In Friday’s trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, the prices of 9 stocks rose and 4 declined as 22 securities changed hands, resulting in 5,499,109 shares trading, valued at $18,935,526. Friday was the third consecutive day that there were more stocks rising than declining.
Main Market| The JSE Market Index gained 552.31 points to 72,007.93 and the JSE All Jamaican Composite index moved up 617.58 points to close at 79,226.14.
Gains| At the end of trading in the main market, the volume of stocks with gains, and last their traded prices, are Cable & Wireless with 900,941 shares to close with a gain of 4 cents to 40 cents, Caribbean Cement 104,102 shares to close with a gain of 25 cents at $3, Jamaica Money Market Brokers with 13,200 ordinary shares, closed with a gain of 4 cents at $7, Pan Jamaican Investment with 7,238 shares jumped $3.92 to $52, Sagicor Group traded 321,008 shares to close with a gain of 24 cents at $9.49, Scotia Investments 2,000 shares, to close with a gain of 55 cents at $21.15 and Supreme Ventures 4,500 shares to close 20 cents higher at $1.95.
Firm| The stocks with volume and last traded prices in the main market to close without a change in price, are Carreras with 25,243 units, closing at $34.50, Desnoes & Geddes 1,121 units to close at $4.10, Grace Kennedy with only 1,000 units and closed at $59 and Mayberry Investments with 951 units, to close at $1.55.
Preference| Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference share traded 236,587 units to close at $3, Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.50% preference share exchanged 412,000 units and closed at $2 and Proven Investments 8% preference share with 12,000 units closed at $5.05.
Declines| The stocks with losses, volume and last traded prices at the end of trading in the main market, are National Commercial Bank with 218,518 shares, losing 26 cents to end at $18, Proven Investments with 5,620 US dollar shares while losing 0.50 US cent to 17.50 US cents and Scotia Group with 78,069 shares as the price slipped 25 cents to $18.75.
Junior Market| The JSE Junior Market Index rose by 3.15 points to close at 629.39 as 5 stocks traded, with 2 advancing and 1 declining.
Gains| Stocks recording gains at the end of trading in the junior market, are Lasco Financial with 43,000 shares to close with a gain of 3 cents at 96 cents and Lasco Manufacturing with 454,353 units changing hands and gained 4 cents to 90 cents.
Firm Trades| The stocks in the junior market that traded to close at the same price as the day before are, Caribbean Producers with 2,639,807 units at $2.38 and Honey Bun with 1,411 units at $2.30.
Declines| The stock declining in the junior market at the end of trading, is AMG Packaging with 6,440 units at 39 cents lower at $2.50, a new 52 weeks low.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 9 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 5 stocks with offers that were lower.
Most stocks gained for third day
Jamaica Stock Exchange reports small loss
Marlene Street Forrest – Manager of The JSE
The improved position was aided by a write back of bad debt provision of $3.9 million in the latest quarter. After providing for taxation, a loss of $3.2 million was incurred for 2014 year to date versus $4 million in 2013. The bottom line performance, emanated from a $10.5 million revenue increase for the quarter and $23 million for the six months.
Income from cess, fell in both quarters but fee income was up by $11 million in the latest quarter and $20 million for the half year. Of the year to date increase, staff compensation ate up $10 million, pushing this item to $87 million for the six months. Overall expenses rose by $21 million to $182 million of 13 percent for the year to date.
The stock exchange has no borrowed funds with has equity of $558 million. $380 million of its assets are in cash or other forms of investment instruments.
The virtue of this stock is not to be found in the present results. Investors should be quietly acquiring the stock ahead of what is going to be much brighter days for the exchange when trading picks up. No one knows for sure when trading will pick up, but when it does it may be too late to acquire volume at prices under $2 where the stock last traded at.
More stocks rise than fall on JSE
In Monday’s trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, the prices of 5 stocks rose and 4 declined. Only 18 securities changed hands, resulting in 4,848,981 shares trading, valued at $15,622,653.
