JSE: Market moved up

November 4, 2013 by

Monday, 4th November 2013 | The Jamaica Stock Market continued where it left off on Friday with advancing stocks out pacing decliners with 8 stocks advancing to the decline of 5 and the indices with activity all climbing. The JSE Index closed at 82,868 up 677.70, the all Jamaica Index closed at 81,499.65 up 1,192.40 and the junior market index closed up 3.56 to end at 729.86. In overall market activity 7.59 million shares changed hands for a value of $64.55 million.

Stocks with meaningful activity are Cable & Wireless which traded 580,452 units to close at 15 cents; Caribbean Cement 15,075 units as the price closed at $2.10 down 9 cents; Carreras 303,000 units traded firm to close at $40; Desnoes & Geddes exchanged 1,261,066 units to close up 25 cents at $4.75 but the offer at the end of trading was $4.50; Jamaica Money Market Brokers had 3,039,900 units as the price closed up at $8.30; Mayberry Investments 65,242 units at $1.90; National Commercial Bank Jamaica 21,930 units closing firm at $18.49; Sagicor Investments exchanged 96,871 units and closed at $16; Scotia Group 727,916 shares closing up $1.99 at $21.99; Supreme Ventures 140,000 units to close at $2.60 and Proven Investments 8% was the only stock to trade in the preference segment as it resulted in 185,431 units changing ownership at $5.09.

Junior market |Trading picked up in the junior market with Consolidated Bakeries traded 53,000 to close at $1.16; General Accident Insurance traded 11,500 units being exchanged ending at $1.70, up 5 cents; KLE Group traded 44,000 units and hit another new all-time low of $1.30, down 7 cents while Lasco Financial Services chipped in with 99,999 traded units to close firm at $1; Lasco Distributors exchanged 106,640 units at $1.45 and Lasco Manufacturing garnered 847,654 units to close at $1.38 down 7 cents.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading there were bids for 3 stocks that were higher than their last selling prices and 5 stocks on offer lower than the last selling price. This trading day shows an emerging bullish market indicator with positive out numbering negatives by a wide margin.

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

JPSCO list new preference shares

November 4, 2013 by

The Jamaica Public Service listed its new offering of 2,455,607 units of Class F 9.5% Cumulative Non-Redeemable Preference Shares on the Jamaica Stock Exchange. The shares were offered through a private placement. The shares will be traded under the symbol JPS9.5. The security has a market capitalization of $2.579 billion or 33.0% of the overall market capital of the preference shares listed.

Street Forrest, General Manager of the JSE told the audience that, “The JSE welcomes these new securities as we believe if we are to encourage investors to invest in the development of our country, we have to provide them with not only a transparent and efficient marketplace through which to invest but the products in which to invest. Ownership by Jamaicans in Jamaican companies, whether through ordinary shares or preference shares, is a critical path in improving the infrastructure leading to sustainable development. This is what the Stock Exchange seeks to foster through the different markets that we operate. We are committed to the development of the capital market but we cannot do it alone.  The government and the private sector must see the need for the development and especially the formation of capital through equity financing”.

JPSMeter200x200Street Forrest went on to say “I wish to congratulate JPS again for listing. The very nature of these Class F shares, being non-redeemable has some characteristics of ordinary shares”.

Kelly Tomblin, CEO of JPS, stated that “JPS has been a part of the national landscape for more than 90 years, and a long standing partner in over 95% of households and businesses across Jamaica. We believe that it is appropriate for Jamaicans to have more personal stake in the company that plays such an important role in national development”.  She also promised that there will be other securities listed on the Exchange in the future by JPS.

Filed Under: Company News Tagged With: , ,

AMG gearing for further growth

November 4, 2013 by

AMG Packaging is out with flat results for the year to August with profits of $49 million up about 4 percent from 2012, even as revenues from goods sold climbed 24 percent to $444 million as a result of a 16 percent increase in the volume of items sold.

The company reported improvement in gross profit which increased by 32 percent compared to the 2012 figure of 31 percent as it grew faster than sales. Increased administrative cost ate up just about all of the improvement in increased efficiency in the factory operations. This was due mainly to what management attributed to a revision to wage package, as there was no increase since 2009. Gross profit margin increased to 33 percent in the year from 31 percent in 2012 and 26 percent in 2011. In 2010 the margin was at 32 percent.

