IC Insider BUY RATED

Berger Paints set to surprise

April 13, 2020 by IC Insider.com

Berger Paints is one of IC Insider.com’s top stocks for 2020. It is may not the most popular company listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, but it seems set to surprise many investors with its performance in 2020.
It gained much attention with strong growth in profits in the financial year to March 2017, ahead of a switch in majority ownership in August 2017 to the Trinidad based ANSA McAL Group resulting in significant changes in directorship and management. In 2019, the company changed the General manager after a relatively short stint at the helm, a move that could augur well for the company going forward.
In 2019, raw materials accounted for 50 percent of the input into paint production. Most of the raw material used in paint production is petroleum-based, resulting in paint companies benefit when the petrochemical industry goes into a downswing and conversely, a hike in the price of petroleum products raises input costs. Titanium dioxide and crude derivatives form about 50 percent of the raw material cost of paints. In 2019 the average price of crude oil on the world market US$57 for WTI, for 2020 so far, it is at US$43 per barrel, with the current price around US$22 per barrel. If the current trend holds, it will result in lower input costs for Berger for 2020. Management in reporting to shareholders for the year to December stated, “year to date to February 2020, performance indicators are ahead of 2019 with signs of a positive trajectory”.
Between 2012 and 2017, profits increased at an outstanding rate, however, in 2018, the profit was relatively flat and declined in 2019. The company reported lower sales and sharply reduced profit for 2019. The company recorded a two percent reduction in revenues to $1.12 billion for the six months to June and a 6 percent reduction to $1.6 billion for the nine months to September 2019, versus $1.7 billion for the corresponding period in 2018. It ended the year down 7 percent at $2.5 billion. Adverse weather conditions experienced in the third and fourth quarters, negatively impacted revenues, the company told shareholders in a statement accompanying the third and fourth quarter reports. Also affecting sales was the extensive road works that disrupted their customers’ businesses.

Berger Paints is one of IC Insider’s TOP 10 stocks.

The company reported a loss in the final quarter of 2019, a period that generates by far the highest revenues and usually the highest profit. Berger ended with a profit of $29 million compared to the full year compared to $40 million at the end of September. While revenues fell in the fourth quarter to $892 million versus the 2018 period, it was the highest revenues in any quarter with the June quarter of $601 million being the closest. Yet, it recorded a loss when the June quarter recorded a profit of $28 million. Analysis of the reports shows that other operating expenses of $118 million in the September quarter jumped to $254 million for the December quarter. The 2019 fourth quarter also much higher than in the same period in 2018 at $136 million, suggesting there may be some one-off cost that was incurred in the period and distorted the results.
“The company implemented a new an Enterprise Resource Planning Software (ERP) system which provides a fully integrated manufacturing and financial platform and is providing the required details and analytics for the business, the management stated.” The company also introduced a new automotive line of paints to deepen BPJL’s reach into the automotive market.
IC Insider.com projects earnings per share amounting to $2 for the current year and it now trades at an attractive P/E of just over six times projected earnings.

Filed Under: Buy Rated, Company News, Company Results Tagged With: Berger Paints, Daily Trading, Emerging markets, IC Insider BUY RATED, Jamaica Stock Exchange, Jamaican Stock

Buy Caribbean Producers now for 2021

April 8, 2020 by IC Insider.com

There are few opportunities in the stock market to generate significant gains than from a beaten-down stock that has strong credentials, dominating the sector it focuses on and has been growing. This is the case with the Montego Bay-based, Caribbean Producers that has seen good times and bad times in the recent past but was enjoying a strong rebound in the first two quarters of the 2020 fiscal year.

