Express Catering — Page 172

Express Catering jumps 96% – Tuesday

July 25, 2017 by IC Insider.com

Marlene Street Forrest – General Manager of the JSE is said to have intervened to reset the price Express Catering could trade at on Tuesday.

Good sense prevailed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Tuesday, finally allowing Express Catering to trade close to levels that large number of investors are prepared to trade the stock. In the process the price jumped 96% from Friday’s closing price and 127 percent from the IPO price of $1.50.
At the close on Monday, bids in the market above $2.29 were cancelled, an indication that the maximum price it could trade at being $2.97. IC Insider.com understands that regulations at the exchange permitted administrative intervention in the trading restriction that allowed the stock to enjoy the revised permitted price range of $2.52 to $3.41. The stock ended up trading 32,750,000 units to close with a gain of $1.67 to $3.41. During trading, the electronic board, showed that 65.6 million units traded up to $3.80. After the market closed a large portion were cancelled since the price exceeded the limit set for the day. The stock closed with the bid at $3.50 which will allow it to trade up $4.55 on Wednesday.
Trading on the Junior Market jumped sharply on Tuesday with the large trade in Express Catering, to 35,527,220 shares valued at $124,668,100, up from 1,438.180 shares valued at $7,648,204 traded on Monday. At the close, the market index rose 40.03 points to 3,028.93.
At the close, 21 securities traded, up from 17 on Monday with 9 stocks gaining and 7 declining. Trading closed with 5 stocks having a higher bids than the last traded price and 2 closing with lower offers.
The Junior Market ended trading with an average of 1,691,772 units for an average value of $5,936,576 compared to 84,599 units for an average of $449,894 on Monday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 239,926 units at $680,321, compared to 74,820 units valued at $371,129 previously. In contrast, June closed with averages of 395,969 units valued at $1,799,200 for each security traded.
At the close of the market, AMG Packaging rose 20 cents and closed at $3.70 with 1,733 units changing hands, Blue Power dived $7 after falling $ 4 on Monday to close at $38 with 8,588 units changing hands, Cargo Handlers ended trading 4,853 shares to close at $13.75, Caribbean Cream jumped by $1 and closed trading with 105,300 units at $7, Caribbean Producers gained 38 cents to close trading with 57,863 units, at $3.40, Consolidated Bakeries ended with 85,000 units changing hands, to close at $2.62. Dolphin Cove ended at $17.50 with 555 shares changing hands, Eppley gained 5 cents and closed trading with 16,985 shares at a new high of $13, General Accident added 1 cent and closed trading with 80,838 shares at $2.51, Honey Bun plunged $1 with 16,760 shares changing hands and closed at $5, ISP Finance slipped $2 and closed with 23,500 units changing hands at $12, Jetcon Corporation traded 62,653 shares to end at $4.61, after gaining 11 cents, Knutsford Express traded 4,481 shares to end at $15, Lasco Distributors closed 39 cents lower at $6.51 after trading 53,268 units, Lasco Financial rose 6 cents and ended with 57,505 shares changing hands at $3.56, Lasco Manufacturing shed 19 cents and ended with 2,107,735 shares trading at $4.31, Main Event lost 10 cents to close with 20,787 shares trading at $5.20, strong> Medical Disposables lost 1 cent in ending at $5.50 with 343 units trading, Paramount Trading ended with 72,354 units changing hands at $2.95 and tTech traded 4,699 units, falling 10 cents to close at $9.50.

Filed Under: Feature Stories, JSE Junior Market, Stock Market Tagged With: AMG Packaging, Cargo Handlers, Caribbean Producers, Consolidated Bakeries, Daily Trading, Dolphin Cove, Emerging stock market, Eppley, Express Catering, Honey Bun, Jamaican stocks, Jamaican Teas, Jetcon Corporation, junior market, Knutsford Express, Lasco Distributors, Lasco Financial, Lasco Manufacturing, Main Event, Medical Disposables, Paramount Trading, Trading Activity, tTech

JSE response to Express Catering trading fiasco article

July 24, 2017 by IC Insider.com

Kino Williamson (l), Head of Finance, Cable Bahamas Ltd. points to the USD label while Scotia Investment CEO, Lissant Mitchell points to the JMD label. Also sharing the moment (from left) are Marlene Street Forrest, Managing Director Jamaica Stock Exchange, John Gomez, COO Cable Bahamas and Dylan Coke, VP Originations & Capital Markets, Scotia Investments

