Compelling case to watch Fontana & Wisynco

Fontana Waterloo Road branch now nearing completion.

Two compelling buys this week that investors should be watching over the next few weeks, are Fontana in the Junior Market and Wisynco in the main market of Jamaica Stock Exchange.
Last week, the results of a few companies were released, but only the results of Wisynco, had the potency to move the stock price, without much delay. More companies will release quarterly reports this week and they are worth watching.
Wisynco reported strong half-year results to December and encountered good buying interest on Friday with nearly 2.7 million shares trading, with little price movement. Trading on Friday may have removed quite a bit of supply to help pave the way for an inevitable price rise at some point in time. The company is yet to reap the full benefit from the new production lines they installed last year and effective providing room for greater profit margin. In addition, they added sugar distribution to the product line up starting in January this year. The company is ripe to add more products for distribution could well add new brands to the lineup that will boost revenues and profit if that happens.  At current price of $10.40 and with a strong increase 36 percent in profits for the December quarter, investors with limited inventory of the stock would be unwise not to add it to their portfolios.

Wisynco could enjoy much increased revenues going forward as new products as added to the line up.

The recent quarterly report of AMG Packaging showed a big improvement of 68 percent in profit to $16.1 million, resulted in garnering increased buying interest around the $2.50 level. The price could move higher with sellers trying to get out around $2.70 level.
Elite Diagnostic rose in price this past week with increased buying interest and may go higher in the coming weeks as the quarterly results for December should show a big improvement over the $1.8 million profit reported in the first quarter to September and point to a much brighter future for this expanding entity.
PanJam Investment has limited supply of the stock offered on the market currently. At the close on Friday, just 79,000 units were shown on the JSE trading platform for sale compared, to 781,000 on the buy side. The lowest offer was 51,000 units at $80. It will be interesting to see what will happen with the price during the week.
Demand for Fontana shares is gradually eating away at supply of the stock with the price closing at $3.60, on Friday. The bid closed at $3.60 on Friday and the price could move higher during the week.  With IC Insider.com projected earnings for the current year at 50 cents per share and the opening of its latest branch this year, the stock has lots of potential gains ahead of it.
General Accident enjoyed lower demand in the past week with the price slipping from $4 to $3.90. The stock is a big value play with the 2018 results likely to come out in the region of 45 cents per share and 2019 even higher and provide solid incentive for the buyers to pick up the stock. Interim results for the full year, are expected to be released this week. Jamaica Stock Exchange shares hit a new high of $14, during the past week, with increasing interest shown in the stock. Exposed supply is currently not high, with expected continued buoyancy in

Seprod shares now trades at $34.85 each.


the market and a big increase in new listings this year, investors seem more aggressive to buy into what should be another year of increased profit for the company. Seprod price moved up to $34.85 with increased demand for the shares continuing against the background of declining supply. The price seems poised to move even higher in the coming weeks as the stock remains attractively priced.
Lasco Manufacturing’s profit for the December quarter was effectively flat at $197 million but is up 32 percent for nine months period. With EPS at 17 cents for the year, to December, there was little fire power to move the stock price during the week. The same is true for Lasco Distributors, with a 24 percent rise in profit to $157 million for the December quarter and 16 percent increase for the nine months to December, to $620 or 18 cents per share. Lasco Manufacturing with EPS close to Lasco Distributors should really see the stock price moving closer to the latter than the $3.10 it closed at on Friday.
NCB Financial remains on the Watch List with strong gains in operating profit for the December quarter, but the stock is finding it hard to break through resistance at the $150 level and may need something out of the ordinary if the price is to move decidedly higher before the summer months.
Barita Investments is worth watching but with the price falling, having gone ex rights during the past week.

Big leap in BUY RATED Wisynco profit

Profit at Wisynco attributable to shareholders, rose a strong 36 percent to $776 million for the December quarter and 30 percent for the half year, to $1.54 billion.
Profit for the period would have been even better had the company not picked up a foreign exchange loss of $128 million in the December quarter. Profit before Taxation increased 24 percent to $942 million over the $760 million realized in 2017. The company earned of 21 cents per share for the quarter and 41 cents per share for the six months.
Revenues for the December quarter rose 16 percent to $7.1 billion over the $6.1 billion achieved in the corresponding quarter of 2017, while revenues rose 14 percent to $13.9 billion in the half year period.
Gross profit increased 18.3 percent, to $2.8 billion over the $2.4 billion achieved in the same quarter of 2017, for the half-year gross profit grew 18 percent to $5.4 billion. The company is eking out greater operational efficiencies with gross profit margin of 39.8 percent bettering the 39 percent for the 2017 second quarter. For the six months, gross profit margin grew to 38.8 percent from just 37.4 percent in 2017.

