Buy Rated: Ja Teas & JMMB big gains

February 22, 2014 by

Friday, 21st February 2014 |  This week on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, Jamaican Teas gained 19 percent and on the Trinidad Stock market, Jamaica Money Market Brokers (JMMB) 11 percent on the Trinidad market.

Meanwhile, Cable & Wireless, a new selection to the Buy Rated list gained 6% during the past week. General Accident also increased by 6 percent.

Lasco stock continue to be lacklustre with Lasco Distributors and Lasco Financial both shedding 7 percent and Lasco Manufacturing down 8 percent.

BuyRatedTable21FebUpdated reporting | The performance tracking of the Buy Rated Stock Chart shows details of stock gains since selection and now shows the performance for the week. Accordingly, there will no longer be weekly comments on changes as the chart shows the latest movements.

Related posts | D&G, Carreras & C&WJ now Buy Rated | Teas profit up 32 percent | JMMB Q2 profits jumps 56%

Filed Under: Company News, JSE Main Market, Stock Market, TTSE Market Tagged With: , ,

JSE: Market closes up

February 21, 2014 by

Friday, 21st February 2014 | The Jamaican stock market closed the week with the main indices increasing to partially recover from two previous days of decline. The JSE Market Index gained 168.44 points to close at 79,531.75 and closed the week down by 82 points, the JSE All Jamaican Composite increased by 595.32 points to 84,535.18 and closed the week higher than it started by more than 200 points.

Main Market | Advancing and declining stocks were almost evenly divided at the end of trading as National Commercial Bank dominated trading with 1.6 million units along with Carreras with nearly 1 million units and Desnoes & Geddes with 2 million units.

Gains | Caribbean Cement exchanged 2,100 shares at $4.97 for an increase of 27 cents; Carreras put in 980,789 shares at $36.01 for a one cent gain; Jamaica Money Market Brokers had 3,528 units trading at $7.49 as the price inched up by a cent; Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference share contributed 3,000 units to rise by a cent at $3.01; National Commercial Bank was active in trading 1,590,083 units to close at $19.00 for a gain of 98 cents and Seprod had only 950 units changing hands to close up 10 cents at $11.00.

JSEIndicesFeb21Firm trade | There were only few stocks that traded with unchanged prices. First Caribbean International Bank traded 25,455 units to close at $80; Proven Investments had 580 units at US1799 cents; Sagicor Group had 169,967 shares at $9.15; Sagicor Real Estate X Fund 39,216 units at $7 and Supreme Ventures  59,000 shares at $2.40.

Declines | Cable & Wireless traded 718,201 but the price slipped by 2 cents to end at 35 cents; Desnoes & Geddes swapped 2,015,946 shares at $5 each and lost a cent in the process; Grace Kennedy gave up 94 cents as the stocks traded 3,808 units to close at $54.56; Jamaica Broilers lost 8 cents to close at $4.82 with 31,950 shares; Pan Jamaican Investment had only 350 units trading at $48.99 for a one cent fall; Scotia Group traded 45,965 units but the price slipped by 35 cents to close at $20.70 and its subsidiary, Scotia Investments, closed down a cent as it traded 16,550 units to end at $25.99.

Junior Market | The JSE Junior Market Index declined by 2.79 points to close at 740.55 and kept below the close of the previous week by 26 points.

Gains | Only two junior market stocks recorded gains with Caribbean Producers exchanging 240,000 shares to close at $2.75 for a 3 cents increase and General Accident Insurance 5,000 units to close at $1.70, up 5 cents.

Firm trade | Two stocks closed unchanged. Blue Power having 1,400 shares at $9.00 and Paramount Trading 11,535 shares at $2.88.

Declines | The four junior market stocks suffered price declines include Consolidated Bakeries with 447,896 shares at $1.05 for a 5 cents fall; Lasco Distributors 219,643 units in closing at $1.30 having declined by 5 cents; Lasco Financial Services closed while trading 195,700 units at $1.30, as it too fell by 5 cents and Lasco Manufacturing traded 46,241 shares with a 3 cents fall to close at $1.20.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 4 stocks with bids higher than the last selling prices and 5 stocks with offers lower.