Caribbean Producers back in TOP 10

The company’s primary market is the tourist industry. With a virtual closure of the industry currently, sales have come under severe pressure and that will hit the bottom-line severely, even if for a few months. Until the adverse reaction of the market to the Coronavirus outbreak, technical indicators showed that the stock was consolidating with the possibility of a break out from the $5 level with six months results coming far better than the disappointed 2018 half-year results. All that has changed for now as the stock nosedived to $2 as heavy selling pressured the stock.
Expectations are that the company’s third and fourth-quarter results will show the negative impact of the closure of hotels on sales and profit. Investors should bear in mind that the fiscal year starting July may not be affected or not as severely as the second half of the current fiscal year. Importantly, revenues rose 11 percent in September and in the December quarters to US$32.4 from US$29.4 million. IC Insider.com forecast is for a small profit in the March quarter to add to the profit of US$89,000 reported for the 2019 half-year. The stock price collapsed from $5 it was trading at in February to a low of $2 recently. This fall is worse than when they lost US$1.2 million in the year to June 2019 when it still traded above $4. Admittedly, the company has US$39 million of borrowed funds that exposes it to a high degree of risk if the disruption in the business is prolonged. While interest-bearing debt climbed during the year, shareholders’ equity stood at US$22.5 million.
CPJ‘s profit declined 162 percent for the year ended June 2019 to a loss of US$1.17 million compared to a profit of US$1.88 million for the year ending June 2018, with operating revenue for the year amounting to US$94.6 million from US$93.3 million in 2018. The loss resulted from a decline in profit margin in the year and US$679,713 write-off of the cost of developing the inventory IT management system.
For six months to December 2019, gross profit rose faster that growth in revenues at 19 percent to US$8.5 from $7.1 million. Selling and administrative expenses slipped from US$5.8 million in 2018 to US$5.4 million to US$20 million. Finance costs increased in the year to US$791,818 from US$411,143 in 2018 and depreciation jumped from US$609,271 to US$1.4 million.
There are risks in investing in the stock current, but the low price makes it a compelling buy for a big pay off in 2021. IC Insider.com rates the stock a buy based on full or nearly full recovery, for the 2021 fiscal year.

Filed Under: Buy Rated, Company News, Company Results Tagged With: Caribbean Producers, Emerging markets, IC Insider BUY RATED, Jamaica Stock Exchange, Jamaican Stock

Big jump in Honey Bun profit

December 1, 2019 by IC Insider.com

Another major milestone in Honey Bun’s brief history of listing on the JSE Junior Market was reached at the end of the 2019 fiscal year, ending in September, with record revenues and profit.
The full-year results show pretax profit rising 73 percent to $183 million versus $106 million in 2018 and profit after tax rising 67 percent to hit $157 million from a 17 percent rise in revenues to $1.54 billion. Revenues grew even faster in the final quarter by 20.4 percent improvement over the 18.9 that revenues grew in the third quarter over 2018.
The results benefited from improved efficiency with cost sales rising well below the growth in revenues, with input cost increasing 12 percent for the year, driving gross profit margin to 48 percent, an improvement from the 46 percent in 2018. Selling and Distribution expenses rose 16 percent to $250 million from $214, Administrative Cost excluding depreciation rose 18 percent $284 million from $249 million.
Earnings per share rose to 33 cents in the just concluded year from just 18 cents in 2018. Importantly, the company is on the way to earn 70 cents per share for 2020 for a profit of $335 million and should go on to earn $1 per share or $490 million in 2021 and $1.30 or $600 million in the following year when the tax concession for half the regular rate ends.

One Honey Bun’s Products.

The company is benefitting from a capital expenditure of $330 million spent over the last two years to expand the factory and bring manufacturing under one location as well as an expansion of product range. The operations generated gross cash flow of $230 million up from $145 million in 2018.
Shareholders’ equity climbed to $741 million from $618 million. Current assets increased from $209 million to $353 million with net current assets ending at $185 million from $89 million in 2018. Cash and cash equivalents stood at $193 million, up from $100 million, but the company has Investments of $92 million comprising quoted shares and money market instruments treated as non-current assets.
The company manufacture and distributes baked products for the local and export markets.
The stock receives the IC BUY RATED seal of approval. The stock traded at $7 on the Jamaica Stock Exchange Junior Market for a PE of 10.

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: Emerging markets, Honey Bun, IC Insider BUY RATED, Jamaica Stock Exchange, Jamaican Stock, junior market

NCB hikes dividend 29%

January 25, 2019 by IC Insider.com

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NCB hiked dividend to 90 cents from 70 cents in 2018.