August quarter | Data indicates a 37 percent jump in revenues to $128 million but that was not enough to prevent a fall in profits in the quarter to $14 million versus $16 million in the 2012 quarter as just about all major areas of cost rose sharply. Raw material cost is up 49 percent, direct manufacturing cost grew by 42 percent, administration grew 36 percent, finance cost rose 197 percent and depreciation by 71 percent.

amg-packaging_logo150x150Negatively, return on equity fell in the year to 18.6 percent versus 22 percent in 2012 and 24.5 percent in 2011, clearly an area where work is needed. The company is working to improve efficiency and expansion of production by investing in new machines. During the year the company expended money on roof relays and some other items that have an one-off effect and not likely to be repeated in the coming year and should free the profit going forward. They are also moving to use LPG instead of placing total reliance on the electric grid, which they say will reduce energy cost in the coming year.

Management, in their report to investors, indicated that a multi-functional machine on order will replace older manual ones and a rotary die cut machine is being manufactured. Both are expected to be functional in the November quarter of 2013. These machines are expected to increase production and enhance the quality of products.

Finances | Current assets of $209 million including cash of $34 million is more than adequate to cover current liabilities of $71 million. Inventories climbed sharply to $93 million from $75 million in 2012 but it represents just under one and a half months of raw material cost.

Money borrowed rose to $85 million, an increase on the $29 million at the end of the prior year, with most of the increase used to fund expansion of the factory and added machinery. The debt compares favourably with equity of $291 million.

The stock recently declined to $3.50 and became weak sometime after the third quarter numbers were released suggesting minimal growth in the bottom line. Notwithstanding, the junior market has been exhibiting softness across most stocks. As such there could well be further decline in this stock price as there does not seem to be any major buying interest currently.

Insider call | With the expansion and modernisation that is underway and the tendency for sales to be boosted by increased volume the stock should be an attractive buy as a medium to long term investment around $3 per share.

Related posts | AMG is investing for tomorrow

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

D&G to pay more

November 1, 2013 by

Desnoes & Geddes (DG) declared a first interim dividend for the year 2013-2014 in the amount of $0.20 per share and a special dividend of $0.05 per share payable on December 20, 2013 to shareholders on record as at November 22, 2013. The ex-dividend date is November 20, 2013.

The company reported profit that are up 8 percent for the first quarter to September.

The company paid a dividend relating to the 2013 fiscal year of 10 cents per share on June 25, 2013.  In December last year there was an interim payment 20 cents per share.

Related posts | Profit inches up at D&G |  D&G will pay 10¢ dividend

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

JSE: Market correction is over?

November 1, 2013 by

Friday, 1st November 2013 | The IC Bid-Offer Indicator at the end of trading for the week and the first trading day for November is the strongest it has been for weeks with bids for 10 stocks higher that their last selling prices and only 1 stock on offer lower than the last selling price — a bullish indicator.

It would require more than a day with similar positive readings to confirm a sustained uptick in stock prices. What is clearly being indicated is that supply of stocks at the lower price levels is low.

The Jamaica Stock Market closed the week on a positive note even as the junior market index fell in trading today. The main indices moved up at the end of the day as 11 stocks advanced to decline of 5. The JSE Index closed at 82,190.30 up 358.14. The all Jamaica Index closed at 80,307.25 up 630.16 and the junior market index closed down 6.29 to end at 726.30. In overall market activity 4.2 million shares changed hands for a value of $25.66 million.

JSEIndicesNov1Stocks with meaningful activity are Caribbean Cement 49,749 units as the price closed at $2.19 up 12 cents; Carreras had 13,000 units traded up 5 cents to $40; Hardware & Lumber 11,600 as the price closed up 20 cents at $4.70; Jamaica Money Market Brokers had 10,650 units as the price closed at $8.12; National Commercial Bank Jamaica 74,867units closing up $1.49 at $18.49; Pan Jamaican Investment 11,800 unit traded firm to close at $48.01; Sagicor Investments 440,715 units closed at $15.99 while gaining 33 cents; Scotia Group 376,900 shares resulted in the stock closing firm at $20; Scotia Investments 2,000 up $2.48 to $28.5 and Proven Investments  8% was the only stock to trade in the preference segment as it resulted in 332,660 units at $5.09. JPS 9.5% non-redeemable preference shares were listed at the start of trading but did not trade nor was there a bid or offer at the close.

Junior market | Trading picked up in the junior market with Blue Power Group exchanging 75,100 units mostly at the closing price of $9.28; Caribbean Cream put in 18,000 units at $1.02 up 2 cents; Caribbean Flavours 35,387 units at $2.55; Caribbean Producers 860,000 units traded mostly at the closing price of $2 up 5 cents at the close; Dolphin Cove had 199,252 units changing hands at $8.25 as the stock gained 25 cents; General Accident Insurance had 31,830 units being exchanged ending at $1.65, up 3 cents; KLE Group traded 44000 units and hit another new all-time low of $1.37, down 3 cents while under pressure; Lasco Financial Services chipped in with 104,899 units at $1 down 12 cents and Lasco Manufacturing garnered 1,502,008 units to close at $1.45, up 4 cents.