Sugar canes from which sugar is made.

Selling and distribution cost rose at a much slower pace than revenues, with a 12 percent increase for the quarter to $1.47 billion and 11 percent for the half year to $2.94 billion. Administrative Expenses increased 21 percent for the quarter to $284 million and grew by a sharp 79 percent to $544 million for the six months.
“Sales of Worthy Park spirit brands which include Rum-Bar Rums, Rum Cream and Vodka, commenced in November. The distribution of the Worthy Park packaged sugar commenced at the beginning of January,” Wisynco stated. The expanded products range, will lead to increased sales and profit, this fiscal year.
The company closed out the calendar year, with healthy looking financials, with just under $10 billion in equity capital, borrowing of $2.3 billion, cash funds of $3.63 billion and net current assets at $5 billion.
Wisynco is an IC Insider.com BUY RATED stock with the potential to earn around $1.10 per share in 2019 and $1.55 for the next fiscal year that starts in July, with the stock price hitting at least $15 by the end of this year.  Usally reliable reports is suggesting that the company could land the distribution rights for another major local brand that would ahve a big impact on revenues and sales. The stock traded on the Main Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange at the close on Friday at $10.40 for a PE of less than 10 times this year earnings compared with an average of 16 based on earnings for the market at the end of 2018.

JSE main market bounces – Friday

The main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange enjoyed increased trading levels at the close on Friday over Thursday’s improved levels, leading the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index to jump 3,235.32 points to 410,410.81 and the JSE Index climbing by 2,944.56 points to 373,934.51.
Main market activity ended with, 7,016,682 units valued at $207,252,597 changing hands, in contrast with 4,986,769 units valued at $74,552,633, on Thursday.
The main and US markets traded a total of 33 securities, with prices of 13 rising, 9 declining with 9 remaining unchanged, compared to 31 securities trading on Thursday.
Wisynco Group led trading with 2,688,897 units for 38 percent of the day’s volume, followed by Grace Kennedy, with 1,521,787 shares and accounting for 22 percent of the total main market volume changing hands and Sygnus Credit with 543,056 stock units for 8 percent of the day’s volume.
IC bid-offer Indicator|The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator ended with the reading showing 6 stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices and 5 closing with lower offers.
An average of 241,955 units valued at an average of $7,146,641 for each security traded. In contrast to 184,695 units for an average of $2,761,209 on Thursday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 358,447 units valued $13,030,049 and previously, 523,805 units valued $16,891,062. Trading for January resulted in an average of 101,980 units, valued at $3,042,494, for each security traded.
In main market activity, Berger Paints lost $1.50 and ended at $19.50, with an exchange of 5,153 stock units, Jamaica Broilers climbed $4 in trading of 58,277 units, to close at $33, Jamaica Producers gained $1 to close at $23, trading 17,568 shares. Jamaica Stock Exchange closed trading with 81,864 units changing hands, with a rise of 5 cents to a record close of $14, Kingston Wharves lost 38 cents and settled at $68.52, with 266,720 units changing hands. Proven Investments traded 3,000 units and rose 50 cents to close at $27.50, Sagicor Group rose 25 cents in trading 25,424 stock units, to close at $38.80, Scotia Group fell 99 cents and finished trading of 489,552 shares at $53 and Sygnus Credit Investments lost 45 cents to end at $11.15 with an exchange of 543,056 shares.
Trading in the US dollar market resulted in 52,812 units valued at over $10,639 changing hands. JMMB Group 6% preference share concluded trading at $1.06 with 218 units, JMMB Group 5.75% preference share closed at $2 trading 2,114 shares, Proven Investments traded 14,180 units to close at 22 US cents and Sygnus Credit Investments exchanged of 36,300 shares at 9 US cents. The JSE USD Equities Index fell 5.54 points to close at 163.88.

Junior Market slips again – Friday

Fontana stock remains the main attraction in trading.