Mrs. Marlene Street Forrest, Managing Director of the Jamaica Stock Exchange responded to articles on Express Catering that were published on July 21, 2017 by IC Insider.com
The response to the Article
Article Sentence 1: “The Jamaica Stock Exchange indicated that the maximum price Express Catering could trade at on Friday was $1.86 which came about from a 15 percent average, of the price that triggered the circuit breaker which is $1.75 and the IPO price of $1.50.”
JSE Market Operations & Trade Response: This statement is partially incorrect. The price that triggered the circuit breaker was $1.74 and not $1.75.

The maximum trade price of $1.86 for ECL on Friday is correctly stated. With reference to the circuit breaker rule, which states that “No stock should trade +/-15% from the close price…” and noting that the previous close price is the current day’s open price, the (open) price of $1.50 was used to determine the trade range for ECL. With reference to the following section of the circuit breaker rule, which states that “…a simple average of the trigger price and the close price, will be used to determine the trade range for the remainder of the day” an average of the price of $1.50 and the trigger price of $1.74 was calculated to determine the trade range for the remainder of the day. The average price was $1.62 and the trade range for ECL on Friday was $1.38 to $1.86, which was +-15% of $1.62.

Article Sentence 2: “Had the first trade, taken place at $1.95 it would have shut down trading in the stock for an hour, but that price would have stood, being 30 percent above the IPO price.”

JSE Market Operations & Trade Response: This statement is correct. The price of $1.95 is within the 30% range and the trade would have remained if it was the trade that triggered the circuit breaker.

Article Sentences 3 to 5: “Regardless, investors placed a large number of bids to acquire the stock which was heavily oversubscribed, when the shares were issued to the public. The attached picture shows the bids above $2.20 at the close which are expected to be cancelled, with the closing bids limited to $2 which is the indicative starting price on Monday. That price will determine the maximum price the stock can trade at on Monday.”

The Jamaica Stock Exchnage subsidiary

JSE Market Operations & Trade Response: This is correct. The Price Limitation of the Close Bid and Close Ask policy states that “the close bid should not be more than 15% of the close price…” Consequently all bids greater than 15% of the close price of $1.74 were cancelled from the trading system. 134 buy orders were cancelled and the respective traders were advised of the cancellations. $2.00 is 15% of ECL’s close price of $1.74; the highest price permitted for the ECL close bid. The close bid at $2.00 is the effective close price on Monday, July 24, 2017 and will be used to determine the trade range.

Article Sentences 6 to 9: “Something must be wrong if investors can place orders into the system only to see them manually cancelled by the exchange after trading ends. This development is public relations and bad news for the exchange, but not many persons seem to care. The circuit breaker rule put in place to try and prevent wild daily movements in a stock prices seems to have out lived its life. It is not working well with new listings as it is preventing orderly trading in most new listings in the early days of trading.”

JSE Market Operations & Trade Response: The practice of manually removing orders that fall outside of the 15% limit has been in place since the implementation of the Price Limitation of the Close Bid and Close Ask policy.

Article Paragraph 3: According to an extract sent by the Jamaica Stock Exchange the Circuit Breaker Rule states that “No stock should trade +/-15% from the close price or the effective close price at the opening of the market. The effective close price is determined whenever the closing bid is greater than the close price or whenever the closing ask is less than the close price. Use the closing bid as the effective close price, if the value is greater than the close price or use the closing ask as the effective close price, if the value is less than the close price. However, during the day if the Circuit Breaker is triggered for a security, the trades at prices outside of the original prescribed band for the security will be disallowed for an hour to allow for the release of market news and a cool down period. The price of the trade that triggered the Circuit Breaker should not be +/-15% outside of the original prescribed price band. After the hour has passed the security will be released for trading within a new prescribed price band based on the new reference price, which is a simple average of the trigger price and the close price. The new reference price will be used to determine the trade range for the remainder of the day. The stock will not be allowed to trade +/- 15% of the new reference price.”