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

JSE: Indices most up but . . .

October 31, 2013 by

Thursday, 31 October 2013 | Trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Thursday remained subdued with stocks of 28 companies trading resulting in only 4 advancing and 12 declining with a total of 4,568,270 shares trading valued at $23,381,135. The main market indices were up as well as the US dollar index but the junior market fell.

Main Market | Trading in Carreras has been picking as investors await the dividend and profit announcement for the September quarter; the stock had 33,706 shares changing hands firm at $40, Grace Kennedy had 8,050 trading to close at $55 up $1.30 while Jamaica Broilers had 35,994 units firm at $4.50. Mayberry Investments exchanged 74,524 units at $2. National Commercial Bank traded just 32,350 units to close at $17 down $1.35 at the end. Pan Jamaican had 5,640 units traded at the end at $48.01; Proven Investments ordinary traded 198,376 units at 11.61 US cents down .0029 cents; Scotia Group 248,654 units traded to closed firm at $20.

In the preference section, Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.50% traded 1,695,797 unchanged at $2 and the 8.75% traded 339,373 to close at $2.98, which was off by 2 cents and Proven Investments Limited 8% traded 461,875 units to close $5.09.

JSEIndicesOct31Juniors | The junior market has been showing more signs of weakness and the market closed the day in that same mode. In trading, Access Financial Services changed 437,251 units at $8.28; AMG Packaging dropped 50 cents in trading 10,000 units to close at $3.50 in the aftermath of the annual results showing 48 cents earnings versus 47 cents in 2012. Caribbean Cream had just 13,000 units as the price closed at $1 off by 2 cents. Caribbean Flavours 7,816 units resulted in a close of $2.55. Jamaican Teas sold 423,959 units at $3.80, off by 10 cents. Lasco Distributors 389,600 resulted in an ending price of $1.45. Lasco Financial Services 75,744 units resulted in the price falling 3 cents to $1.12 and Lasco Manufacturing exchanged 50,900 and closed at $1.41, down 4 cents.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the bid-offer indicator showed bids for 6 stocks being higher and 6 stocks with offers lower than their last selling price.

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

JSE: Trading remains low

October 30, 2013 by

Wednesday, 30th October 2013 | Trading remained low on the Jamaica Stock Exchange with 1,231,072 units changing hands valued at $8,642,067 with the number of stocks advancing at 8 versus those 4 that declined. The main market index shed 35.94 points to end at 81,639.52; the all Jamaica index closed at 79.338.15 down by 63.23; the junior market index ended at 742.56 off by less than a point.

Main Market | Carreras traded just 6,007 units and gained 96 cents to close at $40. Gleaner posted 18,150 units at $1.11; Grace Kennedy chipped in with 71,100 units to close down $1.20 at $53.70; Jamaica Broilers exchanged 27,425 units up 24 cents at $4.50; Jamaica Money Market Brokers traded 22,662 units to close at $8.12; Kingston Wharves had 27,000 units changing hands at $5.60 up two cents; Mayberry Investments had 78,641 units trading down 15 cents at $2; National Commercial Bank sapped 26,138 units in closing up 35 cents at $18.35; Sagicor Life 94,880 units traded firm at $8.10; Scotia Group Jamaica traded 26,090 units to close unchanged at $20.

Proven Investments 8% preference stock traded 292,600 units while closing firm at $5.09.

JSEIndicesOct30Junior Market | Trading in the junior market saw Blue Power trading 6,934 units to close firm at $9.28; Caribbean Flavours trading 7,882 units firm at $2.55; Caribbean Producers delivered 15,136 units to close unchanged at $1.99; Dolphin Cove traded 20,248 units at $8; Lasco Distributors traded 146,580 units to close up a cent at $1.46; Lasco Financial Services closed unchanged at $1.15 with 67,644 shares changing hands and Lasco Manufacturing put in60.600 units to close firm at $1.45.

IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the bid-offer indicator is showing a market that is moving sideways for a while, with bids for 8 stocks being higher and 6 stocks with offers lower than their last selling price.

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

JSE: Low participation

October 29, 2013 by

Tuesday, 29th October 2013 | The main indices show the Jamaica Stock Market falling sharply but there was a big improvement in the number of stocks advancing versus those that declined, from 5 and 15 on Monday to 4 advancing and 7 declining on Tuesday.

Unlike Monday, when the main indices climbed, the main market index was down 987.61 to 81,675.46 and the all Jamaica index closed at 79.401.38 down by 1,737.69, the junior market index also reflecting low investors’ interest sat at 743.05, a decline of 9.98.  The amount invested in the market dropped to a low of just $10.8 million while trading only 2.7 million shares.