Filed Under: JSE Main Market, Stock Market Tagged With: , , ,

JSE: Main market stocks dominates

February 20, 2014 by

Thursday, 20th February 2014 | There was trading in 29 securities resulting in 6,367,485 shares with a value of $16,139,565 with 9 stocks rising and 7 declining in today’s trading on the Jamaica stock market Main market stocks did better than the junior market with less than half of the declining stocks coming from the main market, while all but one stock with gains came from the main market. More than a third of the volume was accounted for by Cable & Wireless that rose to a new 52 weeks high.

Main Market | The JSE Market Index declined by 201.56 points to close at 79,363.31 and the JSE All Jamaican Composite fell 305.75 points to 83,939.86 even as advancing stocks in the main market out distanced declining ones by a wide margin.

Gains | Unlike Wednesday when there were only 3 stocks rising in the main market, in today’s trading 7 stocks recorded gains and one in the US dollar market as investors continue to view the latest results for Cable & Wireless favourably. The stock traded 2,348,000 shares to close at a new 52 weeks high of 37 cents by gaining a cent. Desnoes & Geddes traded 5,520 units as the price rose by a cent to close at $5.01; Jamaica Broilers traded 34,497 shares to close up 10 cents at $4.90; Pan Jamaican Investment contributed only 1,170 units at $49, for a 95 cents gain; Proven Investments trading in the US dollar market exchanged 19,010 units at US17.99 cents, as the price gained US0.49 cents; Sagicor Group with 706,311 shares closed gained 15 cents at $9.15; Scotia Group had a volume of 16,759 while closing at 5 cents more at $21.05 and Supreme Ventures 922,600 shares at $2.40 for a 5 cents gain.

JSEIndicesFeb20Firm Trades | Berger Paints having 35,676 units trading to close at $1.85; Gleaner 5,000 shares to close at $1.15; Grace Kennedy with 1,310 shares changing hands at $55.50; Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.50% preference shares 150,000 units at $2, and the 8.75% preference share, 340,600 units at $3; Jamaica Producers, produced 10,931 units to close at $18.26; Kingston Wharves 2,500 units at $6; Mayberry Investments 39,249 units to end at $1.89 and Salada Foods 1,950 shares to close at $9.

Losses | There were only 3 stocks that declined in the main market as Jamaica Money Market Brokers traded only 3,066 shares to close 2 cents down at $7.48; Sagicor Real Estate X Fund had 12,784 shares trading with the price falling by 10 cents to end at $7 and National Commercial Bank traded 18,200 units to close at $18.02 for a 48 cents fall.

Junior Market | The JSE Junior Market Index declined by 8.40 points to close at 743.34 as there was trading in 9 securities in this market.

Gains | Lasco Distributors was the only stock to trade up in the junior market with 850,000 units, gaining 5 cents to close at $1.35.

Firm trades | Four stocks traded unchanged at the close of the market with Blue Power Group having a volume of 4,472 units to close at $9; Derrimon trading with 219,000 shares to close at $2.50; General Accident Insurance having 207,900 units at $1.65 and Lasco Manufacturing 89,133 units at $1.23.

Losses | Four stocks lost value in the junior market with Access Financial Services slipping 60 cents while trading 39,074 units to close at $10; Dolphin Cove with 67,278 shares closed down 20 cents at $8.30; Lasco Financial Services saw 187,160 shares trading to close at $1.35 for a 10 cents drop and Paramount Trading exchanged 28,335 units as the price edged down by 12 cents to $2.88.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 6 stocks with bids higher than the last selling price and 4 stocks with offers that were lower.

Filed Under: JSE Main Market, Stock Market Tagged With: , , ,

Eppley profit jumps

February 19, 2014 by

Eppley is an interesting play with limited income and limited cost in the short term but profit could explode to the upside in 2014 as increased funds under management are put to work.

