JSE: Down start to a new week

December 16, 2013 by

Monday, 16th December 2013 | Trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange was dominated by Grace Kennedy and Scotia Group having the largest volume and value of stocks changing hands along with Caribbean Producers in the junior market. However, that did not prevent all the indices from falling even as advancing stocks were slightly ahead of declining ones. At the end of trading, 6 stocks recorded price gains to 5 that fell and 3,798,248 shares changed hands with a value of $45,122,046.

Indices | The JSE Market Index closed at 77,624.11, to fall by 253.78, the JSE All Jamaican Composite closed at 76761.49, having declined by 441.19 and the JSE Junior Market Index closed at 752.77 for a decline of 0.62.

Stocks trading include Cable & Wireless with 294,583 units as it closed firm at 16 cents; Carreras 6,435 shares at $35.71 down 29 cents; Grace Kennedy 385,355 units closing at $60.99, down a cent; Jamaica Broilers 9,516 shares as the price fell by 7 cents at $4.23; Jamaica Money Market Brokers with 95,723 units to close firm at $.7.87; National Commercial Bank swapped 34,375 shares to close at $17.20 up 20 cents; Sagicor Life 58,500 shares to close firm at $8.45; Sagicor Real Estate X Fund 21,050 units closing unchanged at $6; Scotia Group 764,201 units as the price closed up $1 at $20; Seprod lost 70 cents when trading 22,550 units to close at $10.

JSEIndicesDec16Junior Market | Stocks of 4 companies traded in the junior market on Monday with only Caribbean Producers with 2,075,098 recorded any worthwhile volume. The price closed at $2.50 unchanged from Friday’s close. Lasco Financial traded 7,000 units at $1.12.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator show bids for 8 stocks higher with no offers that were lower than their last selling prices.

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

JMMB Q2 profits jumps 56%

December 16, 2013 by

Jamaica Money Market Brokers (JMMB) reported continued strong growth in profits attributable to shareholders in the September quarter of $697 million or a 24 percent increase over the September quarter last year.

The performance is even better than first appearance as there was a gain relating to the acquisition of Capital & Credit Group of $117 million in the September 2012 quarter. Without this gain, profits for this year’s quarter would have been up by 56 percent. This comes against the background of a big jump in profits from ongoing operations for the first quarter to June this year with profit after tax and due to shareholders of $753 million. Earnings for the six months hit $1.45 billion compared to $2.5 billion. The latter includes the booking of the difference between the purchase price and net asset of Capital & Credit Group, which was acquired in the June quarter 2012 amounting to $1.6 billion; excluding this item, profits would be up an impressive 59 percent.

Earnings per share of 43 cents for the latest quarter is up to 89 cents for the six months. The investment bank continues on track to rake in profits of around $2 per share for the year to March 2014, which makes the stock cheap at the last selling price of $8. However, this depends on a number of factors, the most of which is the level of investments and foreign exchange gains they are likely to book in the next two quarters.

JMMB_Building600x250Net Interest | For the September quarter, net interest income grew slightly to $1.23 billion from $1.196 billion in 2012 and from $1.178 billion in the 2013 June quarter. For the year to September, net interest income is up to $2.4 billion from $2.18 billion in 2012. Gains on securities trading almost doubled to $646 million from $333 million for the quarter compared with 2012 and from $633 million in 2012 to $1.3 billion in 2013. Net operating income was up strongly to $2.09 billion in the quarter from $1.7 billion in 2012 and for the six months $4.16 billion versus $3.1 billion in 2012. Operating expenses remained fairly stable at $1.2 billion in the latest quarter compared with to $1.13 billion in the first quarter and $1.1 in the 2012 September quarter. Year to date expenses climbed to $2.34 billion from $1.88 billion in 2012.

Regionally, Dominican Republic contributed J$754.6 million to the Group, driven mainly by growth in Net Interest Income and gains on securities trading compared to J$390.9 million in the first quarter. The Trinidad & Tobago based IBL Group, an associated company, contributed a loss of $$24.3 million due mainly to additional provisioning for loans. The Group has already stated that they have agreed to acquire the shares held by the other shareholder in the bank.

