The Jamaican dollar continue to lose value against the US dollar but gained against the British pound and the Canadian dollar, on Tuesday. Authorized dealers purchased the equivalent of US$31,351,075 versus US$46,947,247 on Monday, and sold the equivalent of US$32,316,397 compared to US$40,489,087 on Monday.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$27,498,857 compared to US$42,320,091 on Monday. The buying rate for the US dollar put on 20 cents to $113.39 and US$29,712,322 was sold versus US$37,843,073 on Monday. The selling rate rose 7 cents to $113.89. The Canadian dollar buying rate rose 22 cents to $97.14 with dealers buying C$1,435,591 and selling C$785,344, at an average selling rate that erased 34 cents, to $99.04. The rate for buying the British Pound climbed 11 cents to $175.52, for the purchase of £1,434,718, while £547,510 was sold, the rate slipped 29 cents to $177.70. At the end of trading it took J$139.90 to purchase the Euro, 3 cents less than on Monday, according to data from Bank of Jamaica, while dealers purchased the European common currency at J$137.13, down by a cent.
Other currencies bought, amounted to the equivalent of US$401,331 while the equivalent of US$1,066,818, was sold.
Highs & Lows| The highest buying rate for the US dollar, closed 12 cents higher at $114.22, the lowest buying and the highest selling rates were unchanged at $93.52 and $119.84 respectively, but the lowest selling rate jumped $18.15 to $111.50. The highest buying rate for the Canadian dollar slipped 15 cents to end at $99.80. The lowest buying rate closed 24 cents lower, at $79.39. The highest selling rate fell 32 cents to $102.72 and the lowest selling rate dipped 35 cents to $95.65. The highest buying rate for the British Pound, gained 80 cents to $179. The lowest buying rate eased 25 cents to $143.34, the highest selling rate fell 43 cents to $184.79 and the lowest selling rate lost 30 cents to $172.70.
J$ gains vs Canadian & Pound – Tuesday
J$ loses vs US & Pound on Monday
The Jamaican dollar lost value against the US dollar and the British pound but gained moderately against the Canadian dollar, on Monday. Authorized dealers purchased the equivalent of US$46,947,247 versus US$32,044,623 on Friday, and sold the equivalent of US$40,489,087 compared to US$24,934,600 on Friday.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$42,320,091 compared to US$27,699,155 on Friday. The buying rate for the US dollar lost 3 cents to $113.19 and US$37,843,073 was sold versus US$22,601,816 on Friday. The selling rate rose 3 cents to $113.82. The Canadian dollar buying rate fell 56 cents to $96.92 with dealers buying C$1,788,250 and selling C$1,065,374, at an average selling rate that erased 17 cents, to $99.38. The rate for buying the British Pound fell 81 cents to $175.41, for the purchase of £1,814,634, while £765,534 was sold, the rate rose 26 cents to $177.99. At the end of trading it took J$139.93 to purchase the Euro according to data from Bank Of Jamaica while dealers purchased at J$137.14. Other currencies bought, amounted to the equivalent of US$283,910 while the equivalent of US$518,653, was sold.
Highs & Lows| The highest buying rate for the US dollar, closed 10 cents higher at $114.10, the lowest buying and the highest selling rates were unchanged to $93.52 and $119.84 respectively, but the lowest selling rate fell 17 cents at $93.35. The highest buying rate for the Canadian dollar slipped 55 cents to end at $99.95. The lowest buying rate closed 30 cents lower, at $79.63. The highest selling rate remained at $103.04 and the lowest selling rate dipped 30 cents to $96. The highest buying rate for the British Pound, lost 30 cents to $178.20. The lowest buying rate slipped 8 cents to $143.59, the highest selling rate gained $3.24 to $185.22 and the lowest selling rate eased by 10 cents to $173.
Producers’ improving performance
Jamaica Producers HQ in Kingston Jamaica
For the half year to June, net profit attributable to shareholders was $138 million, a 13 percent decline, compared with the similar period in 2013. This year’s performance only had $17 million of gain on sales of fixed assets and investments compared with $105 million in 2013. The 2013 result was negatively affected by $36 million in restructuring cost, there was no such charge this year, resulting in the quality of earnings from ongoing operations being better than in 2013.
Europe| In the 2014 second quarter, the Europe division earned revenues of $1.78 billion and pre-tax profits of $167 million, a 33 percent increase in revenues and 196 percent increase in pre-tax profits relative to the 2013 second quarter. Europe is still facing tough economic conditions, resulting in further monetary easing recently, leading to the Euro slipping sharply in value. This development could negatively affect Producers profit for the rest of the year. The results for 2015 could benefit from the monetary easing as the economy could benefit from the stimuli. The local currency could stay stable for some time thus robbing it of the gains make due to currency slippage in the first half of the year.
JP Tropical Division includes businesses located in the Caribbean that faced particularly challenging production and trading environment that adversely affected margins. The division experienced a loss during the 2014 second quarter of $43 million compared to a profit of $27 million for the same period in the prior year, although revenue grew 25 percent. The loss to JP shareholders is $20 million.
JP Tropical Foods experienced growth in its snack foods product lines, particularly in the USA and UK markets. During the quarter, we launched a new tropical snack brand of plantain and cassava chips for the Dominican Republic market.Gross profit climbed slower than operating revenues at 24.7 percent in the June quarter to $549 billion but was in line with revenues in the year to date period with gross profit rising 17.8 percent to $977 million.
Subsequent to the quarter the group acquired 11.59 percent more Kingston Wharves shares raising its stake to approximately 42 percent to become an even more dominant shareholder of the company. The rate of return on this latest investment is likely to be around 8 percent, or just slightly better than government of Jamaica current Treasury bill rate. But Producers’ focus would be on the longer term growth prospects that will accrue from the expansion of the port, and the increased business that they expect, especially with the opening of an expanded Panama Canal.
The main activities of the group are juice and food manufacturing, the cultivation, marketing and distribution of fresh produce locally, logistics, land management and the holding of investments.
Finances|At the end of June, the group had debt close to $1.2 billion, that should rise with the acquisition of the Kingston Wharves share purchase, as it was partially funded by borrowed money. Equity stood at $5.9 billion and they had cash funds and investments of $987 million. Current assets to current liability was below norm, at $2 billion to $1.5 billion.
Encouraging results| The results for 2014 so far is encouraging, importantly, Jamaica Producers is adding new products to the existing lines, both in the Caribbean and Europe, this is one of the surest ways of improving profitability as it is less costly to add new lines as much of the overheads cost are already built into the system. This is clearly a stock to be watched.