The company reported a big jump in profits of $34 million or $61.04 per share earnings (EPS) for 2013. In 2012, profit was just $15 million and EPS of $50.21. In the December 2013 quarter, EPS came out at $13.88 as profit amounted to $11 million as no tax was charged due to the exemption for Junior Market companies.

The full year earnings came from income of $65.3 million. Operating expenses were $34 million and interest expense $16.5 million. Eppley generated $24 million in Other Income. Net interest income for the full year was roughly the same as in 2012 at $48.7 million, 2012 $50 million. Income should grow in 2014 as the proceeds of the preference shares issued at the end of 2013 which brought in $387 million at 9.5 percent per annum starts to generate income.

eppleytype150x150At the end of 2012, there was $463 million total assets under management but that has grown to $814 million, almost doubling the amount. Except for a very small amount, the remainder of the assets are all potentially income generating. At the end of December, only about $160 million of the assets was not placed to maximize returns and that should be corrected in 2014.

Stock outlook | The company stated that it had a $757 million portfolio with an average yield of 15 percent at year end; $474 million of these funds are borrowed but at lower cost than the rate being generated by the portfolio. Earnings for 2014 should be in the region of $60 million or $107 per share after paying preference dividends. If this materializes, the stock could move strongly upwards if enough trading takes place. Eppley announced a $9 per share dividend payable on February 28, 2014. The stock, which trades infrequently, last traded at $380.

Related posts | Eppley preference shares over | Profit up 92% for Eppley | IPO: What or who is Eppley?

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: , ,

JSE: Stocks trading unchanged on top

February 19, 2014 by

Wednesday, 19th February 2014 | There was trading in 32 securities resulting in 4,788,900 shares with a value of $10,931,649 as 5 stocks rose and 7 declined in today’s trading on the Jamaica stock market. Twenty stocks closed unchanged in price.

Main Market | The JSE Market Index declined by 352.05 points to close at 79,564.87 and the JSE All Jamaican Composite fell 534.04 points to 84,245.61.

Gains | Cable & Wireless traded 2,263,421 shares to close back at its recent high of 36 cents by gaining 2 cents; Carreras traded 7,900 units as the price moved up by 85 cents to close at $36 and Mayberry Investments contributed 36,956 units at $1.89, a 4 cent gain.

Firm Trades | Stocks that traded with unchanged prices were greater than those with price changes with Berger Paints having 1,500 units trading to close at $1.85; Caribbean Cement 16,000 shares at $4.70; Grace Kennedy with 6,657 shares changing hands at $55.50; Jamaica Broilers, 22,242 shares at $4.80; Jamaica Money Market Brokers ordinary shares 3,202 units at $7.50; Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.50% preference shares 824,800 units at $2; the 8.50% preference shares only had 400 units at $3.50 and the 8.75% preference share, 35,000 units at $3; Jamaica Producers, 290 units at $18.26; Kingston Wharves 16,696 units at $6; National Commercial Bank 13,200 shares at $18.50; Sagicor Real Estate X Fund 1,300 units at $7.10; Scotia Group 105,909 units at $21 and Supreme Ventures 9,891 shares at $2.35.

Losses | Three stocks that declined in the main market were Proven Investments in the US dollar market trading 5,590 units at US17.5 cents, declining by US0.49 cents; Salada Foods with 8,000 shares trading to close at a cent down at $9; Scotia Investments 2,000 shares as the price lost 35 cents to end at $26 and Sagicor Group with 76,687 shares at $9, down 50 cents.

JSEIndicesFeb19Junior Market | The JSE Junior Market Index declined by 4.12 points to close at 751.74 as advancing stocks were hard to find in this market.

Gains | Cargo Handlers Limited closed at a new all-time high of $15 while trading 91,250 units for a gain of 80 cents and Caribbean Cream had 21,000 shares trading at 85 cents for a 4 cent increase.

