Trading the Jamaican Stock Exchange is off to a slow start with the main market indices falling while the juniors was up slightly after 75 minutes of trading on Monday. An average of 27,944 per active stock traded, up from an average of 1.4 million units traded in the mid-morning session on Friday. The average on Friday was pushed up by a 43.6 million units of RJR.
A total of 24 securities, accounting for only 670,666 shares changed hands at 10.45 am as 7 stocks gained and 3 declined, reversing the negative trend in place for a few trading days. The only trade of note has been Scotia Group with 2,441 units trading at $32.99 compared with the last price on Friday, of $30 and Cable & Wireless trading 22,817 shares, with a 8 cents gain, taking the price to $1.09 but now has a bid at $1.12 to buy 150,000 units, a total of 964,692 units were offered for sale at $1.20.
Supreme Ventures has 10,053,513 units on offer at $5 but with the bid at $4.86 for 1,601 shares.
The market saw all Jamaica Composite Index fell 249.28 points to 169,681.55, the JSE Market Index dipped 222.90 points to 152,767.43 the JSE combined index ending with a fall of 148.98 points to 160,377.68 and the junior market index moved up by 5.63 points to 1,820.00.
Juniors up majors down early Monday
Sharp fall for JSE – Tuesday
Iron Rock Insurance traded for the first time since it went public earlier in March with 1,000 shares changing hands at $3.51 and is up from $3 per share it was offered to the public at.
The Jamaica Stock Exchange has gotten off to a rocky start on Tuesday big losses the main market indices in early trading but the junior market enjoyed moderate gain. Fall in the prices of some big capitalization stocks rock the indices. Falling are Cable & Wireless with a loss of 5 cents to $1.37, National Commercial at $40.5o down 50 cents, 
Sagicor Group lost 95 cents to be trading at $22.05, Scotia Group lost $54 cents to be at $30.46 and Scotia Investments trades at $26.30 down from $28.
After 75 minutes of the market’s opening, 29 securities traded, accounting for 11,795,810 shares changing hands. A total of 5 stocks gained and 13 declined.
The all Jamaica Composite Index dropped 2,026.54 points to 168,402.89, the JSE Market Index slipped 1,813.37 points to 151,622.41, the JSE combined index ended with a fall of 1,532.81 points to 160,439 but the junior market index rose gained 19.26 points to 1,934.03.
Jamaica Broilers traded 3,268,865 shares at $14.50, JMMB Group 7.50% traded 8,000,000 units but fell 13 cents to $1.07. Cargo Handlers traded at a new high of $43 with only 126 units changing hands and Lasco Manufacturing traded 8,450 units at $3.90 versus $3.50 it closed at on Monday.
JSE enjoyed gains on Thursday
The Jamaican stocks made modest recovery on Thursday, with rising securities numbering 14 while 9 fell as 33 changed hands in all market segments. At the close 2 stocks ended at the close at 52 weeks’ highs with 7,003,022 units valued at $220,074,759.83 changed hands in all markets. The junior market 
accounted for 1,023,326 units changing hands, valued at $4,965,280.
The JSE Market Index rose 584.16 points to 154,828.16 the all Jamaica Composite Index gained 652.83 points to end at 171,985.50 and the JSE combined index climbed 703.51 points to close at 163,692.87.
The market saw a number of stock recording large price movements with Caribbean Cement jumping $2.94 Jamaica Producers traded 67,930 shares and gained of $5.50 to close at a new 52 weeks’ high of $35.50, Grace up 95 cents while trading 432,842 units, National Commercial Bank with a gain of 85 cents with 3,860,701 shares traded. Berger Paints lost 88 cents. Cable & Wireless traded 507,879 units, JMMB Group traded 410,308 units to gain 23 cents.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading was 17 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 8 with lower offers. 
JSE suffered from uncertainty – Wednesday
Jamaica Producers traded at a 52 weeks’ intraday high of $35.05 on Wednesday.
The JSE Market Index suffered a fall of 191.17 points to 154,244.00 the all Jamaica Composite Index dropped 213.64 points to end at 171,332.67 and the JSE combined index dropped 224.85 points to close at 162,989.36. The main market recovered from losses in the indices in the morning session with the all Jamaican Composite Index dropping more than 1,000 points.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading was 14 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 11 with lower offers.
