
Firm Trades| The last traded prices of securities and the volume trading unchanged at the close are Ansa McAL exchanging 1,293 units at $65.80, First Caribbean International Bank remaining at $8.02 with 23,151 shares while Massy Holdings traded 550 units at $48.92 and National Enterprises closed at $10.48 exchanging 434 units. National Flour Mills closed with 493 units at $2.04, NCB Financial Group exchanged 308,000 shares at $5.15 valuing $1,586,200, One Caribbean Media closed at $14.25 with 1,167 units, Sagicor Financial held firm at $8.20 with 5,978 shares. Scotia Investments traded 1,000 units at $2.25, Scotiabank exchanged 25 units at $58.02 and Trinidad Cement closed at $4.20 with 66,095 shares.
Trading jumps sharply on TTSE – Tuesday
NCBFG closed back at a record of $5.05 on the TTSE on Tuesday.
Trading picked up strongly on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange on Tuesday as 16 securities changed hands compared to 13 on Monday leading to 1,180,284 units valued at $18,912,930.
Monday’s trading resulted in only 147,790 units valued at $1,500,893. On Tuesday trading was dominated by Massy Holdings with 55 percent of the value of stocks that traded followed by Sagicor Financial with 20 percent as 6 stocks advanced, 3 declining and 7 remained unchanged.
The Composite Index rose 1.45 points to 1,241.54, the All T&T Index gained 0.04 points to 1,788.96 and the Cross Listed Index added 0.39 points to 93.23 points.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer ended with 2 stocks with bids higher than last selling prices and 4 with lower offers.
Gains| The last traded prices of the securities rising and the volume changing hands are Agostini’s gaining 50 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $20.51 with 1,621 shares, First Citizens closed at $31.68, with a 1 cent gain in trading 7,969 shares, NCB Financial Group closed 5 cents and closed back at a recent 52 weeks’ high of $5.05 with 180,000 shares valued at $907,000. Republic Financial Holdings ended with a gain of 1 cent, in closing at $101.91 with 55 shares, Sagicor Financial advanced 20 cents to $8.50 with 452,106 shares valued at $3,840,314 and Scotiabank traded 2,575 shares at $58.03, having gained 1 cent.
Losses| The last traded prices of securities declining with volume changing hands are Ansa McAL trading 20 cents lower to $65.80 with 1,000 shares, 
JMMB Group with a loss of 1 cent to close at $1.30 with 1,930 shares and West Indian Tobacco with a loss of 2 cents, closed at a 52 weeks’ low of $125.47 with 490 shares.
Firm Trades| The last traded prices of securities remaining unchanged and the volume trading are Clico Investments that closed at $20.60 with 27,562 shares valued at $567,761, First Caribbean International exchanged 154,417 shares at $8 valued at $1,235,336, Grace Kennedy traded 51,000 shares at $2.85. Massy Holdings held firm at $48.92 with 211,025 shares valued at $10,323,313, Prestige Holdings closed at $10.65 with 2,739 shares, Scotia Investments remained at $2.20 with 30,000 shares and Trinidad & Tobago NGL exchanged 55,795 shares at $22 valued at $1,227,490.
Sharp movement in some JSE stocks
Scotia Group closed at a new high of $50 on Thursday.
Scotia Group jumped $3 to hit an all-time high of $50 and Supreme Ventures hit a new high of $12 but the movements were inadequate to prevent to market index of the Jamaica Stock Exchange from slipping at the close on Thursday.
Sterling Investments dropped to a 52 weeks’ low of $12.75 while Investors sold Berger Paints shares down to $13 on Thursday from $15.80 close on Wednesday with a low offer by the Ansa McAl group of $10.88 per share, to buy out the minority shareholders.
Productive Business Solutions that went to the public to raise fresh capital had the US dollar ordinary shares and the preference shares were listed at the start of the day but there was no trading in them.
The All Jamaica Composite Index declined 252.73 points to close at 280,557.39, the JSE Market Index gained 230.27 points to 255,619.55 and the JSE US dollar market index rose 3.69 points to 182.58.
At the close of trading, 29 securities changed hands in the main market with 2 trading in the US dollar market, leading to 14 stocks advancing and 11 declining. The main market ended with 5,056,094 units valued at $68,305,370 changing hands compared to 4,844,593 units valued at $284,429,479 at the close on Wednesday. Trading in the US dollar market accounted for 52,749 units valued at US$12,720 bringing the total of all trades to J$69,946,219.
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 2 with lower offers.