Firm trades | Stocks trading unchanged dominated trading with General Accident Insurance having 124,757 units at $1.65; Honey Bun 15,026 shares at $3; Lasco Distributors 120,257 units at $1.30; Lasco Financial Services 319,900 shares at $1.45; Lasco Manufacturing 70,000 units at $1.23 and Paramount Trading 3,700 units at $3.

Losses | Only 3 stocks lost value with Caribbean Producers slipping 3 cents while trading 501,369 units to close at $2.72; Medical Disposables & Supplies 58,000 units as the price edged down by 6 cents to $2 and Dolphin Cove with 6,000 shares to close down 10 cents at $8.50.

IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 4 stocks with bids higher than the last selling price and 2 stocks with offers that were lower.

Filed Under: JSE Main Market, Stock Market Tagged With: , , ,

TTSE: Still exhibiting weakness

February 19, 2014 by

Wednesday, 19th February 2014 | Trading remained subdued on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange with only 37,483 shares trading valued at $1,826,137. On Tuesday 29,258 shares traded with a value of $1,647,664.

Overall Market activity resulted in 10 securities trading of which 2 advanced, 2 declined and 6 traded firm. The effect of the price changes were reflected in the market indices with the Composite Index advancing by 0.05 points to close at 1,192.43, the All T&T Index inched up by 0.10 points to close at 2,000.44 and the Cross Listed Index remained at 50.49.

Gains | Guardian Holdings with 2,600 shares valued at $36,821 to close at $14.16 and Unilever with 220 units to close at $56.54, both stocks gained a cent each.

Losses | First Citizens Bank had 4,410 shares traded for $171,892 and closed at $38.97 and Agostini’s contributed 4,000 shares with a value of $71,139 to close at $17.79 both declining by a cent.

TTSEFeb19Firm Trades | Clico Investment Fund posted 8,225 shares valued at $178,473 with the price remaining at $21.70; Neal & Massy traded 789 units to close at $66.25; One Caribbean Media traded only 20 shares to end the day at $19.25; Scotia Bank had 15,553 shares changing hands for a value of $1,119,816 with the price closing at $72; Republic Bank traded 1,560 to close at $117 and Point Lisas Industrial Port Development traded 106 units $3.60.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 5 stocks with bids higher than the last selling price and 2 stocks with offers that were lower.

Image courtesy of watcharakun/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Filed Under: JSE Main Market, Stock Market Tagged With: , , ,

Carreras is back

February 19, 2014 by

Profits at Carreras is back on track dollar wise, as revenues hit $3.66 billion in the 2013 December quarter versus $3.745 billion in 2012.

Gross profit is above the 2012 period of $1.69 billion at $1.75 billion in 2013. Selling and administrative expenses declined in the latest quarter, which would have pushed the 2013 results above 2012. Carreras booked interest due on the debt owed by the tax department of $1.8 billion as other income, resulting in profits growing to $2.18 billion after tax, versus $1.17 billion in the prior year. Gross profit is down for the nine months to $3.98 billion from $4.34 billion in 2012. Profit after tax for the year-to-date is $3.1 billion versus $5.1 billion, with both periods having swollen figures due to exceptional income.

CarrerasTobaccoFree280x150Volumes are still down, but not as badly as in the June quarter, when sales were negatively affected by the hike in cigarette prices in March 2013 and the stock piling of inventories by the trade ahead of the price hike, a practise that goes back for several years. The December quarter’s performance is in stark contrast to the June quarter when revenues plummeted from $3.1 billion in June 2012 quarter to just $2.16 billion, a sharp 30 percent drop, but profit after tax fared even worse, dipping by 40 percent.

Expenses rise | Administrative, sales & marketing expenses fell in the latest quarter to $600 million from $710 million in 2012 but is marginally up to $1.655 billion for the nine months compared to $1.58 billion for the same period as of December 2012.