At the end of the market activities, Cable and Wireless gained 5 cents as 9,498 units changed hands to close at $1.50, Caribbean Cement rose $1.56 on Wednesday to end at $22.06 with 123,032 shares trading, Carreras closed with a gain of 50 cents at $65, while trading 216,663 units. Gleaner Company gained 5 cents to close at $2 as 101,689 shares changed hands, Grace Kennedy ended with 3,541 shares trading to close at $83 after declining by $1, the stock traded in Trinidad at the equivalent of $94 on Wednesday. Jamaica Broilers rose 50 cents after trading 566,345 units to close at $14.50, Jamaica Producers ended with 1,323,480 shares changing hands at $30, the stock traded at an intraday high of $35.05, Jamaica Stock Exchange traded 524 shares to end at $23 as the price gained $2, JMMB Group had 290,907 units changing hands to close at $10.42. Kingston Wharves had 1,361 shares trading with a fall of 13 cents at $11.31, Mayberry Investments traded 12,224 shares to close with a gain of 57 cents at $5.08, 
National Commercial Bank had 85,093 shares changing hands but the price rose by 14 cents to close at $40.15. 138 Student Living traded 22,500 shares at $5.80, Pan Jamaican Investments gained 80 cents while trading 33,044 units at $95, Sagicor Group rose 48 cents with 697,261 shares changing hands at $23.50, Sagicor Real Estate Fund traded 26,820 shares but the price fell 20 cents to $11.30. Scotia Group had 57,321 shares changing hands to close with a loss of 1 cent at $30.99, Scotia Investments rose $1.37 with 110,000 units changing hands at $28. Supreme Ventures fell by 9 cents and closed at $5.90 with 26,034 units changing hands and JMMB Group 7.50% preference share traded 160,000 units at $1.20.
JSE dips in early trading
The Jamaica Stock Exchange recorded losses on Wednesday, in the early morning session. 
After 30 minutes of trading the junior market index is down 2.5 percent, well off from Tuesday’s gain of 1 percent, in early trading.
A total of 5 stocks fell and 6 rose as 18 securities have been active with just 500,267 units changing hands. The all Jamaica Composite Index lost 665.05 points to 176,288.59, the JSE Market Index fell 595.09 points to 158,678.61, the JSE combined index fell 1,043.12 points to 168,279.75 and the junior market index dropped 53.35 points to 2,065.80.
The greatest movers so far are Cable & Wireless with a 10 cents gain, Caribbean Cement down $2.98, Sagicor Real Estate Fund down 30 cents and Lasco Manufacturing down 30 cents to $3.70.
C&W first profit in 7 years
Cable and Wireless reported a profit $144 million in the December quarter last year, the first time since they reported a profit of $32.6 million for the December quarter of 2008.
The 2015 quarterly profit was realised after accounting for an exceptional charge of $334 million for the quarter and is down sharply from a loss of $1.8 billion in 2014 that included an exceptional charge of $1.5 billion. For the nine months the loss was down to $644 million after an exceptional charge of $504 million compared with a huge $3 billion loss in 2014 after exceptional cost of $1.5 billion.
Revenues climbed in the quarter by 12 percent, to $6.1 billion on continued growth in mobile customers and data usage and for the nine months by 11 percent to $17.2 billion. Growth in revenues was helped by a 15 percent increase of 125,000 in new mobile customers, 22 per cent growth in mobile revenues and a more than doubling in mobile data income.
Operating expenses fell in the December quarter as wages declined by $420 million for the nine months period and fell by $122 million to $600 million in the quarter compared with the 2014 December quarter.
Advances from the parent company is up to $49 billion with interest cost being static at $1 billion but depreciation charge is down while amortization cost rose to $768 million from $489 million in 2014.
The results point to the company entering the 2017 fiscal year being the first full year in which the company should make a profit since 2007. The company’s stock last traded on the Jamaica Stock Exchange at $1.69 on Friday February 12, rising 29 cents in response to the results.
JSE make gains in early JSE trading
The Jamaica Stock Exchange got off to a positive start helped by a 20 cents jump in the price of Cable & Wireless to $1.60 with 3.7 million units changing hands after reporting a small profit in the December quarter of $144 million after exceptional charge of $334 million on rising revenues. 
A total of 28 securities traded up to 10.45am amounting to 4,944,412 shares.
After 75 minutes of trading JMMB Group jumped $2.25 to $14 for a new 52 weeks’ high with only 7,000 shares changing hands, Lasco Financial recovered 55 cents of the 96 cents loss it suffered on Thursday to now traded at $3.60 with 120,309 units traded, Honey Bun traded at a new high of $12.08 as 20,000 shares traded.
The all Jamaica Composite Index rose 651.58 points to 178,090.52, the JSE Market Index gained 583.04 points to 160,299.99, the JSE combined index climbed 636.39 points to 171,876.55 and the junior market index rose 9.59 points to 2,295.64.
CWC Caribbean business grows
Strong mobile growth in the Caribbean, 7 percent, was offset by a 9 percent decline in BTC, consistent with our expectations CWC PLC reported today. Mobile revenues (40 percent of total Group revenue) was up 1 percent in the third quarter the report stated.
Caribbean growth was driven by continued subscriber additions in Jamaica (+15 percent) where investment in our mobile network led to revenue growth of 16 percent, with data revenue up 72 percent. Broadband (13 percent of Group revenue) was 5 percent higher against the prior year, as subscriber growth in the Caribbean drove Group subscribers up 6 percent.
The company said that they are training new customer service agents for our new call centre in Jamaica which is expected to open in March quarter.
Regulatory approval for Liberty Global to acquire the entire share capital of CWC PLC is ongoing. It is expected that the Scheme Document to be dispatched by mid-March with completion in the second calendar quarter of 2016, as stated in the Offer Announcement.