Main Market | The level of trading was low in both the junior and main markets with only the preference share segment showing any serious volumes as Berger Paints saw trading in 10,000 units to close at $2.16; Desnoes & Geddes had 38,690 shares changing hands as it traded firm at $4.50; Gleaner had trading in 54,350 units at $1.11; Jamaica Broilers 16,522 units traded up 4 cents to close at $4.26. Jamaica Money Market Brokers traded 18,600 units at $8.1;, Kingston Wharves 17,226 units traded at $5.58; Mayberry Investments traded 89,821 at $2.15; Sagicor Life had just 9,000 units trading at $8.10; Scotia Group exchanged 28,864 units to close at $20 for a 10 cents gain while Scotia Investments saw just 11,800 unis going for $26.01 and Supreme Ventures 122,000 units went for $2.55.

JSEIndicesOct29In the preference segment, Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% traded 134,500 units firm at $3 followed by Proven Investments 8%, 1,308,314 units, down a cent at $5.08.

Junior Market | Trading in the juniors was low as Access Financial Services put in a nice little volume of 55,000 units at $8.29, down by 11 cents; Blue Power Group lost some altitude, by 22 cents in trading 9,753 units to close at $9.28 while newly listed Caribbean Flavours figured with 9,860, as it closed down 10 cents at $2.55. Lasco Distributors put in a good volume of 700,703 units to close at $1.45 being down by 4 cents and Lasco Manufacturing 68,300 units cost $1.45 each at the end of trading.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator is showing a market that is moving sideways for a while, with bids for 5 stocks being higher and 4 stocks with offers lower than their last selling price.

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

Dividends consideration

October 29, 2013 by

The Board of Directors of Jamaica Money Market Brokers will consider an ordinary dividend payment at a meeting to be held on Monday, November 11, 2013. The last dividend paid was 10 cents per share on March 28, 2013. Last year December, a dividend of 13 cents per ordinary share was paid.

JMMB is an IC Insider Buy Rated Stock.

The Board of Directors of Desnoes & Geddes on Friday, November 1, 2013 will consider the payment of a first interim dividend for the year 2013/14. The company paid dividend relating to the 2013 fiscal year of 10 cents per share on June 25, 2013.  In December last year there was an interim payment 20 cents per share.

The Board of Directors of Carreras will consider a dividend declaration at a meeting to be held on November 6, 2013. Carreras paid a dividend of $1 per share in August, down from $1.50 in 2012 flowing form a decline in profit in the June quarter.

Filed Under: Company News, Dividends Tagged With: ,

JSE: Index up but . . .

October 28, 2013 by

Monday, 28th October 2013 | The main indices climbed today on the Jamaica Stock Exchange but there was a big negative signal with the number of stocks advancing versus those that declined by 5 to 15.

The main indices climbed with the main market index closing up 508.35 to 82,663.07 and the all Jamaica index closed at 81,139.07 up by 894.43, the junior market index, also reflecting low investors interest, sat at 753.03, a decline of 6.75. The amount invested in the market remained low with trading of 3.92 million shares valued at $28.17 million.

Main Market | The level of trading was low in both the junior and main markets with only the preference share segment showing any serious volumes as Carreras had 125,650 units changing hands to close firm at $40; Ciboney traded 1,480,598 units at 5 cents, up 2 cents at the end of trading. Desnoes & Geddes had 135,885 shares changing hands at $4.50 down 2 cents; Jamaica Broilers had 12,704 units traded to close firm at $4.22; Jamaica Money Market Brokers traded 13,095 units firm at $8.12; National Commercial Bank traded just 3,600 shares at $18, down 45 cents; Proven Investments US dollar based ordinary shares traded 299,471 units and the price was unchanged at just under 12 US cents; Sagicor Investments had just 11,371 units trading at $15.66; Scotia Group exchanged 704,433 units to close at $19.90 for a 10 cents fall.

JSEIndicesOct28In the preference segment. Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% traded 42,000 units at $3 followed by Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.5% which traded 460,000 units at $2 and Proven Investments 8%, 243,460 units at $5.09.

Junior Market | Trading in the juniors was low as General Accident traded a volume of 20,000 units at $1.61, down by 9 cents. Caribbean Flavours had a volume of 21,355 units as it closed down 5 cents at $2.65; Lasco Distributors put in a volume of 88,910 units to close at $1.49 down by a cent and Lasco Manufacturing 154,369 units cost 4 cents less at $1.46 at the end of trading.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator is showing a market that is moving sideways for a while, with bids for 5 stocks being higher and 6 stocks with offers lower than their last selling price.

Image courtesy of Photokanok/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

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