Financial Strength | Shareholders’ equity declined from $18.7 billion at the end of June to $16.5 billion at the end of September as a result of a fall in the value of investments. The group’s total assets under management fell to $172.4 billion at the end of September versus $175 billion at the end of June. Loans having increased by 17 percent to $12 billion to June, contracted slightly in September to $11.7 billion. Loans are a relatively small part of the asset base but could be one of the more profitable and fastest growing areas of its operations if lending is done smartly to minimize losses. Importantly, the full ownership of IBL will increase loans sharply when the group reports results for the December quarter.

JMMB is a financial conglomerate with the principal activities being securities brokering, securities trading, commercial and merchant banking, dealing in money market instruments, operating foreign exchange cambio and managing funds on behalf of clients.

JMMB is an IC Insider Buy Rated stock.

Related posts | JMMB grows assets $125B to $200B | JMMB big bump in profits |

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

Marked changes for Buy Rated stocks

December 13, 2013 by

Friday 13th December 2013 | There were a number of noticeable price changes to Jamaican stocks on the IC Insider Buy Rated Stock list, while the prices of the Trinidad stocks were fairly stable with the exception of Trinidad Cement (TCL) that slipping by 7 percent by the end of the week. However, TCL is still the star performer with a 118% increase since being added to the Buy Rated stock list.

JSE Junior Market | Access, which is up 21 percent since being selected as a Buy Rated stock, gained a bit during the week based on the bid price which is above the last selling price. Blue Power lost 7 percent to end at $9.38, Caribbean Producers moved up to $2.50 during the week for a gain of 23 percent but Lasco Financial lost 15 percent during the week to sit on a 28 percent loss and Lasco Manufacturing is still down 16 percent after losing 1 percent during the week.

JSE Main Market | Barita gained 13 percent during the week to break even since being added to the Buy Rated list. According to stockbroker Mayberry Investments, Barita reported 2013 profits to September of $70.3 million versus $255 million in 2012. On the surface this seems disastrous but when the one-off loss of $240 million gross arising from the swapping of government bonds for new lower yielding ones is factored in, earnings would have been around $230 million for the year. The data for the year end results suggest a small loss was picked up in the last quarter as the company had reported a profit of $78.6 million up to June and the figures indicate a loss of $79 million on disposal of investments in the last quarter. Going forward, Barita should not encounter another debt exchange charge and has been able to recover from the reduction in interest rates obtained on the government debt. IC Insider will have a full analysis of Barita’s results with a forecast for 2014 when they are available.

BuyRated13DecCaribbean Cement gained 7 percent during the week but is under water 14 percent; Grace gained 7 percent for the week and is up 9 percent; Hardware & Lumber is up 14 percent based on the bid; National Commercial Bank is down 4 percent for the week and 12 percent from selection with the market reacting negatively to the company’s year end results; Sagicor Life lost 5 percent for the week and 15 percent since selection and Scotia Group fell 9 percent in the week and 11 percent since being selected; Scotia Investment gained 4 percent for the week and is up 3 percent so far.

On the Trinidad Exchange, Republic Bank earnings was upgraded to $9.50 based on 2014 prospects and is therefore a more attractive Buy Rated stock now that the 2013 results are out.

Of great note is that many of the Jamaican stocks, particularly those on the junior market, have very limited supplies and therefore could move significantly in the medium term. The message from the market is buy now while supply can be easily had.

Related posts | Profits up at Barita | NDX hits out Barita’s profit

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

JSE: Market close week down

December 13, 2013 by

Friday, 13th December 2013 | Trading picked up somewhat on the last trading day of the week as the Jamaica Stock Market recorded another day of falling indices but 5 stocks advanced in price to 7 that fell and 1,926,732 shares traded with a value of $56,739,948.

Market Indices | The two main market indices fell by the end of trading with the JSE Market Index closing at 77,877.89 down by 218.42; the JSE All Jamaican Composite closed at 77,202.68, having a fall of 379.72 and the JSE Junior Market Index closed at 753.39 for a decline of 9.19.