The main market ended trading with an average of 174,348 units valued at $2,355,358 for each security traded compared to an average of 210,634 units valued at $12,366,499. The average volume and value for the month to date ended at $184,094 units with an average value of $4,336,090 compared with an average of 184,581 units with an average value of $4,435,127 on the previous trading day. The average volume and value for July ended at 160,668 units with an average value of $2,691,438.
Offer for Berger not serious
Minority shareholders in the Jamaican based Berger Paints have been made an offer to purchase the 104,990,171 ordinary shares that are not owned by the Trinidad based, Ansa McAl group.
The offer is priced at $10.88 per share, well below the price the stock has been trading at for most of 2017 and ever since the company posted strong increased nine months results in early February, re-enforced by earnings of $1.47 per shares for the full year to March, from a 15 percent increase in revenue. With an 11 percent increase in the first quarter to June this year to $23.4 million even as sales declined due to what the company says to inadequate cement supplies.
According to the offer document, from February 12 and March 11 this year, 659,600 units were traded between $10.99 and $13.56. A total of 834,100 units were traded from March 12 to April 11 at $11.41 to $14.49, thereafter until August 11, the trading range was $13.01 to a high of $23.90 with more than 2 million shares trading. In trading in the early morning session on Thursday 65,035 units were sold down to $13.
Berger Paints traded at a 52 weeks’ high of $23.50 earlier this year.
The offer document states that if the group gets 80 percent or more of issued shares, then they will apply to the Jamaica Stock Exchange to have the shares delisted. That of course is an unlikely development at the current offer price. More than 64 million shares or 30 percent of the issued shares are owned by savvy investors comprising 6 shareholders who are unlikely to accept such a low offer. Any success must have the consent of the majority of these holders.
Local stocks are trading at an average of more than 13 times 2017 earnings and that would place a value of Berger shares at $19 to $22 per share. Going forward, with economic activities picking up, profits should rise even more than at the current levels and would put the value of the stock at a higher level than the above range.
JMMB could continue higher
JMMB Group traded at a 52 weeks’ closing high od $21.45.
Based on the trading activity for the past few days there seems to be increased interest in JMMB Group shares with a sharply declining supply being offered after the company released its first quarter results and announced that they have commenced commercial banking operations in Jamaica.
On Friday the price closed at $21.50 with 782,460 shares traded, after it traded at $23 in the morning session as supply totally dried up at one stage when only a small volume was on offer at $29, the first this has happened in a long time. At the close less than 240,000 units were offered for sales, with most quoted at $22.50. The group reported pretax profit rising to $995 million from $857 million in 2016 but profit after tax just inched up to $613 million from $590 in 2016.
Cable and Wireless came in for buying but sellers were just as interest in selling, in the end supply on the market has been shrinking. The stock could well see side-ways movement during the week, don’t be surprised if the price moves up as supplies around last week’s closing price recedes. NCB Financial Group has seen the price in Trinidad coming close to the Jamaican price on Friday, with demand still strong in that market and no stock on offer. The closing bid in TTSE suggests upward price movement can be expected. Supply in Jamaica is not great, it’s just that buyers are taking their time to acquire and could well be trying to hold out until close to the release of the full year’s results in early November. There was spirited buying of Barita Investments on Thursday gone, with 163,100 units being snapped up aggressively. There was no follow through of such aggression on Friday. It is anyone’s guess where this one will go, in the days ahead, but it is worth watching. Berger Paints pulled back to $14 during the week, with no announcement from its new parent company about the minority holdings. Ansa McAl announced that they would be making a submission about the 20 percent minority holdings in the Trinidad sister company, with no comments about the operations in Jamaica.
Consolidated Bakeries (Purity) stock could fall during coming week.
There is a fair bit of swing in the price of Stationery and Office Supplies with selling coming in during the week, but with buying more subdued than before. Investors can probably expect the price to swing between $4 and $5 for a while. The price could even falling into the $3 to $4 range depending on how fast sellers want to exit. At least that is what the bids and offers suggest, unless there are some increased buying in the week ahead.
Jamaican Teas after reporting nine months results with increased earnings per share over 2016, traded as high as $5.30 during the day but closed at $5 as increased interest was visible for the stock, suggesting that the price could rise further. Jetcon Corporation continues to attract buying interest after posting doubling of profits for the first six months of 2017 and traded as high as $5.70 before pulling back to $5.50 at the close on Friday, with bids to buy in line with the closing price. Paramount Trading came in for some buying with the price recovering from its fall to $2.50 recently after the company stated that they were I the process of constructing the Lubricant plant with operations to commence later this year. Currently supply below $4 is scanty.
Consolidated Bakeries reported a loss in its June quarter leading to a fall in the stock price. Selling continues with more than 660,000 units on offer at $2.15 and weak bids. Further decline is to be expected.