Main Market| The JSE Market Index declined by 353.60 points, to 70,264.33 and the JSE All Jamaican Composite index moved down by 395.39 points, to close at 77,276.48.
Gains| Stocks recording gains at the end of trading in the main market are Gleaner with 11,000 units closed with a cent up, at $1.11 and Pan Jamaican Investment traded 56,790 shares to close with a gain of 48 cents, at $48.50.
Firm| There were only stocks in the main market to close without a change in price with shares closing, are Cable & Wireless traded 156,117 shares to close at 29 cents, Caribbean Cement with 500 traded closed at $2.20, Jamaica Broilers traded 154,589 shares but the price closed unchanged at $4.57, and Scotia Group with 68,506 shares closed at $18.40.
Preference| Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference share 16,475 units to close at $3.03 and Proven Investments 8% preference share traded 2,700 units to close at $5.07.
Declines| The stocks that declined in the main market are Carreras had 80,000 units changing hands to close down 25 cents at $34.75, Jamaica Money Market Brokers with 628,736 shares, declined by 10 cents to close at $6.90, National Commercial Bank with 1,000 close at 50 cents lower at $17.50, Sagicor Group 8,172 close with a 10 cent loss at $8.99.
Junior Market| The JSE Junior Market Index declined by 17.39 points to close at 692.40 as 6 stocks traded with 3 advancing and none declining.
Gains| Stocks recording gains at the end of trading in the junior market are Consolidated Bakeries traded 558,953 shares to close with a gain of 10 cents to close at 80 cents, Lasco Distributors traded 1,000,000 units and gained 10 cents to end at $1.30 and Lasco Manufacturing had 25,000 units changing hands to close 10 cents higher at $1.10.
Firm Trades| The junior market stocks that traded to close at the same price as the day before, are Access Financial Services 10,759 units to close at $10, Blue Power with 27,000 units to close at $9.05, with Caribbean Cream traded 2042684 units at 70 cents each as investors responded well to the 79 percent jump in profits for the first quarter ended May.
Declines| No junior market stocks decline at the end of trading.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 5 stocks with the bids higher than their last selling prices and 2stocks with offers that were lower.
Proven Investments trades 7M shares
Proven Investments was the dominant trade on the Jamaica Stock Exchange in Monday’s trading session. The company had 6,966,866 ordinary shares with a value of US$1,247,669 changing hands, at 1799 US cents each, down a fraction of a cent for the day.
The prices of 8 stocks rose and 5 declined as 22 securities changed hands, resulting in 8,451,027 shares trading, valued at $151,978,606, for the first trading day of the week.
Main Market| Notwithstanding, the slightly positive advance decline ratio, the JSE Market Index declined by 155.43 points to close at 69,746.90 and the JSE All Jamaican Composite index fell by 173.80 points to 76,697.90 points.
Gains| Stocks recording gains at the end of trading in the main market are, Caribbean Cement with 2,000 shares, to close with a gain of 5 cents at $2.25, Carreras with 62,750 shares changing hands, to close 25 cents higher at $35, Grace Kennedy 2,486 units, to close $1.95 higher at $56. Jamaica Money Market Brokers traded just 4,300 units to gain 12 cents to close at $7 and Supreme Ventures with 5,000 units closed 2 cents up, at $1.97.
Firm| The stocks in the main market to close trading without a price change are, Berger Paints with 3,115 shares while closing at $1.65, Jamaica Broilers with 38,252 units, to close at $4.57, Cable & Wireless 79,061 shares to close at 29 cents, Sagicor Group 643,931 shares at $8.80 and Scotia Group with 79,609 units to close at $18.50.
Preference| Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference share, traded 28,450 units with a 1 cent gain to $3.03.
Declines| The number of stocks declining in the main market are Desnoes & Geddes with 137,605 shares in losing 20 cents, to end at $4.30, National Commercial Bank 32,472 shares to close down 45 cents, to end at $17.50 and Radio Jamaica with 17,270 shares, closed a cent down at $1.28.