Stocks trading comprised Cable & Wireless 235277 units firm at 16; Caribbean Cement 80,200 units at $2.30; Carreras 11,707 shares at $36.00; Grace Kennedy 908,837 units at $61 up by $5; Jamaica Broilers 18,770 closing firm at $4.30; Mayberry Investments 34,933 shares to close firm at $$2; National Commercial Bank 89,861 shares to close at $17 up 99 cents but not before the stock traded at a new 52 weeks low of $15.55; Sagicor Real Estate X Fund 3,950 units closing unchanged at $6, but only after the price hit a new all-time high of $6.60; Scotia Group 66,404 units as the price closed firm at $19 and Scotia Investments price retreated by 5 cents to $26.95.

JSEIndicesDec13Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.50% preference share traded 50,000 units unchanged at $2 and the 8.75% traded 130,000 units at $2.90.

Junior Market | Stocks traded in the junior market with extremely low volume. Lasco Financial traded units at $1.30; Caribbean Producers traded 94,152 units and closed firm at $2.50; Dolphin Cove traded just 5,000 units at $8.50, an increase of 50 cents; General Accident Insurance traded 49,203 units at $1.62; Lasco Distributors had 12,000 units changing hands at $1.40 down 8 cents; Lasco Financial Services lost 19 cents to close at $1.11 while trading 90,000 shares, Lasco Manufacturing exchanged just 6,714 units at $1.39 as the price gained 9 cents and Eppley 9.5% preference shares traded firm for the first time at the issue price of $6 with 9,000 units.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator show bids for 8 stocks being higher with no offers that were lower than their last selling prices.

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

Profit up 22% at Jamaica Broilers

December 12, 2013 by

Profit after tax due to the Jamaica Broiler’s shareholders, which was up 10 percent in the first quarter to August, is up 22 percent in the October quarter.

Profit was flat in the first quarter, before taking out losses due to outside shareholders of a subsidiary, and was 15 percent ahead of the 2012 second quarter period. The improved results flowed from increased revenues of 20 and 21 percent respectively in each quarter. For the half year, profit hit $324 million or 27 cents per share and in the October quarter, the company reported $184 million versus $151 million in 2012 or 15 cents per share in profits. With the Christmas period ahead, they are now into the best period for revenues and profit. IC Insider’s forecast is now at $1.50 earnings per share for the year, down from an earlier forecast, but cost savings are expecting from the acquisitions, particularly the US based one. Earnings should exceed $2 by 2015 fisscal year. The stock still remains Buy Rated.

The group enjoyed improved gross margins in the second quarter to 29 percent versus 23.4 percent in the first quarter and 26 percent for 2013 fiscal year that ended in April.

Jamaica-Broilers-Group_logo150x150The group completed the acquisition of Hamilton Smokehouse and England Farms Inc. during the latest quarter, which resulted in increased income as well as increased cost. Administrative cost rose by 33.5 percent in the October quarter to $923 million and 23 percent for the year to October to $1.43 billion; distribution cost jumped in the last quarter by 39 percent to $335.7 million and 33 percent for the two quarters to $615.6 million. Those were not the only costs to rise, finance cost jumped by 20 percent in the last quarter to $88 million and by 35 percent in the year to date to hit $167 million.

Segments | Poultry sales rose 15 percent to $7.2 billion over 2012; Hi Pro sales which includes feeds was down 1 percent for the half year but ethanol fell 39 percent to $445 million; other operation category is up 75 percent while US operations show a 221 percent jump to $2.15 billion, partially reflecting the new acquisition in the quarter. Other income rose from $68 million to $86 million. Segment results came out at $436 million for poultry, up from $350 million in 2012; Hi Pro recorded $310 million down from $501 million in 2012; ethanol recorded $27 million, in 2012 a loss of $7.5 million was recorded; and the US operations recorded an impressive $202 million compared to only $19 million in 2012.

Balance Sheet | Fixed assets increased by $700 million net of depreciation charge over April due mainly to the acquisitions noted above; intangible assets increased by $455 million and goodwill by $133 million all due to the US and the Hamilton Smokehouse acquisitions. Inventories rose $300 million over the position as of April this year; biological assets moved up by $640 million and receivables and prepayments by $560 million. Cash funds are down $1.1 million at the end of October to $1.1 billion; loans however climbed by $400 million to $5.8 billion, this compares with equity of $10.3 billion. Current assets amounted to $9.2 billion and is well ahead of current liabilities of $5.3 billion, which is a slight deterioration from the level of $8.8 billion in April to $4.2 billion in current liabilities.