Trading on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange ended with 22 securities changing hands, compared to 25 to Wednesday, with 64 percent more volume than on Thursday.
At the close of market activities resulted in prices of 8 securities advancing, 11 declining and 3 remaining unchanged leading to a fall of 27.19 points in the market index to close at 3,128.83.
Market activity resulted in an exchange of 1,501,161 units valued at $5,720,483 compared to 917,451 units valued at $3,945,523 traded previously.
Trading ended with an average of 68,235 units for an average of $260,022 in contrast to 36,698 units for an average of $157,821 on Thursday. The average volume and value for the month to date, amounts to 86,061 shares valued $315,674 and previously 89,199 shares valued $325,469. In contrast, the average trade in January was 2,245,428 units with a value of $7,372,574 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 7 stocks ended with higher bids than their last selling prices and 5 closing with lower offers.
At the close of the day’s activities, Access Financial closed with a loss of 1 cent at $47, trading 1,285 shares, AMG Packaging ended at $2.40, with an exchange of 118,612 stock units, Blue Power concluded trading with 5,113 units at $5, CAC 2000 finished with a loss of 50 cents at $12.50, with 50,000 shares. Cargo Handlers settled with a loss of 20 cents at $14.70, exchanging 5,804 shares, Caribbean Producers finished trading 28,729 units and rose 5 cents higher to $4.75, Derrimon Trading ended with a loss of 5 cents at $2.90, with an exchange of 7,500 shares, Everything Fresh closed 23 cents higher at $1.83, with an exchange of 122,087 stock units. Elite Diagnostic settled 6 cents higher at $3.19, in exchanging 81,437 units. Express Catering ended trading with 40,767 shares and lost 10 cents to close at $7.80, FosRich Group traded 73,545 shares after rising 3 cents higher to $4, Fontana finished trading 598,063 shares, with a loss of 1 cent at $3.60, GWest Corporation ended with a loss of 14 cents at $1.30, with 63,268 units trading. Honey Bun concluded trading 2 cents higher at $3.75, with 49,560 shares,  Indies Pharma closed 14 cents higher at $3.14, with 89,033 shares changing hands, Jamaican Teas  traded just 2,500 units at $4, Knutsford Express concluded trading of 1,229 stock units and rose 60 cents higher to $12.70. Lasco Distributors  finished 20 cents higher at $4, exchanging 32,593 units, Lasco Financial  settled  with a loss of 1 cent at $4.20, trading 60,136 shares, Lasco Manufacturing  ended trading 53,600 shares, with a loss of 29 cents at $3.10,  SSL Venture Capital ended with a loss of 1 cent at $1.94, with an exchange of 5,300 shares and  Stationery and Office  concluded trading of 11,000 shares with a loss of 90 cents at $7.50.

Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.

9 TTSE stocks gained on Friday

Market activity on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange ended on Friday with trading in 20 securities against 18 on Thursday, with 9 advancing, 2 declining and 9 remaining unchanged.
At close of the market, the Composite Index rose 3.80 points to 1,307.84. The All T&T Index rose 0.99 points to 1,705.78, while the Cross Listed Index gained 0.91 points to close at 122.95. Trading ended with 240,650 shares at a value of $9,611,692, compared to 409,577 shares on Thursday valued at $4,344,587.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer ended at 4 stocks with bids than their last selling prices and 3 with lower offers.
Stocks closing with gains| Agostini’s closed with an increase of 5 cents to $23.20, after exchanging 115 shares, Calypso Macro Index Fund gained 49 cents trading 555 shares to close at $14, Clico Investments ended trading with a rise of 2 cents and ended at $20.12, with 31,635 stock units changing hands. First Citizens closed 5 cents higher at $34.05, after exchanging 700 shares, Grace Kennedy concluded trading of 4,800 stock units and rose 4 cents to end at $3.10, JMMB Group added 1 cent and concluded trading of 15,208 shares at $1.76. NCB Financial Group gained 5 cents to settle at $8.45, after exchanging 3,000 shares. Republic Financial Holdings rose 11 cents and settled at $107.66, after exchanging 235 shares and Unilever Caribbean closed with a gain of 6 cents at $25.06, after exchanging 1,205 shares.
Stocks closing with losses| Angostura Holdings lost 1 cent and ended at $16.03, with 112 stock units changing hands and Trinidad & Tobago NGL closed with a loss of 20 cents and completed trading of just 25 units at $29.30.
Stocks closing firm | Guardian Holdings completed trading of 600 units at $18, Massy Holdings closed at $47.66, after exchanging 982 shares, National Enterprises ended at $8, with 4,122 stock units changing hands, One Caribbean Media concluded trading at $10.35, after exchanging 100 shares, Prestige Holdings completed trading with 1,000 units, at $7.40. Sagicor Financial ended at $9.11, after exchanging 92,023 shares, Scotiabank ended at $63.65, with 4,910 stock units changing hands, Trinidad Cement settled at $2.50, after exchanging 562 shares and West Indian Tobacco ended at $95.50, with 78,761 stock units changing hands.

Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.

Twice a year dividend for Wisynco

Shareholders at Wisynco 2018 AGM.