Junior Market| The JSE Junior Market Index rose by 5.45 points to close at 714.80 as 7 securities traded with 2advancing and 1 declining.
Gains| Stocks recording gains at the end of trading in the junior market are, Lasco Distributors with 14,910 units changing hands as the price gained a cent, to close at $1.19 and Lasco Manufacturing with 2,530 shares traded, with the price moving up 5 cents, to $1.12.
Firm Trades| The stocks in the junior market that traded to close at the same price as the day before are, Access Financial Services with 420 units to close at $13.50, Caribbean Cream had just 10,000 shares changing hands at 70 cents, General Accident 150,000 shares to close at $1.40 and Medical Disposables with 70,000 units to end at $2.
Declines| The only stocks declining in the junior market at the end of trading is Caribbean Producers in trading 100,000 shares and lost 34 cents to end at $2.65.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 5 stocks with the bids higher than the last selling prices and 4 stocks with offers that were lower.
JMMB trades 7m shares to dominate market
In Tuesday’s trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange the prices of 7 stocks rose and 5 declined as only 22 securities changing hands resulting in 14,400,334 shares trading valued at $123,719,282 as Jamaica Money Market Brokers traded over 7 million shares just less than 50 percent of the volume traded.
Main Market| The JSE Market Index fell by 56.67 points to 70,681.91 and the JSE All Jamaican Composite index moved down by 63.36 points to close at 77,743.42.
Gains| Stocks recording gains at the end of trading in the main market are Carreras with 61,899 units changing hands as the price gained 10 cents to end at $34.10, Jamaica Money Market Brokers with 7,052,081 units valued at $49,364,267 closed with a 20 cents gain at $7, the stock was mostly sold by Scotia Investments as brokers with the bulk being purchased by Pan Caribbean Financial Services as broker. Jamaica Producers Group stock price rose by $1.25 to close at $18.25 while 40,000 shares changed hands, National Commercial Bank enjoyed trading in 367,210 shares and the price recorded a gain of 43 cents to close at $18.43, Pan Jamaican Investment saw trading in 100,200 units with the price moving up by 50 cents to close at $49 and Sagicor Group traded 3,132,393 units with a value of $28,390,047 as the price rose 5 cents to $9.05.
Firm| The only stocks in the main market to close without a change in price are Grace Kennedy with 391,782 shares valued at $21,367,330 while closing at $55, Jamaica Broilers Group with 3,744 units to end at $4.60, Mayberry Investments 7,040 units at $1.46, Sagicor Real Estate Fund with 103,210 to close at $6 and Scotia Group 25,000 shares to close at $19.
Preference share| Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.50% preference share traded 8,244 units to close at $2 and Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference share traded 110,996units to close at $3.02.
Declines| The number of stocks that declined in the main market are Berger Paints with 22,262 units as the stock lost a cent to close at $1.65, Cable & Wireless with 72,000 shares while losing 2 cents to end at $0.29, Caribbean Cement 2,650 shares as the price fell 30 cents to end at $2.20 and Desnoes & Geddes with 704,916 units with a cent down to end at $4.50.
Junior Market| The JSE Junior Market Index declined by 4.05 points to close at 716.95 as only 5 stocks traded with 1 advancing and 1 declining.
Gains| The only stock gaining at the end of trading in the junior market was C2W Music with 1,500 shares as the price inched up a cent to close at $0.43.
Firm Trades| Stocks in the junior market that traded to close at the same price as the previous rading day are Jamaican Teas with 52,007 units to close at $3.25, Lasco Distributors with 20,000 shares and closed at $1.30 and Lasco Financial traded 26,000 units to close at $1.
Declines| Caribbean Producers traded 2,095,200 shares as the price slipped 15 cents to end at $2.55 and was the only stock declining in the junior market at the end of trading.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 3 stocks with the bid higher than the last selling price and 4 stocks with offers that were lower.
