A fifteen percent jump in revenues at Access Financial Services saw profit before tax almost doubling to $157.6 million, up from $79 million in 2014. After providing $20 million for corporation taxes Access ended with $137 million profit or 50 cents per share for an increase of 72 percent. The good fortune did not all come from ongoing income and expenditure as loan losses fell from $39 million in the March 2014 first quarter to only $3 million in the latest quarter. Gains from the purchase of loan portfolios from Appliance Traders and Proven Investments resulted in a one off profit of $11 million. These acquisitions increased loans on the books to $1.5 billion from $1.1 billion at March 2014 and the profit pushed the equity capital to $900 million.
For the full year earnings should touch $2 per share, the stock is priced at $15.10 with a potential PE of 7.5, with its growth potential and limited available shares on the market, this valuation may be considered low.
Proven Investments who bought out the Mayberry Holdings last year December, is laughing all the way to the bank for having picked up the block of shares at a bargain price of $9 each.
Access is a junior market listed company on the Jamaica Stock Exchange and is primarily involved in payroll based lending.
Access Q1 profit jumps 72%
Mayberry post good Q1 numbers
Mayberry Investments released first quarter results for 2015, showing earnings of $82 million or 7 cents per shares, after booking the full amount of asset tax amounting to $49 million in the quarter. In the prior year the company reported profit of $76 million or 6 cents per share reflecting total asset tax of $6 million. The quality of the earnings is encouraging with no one area being dominant especially areas that are less predictable such investment gains. Helping with the improved results are increases in net interest income amounting to $22 million as interest expenses fell while interest income held close to 2014 levels, dividend income rose by $29 million and trading gains by $18 million as other operating expenses fell by $25 million and bad debts declined by $14 million. The improvements were offset by a fall out of the share of profits of $31 million from the former associate, Access Financial Services. Based on these latest results, profit for the full year should come in around 30 cents per share. Profits should, however, get a big boost from stock market gains, with the upward movement of stock prices since the end of the first quarter as well as increased commission from equity trading with volumes in the overall market increasing around 40 percent so far this year. Mayberry is likely to see substantial gains in the equity portfolio which stood at $3 billion at the end of December last year, with the recovery in the local stock market, to date with more expected during the remainder of the year. IC Insider sees the gains to be had from the large pool of equities as the most appealing attraction for future gains from an investment in this investment bank’s stock, accordingly, the stock is seen as Buy Rated for medium to long-term investment.
Total assets climbed to $23.7 billion from $21.8 billion at March 2014 with equity of $4.3 billion and the stock last traded on the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Friday at $2.75, close to a PE of 9 based on this year’s estimated earnings.
Will JSE scale resistance?
Scotia closed at a new 52 weeks’ high on Friday at $26
The big question with some profit taking on Friday is whether the market has enough fuel to clear resistance around 109,000 points on the all Jamaica Composite index on this leg of the rally, or will it have to wait until summer, when the market usually resumes it advance after what is normally a softening after mid-May. Even if it does scale the pending resistance there is another at 115,000 points which is likely to be the first real test before it moves on.
In the first hour of trading on Friday the all Jamaica Composite index was up 653.67 points to 108,085.44 and the JSE index put on 584.65 to 97,819.86, sometime after the indices slipped back with a fall in the price of a number of large company stocks.
At the close, theJSE Market Index advanced 184.32 points to 97,419.53, theJSE All Jamaican Composite index rose 206.07 points to close at 107,637.84 and the JSE combined index gained 287.20 points to close at 99,424.78.IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows 12 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 5 with offers that were lower.
In trading, Barita Investments ended with 100,000 shares changing hands, 1 cent higher, at $2.31. Caribbean Cement closed with 66,000 units trading at $4.99 with a 1 cent slippage, Desnoes & Geddes finished trading with 264,406 shares to end at $6.60, by shedding 40 cents, Grace Kennedy saw trading in 13,244 units unchanged at $65.50, Jamaica Broilers ended with 40,831 shares trading but lost 20 cents to $4.80. Jamaica Stock Exchange closed with 375,000 units changing hands but remained at $2.93, JMMB Group finished trading with a fall of 29 cents with 867,080 shares to end at $8.71. Mayberry Investments concluded trading with 203,163 shares and gained 10 cents, at $2.75,
National Commercial Bank ended unchanged at $30, in trading 126,642 units, Sagicor Group had dealing in 157,550 units and ended at $12.10, with a 10 cents increase. Scotia Group contributed 1,967,501 shares with a $50 million value to close at a new 52 weeks high of $26 after rising $1, Seprod ended trading with 36,900 shares at $18.25, down 25 cents and Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference share traded closed with 148,603 at $3.10.The stocks to watch for the week ahead include Barita with a bid at $2.30 with one offer at $5, Cable & Wireless with the bid of 44 cents, last sale 43 cents, Jamaica Producers with the bid of $18.52 and an offer at $25. JMMB Group having a bid at $8.72 versus last sale of $8.71, National Commercial Bank is well supported by NCB Capital Market with an undisclosed amount being bought at $30, Mayberry bid $2.75 to but 128,962 units. Pan Jamaican Investment bid at $58 and no stock on offer. Radio Jamaica with a last selling price of $2 and a bid at $2.20 and Scotia Investments with a bid at $24.80 against a last sale price of $24.50.