NCB Financial hikes dividend 29 percent, to $2.2 billion or 90 cents per share, as profit from ongoing operations jumped 40 percent in the first quarter to December last year to $5.7 million before taxation.
Profit after taxation and one-time gains, resulted in net profit of $7.4 billion for the first quarter of the 2019 financial year, slightly lower than the prior year’s results that included a gain (negative goodwill) of $4.4 billion relating to the acquisition of Clarien Group. Profit for the latest quarter, includes a gain of $3.3 billion from the disposal of 326,277,325 JMMB Group shares at $28.25 per share.
The strong improved results climbed on the back of 24 percent in net income, to $20.7 billion from $16.7 billion in 2017, offset by a 21 percent increase in expenses. Included in expenses is loan loss provision of $1, up from just $146 million in 2017 and seems tied to the need to adjust loan provisioning in line with new Accounting Standards. Depreciation and amortization cost almost doubled to $1.3 billion, from $667 million in 2017. Other operating expenses jumped 29 percent to $6 billion from $4.7 billion in the prior year. The big improvement in revenues flowed from increases in net interest income from $7.55 billion to $9.85 billion, an increase of 30 percent, while exchange trading delivered a third more, at $4.2 billion.
Retail and Small Business Banking segment profit grew a strong 36 percent to $1.34 billion, but Payment Services fell just 2 percent to $1.2 billion. Corporate Banking jumped sharply by 76 percent to $1.25 billion, Treasury and Correspondent Banking was up by just 14 percent to $1.65 billion. Wealth, Asset Management and Investment Banking, grew attractively by 39 percent to $1.2 billion, Life Insurance & Pension Fund Management rose 29 percent to $1.3 billion while General Insurance moved from a loss of $107 million to a profit of $227 million.

NCB giving back to the community.

The Group’s loans and advances, net of provision for credit losses, rose 16 percent to $373.5 billion. NCB stated that “the growth was driven by our Jamaican that increased by 22 percent or $50.4 billion. Non-performing loans totalled $18.5 billion as at December 2018 (December 2017: $15 billion) and represented 4.9 percent of the gross loans compared to 4.6 percent as at December 2017.” Customer deposits grew just 7 percent to $461 billion. The varied growth rate between loans and deposit is a strong positive for profit as the revenues climb faster than cost.
The group re-launched a revised take-over to acquire up to 32.01 percent of the outstanding shares of Guardian Holdings which, when combined with NCB’s existing 29.99 percent holding will bring the total to 62 percent. The profit of the group will get a further boost from this acquisition. IC Insider.com has updated the earnings per share for 2019 to $14 from continuing operations and with the stock price at $145, the PE is just over 10 times earning making the stock BUY RATED with a 2019 target price of $225.

Filed Under: Buy Rated, Company News, Company Results, Dividends, Feature Stories Tagged With: Clarien Bank, Dividend, Guardian Holdings, IC Insider BUY RATED, Jamaica Stock Exchange, Jamaican Stock, JMMB Group, NCB Financial Group, TTSE

Republic is going higher soon

April 29, 2018 by IC Insider.com

Trinidad’s Republic Financial Holdings should be heading higher on Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange, sooner than many investors may think.
One reason is that the financial powerhouse, just posted pretty strong results, with profit before taxation rising a healthy 22 percent, to $490 million in the March quarter and a still respectable 14 percent for the half year. Increased taxation wiped out a bit a of the top line gains leaving profit at 3 percent higher for the quarter at $333 million and an increase of 4 percent at $694 million, for the half year. The improvement arose from slightly lower cost in the current year than for the previous one and an overall 8 percent increase in net income for the quarter to $1.17 billion from $1.08 billion in 2017 and 4 percent rise year to date to $2.34 billion. Earnings per share rose to $4.02 for the half year from $3.90 and compares favourably with $7.75 million reported for the fiscal year to September 2017 and gives it a PE around 12 on 2018 full year earnings and Friday’s closing price of $101,
Improvement was generated by the bank in Ghana, where that subsidiary moved from a small loss of just over $1 million to a profit of $68 million and the Cayman Islands’ operations that moved from a profit of $82 million to $113 million. Barbados also should marked improvement with profit of $149 million compared to $111 million before.
Helping the performance is increased lending, with loans rising from $34.4 billion at March 2017 to $37.4 million in 2018, a solid 9 percent increase.
The other factor why the stock price is set to move, is that the it peaked at $122 in 2014 and slid downward since and seems to have found a bottom. Added to that, is a wedge formation showing in a technical chart of its price movement that seems set to steer the price upwards in the months ahead.
IC Insider.com would normally give the stock a BUY RATED accolade, concerns linger about the Trinidad economy from which it earns the vast majority of income and profit, and what is seen as an overvalued currency.

Note that all prices are in Trinidad & Tobago dollar.

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: Emerging markets, IC Insider BUY RATED, IC Insider.com, Republic Financial Holdings, Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange, TTSE

Is Broilers’ inside trade a buy signal?