Tax Recovered | The tax now recoverable is down to $980 million from $1.733 billion at the end of March and is expected to be fully recovered over the next 12 months and will most likely be distributed as dividends to shareholders.

Carreras ended up with cash funds of $3.8 billion at the end of December, equity is at $4.7 billion or $9.60 per share.

Earnings appears to be back on track to deliver around $6 per share annualised, which would result in some increase in the quarterly dividend that was cut from $1.50 to $1 last year in light of the drop in profit. Carreras declared $1.62 as the latest dividend to be paid March after paying a special capital cash distribution of $1.18 on January 30, 2014.

Carreras is an IC Insider Buy Rated Stock.

Related posts | D&G, Carreras & C&WJ now Buy Rated | Carreras pays out liquidation money | Carreras takes a big hit but tax recovery starts | Carreras grew income

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: , ,

Caribbean Producers results pushes stock

February 14, 2014 by

Investors were evidently impressed with the results of Caribbean Producers Jamaica (CPJ) for the half year to December 2013 and pushed the stock price up to $3 on Thursday, February 13th, the first trading day after the release.

The company released second quarter results to December showing profits up by 202 percent to US$1.624 million for the six months and 65 percent for the December quarter to US$1.18 million from US$711,712 in 2012. Earnings per share for the six months amounted to US$0.148 cents.

Sales revenues rose by 24 percent for the December quarter and 22 percent year to December hitting US$37.5 million for the 6 months and US$20.46 for the quarter. Gross profit margins came out at 41 percent for the quarter and 42.4 percent year to December. In the prior year, the margins were 42 percent for the quarter and 39.8 percent for the six months period.

CaribbeanProducers(CPJ)280X150Expenses up | Selling and administrative expenses are up 16.4 percent in the December quarter and 18.2 percent for the six months, while finance cost rose by 19 percent in the latest quarter and 14.4 percent for the year to December. Depreciation charge also rose sharply due mainly to their expansion into meat and juice processing.

CPJ’s performance for the next quarter should push profits up quite sharply as historically the March quarter generates the highest amount of sales and profit during the peak winter tourist season. IC Insider has forecast earnings for the full year at 70 cents Jamaican and J$1.35 for 2015 fiscal year.

Finances | The company is still not comfortably funded with borrowed funds of US$25 million at an elevated level and in excess of equity of just US$14.7 million. Short term loans are at $11 million, well in excess of the annual cash flow of approximately US$9 million.

Caribbean Producers is an IC Insider Buy Rated stock.

Related posts | D&G, Carreras & C&WJ now Buy Rated | Caribbean Producers’ impressive profit | CPJ’s new St Lucia venture

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: , ,

D&G elevated to Buy Rated!

February 14, 2014 by

Desnoes & Geddes brewers of the world renown Red Stripe beer reported profit before taxation of $2.45 billion, a 102 percent increase over the $1.2 billion generated in 2012 and net profit of $1.95 billion. The huge jump in the bottom line came from booking capital gains from the sale of its interest in two eastern Caribbean Breweries in the December quarter, which contributed $970 million to the profit. Excluding this one-off capital gain would result in the 2013 numbers coming in at $1.479 billion for pretax profit or an increase of 21 percent, and $976 million after tax versus $808 in 2012. This translates to 35 cents per share for the six months period.

Profit in the local market before administrative and selling expenses rose 22 percent to reach $1.56 billion but export profits fell slightly to $402 from $468 million in 2012. Based on the latest results, IC Insider is forecasting 80 cents per share earnings for the year to June 2014 and $1.10 for 2015. Based on the company’s expected performance, IC Insider has elevated Desnoes & Geddes to Buy Rated status.

D&GBeerCap280x150pxSales | Revenues grew 12 percent to $7.30 billion, compared with $6.5 billion in 2012 for the six months and grew by a more robust 18.5 percent in the latest quarter to $4 billion.