Wisynco declared a dividend of 7 cents per share payable on February 26, 2019 to shareholders on record at February 12, 2019.
The company in its report to shareholders accompanying the half results, states, that “going forward dividends will be declared semi-annually, with the first interim dividend being in January and the final dividend in July of each year.”
Wisynco reported a 36 percent rise in net profit for the December quarter to $776 million and 30 percent for the half year to $1.54 billion.

JSE main market drops – Thursday

Trading picked up over that on Wednesday on the main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange ended on Thursday with JSE All Jamaican Composite Index falling by 1,009.17 points to 407,175.49 and the JSE Index declining by 918.47 points to 370,989.95.
Main market activity ended with, 4,986,769 units valued at $74,552,633, in contrast with 2,541,810 units valued at $57,485,785 on Wednesday.
The main and US markets traded a total of 31 securities, with prices of 13 rising, 9 declining with 9 remaining unchanged, compared to 34 securities trading on Wednesday.
JMMB Group 7.5% preference share led trading with 2,001,000 units for 40 percent of the day’s volume, followed by Jamaica Broilers with 1,531,165 shares and accounting for 21 percent of the total main market volume changing hands and Wisynco Group with 589,188 stock units for 12 percent of the day’s volume.
IC bid-offer Indicator|The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator ended with the reading showing 9 stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices and 5 closing with lower offers.
An average of 184,695 units valued at $2,761,209, in contrast to 42,483 units valued at $1,358,497 on Wednesday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 523,805 units valued $16,891,062 and previously, 523,805 units valued $16,891,062. Trading for January resulted in an average of 101,980 units, valued at $3,042,494, for each security traded.
In main market activity, Barita Investments fell $1.52 to close at $49.48, with 5,691 shares changing hands, Caribbean Cement shed 95 cents to finish at $42.05, trading 15,476 shares, Jamaica Broilers dropped $3.51 in trading of 1,531,165 units, to close at $29. Jamaica Stock Exchange closed trading with 35,508 units changing hands, with a rise of 45 cents to a record close of $13.95. JMMB Group concluded trading with 12,319 shares but rose 80 cents to $32.80, Kingston Wharves lost $1.10 and settled at $68.90, with 6,557 units changing hands, 138 Student Living rose 41 cents to $3.40, in trading 1,000 units, PanJam Investment rose $1 to end at $75 with 11,974 units changing hands. Sagicor Group fell by 20 cents in trading 30,407 stock units, to close at $38.55, Scotia Group climbed $2.94 and finished trading of 59,319 shares at $53.99 and Seprod lose $1.41 to end at $34.92 with an exchange of 13,581 shares.
Trading in the US dollar market resulted in 10,022 units valued at US$4,728 changing hands. JMMB Group 6% preference share concluded trading with a gain of 2 cents to settle at $1.06 with 950 units, JMMB Group 5.75% preference share finished with a rise of 1 cent to $2 with 486 shares trading, JMMB Group 5.5% preference share settled ended at $2 with 486 shares and Proven Investments traded 8,100 units and rose 1 cent to close at 22 US cents. The JSE USD Equities Index was unchanged at the close at 169.42.