July 24, 2017 by IC Insider.com

Insider trading in the stock of the company they are connected to can be a big indicators of future prospects, but it is not always the case.
In the past big purchasing of Jamaica Broilers Group shares by insiders have signaled improved profits down the road.
Could the latest big trade be such a signal? The latest ones are a bit confusing with bought buying and selling although there is a bias towards buying. The company recently reported that three Directors and three Senior Managers purchased a total of 5,735,448 of the company’s shares and that a Director and a Senior Manager sold a total of 5,214,772 of the shares, during the period July 11 to 14.
The company reported earnings of $1.85 per share for the just concluded 2017 fiscal year and IC Insider.com forecast is for $2.60 for the 2018 fiscal year to April as revenues continues to grow and debt is paid down with increasing profits. The stock which traded on the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Friday at $18, is one of IC Insider.com’s TOP 10 main market stocks to own.

Filed Under: Buy Rated, Company News, Insider Trades Tagged With: IC Insider BUY RATED, Insider Trades, Jamaica Broilers, Jamaica Stock Exchange, TOP 10 stocks, Top 10 stocks to buy

I$P Finance earnings now officially 46c

April 9, 2017 by IC Insider.com

I$P hits a new high on Friday.

I$P Finance have now posted amended audited results showing correct earnings of 46 cents per share for 2016, following IC Insider.com’s disclosure that the earnings much higher than the 32 cents posted in the initial release of the audited accounts.
The original audited report had the average number of shares issued at 126.5 million instead of 88.44 million which the amended report now shows.
The company reported profit of $40.24 million after tax from increased revenues of $30 million to reach $241 million in 2016. Other operating expenses jumped sharply from $36.6 million to $64.8 million. Individual items did not move much during the two years. In 2015 a refund of insurance premium amounting to $12.3 million was offset against expenses, reducing expenses from $49 million to $37 million, while 2016 figures had a few items of cost not reflected in the 2015 results. These include directors’ fees, bond issue cost and consultancy fees of $6 million. ISP also benefited from loan loss recovery, leading to lower loan loss provisioning at year end, from $19 million 2015 to just $10 million in 2016. Some debt was, however, fully written off, management informed IC Isider.com, reducing the overall provision to $53.7 million from $63 million at the end of 2015.
The company is gearing to grow. Last year apart from restructuring it finances that led to a public share issue, the company floated a bond issue that raised over $140 million net, which will be used to supplement cash flow from earnings. Discussion with the company’s management team led by Dennis Smith, reveal, that the $60 million growth in loans in the December quarter mostly remains on the books while the plan is for a 30 to 40 percent expansion in the current year. If that level of growth is achieved it would take net loans to more than $400 million by year end and raise revenues in a full year to more than $400 million and raise profit sharply from the current levels.
The company started off serving the security guard sectors but is targeting new areas within the business sector for expansion as well as areas outside of the corporate area.
Management appears to be gathering information as to the feasibility of a stock split and that seems to be a logical move, with just 105 million shares now issued and prospects for a rapid increase in profits going forward. Management would neither deny nor confirm if that is on the cards.
IC Insider.com is forecasting earnings in the current year to be in the order of $1.40-$1.75, with continued strong increase into 2018. The stock closed on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange at and 52 weeks high of $15.50 on Friday, resulting in gains of 675 percent, since it was listed at the end of March 2016.
With the potential to grow rapidly, the stock remains BUY RATED even with the price now at the level reached on Friday.

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: I$P Finance, IC Insider BUY RATED, Jamaica Stock Exchange, junior market

Big Berger gain lets in Scotia

March 25, 2017 by IC Insider.com

Scotia enters IC Insider.com’s TOP 10

A big 36 percent jump in the price of Berger Paints kicked it out of the main market TOP listing, allowing Scotia Group into the top list for the very first time. Berger returned to its 52 weeks high of $15 at the end of the week but had 103,511 units on offer at $15 with buying of 1,735 units at $13.01.
The top main market stocks now sell at a 50 percent discount to the average main market stocks and is lower than the discount of stocks in the junior market.
Pulse Investments gained 21 percent during the past week, to end at $8.50 and was the second largest mover in the top listing for main market stocks. Pulse has offers for 118,391 units at $8.50 and buying at $8 for 1,500 shares. Carreras earnings have been up graded with the increase in the price of cigarettes this month, following increased taxes on the product. Interest in the stock is not great currently, with 21,125 on offer at $69.50 and buying of 2,000 shares at $69.20. Radio Jamaica closed the week with 990,792 units on offer at $1.90 and buying for 5,300 units at $1.80. Barita Investments has limited buying interest at the current price with just 447 units on the bid at $6.85 and 171,830 units on the offer at $6.90. With the increased level of construction activity currently taking place in Jamaica and plans for increase construction to meet growing demand for commercial and residential units in the sector, Caribbean Cement’s weak demand continues in the mid-thirty dollar range, with the stock closing with only 2,000 units on the bid to buy at $31.50 while offers are at $32.45 to sell 24,440 units. JMMB Group weakened in the week and now sits at $17.50 but buying is on the weak side, with 5,000 units on the bid at $16.60 and only 378 units offered at $17.50.

Top 10 junior market stocks are trading at a 40 percent discount to the average of the junior market, at the close of the week, this is after Lasco Distributors fell out of the top listing and is replaced
by Lasco Financial Services that suffered a reduction in price during the week to $3.70.
During the past week ISP Finance hit a new high of $12.25 up from $11.75 at the close of the previous week, the stock still sits high on the list at number 3. Access Financial and Jetcon had a bit of price movement during the week, with both closing lower than the week before.
Price movements remained volatile during the past week, as buy and sell orders remained thin for several stocks. With little new news to come until a flood of first quarter results start to flow volatility is likely to continue for a few weeks and this could provide patient investors with some good entry points, if bids and offers are strategically placed. The sharp one week move in Berger signals that supply may not last too long before demand kicks in.

Filed Under: Buy Rated, Feature Stories, Stock Market, Stocks to watch Tagged With: Access Financial, Barita Investments, Caribbean Cement, Caribbean Producers, Carreras, Emerging markets, Emerging stock market, General Accident, IC Insider BUY RATED, ISP Finance, Jamaica Broilers, Jamaica Stock Exchange, Jetcon Corporation, JMMB Group, Key Insurance, Lasco Financial, Medical Dispoables, NCB Financial, Pulse Investments, Radio Jamaica, Scotia Group, Scotia Investments, tTech

Buy Rated stocks set for growth

June 6, 2016 by IC Insider.com

TTSE has declined almost 10% from peak and could fall another 9% from May to hit support around 1,600 points. (See orange trendline).

May is a period in the Jamaica stock market when prices usually sag, with a tendency to hit bottom between June and July. This was not the case in 2016 as the market peaked on the 4th of February and bottomed on April 21, based on the all Jamaica Composite Index.
In Trinidad, the market drifted from a peak in the all T&T index at 1,956.55 on December 8, 2015 to a 2016 low of 1,758.40 on May 19. The movements the Jamaica’s junior market saw the index peaking at 2,357.20 on 12th of January and bottomed out on the 7th of April at 1,762.87 points, for a decline of 24.5 percent but have since recovered most of the decline.
Much have happened with companies releasing results since with a number of the results in Trinidad being flat to declining, while most in Jamaica show good increased profit, while interest rates have declined in Jamaica and been static in Trinidad. Added to the profit out turn, a few companies in Jamaica announced stocks splits which have driven the respective prices of all the companies up strongly. Grace Kennedy, one of IC Insider Buy Rated stocks that has been lagging in performance, came to life as the company reported strong increase in the March quarter results, with the price jumping to $115 and seems to have more room to grow, based on the improved results. Pan Jamaican Investment gained 42.5 percent since it was last reported on at the end of April, helped by a 5 for 1 stock split and is up 82 percent since selected to the BUY RATED list. The company has good long term growth prospect but may have plateaued at the current price, around $26.50.

Honey Bun one of IC Insider’s 2015 additions to the BUY RATED list is now placed on Market Watch

The stock has been moved to a watch from BUY RATED.
Honey Bun added to the BUY RATED list in November 2015, gained 112 percent since April and 387 percent since being added to the list. Strong growth in profits and a 5 for 1 stock split helped in moving the value of the stock. ISP Finance added in April, is up 20 percent but there is little supply to be obtained, a recipe for a strong rally in the price ahead. Knutsford Express was put on hold when last reported on and has slipped 20.5 percent, is now restored to a buy below $20 while Lasco Distributors placed on a Watch list last time, is up 52.6 percent and is now placed on watch list at current price at $7.60, supply seems to be drying up for this stock, following release of full year’s results. While investors have priced in a potential big inflows from their law suit claim with Pfizer, at a PE ratio around 20 times fiscal 2017 operating profit, investing at the levels could result in an investment that may underperform the market in the medium term.
Cable & Wireless is up 22.5 percent since April and 332 percent since it debuted on the list in February 2014. The company reported a small profit from operation, for this year to March, and seems headed for earnings around 20 cents per share for 2017. The price should be heading higher before too long, but demand is not electric currently.