BUY RATED top Carib markets with 830%
The JSE stock racked up huge gains in 2015
IC BUY RATED stocks were top of the Caribbean markets in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago for 2015, with Jamaica Stock Exchange share, chalking up a massive gain of 830 percent since IC Insider elevated it to BUY RATED status.Caribbean Cement followed with gains of 640 percent, Caribbean Cream with 444 percent and Trinidad Cement with a 299 percent increase on the Trinidad market.
While it was easy to make money in Jamaica, with profits rising and interest rates falling, developments in Trinidad went in the opposite direction, with interest rates rising and profits under pressure with the economy ended in recession.
At the beginning of 2015 of the 14 junior market selections, few recorded gains and only Knutsford Express with a 17 percent increase reflecting any meaningful positive movement. Losses were large, with AMG Packaging down 39 percent, Blue Power 31 percent, Caribbean Cream 23 percent, Jamaica Teas 28 percent, Lasco Financial 37 percent and Lasco Manufacturing 32 percent. What a difference a year can make? By the end of 2015, gains were all over the place with the list having 17 companies with two being dropped. There were no losing stocks in the list that had a new addition, tTech which could be listed this week. Honey Bun was added to the listing in November and gained 9 percent since. Eight stocks have more than doubled, four gained 40 percent to 91 percent. Caribbean Cream jumped 292 percent to be the top selection in this market, followed by Lasco Distributors up 274 percent. Blue Power was removed from the list in July with a small gain.
In the JSE main market, at the start of 2015, Hardware and Lumber was the best performing stock with gains of 62 percent followed by Cable & Wireless with 47 percent and Jamaica Broilers had the worst performance with a loss of 24 percent. In all, 7 of the 15 selections were lower than at the time they were BUY RATED.
By year-end, all selections in the JSE main market were up, with Scotia Investments having a mere 15 percent increase, being the poorest performer. This stock is being moved to Market Watch as the 2015 profit performance was far too disappointing to warrant buying now, while Hardware and Lumber remains a hold. The rest, present opportunities for continuing profit making. 
JMMB Group ended with just 28 percent gain, but seems undervalued at the current price. While the list had a few lousy performers, the same can’t be said about a 640 percent gain in Caribbean Cement and 830 percent increase for Jamaica Stock Exchange share. In all, 9 stocks posted gains in excess of 100 percent and 4 below 100 percent but with a 50 percent increase and more.
There were 13 selections in the Trinidad market with Trinidad Cement being the best performer with gains of 150 percent, the next was Point Lisas with 11 percent at the start of 2015. Five stocks suffered losses with the highest being 22 percent and the next 18 percent. For 2015 the price of Trinidad Cement is up 299 percent followed by National Flour with a 59 percent gain.
Looking ahead, the junior stocks should continue to grow, with several of the companies actively expanding resulting in profits climbing at a fast pace. There are a few stocks to be cautious of just now. Lasco Distributors selling at almost 16 times 2016 March earnings. Growth should be strong but unless investors have a long term objective they should be careful buying at current price level, the same applies to Lasco Financial that is selling at 15 times earnings. Dolphin Cove remains a hold at this time.
The Trinidad market needs to be watched at this stage, with the country needing to adjust to the lower price of oil and the recession now being endured.
Revenue growth pushes down C&W loss
Cable & Wireless HQ
The company posted losses of $485 million after exceptional expenses in the September quarter, or 11 percent less than the $548 million loss for the six months in 2014.
EBITDA earnings grew to $1.2 billion compared to $971 million a year ago and for the half year $2.58 billion versus $1.78 billion, an increase of 45 percent.
“Each line of business showed improved results leading to growth in total revenues and EBITDA. Our mobile business was again the leading performer with our pre-paid subscriber base growing by 23 percent and our post-paid subscriber base growing by 6 percent when compared to the prior year first half,” stated Garfield Sinclair who heads C&WJ, in the financial report.
During the quarter, revenues grew 9 percent to $5.63 billion. This growth was filliped by mobile subscriber base and revenues up 22 percent and 16 percent respectively; and broadband subscribers and revenue up 8 percent and 11 percent respectively. Revenues for the half year grew 10 percent to $11 billion as revenues for the September quarter exceeded that of the June quarter by $179 million or 3.3 percent.
Interest cost declined in the quarter to $934 million from $1 billion last year and should fall in the coming quarters as the interest rates reset downwards in November, to 7.2 percent from 7.787 percent with the fall in local Treasury bill rates. For the half-year interest cost amounts $2 billion. Staff costs are down by $300 million in the six months period from that of 2014 to be at $1.246 billion but out payments and direct cost rose $226 million with the September quarter by $149 million over the June quarter.
The company generated operating cash flow of $520 million compared with negative cash flows of $133 million in six months to September 2014.
The financials does not show any indication of a merger between the local operations of Flow and C&W but the latter wrote large amounts of assets and made staff redundant but no mention is made in the report as to how the two entities will be operating going forward. There are questions to be answered here.
The company’s shares are listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange last traded at $1.45.