More Insider trades
A senior manager of Scotia Group Jamaica acquired 9,284 of he group's shares under the group’s Employee Share Ownership Plan on February 19, 2014 and an Executive of Sagicor Group purchased 400,000 shares under the Executive Long Term Incentive Scheme on June 16, the companies informed the Jamaica Stock Exchange recently.
Trinidad’s Neal & Massy Holdings informed the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange that on June 6, 2014 a Director sold 13,563 of the company’s shares.
JIIC Profit almost drowns
Grace Kennedy’s subsidiary Jamaica International Insurance (JIIC) was almost fully drowned by sharply increased claims losses in 2013 of $1.89 billion, up from $1.34 billion in 2012 resulting in a small profit of only $17 million as gross premium income rose from $4.18 billion to $4.3 billion and investment income rose by $130 million to $542 million, mainly due to foreign exchange gains of $114 million that increased by $65 million. In 2012 the company made profit after tax of $180 million.
During the year the company reviewed its claims provisioning and increased the provision for claims in the third quarter of the year resulting in losses up to the quarter.
Profit in 2013 fell even as administrative cost was held steady at $813 million in both years.
At year end JIC boast total assets of $7.5 billion a slight increase over the $7.24 billion at the end of 2012, at the end of 2011 assets stood at $6.5. Shareholders’ equity stands at $2 billion at December 2013. The asset base put JIIC just below Guardian General with assets of $8.65 billion at the end of 2013 but almost twice the size of General Accident with assets of $4.26 billion.
Proven – growth by acquisition
Proven Investments‘ growth by acquisition took a leap forward with the announcement that they came to an agreement with conglomerate Grace Kennedy to acquire all the shares of First Global Financial Services Limited (FGFS) from First Global Holdings Limited. The agreement was signed on April 24, 2014. This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval. Grace Kennedy stated in a release to the Jamaica Stock Exchange that the transaction is valued at $3.05 billion but excludes the seat on the exchange that the Grace group will keep.
First Global Financial Services Limited, FGFS was established in April 2004, as part of the Grace Kennedy Financial Services Division re-branding and consolidation exercise, when George & Branday Securities Ltd assumed the First Global brand name of First Global Financial Services Limited. Later, FGFS acquired the operations of FGB Securities Limited, First Global Stockbrokers Limited, Grace Kennedy Properties Limited, First Global Insurance Limited, and Grace Pension Management Limited.
The acquisition will swell the assets of Proven which stood at US$146.4 million at the end of 2013. It is expected that the two entities will be merged resulting in a cut in operating cost. FGS is said to have $22 billion in assets plus assets managed for third parties off the balance sheet amounting to $60 billion. Not all of the assets may move over as some clients could opt to shift to other entities within the financial industry. If history is anything to go by, the bulk of the assets should continue with the new owners once the deal is concluded.
Grace plans to use the proceeds to expand First Global Bank locally and the group’s financial services regionally.
Related post | FX gains & securities boost Proven
Is Access now a takeover target?
Despite an 88.6 percent jump in provision for bad loans and infighting within the board, Access Financial Services reported impressive increase in profit for the March quarter with revenues climbing 46 percent to $253 million and profits of $80 million versus $61.5 in 2013. Wages grew by 30 percent to $65 million and other operating expenses climbed by 33 percent both at a slower pace than revenues.
No provision has been made for taxation but the company should be subject to tax on profit in the last quarter at 50 percent of the tax rate for that quarter’s profit.
At the end of the quarter, the balance sheet shows assets of $1.298 billion slightly higher than the $1.27 billion at the end of December last year. In the past the figures at the end of the March quarter usually show a contraction as much of the increased lending ahead of the Christmas period is repaid. Loans outstanding are up strongly by 48 percent to $1.12 billion, almost the same amount at the end of December.
Access should, if they are able to overcome the directorship and management issues, end up with earnings per share around the $1.50 level for the current year. Investors, who would buy into it now, would need to have a long term view of it based on where the price is now — unless of course, there is a hostile takeover that could well push the price up.
Related posts | Access CEO moved but… | Access & its CEO in Court | Access moved to Market Watch