General Accident and Honey Bun are placed on the watch list with the former unable to get profit to rise outside the range of 30 cents per share and the latter now being priced at a PE of 18, well ahead of the average for the junior market. Honey Bun supply notwithstanding the 5 for 1 stock split, is scarce but profit growth could continue to be strong thus lending support to the stock going forward.
Companies in Trinidad are not doing well but their performance is not disastrous in the main with the price of a number of stocks have pulled back sharply and will offer good entry points when it is time to buy into that market. The time may not be right to enter that recession affected market just yet. Technical reading of this market shows it peaking at 2,032 points and have lost 13.5 percent since then and could fall another 9 percent from the May 2016 levels to reach 1,600 points before the decline is over. A look at the trading report shows that the prices of some major companies remain under pressure and is likely to fall as demand remains weak.
Technical and fundamental assessments suggest that Access Financial, Caribbean Cream, Medical Disposables and National Commercial Bank are due for a break out sooner than later, with Caribbean Cement to follow.

Filed Under: Buy Rated Tagged With: Cable & Wireless, Caribbean Cement, General Accident, Grace Kennedy, IC Insider BUY RATED, Jamaican Stock, Lasco Distributors, Medical Disposables, National Commercial Bank, NCB, Pfizer, TTSE

2 new BUY RATED stocks

April 10, 2016 by IC Insider.com

Jetcon Corporation and ISP Finance have been added to the IC Insider BUY RATED list. The list continues to sport selections that have some room to grow before they reach the stage of maturing. Some have reached levels that look like they may be close to the top and stay there for a while and the may be just be rated hold than BUY RATED at this stage of the market’s rally in Jamaica.
The Trinidad based companies appear to be saddled by the effects of the recession on their performance.
There are now a few that were previously listed as BUY RATED have moved to Watch, as these stocks are likely to be market underperformers. If these are already owned then investors may want to hold on a little longer, buying into them now, while such a move could be profitable such investment may not be the smartest move at this time. At this stage of the Jamaican market it has become more challenging to continue to back some of the strong performers to date, as their valuation has risen and future gains will most likely come from gain in profit, unless the market revalues the PE ratios higher, a factor that is expected with lower interest rates likely in the months to follow.
Knutsford Express has been to Market Watch as it close to our target price of $24 at this time and while there is more growth to come with increased frequency slated for the north coast routes, increased profits going forward could slow considerably from recent strong gains. Buy Rated gwth 2016 Sagicor Group has done well since we selected it, with an increase close to 150 percent plus dividends, the immediate future looks like the gains are going to slow compared to the growth since the start of 2015. In past bull market, investors gave it a big premium over the rest of the market. That is not so now, but could change as the current bull market continues it run.
Lasco Distributors that was moved to a hold is now back to a buy, since the price has pulled back to $5, the company will benefit from taking over the overseas distribution of all of the manufacturing company products. The inflows expected from the lawsuit with Pfizer should add to the company’s value when the courts agree the amount, which management puts at more than US$300 million.
AMG Packaging, Caribbean Cream and Paramount are all up more than 300 percent but expansion into new products should give revenues and profit a kick in the not too distant future for AMG and Paramount. Caribbean Cream full year results are due shortly and should exceed 55 cents per share as the company benefited from sharp drop in raw material cost.
Jamaica Stock Exchange is now a Watch as it seems close to fairly valued currently, but dividend yield could well push it higher. In addition, of note is that while trading levels have improved they are still well off from historical highs, so there could still be much more gains ahead later on.
Trinidad is in recession and the results of companies are showing it with pressure on profit particularly for companies that earn the bulk of their income in the twin island state. As a result prices have been declining for many of the companies on the Trinidad market with a few exceptions. With the exception of Trinidad Cement that is undervalued, a hold has been placed on Trinidad based listed stocks for the time being but investors should wait for TCL to settle before buying.