Junior stocks slip on low volume -Thursday

Trading volume fell a sharp 63 percent on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Thursday leading to a fall of 18.02 points in the market index to close at 3,156.02.
Trading ended with 25 securities changing hands, similar to Wednesday and resulted in prices of 10 securities advancing, 11 declining and 3 remaining unchanged.
Market activity resulted in an exchange of 917,451 units down 63 percent compared to the 2,474,682 units traded previously. Traded value dropped 56 percent to $3,945,523 from $8,912,227 on Wednesday.
Trading ended with an average of 36,698 units for an average of $157,821 in contrast to 98,987 units for an average of $356,489 on Wednesday. The average volume and value for the month to date, amounts to 89,199 shares valued $325,469 and previously 102,324 shares valued $367,381. In contrast, the average trade in January was 2,245,428 units with a value of $7,372,574 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 3 stocks ended with higher bids than their last selling prices and 4 closing with lower offers.
At the close of the day’s activities, AMG Packaging ended with a loss of 5 cents at $2.40, in trading 55,380 stock units, Blue Power concluded trading of 27,801 units, with a loss of 1 cent in closing at $5, Cargo Handlers settled with a loss of 10 cents at $14.90, with an exchange of 721 shares. Caribbean Producers finished trading 7,440 units at $4.70, Consolidated Bakeries closed with a loss of 33 cents at $1.70, with 12,997 shares changing hands. Derrimon Trading ended at $2.95, with an exchange of 1,500 shares, Dolphin Cove concluded trading of 10,086 shares, with a loss of 70 cents at $14.80, Everything Fresh finished 5 cents higher at $1.60, with the trading of 11,216 stock units, Elite Diagnostic settled 2 cents higher at $3.13, with 5,000 units changing hands. FosRich Group traded 37 cents higher at $3.97, with 490 shares, Fontana ended trading 391,687 shares and rose 1 cent higher to $3.61,  General Accident closed with a loss of 4 cents at $3.90, in exchanging 41,719 stock units, GWest Corporation ended with a loss of 1 cent at $1.44, while trading of 66,734 units. Honey Bun traded 6,015 shares with a loss of 16 cents to end at $3.73, Indies Pharma finished 5 cents higher to $3, with 51,480 shares changing hands, Jamaican Teas traded 2,000 units and rose 15 cents higher to close at $4, Jetcon Corporation finished trading of 2,000 shares with a loss of 10 cents at $3.15. Knutsford Express traded 37,816 stock units with a loss of 60 cents to end at $12.10, Lasco Distributors  closed at $3.80, with 15,000 units changing hands, Lasco Financial  settled 1 cent higher at $4.21, with an exchange of 2,400 shares, Lasco Manufacturing  ended trading 3,086 shares 9 cents higher to $3.39. Main Event  traded 15 cents higher at $5.70, with 100,000 shares changing hands, Medical Disposables  finished trading with a loss of 10 cents at $6.50, with an exchange of 58,183 stock units and SSL Venture Capital ended 20 cents higher at $1.95, with 2,000 shares. In the Junior Market preference segment, CAC 2000 9.5% closed at $1, with 4,700 shares changing hands.

Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.

 

TTSE close mixed on Thursday

Market activity on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange ended on Thursday with trading in 18 securities against 14 on Wednesday, with 6 advancing, 5 declining and 7 remaining unchanged.
At close of the market, the Composite Index lost 0.91 points to 1,304.04. The All T&T Index shed 2.30 points to 1,704.79, while the Cross Listed Index rose 0.07 points to close at 122.04.
Trading ended with 409,977 shares at a value of $4,344,587, compared to 619,436 shares at a value of $6,956,090 on Wednesday.
IC bid-offer Indicator|The Investor’s Choice bid-offer ended at 5 stocks with bids than their last selling prices and 1 with a lower offer.
Stocks closing with gains| Calypso Macro Index Fund gained 1 cent trading 400 shares to close at $13.51, National Flour gained 1 cent and completed trading of 2,908 units, at $1.65, Republic Financial Holdings rose 3 cents and settled at $107.55, after exchanging 1,024 shares. Sagicor Financial closed with an increase of 9 cents at $9.11, after exchanging 5,799 shares, Trinidad & Tobago NGL gained 30 cents and completed trading with 4,822 units at $29.50 and West Indian Tobacco finished 8 cents higher at $95.50, with 52 stock units changing hands.
Stocks closing with losses| Ansa Merchant Bank fell 50 cents and settled at $38, after exchanging 1,399 shares, Clico Investments closed with a loss of 8 cents and ended at $20.10, with 4,810 stock units changing hands. Massy Holdings shed 9 cents and ended at $47.66, after exchanging 3,825 shares, Scotiabank lost 25 cents and ended at $63.65, with 3,322 stock units changing hands and Trinidad Cement ended trading 10 cents lower at $2.50, after exchanging 500 shares.
Stocks closing firm| Ansa Mcal completed trading of 2,000 units at $55, First Citizens settled at $34, after exchanging 3,478 shares, Grace Kennedy ended at $3.06, with 200 stock units changing hands. Guardian Holdings completed trading of 10,500 units at $18, National Enterprises ended trading at $8, with 3,805 stock units changing hands, NCB Financial Group settled at $8.40, after exchanging 360,000 shares and Prestige Holdings completed trading at $7.40, with 1,133 units changing hands.

Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.

Weak demand to affect ICreate stock

Subscribers for shares in the public offer of 74,062,500 Ordinary Shares in iCreate received a high percentage of the amount applied for, except for applications with more than 400,000 units.
According to Sagicor Investments, the lead broker for the issue, all the applications received, the first 400,000 units in full with those with balances in excess of 400,000 units for the General Public Pool was allocated approximately 1.32 percent of the excess.
This is not great news for many of the investors in the issue as they could see a fall in the price of the stock as there seem to be inadequate demand for the stock at the issue price of $1.01 before it moves higher.
The stock is scheduled to be listed on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange.