6 stocks 1 fell on TTSE – Tuesday

Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange Head Quarters

The Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange ended trading on Tuesday with slightly more securities trading than on Monday and with much more prices rising than falling leading to a rise in market indices.
Trading ended with 14 securities changing hands against 15 on Monday leading to 6 advancing, 1 declining and 7 remaining unchanged.
Market activity resulted in 533,003 shares at a value of $22,897,749 trading, compared to 276,320 shares valued at $4,320,119 changing hands, on Monday.
At close of the market the, Composite Index the Composite Index rose 0.62 points on Tuesday to 1,244.60, the All T&T Index gained 1.36 points to 1,727.96, while the Cross Listed Index eased by 0.02 points to close at 102.37.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows the market continuing to be weak as it closed with 3 stocks ending with higher bids than the last selling prices and 5 with lower offers.
Gains| Clico Investments gained 4 cents and completed trading at $20.15, with 11,102 units, First Citizens finished trading with a gain of 1 cent and concluded market activity at $35, after exchanging 17,912 shares, Grace Kennedy closed with an increase of 3 cents and completed trading at $3.08, with 1,760 units, Republic Financial Holdings jumped 92 cents to end at $102.63, with 200,798 stock units changing hands, Sagicor Financial ended 5 cents higher and completed trading at $7.95, with 4,000 units and Trinidad Cement concluded trading and rose10 cents to end at $3, with10,983 shares changing hands.
Losses| First Caribbean International Bank was the sole stock declining and closed with a loss of 1 cent at $8.88, after exchanging 50,560 shares.
Firm Traded| Angostura Holdings ended at $15.75, with 5,859 stock units changing hands, Ansa Merchant settled at $40, after exchanging a mere 28 shares, JMMB Group ended at $1.75, with 155,096 stock units changing hands, NCB Financial Group concluded the day’s activity at $5.50, after exchanging 68,752 shares, Scotiabank settled at $64.25, after exchanging 134 shares, Trinidad & Tobago NGL completed trading at $29, with 5,569 units and Unilever Caribbean endded trading at $32, with an exchange of 450 shares.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.

JSE main market volume jumps – Monday

Volume traded on the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Monday ending with 6,884,784 units valued at $95,400,967 versus 1,921,527 units valued at $46,900,896 changing hands on the main market on Friday.
The volume was built from Supreme Ventures trading 5,511,490 units and accounted for 80.05 percent of total shares traded, followed by 1834 Investments with 230,248 units and Sagicor Group with 182,753 units.
At the end of market activities, 31 securities traded, compared to 23 on Friday, in the main and US dollar markets as 9 stocks rose, 11 declined and 11 traded firm. At the close, the All Jamaican Composite Index fell 709.93 points to 326,810.90 and the JSE Index declined 646.83 points to 297,761.66.
Stocks with major price changes are, Kingston Wharves that dropped $1.90 to $46.80, PanJam Investment diving $2.75 to $44.25 and Scotia Group with a loss $1.10 to $48.
Trading resulted in an average of 237,406 units valued at an average of $3,289,689 for each security traded, in contrast to 87,342 units for an average of $2,131,859 on Friday. The average for the month to date is 276,670 shares with a value of $12,250,176, previously 279,765 shares with a value of $13,009,983. In contrast, April closed with an average of 708,206 shares with a value of $6,395,518 for each security traded.
In the US dollar market, Productive Business Solution gained 3 cents in closing at 62 US cents with 1,693 shares trading and Proven Investments traded 32,680 shares at 22 US cents. The JSE USD Equities Index declined 1.06 points to close at 173.22.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 4 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 1 closing with a lower offer.
For more details of market activities see – JSE main market down again – Monday.

Junior Market rallies – Monday

Dolphin Cove jumped $2.50 on small volume.

The Junior Market Index recovered 28.20 of 57.86 points lost on Friday, to close at 2,922.15 on Monday with 25 securities trading, up from 21 on Friday.
The market closed with an exchange of 4,133,311 units valued at $30,002,574 compared to 8,143,897 units valued at $45,872,386 on Friday. At the close of market activities, the prices of 7 securities advanced, 8 declined and 10 remained unchanged.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 4 stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices and 3 with lower offers.
Market activity ended with an average of 165,332 units for an average of $1,200,103 in contrast to 387,805 units for an average of $2,184,399 on Friday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 145,970 units with an average value of $721,120 and previously 200,883 units with an average value of $683,346. April closed with an average of 121,622 units at $506,803, for each security traded.
At the close of the market, AMG Packaging ended at $2, with 29,641 stock units, Caribbean Cream ended trading 10 cents higher at $4.90, with 5,000 shares, Caribbean Flavours traded with a loss of 1 cent at $11, exchanging 6,000 stock units, Caribbean Producers finished trading at $5.25, with 30,064 units, Derrimon Trading concluded trading at $8.75, with 3,000,000 shares. Dolphin Cove finished $2.50 higher at $17.50, but only 100 stock units changed hands, Elite Diagnostic settled at $3.15, with 32,894 units, Express Catering traded with a loss of 23 cents at $5.82, with 1,000 shares, FosRich Group gained 11 cents to end at $2.45, with 464,331 shares. General Accident closed with a loss of 1 cent at $3.40 after 18,463 stock units changed hands, GWest Corporation ended at $2.10, with 79,500 units, Honey Bun concluded trading at $4.70, with 1,300 shares, Jamaican Teas fell 55 cents to $4, trading 46,118 stock units. Jetcon Corporation traded 15 cents higher at $4.25, with 81,420 units, Key Insurance finished trading with a loss of 35 cents at $3.25, in the exchange of 58,397 shares, KLE Group closed at $2.80, with 155,000 shares, Knutsford Express traded 1,000 shares at $12. Lasco Distributors concluded trading with a loss of 7 cents at $3.95, exchanging 14,080 stock units, Lasco Financial dropped 59 cents to $5.40, with 6,838 units, Lasco Manufacturing settled 10 cents higher at $4, exchanging 13,200 shares, Main Event ended trading at $7, with 5,500 shares. Medical Disposables traded 10 cents higher at $4.60, with 12,674 shares, Paramount Trading ended 35 cents higher at $3.10, with 14,054 stock units, Stationery and Office closed with a loss of 5 cents at $8.95, with 48,678 units and tTech concluded trading at $6, with 8,059 shares changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.

 

Falling stocks dominate TTSE – Monday

Scotiabank closed at a new high of $64.2.

The Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange ended trading on Monday with slightly more securities trading than on Friday but with prices falling than rising but all market indices rose.
Trading ended with 15 securities changing hands against 12 on Friday leading to 3 advancing, 7 declining and 5 remaining unchanged.
The stocks that gained were mostly in the Market activity resulted in 276,320 shares at a value of $4,320,119 compared to 220,145 shares at a value of $3,003,375 changing hands, on Friday.
At close of the market the, Composite Index the Composite Index rose 6.34 points on Monday to 1,243.98, the All T&T Index added 1.28 points to 1,726.60, while the Cross Listed Index gained 1.58 points to close at 102.39.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows the market continuing to be weak as it closed with 4 stocks ending with higher bids than the last selling prices and 4 with lower offers.
Gains| Guardian Holdings finished trading with a rise of 70 cents to end at $17.20, after exchanging 6,500 shares, JMMB Group gained 2 cents and concluded trading at $1.75, with 6,404 stock units changing hands and Scotiabank ended trading with an increase of 24 cents to a 52 weeks’ high of $64.25, after exchanging 116 shares.
Losses| Clico Investments shares fell 9 cents and ended at $20.11, with 4,160 units traded, First Citizens share fell 1 cent and settled at $34.99, after exchanging 640 shares, Massy Holdings shed 23 cents and concluded the day’s activity at $47.27, with 1,300 stock units changing hands, Republic Financial Holdings lost 95 cents and ended at $101.71, with 22,241 stock units changing hands, Trinidad & Tobago NGL ended trading 5 cents lower at $29, with 1,850 units, Trinidad Cement concluded trading with a loss of 9 cents to end at $2.90, after exchanging 24,323 shares and Unilever Caribbean traded with a loss of 50 cents and settled at $32, after exchanging 4,644 shares .
Firm Traded| First Caribbean International Bank completed trading at $8.89, after exchanging 20,000 shares, National Flour closed at $1.75, after exchanging 900 shares, NCB Financial Group settled at $5.50, after exchanging 67,050 shares, Sagicor Financial ended at $7.90, with 116,137 units and West Indian Tobacco concluded trading at $88.50, with 55 stock units changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.

Medical Disposables & CPJ back in TOP 10

Medical Disposables in TOP 10

Lasco Financial rose to $5.99 by the end of the week, while IC Insider.com downgraded earnings for Caribbean Flavours to $1.22 for the 2019 fiscal year, with both moving out of the Junior Market TOP 10.
Medical Disposables that suffered a fall in price to $4.50 and Caribbean Producers moved into the TOP stocks listing for the Junior Market. There were no new addition to the TOP 10 main market stocks at the close of the past week. There were some changes in the rankings, most noticeable was Radio Jamaica, with a rise in price to $1.35 from $1.25 at the close of the previous week, as the stock moved closer to exit the top list. Salada Foods rose in sympathy to good half year results, to close at $13.10 from $11.26 at the start of the week, but it pulled back after trading at an all-time high of $15. Caribbean Cement moved down to $37.50 from $40.05 and Barita Investments rose to $12.53 from $11.50 while Berger Paints saw increased selling in light of the company’s posting increased sales but lower profits in the March quarter due to a number of factors, some of which are not likely to be repeated, in the other quarters of the year.
The past week was characterized by some sharp price fluctuations and index movements in both markets, with the ending to the release of most first quarter results. Interest rates fell to their lowest levels on Treasury bills and the central bank cut the overnight rate by 25 basis points during the past week, seem to have little effect on the market so far. That will change as the weeks roll on, it may be that investors are now taking a break for May, this coming week could have the answer.
Former TOP 10 Junior Market stock Stationery and Office Supplies, closed at a new record high of $9 last week after positing good first quarter results with earnings per share up 70 percent to 17 cents and looking as if $1 is possible for the full year, with the commencement of the production of plain paper books.
At the close of Friday, the average PE ratio for Junior Market Top stocks ended at 6.2 compared to an average PE for the overall main market of 10, based on 2018 estimated earnings. The main market PE is 7.3 for the top stocks, compared to a market average of 13.
IC Insider.com’s TOP 10 stocks now trade at an average discount of 38 percent to the average for the Junior Market Top stocks but it’s a third of what the average PE for the year is likely to be of 20 times earnings and main market stocks traded at a discount of 45 percent to the market.
Stocks to Watch this week include, Barita, Grace Kennedy, PanJam Investment, Radio Jamaica, Salada, Jamaica Stock Exchange ordinary share, Stationery and Office Supplies. Although not yet listed, investors should keep an eye open for Sygnus Credit that saw its IPO more than twice oversubscribed.

Angostura Holdings Q1 profit jumps 76%

Angostura Holdings aged rum.

Profit at Trinidad’s Angostura Holdings surged 77 percent in the March quarter, to TT$41 million before tax and up 76 percent to TT$28.4 million after tax resulting in earnings per share of 14 cents.
Sale revenues climbed 15.5 percent to TT$129.5 million but a 10 per cent fall in direct operating cost took cost down by to $37.7 million and boosted gross profit margin to 71 percent form 63 percent in 2017 and gross profit by 31 percent to $92 million.
Profit declined sharply from 2015 when the company posted $164 million after tax compared to TT$153 million in 2014 and then TT$122 million in 2016 and $111 million last year.
Marketing and sales expenses rose 11 percent to TT$37 million while administrative expenses rose just 2 percent to TT$14.6 million from TT$14.3 million in 2017. Finance cost was negligible.
Cash flow resulted in an increase of TT$61 million in cash pushing cash to TT$214 million as of March and investments of $218 million. At the end of March, shareholders’ equity stands at TT$1.01 billion with borrowings at just TT$20 million. Current assets ended the period TT$795 million well ahead of current liabilities of TT$96 million.
The stock traded at TT$15.75 on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange. Based on 2017 earnings the stock was selling at a PE ratio of 29 times. If the trend in earnings for the first quarter is held for all of 2018 the PE would fall 17 times earnings. Net asset value is TT$4.9 with the stock selling at 3.20 book value.
This one needs watching to see if the improvement deepens. It is worth noting that the company is amassing cash and could well be after a takeover target.
Angostura is one of the Caribbean’s major rum producers and producers of Angostura Bitters.

Profit rise at T&TNGL

T&T NGL closed at $29 on TTSE on Friday.


Trinidad and Tobago NGL reported higher income from share of joint venture profit in the March 2018 quarter.
The company’s share rose to TT$61.4 million from $57 million in 2017 and $217 million for the twelve months to December 2017.
The company owns 39 percent of shareholding in Phoenix Park Gas Processors and ended with profit of TT$61.8 million after tax in the March 2018 quarter up from $57 million in 2017. Profit for the 2017 fiscal year was $234 million after tax.
Earnings per share amounted to 40 cents and $1.51 for the 2017 fiscal year. Shareholders’ equity $3.26 billion with net book value per share of $21. The stock trades at $29 on the Trinidad Stock Exchange.

Profit grows at First Citizens

First Citizens Bank traded at $35 on Friday.

The Trinidad economy may still be under stress with some companies reporting lower profits but not First Citizens Bank.
Profit before taxation rose 17 percent in the March quarter, to TT$264 million from $225 million in 2017. For the nine months to March, profit also climbed 17 percent to $553 million from $473 million in 2017. After an increase in the tax rate profit after tax is up just 5.6 percent to $367 million for the six months to March and was flat at $164 million for the quarter with $163 million generated in the 2107 quarter.
Net interest income rose 13.75 percent for the quarter, to $397 million from $389 million and rose 13 percent for the half year to $781 million, other income was almost flat at $140 million compared to $141 million in 2017 for the quarter, but rose 7 percent for the year to date, to $341 million from $320 million in 2017 as interest income rose faster than expenses.
Administrative and Other expenses were kept under raps and rose just 3 percent in the quarter and six months period to $272 million and $531 million respectively.
Earnings per share came out at 65 cents for the quarter and $1.45 for the six months and should end the fiscal year around $3. The stock last traded at $35 on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange with a PE ratio of 12 times 2018 earnings.
At the end of March, shareholders’ equity stood at $6.76 billion with loans advanced to customers moving up nearly 14 percent from $13.9 billion to $15.8 billion.
The company declared a dividend of 44 cents, bringing the payment for the half year to 80 cents versus 69 cents to 2017. Net asset value is TT$26.89 with the stock selling at just 1.3 times book value.

Sagicor Financial severely undervalued

Sagicor Cayman building.

The Barbados based Sagicor Financial is seriously undervalued with the shares selling at less than a half the multiple of the Trinidad based Guardian Holdings and its Jamaican based subsidiary Sagicor Group.
Sagicor Financial continues to reap success with net income for March quarter of US$39 million against a prior year’s US$27 million. Net income attributable to shareholders was US$20 million compared to the prior year, of US$17 million, an increase of 19 percent and continues the trajectory seen since they reported a loss in 2012.
For 2018 first quarter, the group adopted two new accounting standards effective January 2018 covering Revenue from Contracts with Customers and for Financial instruments. The standards change the way that financial instruments are recognised and measured. There was no significant impact on the implementation of both standards on the net assets of the Company Sagicor reported.
Total revenue for the quarter increased 5 percent to US$297 million, against US$283 million in 2017. Revenue included a one-time gain of US$5.3 million on the acquisition of the British American insurance portfolio but net investment and other income fell to $109 million from $115 million in the similar period in 2017. Policyholders’ benefits fell 5 percent to US$132 million, compared to US$138 million for the previous year. Operating expenses increased just 2 percent to US$118 million, compared to US$115 million in 2017.

Jamaica Sagicor Group contributes more than half of Sagicor Financial profits.

Group comprehensive income dropped to US$17 million, from US$32 million for the prior year, with shareholders’ comprehensive income of US$6 million, compared to US$21 million for the prior year. The decline in comprehensive income was mainly due to marked-to-market losses on our international bond portfolio.
Total assets amounted to US$7 billion, with liabilities of US$6 billion at the end of March with Group equity of US$932 million and equity attributable to the company’s shareholders of US$623 million. The Group’s debt was US$407 million with a debt to capital ratio of 30.4 percent.
Earnings per share for the quarter amounted 6.5 cents and continues the growth enjoyed in the 2017 full year of 23.7 US cents compared to 20 cents in 2016 and puts earnings for the full year for 2018 around 30 cents. The stock trades on the exchanges in Trinidad and Barbados, closed on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange, the more liquid of the two markets at TT$7.90 and trades at a PE of an attractive 4 times earnings, well below Guardian Holdings at around 10 times earnings.
Although, the group is based in Barbados, data shows Trinidadians as the major owners with 49.6 percent with Barbadian owing around 33 percent while more than half of the profits come from Jamaica.

IC Insider.com has placed a BUY RATING on Sagicor Financial.

JSE main market volume dives – Friday

Supreme Ventures dropped $2.75 to $12.25 on Friday.

Volume traded on the Jamaica Stock Exchange dropped back to low levels on Friday, ending with 1,921,527 units valued at $46,900,896 compared to 7,688,997 units valued at $220,155,817 changing hands on the main market on Thursday.
The low volume was built from Carreras with 417,958 units amounting to 21.75 percent of the day’s volume, followed by Scotia Group with 315,705 units accounting for 16.43 percent of volume traded and Berger Paints with 262,929 units with 13.68 percent of the volume traded.
At the end of market activities, 23 securities traded, compared to 28 on Thursday, in the main and US dollar markets as 9 stocks rose, 11 declined and 3 traded firm. At the close, the All Jamaican Composite Index falling by 1,070.06 points to 327,520.83 and the JSE Index declined by 974.94 points to 298,408.49.
Stocks with major price changes are, Caribbean Cement rose $2 to $37.50, PanJam Investment climbing $1 to $7. Grace Kennedy declined $1.15 to $48.50, JMMB Group fell $1.20 to $26.80, Kingston Wharves dropped $1.60 to $46.80, Sagicor Real Estate Fund fell $1.10 to $13.99, Scotia Group lost $1.90 to $49.10 and Supreme Ventures dropped $2.75 to $12.25.
Trading resulted in an average of 87,342 units valued at an average of $2,131,859 for each security traded. In contrast to 137,284 units for an average of $1,083,320 on Thursday. The average for the month to date is 279,765 shares with a value of $13,009,983, previously 292,000 shares with a value of $13,757,854. In contrast, April closed with an average of 708,206 shares with a value of $6,395,518 for each security traded.
In the US dollar market, Proven Investments traded 15,000 shares at 22 US cents. The JSE USD Equities Index advanced by 0.98 points to close at 174.28.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 5 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 3 closing with lower offers.
For more details of market activities see – 1,000 points fall for JSE main market – Friday.