Atlantic Hardware lands on Junior Market


Atlantic Hardware, fresh from the successful public issue of shares in March, was listed on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Friday and closed with 1.90 million stocks trading, with the price declining from the public issue price. The listing restored the number of listed companies to 48, following the delisting of tTech in February.

Trading ended with just 38 securities changing hands compared with 37 on Thursday and ending with prices of 11 rising, 16 declining and 11 closing unchanged.
The market closed with trading of 10,948,839 shares for $47,033,318, down from 11,731,854 stock units at $80,157,352 on Thursday.
Trading averaged 288,127 shares at $1,237,719, down from the 317,077 stocks at $2,166,415 on Thursday with the month to date, averaging 327,758 units at $1,214,320 compared to 339,903 stock units at $1,207,149 on the previous day and March with an average of 307,021 shares at $759,432.
Fontana led trading with 4.05 million shares for 37 percent of total volume followed by ONE on ONE Educational which ended with 1.97 million stocks for 18 percent of the day’s trade, newly listed, Atlantic Hardware closed with 1.90 million stocks for 17.4 percent of the volume traded and Kintyre Holdings with 1.08 million stock units for 9.8 percent market share.
At the close of the market, the Junior Market Index skidded 19.86 points to finish at 3,557.50. The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows six stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices and three with lower offers.
The Junior Market ended trading with an average PE Ratio of 14.3, based on last traded prices in conjunction with earnings projected by ICInsider.com for financial years ending around August 2025.
At the close of the market, newly listed Atlantic Hardware dropped 5 cents from the $1 IPO price and to 95 cents with trading in 1,902,934 shares, Caribbean Cream popped 30 cents to $2.60 after an exchange of 3,582 stocks, Derrimon Trading dipped 5 cents to finish at $1.85 with a transfer of 596,195 units. Dolla Financial sank 8 cents in closing at $2.65 with 80,222 shares passing through the market, Fontana dropped 18 cents to end at $9.50 in trading 4,047,971 stock units, Fosrich fell 25 cents to close at $2.45 with the trading of 213,403 shares. Indies Pharma gained 14 cents to end at $3.55 with 73,467 stocks switching owners, Jetcon Corporation rose 12 cents to close at $1.18 as investors exchanged 5,000 units, Knutsford Express skidded $1.09 to end at $13.40 after a transfer of 160 stock units. Medical Disposables climbed 22 cents in closing at $1.71 after investors ended trading 10,000 shares, Omni Industries increased 14 cents and ended at $1 in an exchange of 5,000 stocks, Regency Petroleum rallied 16 cents to finish at $3.55 with traders dealing in 136,802 units and Stationery and Office Supplies sank 18 cents to $1.41 in an exchange of 62,183 stock units.

Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.

Atlantic Hardware plunges 17%


Shares of Atlantic Hardware and Plumbing were listed on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Friday, with trading in 1,024,225 between $1.10 and a low of 83 cents when trading in the stock was halted for breaching the exchange circuit breaker rule, with the price having dropped 17 percent to 83 cents from the $1 IPO price.

At the halting of trading in the stock, ahead of the suspension just after 10 this morning, only one share was traded at 83 cents and 2,050 above $1 at the start. Demand for the stock was slow and selling lukewarm, with 1.409 million shares on offer for sale.
Trading will resume three minutes after 11 this morning. Atlantic brings listing back to 48, following the delisting of tTech recently.

Atlantic IPO 13% oversubscribed



The public share offer by Atlantic Hardware & Plumbing was oversubscribed and closed as scheduled, on March 13 but was not enthusiastically received. The effective oversubscription amounts to just under 13 percent and will result in the stock struggling to retain its value when listed.

Only 500 million shares were offered at $1 each of which just 100 million units were earmarked for the general public. Applications for all reserved shares have been fully allotted. The General Public pool was oversubscribed and applicants will be allotted the first 100,000 shares applied for and 64.48 percent of the balance, JMMB Securities, the brokers for the issue stated in a release on Friday.
The shares are expected to be listed and begin trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange Junior Market by April 4, the JMMB Securities release stated.

Paul Scott set for 8 JSE listings


Another Paul Scott’s company is headed to the Junior Market and will bring the total companies listed to 9, these include Seprod, Caribbean Producers, General Accident, AS Brydens and Sons, Eppley, Epply Caribbean Property Fund, Productivity Business Solutions and Stanley Motta. Scott also has a significant interest in Lumber Depot and Transjamaican Highway in which Musson owns over 595 million shares and is the third largest shareholder.

Atlantic Hardware & Plumbing Company, a 30-year-old wholesale distribution company is offering 499,999,800 shares at $1 each for subscription. Just 200 million will be available to the public as JMMB Group is set to convert loans into shares. The shares are slated to be listed on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange. The company with a staff complement of 35 is located at 105-107 Marcus Garvey Drive.  The issued share capital is currently 1.95 billion ordinary units. Construct Group owns 975 million units, Lumber Depot 682.5 million units and General Accident 292.5 million shares.  The offer opens on the 27th of February and is scheduled to close on the 13th of March and will most likely close well ahead of the closing date, with only 100 million available for the general public.
The lead broker is JMMB Securities, an affiliate, the holder of a convertible bond, is entitled to exercise the conversion option for up to 300 million shares at $1 per share.
The net proceeds of $470 million will be used to repay debt, this includes the conversion of JMMB convertible bond representing 300 million units.
At the end of September last year borrowed funds surged to $1.34 billion compared to just $177 million at the end of 2023 as the company embarked on a share buyback, in a classic engineering exercise to get it to fit into the Junior Market capital size.

Revenues in 2023 amounted to $1.4 billion with a profit of $147 million before tax. Revenues declined from the 2021 and 2022 levels of $1.67 billion with profit before tax of $318 million and $290 million respectively.  Revenues of $440 million were generated in the September quarter up 30 percent from $339 million in 2023 and for the nine months to September, revenues climbed by 12 percent to $1.23 billion from $1.1 billion in 2023. Profit for the quarter before taxation was $18.7 million versus $69 million and for the year to September 2024 – $84 million compared with $236 million in 2023.
In January, this year, Atlantic sold real property on Ashenheim Road in Kingston. The net sale proceeds will be used to repay approximately $230 million of existing indebtedness. Borrowed funds should fall to around $200 million from the combination of the IPO proceeds and internal funds. Accordingly, interest cost that was $48 million in the September quarter should drop around $20 million annually.
The PE ratio works out at 12.5 times earnings which is unlikely to move the stock much with the market average currently around 13 but there several that are trading above 15. This is not one those companies that has a great future ahead of it and most investors should look elsewhere for better prospects.

Lumber Depot buys 35% of Atlantic Hardware

Lumber Depot announced the acquisition of a 35  percent in Atlantic Hardware & Plumbing Company Limited, a 30 year old Jamaican company, engaged in the wholesaling and distribution of hardware, building materials, plumbing, electrical, tools, and supplies to hardware stores, contractors, and developers across Jamaica.

Lumber Depot acquisition announcement.

The business located on “Ashenheim Road in Kingston is led by Managing Director, Deanall Barnes, an experienced business leader in the trading and distribution of building materials”, the release from Lumber Depot states.
There will be no change to the business strategy of Atlantic. Accordingly, it will continue to operate as a dedicated hardware wholesaler and distributor. The acquisition’s purchase price is $210 million and was funded with internal funds.
The investment will account for from May 1, 2024 by Lumber Depot. The majority shareholder of Atlantic is Construct Group, a private investment company.
Lumber Depot did not disclose either revenues nor profitability of the company in which the shares were acquired. ICInsider.com projects the company to get a boost in profits as a result of the investment, that should exceed the returns they were getting on the liquid funds they held. The Lumber Depot netted a 25 percent per annum return on equity up to the February quarter as such, it is unlikely that they did not pay much more than 4 time earnings for the 35 percent acquired and that would boost profit for Lumber Depot around $70 million and earnings per share in the region of 36 cents for the current fiscal year. There are also prospects for economies of scale, particularly in the purchase and importation of goods for resale that could result in cost savings, in the future.