Starbucks one of the brand Express Catering will sell at the Montego Bay Airport.

JSE Market Operations & Trade Response: The circuit breaker rule.

Article Paragraph 4: “If it is were conceded that there is need for a daily price limit, the above rules have been made more complex than needs be the case. There is no logic in limiting one stock to trade at a 30 percent above the last traded price or indicative price and another to be limited to a lesser amount on the same day because an investor buys a stock at 30 percent above the prior days last price another at 15.1 percent above it which limits the trading for the rest of the day to less than 30 percent in the latter case. The new rules that were approved by the stock exchange in 2014 made no reference to a limit to the bid or offer that can be made during the day, exchange personnel have decided amongst themselves to improperly invoke the additional change that limits trading unnecessarily. The stock exchange should make good sense prevail and allow the above rules to be implemented fully as stated without the introduction of rules that the updated regulations do not include and from all indications were not signed off by the stock exchange council, went the change was submitted for approval. If that is done, it would remove the nonsense that now prevails in the Express Catering trading, with a huge line up of bids above $2 that are slated to be cancelled after trading today.”

JSE Market Operations & Trade Response: The Price Limitation of the Close Bid and Close Ask policy was implemented in 2014 after the circuit breaker rule was amended in order to effectively apply the revised circuit breaker rule, specifically the section of the circuit breaker which states that “The price of the trade that triggered the Circuit Breaker should not be +/-15% outside of the original prescribed price band.”

Summary
The amended circuit breaker rule has been consistently applied over the last three years. It was amended to provide increased liquidity during any one trading day. The amending of the circuit breaker rule was done to ensure that there was adequate cooling off period and adjust to market conditions.

In the case of the trading in ECL, there was no trading fiasco. The circuit breaker rule was properly applied and had no bearing on any issues with the new trading platform.

Filed Under: Feature Stories, JSE Combined, Stock Market Tagged With: Circuit Breaker Rule, Emerging market, Express Catering, Jamaica Stock Exchange

Express Catering enters TOP 10

July 24, 2017 by IC Insider.com

Ian Dear, Managing Director of Express Catering

Trading started in Express Catering shares on Friday on the Junior Market, with the stock enjoying strong demand up to the $3 level. New information obtained this past week from the prospectus resulted in the earnings for this company being upgraded and it is included in the TOP stocks.
Importantly for Express Catering, the prospectus states that effective at the end on of May, the contract that gave rise to the payment of management fees was cancelled. The amount, the equivalent to 9 percent of revenues or roughly US$1.4 million will no longer be paid and should go towards boosting the bottom-line, and should result in the earnings per share around J$0.26 cents for 2018 fiscal year. The change means it is now a part of the TOP 10 Junior Market stocks. With the strong demand for the stock, it should spend just a short time in the list. The same out turn seems likely for Stationery and Office Supplies (SOS) once it starts to trade, with the IPO being nearly 4 times oversubscribed with more than 1,000 applications received for the 52 million shares.
With the initial public offers now out of the way, trading in the secondary markets saw more energy in the past week than for the previous two, with some stocks that were weak before, finding buying at the lower prices.
ISP Finance price rose to $14 after falling to $11 during the past week, but big declines in the prices of AMG Packaging and Caribbean Cream pushed out ISP as well Caribbean Flavours and CAC 2000 out of the top listing.
The only movement in and out of the TOP 10 in the main market were Sagicor Group that spent just one week a short while ago, coming back, as Cable & Wireless dropped out with a big gain in the price in the past week of 17.5 percent.
The average PE ratio for the Junior Market Top stocks is down at 6.6 with SOS in at a PE of 5 times 2017 earnings. The PE for the main market TOP 10, holds at 6.7. The average PE for the overall main market, remains at 13 and 12 for Junior Market, based on 2017 estimated earnings.
At the close of the week, IC Insider.com’s TOP 10 Junior Market stocks now trade at an average discount of 45 percent to the Junior Market average, while those in the main market are trading at a 49 percent discount, to the average of the market, leaving stocks with room for growth in the months ahead.
Last week IC Insider indicated that two stocks to watch were Cable & Wireless with the price around support level and NCB Financial with very limited number of stocks currently being offered. Both stocks bounced with the former rising over 17 percent to 94 cents and NCB rising to $75 from $71.50. Active supply for NCB is very low currently and technical chart suggests a big break out for it very soon. NCB is to be watched for a possible break towards $80 and Express Catering to well over $3.

