Big movements in a number of main market stocks were mixed at the close of the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Tuesday, leaving the market indices with moderate gains with one stock climbing to a new high.
The All Jamaica Composite Index advanced 126.62 points to 259,635.75, the JSE Market Index gained 115.36 points to 236,557.57 and the JSE US dollar market index dropped 2.64 points to close at 171.83. At the close of trading, 26 securities changed hands in the main market with 2 trading in the US dollar market and one bond traded, leading to 7 stocks advancing and 13 declining. Carreras closed at a new 52 weeks’ high at the conclusion of trading. The main market ended with 5,512,413 units valued at $131,703,756 changing hands compared to 3,076,517 units valued at $75,479,037 at the close on Tuesday. Trading in the US dollar market accounted for 1,886,641 units valued at US$414,205, bringing the total value to J$184,887,663.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading in the main and US dollar markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 7 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 4 with lower offers.
The main market ended trading with an average of 212,016 units valued at $5,065,529 for each security traded, compared to an average of 133,762 units valued at $3,281,697. The average volume and value for the month to date ended at 155,508 units with an average value of $3,821,656 compared with an average of 127,255 units with an average of $3,199,719 on the previous trading day. The average volume and value for June ended at 218,951 units with an average value of $3,871,959.
In market activity, Berger Paints closed at $15.50, losing $1, trading 3,486 shares, Cable and Wireless gained 3 cents and closed at $1.13, with 70,616 stock units switching owners, Carreras jumped $1.99 higher, in closing at a 52 weeks’ high of $92 with 84,094 shares changing hands, Grace Kennedy closed at $40.50, with a loss of $1.50, trading 24,428 units. Jamaica Broilers gained 30 cents, closing at $18, with an exchange of 137,347 shares, Jamaica Producers closed at $15, losing 70 cents with 6,700 shares trading. Jamaica Stock Exchange lost 15 cents to close at $6.95, trading 46,311 shares, JMMB Group closed at $19, with a loss of $1 exchanging 9,377 units, Kingston Properties traded 95 cents lower to close at $9, with 4,000 units changing hands, Kingston Wharves closed at $29, losing 50 cents while trading 5,165 shares, Mayberry Investments closed at $4.60, with 3,000 shares changing hands. NCB Financial Group climbed $1.45 to close at $70, after exchanging 768,259 shares, 1834 Investments added 15 cents, in closing at $1.50 with 30,292 shares traded, PanJam Investment closed at $34.50, losing 70 cents with trades of 18,348 shares, Proven Investments lost 1 cent to close at $24 exchanging 2,439,750 shares, Pulse Investments closed at $3.50, with a loss of 85 cents and 22,500 shares changing hands, Radio Jamaica traded 86,675 shares at $1.60. Sagicor Group closed at $33.50, with gains of 40 cents trading 28,638 shares, Sagicor Real Estate gained 14 cents to close at $12.24 exchanging 1,015 units. Scotia Group traded $2.45 lower, closing at $42.55 with an exchange of 10,927 shares, Scotia Investments closed at $36.01, losing $1.99 with 42,553 shares changing hands, Seprod traded 29,647 shares at $30 while Supreme Ventures closed at $7.77, with an exchange of 73,630 shares. Margaritaville Turks US ordinary share closed at 32 US cents, with trades of 34,800 units, Proven Investments US ordinary share closed at 22 US cents trading 1,833,841 units, JMMB Group 7.5% preference share lost 1 cent, closing at $1.10 with 1,309,213 units exchanged and JMMB 7.5% preference share closed at $1.85, with 171,442 units traded.
JSE inch up on Wednesday
Jamaica Broilers’ profit jumps 28%
The financial year to April 2017 was a good one for Jamaica Broilers Group, with attractive revenue and profit growth. For the full year, profit after tax attributed to the company’s shareholders rose 28 percent to $2.23 billion from $1.74 billion in 2016.
Sales revenues grew 15.3 percent to $44.44 billion for the year from $38.52 billion in 2016. The group enjoyed a 17% increase in revenues in the fourth quarter to $12.32 billion up from $10.52 in 2016 but profit but rose from $900 million to $1 billion at a slower pace than the growth in revenue.
A fall in the pace of growth in gross profit was a major factor in the slower growth in the last quarter as direct cost rose limiting gross profit to a rise of 13 percent to $3.57 billion in the quarter from $3.16 billion in 2016.
Segment results showed the Jamaican segment generating revenues of $31.96 billion up from $28.4 billion but segment results fell from $3.6 billion to $2.87 billion. Revenues for the US based operations grew to $10.86 billion from 8.8 billion and generated segment profit of $1.3 billion compared to $1 billion in 2016. Other Caribbean Countries generated revenues from third parties of $1.6 billion up from $1.3 billion in 2016 and contributed $944 million to profit up from $254 million in 2016.
While some Jamaican companies are by passing cheap borrowed funds for expansion purposes, Jamaica Broilers with equity capital of $14.4 billion has $7.7 billion in debt. The group holds $2.76 billion in cash with loan receivable of $2.55 billion of which $500 million is due within 12 months. Cash flow from operations is attractive at approximately $3 billion for 2017. During the past year $749 million was expended on the acquisition of fixed assets compared to $800 million in 2016 and the group paid dividends of $420 million for the 2017 fiscal year, up from $311 million in the prior period.
Forecast for 2018 is for EPS of $2.60, up from $1.85 for 2017. The stock closed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Friday at $18 at 10 times 2017 earnings but 7 times 2018 earnings compared to an average of the main market of 13.7. IC Insider.com rates the stock a buy for growth and income.