Jamaica Broilers Group is an IC Insider Buy Rated Stock.

Related posts | JBG profit held back | New additions to Buy Rated stocks | Jamaica Broilers dividend

Image courtesy of Amenic181/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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

JSE: Slow trading continues

December 12, 2013 by

Thursday, 12th December 2013 | The Jamaica stock market recorded another day of very low trading as the indices moved down and 5 stocks advanced in price to 7 that fell. There was trading of only 890,346 shares with a value of $18,037,940.

Indices | The two main market indices fell by the end of trading with the JSE Market Index closing at 78,096.31 down by 569.13; the All Jamaican Composite closed at 77,582.40, having a fall of 989.41 and the Junior Market Index closed at 762.58, up by 8.99.

Stocks trading comprise Cable & Wireless 169,348 units at 16 down a cent; Carreras 10,940 shares at $36.10, up 30 cents; Grace Kennedy 196,211 units at $56 down by $1.03; Jamaica Broilers 12,800 shares closing up at $4.30, an increase of 7 cents; Mayberry Investments 77,431 shares to close up 4 cents at $$2; National Commercial Bank 125,200 shares to close at $16.01; Sagicor Real Estate X Fund 10,000 units closing unchanged at $6; Scotia Group 11,154 units as the price closed down $1 at $19; Scotia Investments 113,838 units as the price retreated by 5 cents to $26.95 and Seprod lost 30 cents to close at $10.70 while 4,250 shares traded.

JSEIndicesDec12Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.50% preference share traded 100,000 units at $2.

Junior Market | Only stocks of three companies traded in the junior market with extremely low volume. Lasco Financial traded 31,934 units at $1.30, Caribbean Producers closed up 30 cents to $2.50 with only 3,970 shares.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows bids for 9 stocks higher and 2 stocks with offers lower than their last selling prices.

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

JSE: Market down but heading up

December 11, 2013 by

Wednesday, 11th December 2013 | The main indices fell slightly on the Jamaica Stock Exchange as the number of declining stocks were equal to advancing ones. However, the Investor’s Choice market indicator has been flashing positive signals from last week and continues to do so at the close of trade with 10 stocks closing with bids above the last selling price and only one with an offer lower than the last sale.

Trading was slow with shares of just 20 securities changing hands with 5 stocks advancing to 5 that declined as 3,003,406 units changed hands valued at $14,188,321.

Indices| The three main indices all went down at the end of trading with the JSE Market Index closing at 78,665.44 down by 49.16, the All Jamaican Composite closed at 78,571.81, having a fall of 85.46 and the Junior Market Index closed 753.59 down 1.57.

Main Market | The main traded stocks include Cable & Wireless with 755,707 shares as the price closed at 17 cents; Caribbean Cement 1,224,439 units to close unchanged at $2.30; Grace Kennedy 54,500 shares with the price dropping by $1.97 to end at $57.03; Jamaica Stock Exchange closed at an all-time low of $1.80 down 20 cents with 4,950 shares; National Commercial Bank had 115,700 units, closing at $16 down by $1; Pan Jamaican Investment with only 26,287 shares to close unchanged at $48; Sagicor Life 8,121 units at $8.45, up 45 cents and Scotia Group with 145,176 shares to end at $20, down 50 cents.

JSEIndicesDec11Jamaica Money Market Brokers Ltd 8.75% traded 140,443 shares firm at $2.90 and Proven Investments 8% saw 146,250 units changing hands at $5.10.

Junior Market | Trading in the junior market stocks was low, only 5 companies participated with Blue Power contributing 4,000 shares as the price closed unchanged at $9.38; Cargo Handlers had 4,855 shares to close unchanged at $13.50 cents; Lasco Distributors saw 133,394 units changing hands as the price closed at $1.50 but there was an offer of $1.45 at the end of trading for 14,000 units. Lasco Financial traded 79,914 units to close firm at $1.30 and Lasco Manufacturing exchanged 137,300 units to close at $1.30, down 10 cents.