Filed Under: Buy Rated Tagged With: Barita Investments, Berger Paints, Cable & Wireless, CAC2000, Caribbean Cement, Caribbean Producers, Carreras, Express Catering, General Accident, Grace Kennedy, Jamaica Broilers, Jetcon Corporation, JMMB Group, Key Insurance, Lasco Financial, Medical Disposables, NCB Financial, Radio Jamaica, Sagicor Group, SOS, Stationery and Office Supplies, tTech

Express Catering trading fiasco

July 21, 2017 by IC Insider.com

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Ian Dear, Managing Director of Express Catering

The Jamaica Stock Exchange indicated that the maximum price Express Catering could trade at on Friday was $1.86 which came about from a 15 percent average, of the price that triggered the circuit breaker which is $1.75 and the IPO price of $1.50.
Had the first trade, taken place at $1.95 it would have shut down trading in the stock for an hour, but that price would have stood, being 30 percent above the IPO price.
Regardless, investors placed a large number of bids to acquire the stock which was heavily oversubscribed, when the shares were issued to the public. The attached picture shows the bids above $2.20 at the close which are expected to be cancelled, with the closing bids limited to $2 which is the indicative starting price on Monday. That price will determine the maximum price the stock can trade at on Monday. Something must be wrong if investors can place orders into the system only to see them manually cancelled by the exchange after trading ends. This development is public relations and bad news for the exchange, but not many persons seem to care.
The circuit breaker rule put in place to try and prevent wild daily movements in a stock prices seems to have out lived its life. It is not working well with new listings as it is preventing orderly trading in most new listings in the early days of trading.

All the above orders amounting millions of shares in Express Catering will be cancelled after trading on Friday

According to an extract sent by the Jamaica Stock Exchange the Circuit Breaker Rule states that “No stock should trade +/-15% from the close price or the effective close price at the opening of the market. The effective close price is determined whenever the closing bid is greater than the close price or whenever the closing ask is less than the close price. Use the closing bid as the effective close price, if the value is greater than the close price or use the closing ask as the effective close price, if the value is less than the close price. However, during the day if the Circuit Breaker is triggered for a security, the trades at prices outside of the original prescribed band for the security will be disallowed for an hour to allow for the release of market news and a cool down period. The price of the trade that triggered the Circuit Breaker should not be +/-15% outside of the original prescribed price band. After the hour has passed the security will be released for trading within a new prescribed price band based on the new reference price, which is a simple average of the trigger price and the close price. The new reference price will be used to determine the trade range for the remainder of the day. The stock will not be allowed to trade +/- 15% of the new reference price.”
If it is were conceded that there is need for a daily price limit, the above rules have been made more complex than needs be the case. There is no logic in limiting one stock to trade at a 30 percent above the last traded price or indicative price and another to be limited to a lesser amount on the same day because an investor buys a stock at 30 percent above the prior days last price another at 15.1 percent above it which limits the trading for the rest of the day to less than 30 percent in the latter case. The new rules that were approved by the stock exchange in 2014 made no reference to a limit to the bid or offer that can be made during the day, exchange personnel have decided amongst themselves to improperly invoke the additional change that limits trading unnecessarily. The stock exchange should make good sense prevail and allow the above rules to be implemented fully as stated without the introduction of rules that the updated regulations do not include and from all indications were not signed off by the stock exchange council, went the change was submitted for approval. If that is done, it would remove the nonsense that now prevails in the Express Catering trading, with a huge line up of bids above $2 that are slated to be cancelled after trading today.

Filed Under: Feature Stories, Initial Public Offers, JSE Junior Market, Stock Market Tagged With: Circuit breaker, Daily Trading, Emerging market stock, Express Catering, Jamaica Stock Exchange, Jamaican Stock, junior market, Trading Activity

Express Catering up 50c to $2

July 21, 2017 by IC Insider.com

Express Catering started trading today with 102,100 shares trading at $2 to record a 33.33 percent gain of 50 cents over the initial public issue price of $1.50, if the price is allowed to stand.
The opening price for the stock is $1.75, under the stock exchange rules, the maximum price change increase for the day is limited to 30 percent from the issue price of $1.50 or 45 cents.
On the bid are 2.33 million units ranging in price from $1.50 to $2.15 with only one offer of 26,661 units posted on the stock exchange trading platform at a price of $2.75.
The company’s shareholders sold 327.5 million shares valued at $491,250,000 just over a week ago to the public.
The stock price movement has helped the Junior Market index in adding 21.56 points to trade at 2,962.79 at 11.40am.

Filed Under: Initial Public Offers, Stock Market, Street News & Views Tagged With: Express Catering, junior market

Another miniscule IPO allocation

July 18, 2017 by IC Insider.com

The general public ended up collecting a miniscule amount of shares in Express Catering recent public offering of shares with the first 12,000 shares being allocated in with the balance in excess allocated approximately 4.57 percent.
Mayberry Investments, brokers to Express Catering public issue, advised that a total of 1,270 applications valued at approximately $1,197,204,000 were received for 327.5 million shares valued at $491,250,000 that were on offer. Mayberry states that 1,237 applications valued at $634,599,000 were received for the public pool, approximately 13 times the value of $48,937,000 on offer in the public pool.
Shares allocated for Company Reserves Shares, Mayberry Reserved Shares and Key Partner Reserved applications were allocated in full. Mayberry states that “the company will endeavour to return refunds within 10 working days after the closing date.

Filed Under: Initial Public Offers, Street News & Views Tagged With: Express Catering, Jamaica Stock Exchange, Jamaican Stock, junior market, Mayberry Investments

ISP Finance and C&W back in TOP 10

July 16, 2017 by IC Insider.com

Pull back in the prices of several Junior Market stocks, resulted in changes in the TOP 10 junior stocks at the close of the week. The changes took place against the back ground of an unprecedented 5 issues of new shares around the same time in the market.
Some investors are of the view the public issue of shares all coming around the same time, contributed to the softness in the market over the past two weeks.
On Wednesday, this week, IC Insider.com BUY RATED Stationery and Office Supplies (SOS opens to the public for purchase, at a priced of $2 and is expected to close on the same day it opens. Express Catering IPO opened and close last week Wednesday with more than 1,000 applications received.
ISP Finance price dropped to $13.56 during the past week to re-enter the Top 10. Returning back to the TOP 10 are Caribbean Flavours and Lasco Distributors
Moving out of the top list are AMG Packaging, Lasco Manufacturing with the price rising to $4.70 from $4.30 at the close of the previous week and tTech with the price rising 50 cents to a record $10.
In the main market Sagicor Group spent just one week in the top listing with the price moving from$30 at the end of the previous week to end at $33 and is replaced by Cable & Wireless with the price down under $1 at 80 cents, support for the stock is around 75 cents, hence it could bounce back from these levels soon.

NCB Financial Group is worth watching keenly in the days and weeks ahead.

Market movement continues to be constrained by near term resistance points, it does not prevent stocks from moving in either direction, but it will tend to keep prices overall from big movements upwards.
The average PE ratio for the Junior Market Top stocks is down at 6.8 with SOS in at a PE of 5 times 2017 earnings. The PE for the main market holds at 6.7. The average PE for the overall main market, remains at 13 and 12 for Junior Market, based on 2017 estimated earnings.
At the close of the week, IC Insider.com’s TOP 10 Junior Market stocks now trade at an average discount of 43 percent to the Junior Market average, while those in the main market are trading at a 49 percent discount, to the average of the market, leaving stocks with room for growth in the months ahead in the market.
Two stocks to watch are Cable & Wireless with the price around support level and NCB Financial with very limited number of stocks currently being offered.

Filed Under: Buy Rated, Stock Market, Stocks to watch Tagged With: Barita Investments, Berger Paints, Cable & Wireless, CAC2000, Caribbean Cement, Caribbean Producers, Carreras, Express Catering, General Accident, Grace Kennedy, Jamaica Broilers, Jetcon Corporation, JMMB Group, Key Insurance, Lasco Financial, Medical Disposables, NCB Financial, Radio Jamaica, Sagicor Group, SOS, Stationery and Office Supplies, tTech

PBS & Express Catering over the top

July 12, 2017 by IC Insider.com

NCB Capital Markets, brokers to the initial public offer of ordinary and preference shares for Productive Business Solutions which opened July 5, 2017 closed on Tuesday, July 11 for the Ordinary Shares at the price of US$0.55 per share.
The brokerage house, stated that the basis of allocation to be communicated later. The Invitation for subscription by the Company in respect of at a price of J$100 per share remains open and the public will be duly advised when same is closed. The original date for closure of both issues was set for July 26.
PBS issue was seeking to raise US$41.5 million by ordinary shares, with US$8.7 million of it to be used to International Finance Corporation. The IPO also includes 25,800,000 9.75% Redeemable Cumulative Preference Shares denominated in Jamaican dollars. The issue allocated 27,272,727 of the ordinary shares for Portland JSX, 7,272,727 units for staff with 4,545,455 shares for the General Public.
Part of the proceeds will be used to paid debt of US$17.45 million and working capital of US$13.85 million.

Ian Dear, Managing Director of Express Catering

For the year to December 2016, a loss of US$3.3 million was incurred down from a profit of $1.2 million in 2015. Revenues fell in both years to $171 million in 2016 from $194 million in 2015 and $202 million in 2014 when a small loss was incurred. Finance cost in 2016 increased by $2.6 million. The increase is attributed primarily to interest associated with the increase in debt of $998,000, FX loss of $920,000, and amortization of deferred expenses associated with the bond of $724,000. In the March 2017 quarter revenues rose to US$42.45 million from US$39.32 million with profit rising to US$838,000 before taxation of US$389,000 from a loss the year before.
PBS has borrowings of US$66 million with US$10 million due to related parties as at December 2016. The prospectus indicates that the shares are to be listed on the main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange and on Barbados Stock Exchange’s International Securities Market, subsequent to listing in Jamaica.
Reports reaching IC Insider.com is that Express Catering was oversubscribed with the issue closing this morning as more than 1,000 applications were received by the broker for the issue, Mayberry Investments. The 100 percent Shareholder of Express Catering, Margaritaville St Lucia, offered 327,500,000 of existing shares for sale at $1.50 each, to raise approximately $490 million. Only 32.6 million shares were made available to the general public. The Stock is slated for listing on the Junior Market.

Filed Under: General News, Initial Public Offers Tagged With: Barbados Stock Exchange, Express Catering, International Finance Corporation, Jamaica Stock Exchange, junior market, Margaritaville St Lucia, NCB Capital Markets, Preference Shares

Office supplies’ company heads TOP 10

July 9, 2017 by IC Insider.com

IC Insider.com BUY RATED Stationery and Office Supplies (SOS) jumped into the TOP 10 Junior Market stocks in the number one position at the close of the past week.

The SOS stock which opens to the public for purchase, starting on the 19th of this month, is priced at $2 and is expected to close on the same day it opens, as sentiments towards it are very positive.
SOS is projected by IC Insider.com to produce earnings of 40 cents per share for 2018 and is expected to benefit from the increased exposure leading up to the listing and the continuing exposure post listing, giving them an added advantage over the competition. Medical Disposables sits second spot and Caribbean Producers is in at the third spot. CAC 2000 moved into the TOP 10 with the price having fallen to $6.57 by the end of the week.
The inclusion of SOS and CAC 2000 means that Lasco Distributors and Lasco Finance have been edged out of the Top listing. Express Catering that goes to market on July 12, is priced at a level placing them well outside the top listing.
In the main market Sagicor Group fell to $30 by week end and helped it into the TOP 10 lists edging out Grace Kennedy in the process.
Market movement continues to be constrained by near term resistance levels, it does not prevent stocks from moving in either direction, but it will tend to keep prices overall from big movements upwards.
The average PE ratio for the Junior Market Top stocks remain at 7 even with SOS being added at a PE of 5 times 2017 earnings. The PE for the main market slipped to 6.7 with the sharp fall in prices during the week. The average PE for the overall main market, is down to 13 while it remains at 12 for Junior Market, based on 2017 estimated earnings.
At the close of the week, IC Insider.com’s TOP 10 Junior Market stocks now trade at an average discount of 40 percent to the Junior Market average, while those in the main market are trading at a 49 percent discount, to the average of the market, leaving stocks with room for growth in the months ahead.

Filed Under: Buy Rated, Stock Market, Stocks to watch Tagged With: Barita Investments, Berger Paints, CAC2000, Caribbean Cement, Caribbean Producers, Carreras, Express Catering, General Accident, Grace Kennedy, Jamaica Broilers, Jetcon Corporation, JMMB Group, Key Insurance, Lasco Financial, Medical Disposables, NCB Financial, Radio Jamaica, Sagicor Group, SOS, Stationery and Office Supplies, tTech

Express Catering stock a fair buy

July 6, 2017 by IC Insider.com

Ian Dear, Chief Executive Officer of Express Catering

The 100 percent shareholder of Express Catering, Margaritaville St Lucia, are offering up to 327,500,000 of existing shares for sale at $1.50 each, to raise approximately J$490 million from the public. Most of the shares are reserved for special interest groups.
The issue opens at 9 am on Wednesday 12 July and is scheduled to close at 4 pm, Wednesday 19 July 2017.
Up to 16,500,000 shares are Company Reserved Shares, 32,750,000 are Mayberry Reserved Shares, 245,625,000 shares are Key Partner Reserved Shares with 32,625,000 slated for the General Public Shares. The company has 1,637,500,000 issued and this will not change with the issue. The stock will be listed on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange. Mayberry Investments are the broker to the offer.
The stock appears to be a fair buy with growth to come from expansion into the Starbucks franchise to be located at the Sangster Airport and continued growth in visitor arrivals through that airport going forward as the sector expands.
The selling shareholder will use the funds raised in the Invitation for the purposes of the Group’s liquidity inclusive of the continued improvement and expansion of the Company’s operations, working capital and general corporate purposes. The proceeds of sale will also be used to pay the expenses of the Invitation out of the fundraising, which the Directors expect will not exceed J$27.5 million.
Franchises operated include; Quiznos Subs and Salads, Dairy Queen, Nathans Famous Hot Dogs, Domino’s Pizza, Auntie Anne’s Pretzels, Wendy’s, Cinnabon, Moe’s South Western Grill, Island Deli, Viva Fresh Market Grab & Go, Cricket Sports Bar, Connections Bar, Air Margaritaville Arrivals Bar, Jamaican Bobsled Cafe and The Groovy Grouper The Bar.
The Company achieved revenue of US$14.1 million in the financial year ended May 2016, an increase of US$460,000 or 3.4 percent over the previous financial year’s Revenue of US$13.6 million. Revenue for financial years 2013 and 2014 was US$10 million and US$12.2 million respectively. While the financial show gross margins stable around 73 percent of revenue, while administrative and other costs as reported accounts for 58 percent of revenue for 2016 and slightly more for the comparative period in 201. Administrative costs include some items that should be included in cost of sales as they are not administrative expenses. Included here for the 2017 figures in US dollars are; Franchise fee $1,264,282 fuel $39,098, bar and restaurant supplies $373,127, staff cost of $1.39 million and rent of $2.8 million as well as electricity.
Net Profit of US$1.1 million was realized in 2016 up from US$590,000 in 2015. For 10 months of financial year to March 2017 revenue grew to US$11.54 million with net profit before tax of US$1.15 million from revenues of US$11.52 million in the 10 months of the prior year and profit of US$904,144 in the same period the prior year. Profit before tax should end the 2017 fiscal year around $1.25 million for earnings per share of .076 US cents or 9.7 cents Jamaican.
In the period to March 2017 launched a 7 year preference share to raise US$3.5 million. Proceeds from this issue was earmarked for the construction of the Starbucks Coffee outlets at Sangster International Airport, and to settle certain Group obligations.
The board of directors comprises, Winston Dear, Ian Dear, Roland Clarke, John Byles, Tania Waldron-Gooden.
The stock is being sold at a big premium to net asset value of $0.36 with equity valued at US$4.6 million, but at a PE of 15 based on 2017 earnings. Earnings for the May 2018 period could rise to $1.65 million or earnings per share of US 1 cents per share or J$0.13, excluding the new franchise operation. The average of the Junior Market of approximately 12.5.