“The domestic portfolio continues to grow, increasing by 23 percent on growth in the brewed portfolio as well as improved pricing. Export sales declined 28 percent as the shift in production from Jamaica to the USA during the last financial year,” management stated in their release with the financials.

Gross Profit margin ended at 72 percent for the December quarter and 70.8 percent for the six months but the 2012 six months numbers were at a high of 75.8 percent.

Expenses | D&G was able to cut cost even as revenues rose. Marketing cost declined by 9 percent to $497 million, which the company attributes savings as a result of funds expended in 2012 on Jamaica’s 50th independence celebration. Cost containment and the outsourcing of the distribution of its products led to the reduction in general, selling and administrative cost with a fall of 9 percent to $542 million for the six months to December.

Finances | Cash resources climbed to $1.7 billion at the end of 2013 from $1.2 billion in 2012 but receivables jumped to $2.95 billion from just over a $1 billion in 2012 and $1.1 billion in June 2013. The company attributes the rise due mainly to full credit being given to its associated distribution company.

Related posts | D&G, Carreras & C&WJ now Buy Rated | D&G $1billion pay day | Profit inches up at D&G

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: , ,

CWJ loss down with much progress

February 14, 2014 by

Cable & Wireless Jamaica released quarterly results showing a loss of $315 million compared to $438 million in 2012 from lower revenues and $120 million in restructuring cost.

The latest quarterly results showed improvement in several areas with changes in revenues and cost. The December quarter showed an overall revenue reduction of 19 percent but cost was down as well. The end result is growth in gross margin with gross profit up to $3.65 billion from $3.27 billion in 2012 and moderate improvement in the bottom-line. However, there is far more happening here than meets the eyes. The company is reporting increased revenue from cellular phone usage coming from both voice and data with a growth in the customer base year-over-year. The pace has been growing since 2012 and is up 11 percent for 2013 in US dollars and is expected to increase even more as data usage grows.

Image courtesy of nokhoog_buchachon/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of nokhoog_buchachon/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

These quarterly numbers have lots of coded information about current and future performances of a company that has bled much blood in the past few years and is trying hard to recover. For the nine months, loss is $1.75 billion and is down from $2.2 billion in 2012. More importantly, the stage is set for a sharp reduction in losses going forward. Landline revenue was down in keeping with the reduction in local termination rates as well as  CWJ’s cut in landline call rates during the period. A large part of the revenue reduction came from restructuring of the telephone directory cost which now leaves CWJ in a better position as the risk was reduced.

Cost savings were also achieved in restructuring commission payments to mobile credit distributors and the wage bill was down in the quarter. However, administrative and other cost rose due to the outsourcing of the maintenance work for the phone system. IC Insider believes the future is bright for CWJ and is forecasting an absolute profit in the March quarter and an overall profit in 2015 fiscal year.

CWJ grew its mobile subscriber base, increasing by 23% and quarterly mobile service revenue rose 43 percent over the 2012 prior year quarter in local currency. This increase is after the company changed its method of accounting for active users from counting customers having credit on their phones to those who actually used their phones during the last 60 days. Gary Sinclair, LIME’s Managing Director, stated that 55,000 customers were removed from the total as a result of the change. Nevertheless, the overall number of subscribers are up year-over-year and continues to grow in 2014.

In response to the question, “Is December’s income now representative of what can be expected baring growth or contraction on a quarterly basis,” Sinclair stated that EBITA is actually up in January and that is more indicative of what can be expected.

The strategy is clear, cut cost some more and grow the mobile base, the area of strong growth potential.

In trading on Thursday, investors reacted negatively to the news and sold CWJ’s stock down to 31 cents but some buying came in and drove the price up.

With growth to come in revenues and lower cost on the horizon, Cable & Wireless Jamaica is now a Buy Rated stock.

Related posts | D&G, Carreras & C&WJ now Buy Rated | CWJ: Making headway but slowly | Cable & Wireless up 56% in January | $2B slide in landline revenues sinks C&WJ | C&W: Less jobs, more capital spend

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: , ,