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

Caribbean Energy Finance

December 11, 2013 by

Companies are said to be lining up to get onto the Junior Market to lock in the tax gains and raise funding for expansion or to pay off debt. Many of the companies have little name recognition outside of their narrow customer and supplier base.

One company that is now being worked on and is said to be near ready to go is Caribbean Energy Finance Corporation that wants to raise around $450 million. The plan, IC Insider understands, will be to fund energy related investments such as equipment, which will be leased by the company.

The company is trying to have the listing before year end and the promoters are currently having road shows with potential investors. The broker is MVL Stockbrokers.

Image courtesy of Graur Codrin/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Filed Under: Company News Tagged With: ,

Cargo Handlers announces acquisition

December 10, 2013 by

Cargo Handlers Limited advised that a resolution was passed by the Board of Directors at a meeting held on November 28, 2013 to invest in the Bulk Liquid Carrier Petroleum Limited. The company transports petroleum products across the island. CHL advised that this investment is expected to add $150 million in revenue.

Cargo Handlers just reported earnings of $85 million for the year ended September this year and ended up with cash of $131 million.

Related posts | Sexiness no, performance yes | Profits up at Cargo Handlers

Filed Under: Company News, General Business News Tagged With: ,

NCB ill-fated IPO cost $680m

December 9, 2013 by

National Commercial Bank‘s profit took a $680 million hit from the costs relating to ill-fated Initial Public Offering (IPO) early in the just concluded fiscal year to September, according to the company’s audited financial statements.

The banking group was attempting to raise added capital in the international market during the turbulent period ahead of the country reaching an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The amount involved was written off against income thus helping to depress profits for the year and that was not the only big hit shareholders got for their investment during the year.

Net profit for the year amounted to $8.55 billion, a decline from $10.05 billion in 2012 which translates to earnings per share of $3.47 versus $4.08. The 2013 profit was also hit with a huge $1.5 billion charge, the result of losses picked up when they exchanged high yielding government bonds for lower yielding ones. Had these costs not been incurred, earnings would have been around $4.10 per share instead of the reported $3.47 amount.

Profit also got a $281 million hit from receivership expenses, an increase over the amount spent in 2012 of $172 million. Technical, consultancy and professional fees reached $1.093 billion and is up from $846 million in 2012. Some of these fees would probably relate to the IPO issue as well. The impact of those exceptional charges helped in the directors cutting the dividend payment.

The group recorded a more than doubling in the item “Other expenses” that rose to $917 million from $449 million in 2012.

Wage related costs rose 17.25 percent in the year to $9.8 billion due primarily to a larger workforce related to the acquisition of AGIC and costs associated with the restructuring exercise carried out during the financial year, the company stated in its report to shareholders.  The group’s statutory contribution remained effective flat suggesting that the bulk of the increase probably relates to redundancy payments.

Advantage General suffered a fall in profit for the NCB Group.

Revenues | Net interest income rose to $23.56 billion from $21.78, in spite of the negative impact of the NDX on interest income from the government bonds. Fees and commission income moved up to $8 billion net compared to $7.1 billion in 2012. Premium income grew to $5 billion from $1.69 billion in 2012 due partially to the acquisition of Advantage General Insurance Company in the year. Gains on sale of debt securities fell to $1.15 billion from $2.65 billion in 2012.

Loan & Provision | The group wrote off $3.6 billion during the year while making fresh provisions of $2.3 billion down from $2.7 billion in 2012 and so ended with net provision of $3.2 billion at the end of the year against loans of $143.6 billion. The impact of the above adjustments show up in the aggregate amount of non-performing loans as at September 2013 for the Group on which interest was not being accrued amounted to $6,961,388,000 (2012  $8,271,530,000).

Personal loans of $72 billion account for more than half of loans on the books and was the largest growing segment of the portfolio accounting for $14 billion of the $28 billion increase in the year.

Related posts | NCB cuts dividend 75% | NCB recovers from NDX hit | NDX slaps NCB profits

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