Bulls reign for now on JSE
D&G traded at a new 52 weeks’ high of $7
Main Market| The JSE Market Index gained 1,258.19 points to 96,752.04, the JSE All Jamaican Composite index rose 1,406.71 points to close at 106,891.56 and the JSE combined index put on 1,082.65 points to close at 98,682.46. The All Jamaica Index is now at the highest level since November 10, 2011.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows 15 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and only 3 with offers that were lower.In trading, after a long period of drought, Barita Investments closed with 6,729,389 shares changing hands with as the price ended at $2.07 after trading as high as $2.25. Mayberry Investments bought 2,589.737 units from Barita’s clients for in house inventories and Barita bought 4 million units from the company’s clients for in house inventories. Caribbean Cement finished trading with 119,456 shares as the price ended unchanged at $5, Carreras concluded trading with 33,390 shares, $2.50 lower at $47.50. Ciboney ended trading 500,000 units and put on 1 cent to close at 10 cents, Desnoes & Geddes ended trading 330,611 shares to close higher by 49 cents at a 52 weeks high of $7, Grace Kennedy contributed 41,191 shares to close $1.38 higher, at a 52 weeks’ high of $65, after trading at $65.50.
Hardware & Lumber ended trading with 20,600 units to gain of 85 cents at $11, Jamaica Stock Exchange finished trading with 101,000 shares at $2.93 to record a 3 cents rise, National Commercial Bank while exchanged 193,050 units with a decline of 50 cents, to $30. Sagicor Group closed with 24,900 shares and fell 34 cents, to $11.86, Scotia Group had 52,719 shares trading, with the price ending unchanged at $25, Scotia Investments finished trading with 2,285 shares with a gain of 22 cents, to $24.50. Supreme Ventures closed with 120,624 units trading for 30 cents lower at $3.60, Proven Investments concluded trading with 97,144 ordinary shares at 21 US cents, after gaining moderately. IC Insider has confirmed that the company along with National Commercial Bank will be acquiring around 36 percent of Guardian Holdings a Trinidad Based Life assurance company. Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.50% preference share traded with 87,000 shares at $2.10 and Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference share traded closing with 45,000 units changing hands at $3.
Juniors near all-time high
Activity on the Junior Market closed with 6 securities trading and ending with 680,118 units changing hands valued at $867,840. The JSE Junior Market Index declined 25.07 points to close at 811.00, with the price of 3 stocks advancing and 4 declining, two stocks reached new 52 weeks high, with one hitting an all-time high.
The index is just 29 points from the all-time high of 840.18 reached in July 2013, this level is likely to be history once the Lasco companies report earnings, which should be the end of May, based on past reporting time frame. With nearly a third of the market closing with bids ahead of the last traded price, the all-time high should be easily taken out in a matter of days. The junior market is lagging the gains of the main market Jamaican stocks with gains of just 14 percent in 2015 and 33 percent from the low of July 2014, compared to 26 percent for the Main market and 39 percent respectively.
At the close of the market, there were 7 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and only 2 with lower offers. The junior market ended with 3 securities closing with no bids to buy and 9 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale.
Stocks trading in the junior market are, AMG Packaging with 37,855 shares at $3, Cargo Handlers with 3,700 units at a new all time high of $20.11, after putting on 1 cent, Caribbean Producers had 501,000 shares trading at $3.10 with a gain of 10 cents, with the offer at the close, was $2.99 to buy 100,000 units. Lasco Distributors with only 1,285 shares trading, closed at $1.43, Lasco Financial Services had 134,913 units trading and ended at $1.30 with a gain of 10 cents and Lasco Manufacturing traded just 1,355 shares with a gain of 14 cents to $1.35, for a new 52 weeks’ high.
JSE breaks resistance & heading higher
Pan jam gained $3.95 in closing at $60 on Tuesday
Main Market| The JSE Market Index gained 1,387.58 points to 89,858.07, the JSE All Jamaican Composite index rose 1,551.38 points to close at 99,183.79 and the JSE combined index climbed by 1,275.93 points to close at 91,376.07. At the close the market had pierced the resistance just under 99,000 points on the all Jamaica composite Index and seems poised to test the next major level of 109,000 points.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows 17 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and just 2 with offers that were lower.Cable & Wireless traded 1,365,296 shares at 52 cents, Caribbean Cement traded 9,060 units at $3, up by 30 cents, there was an attempt to trade at $3.30 but that trade was cancelled as it exceeded the level permitted at that time of the trade. The stock was responding to a big jump in the company’s first quarter results for 2015 with profit after tax of $248 million versus just $35 million the year before, these results suggest that full year earnings could rise to $1 per share, as such the stock has much more room to run. Jamaica Broilers ended with 39,344shares at $4.80,
Jamaica Producers gained 50 cents with 12,000 units changing hands at $17.50, the Jamaica Stock Exchange had 150,000 units changing hands at $2.90. National Commercial Bank traded 13,860 shares to close at $28, for a gain of 99 cents. At the close there was a bid for 10,000 units at $28.10 and 600,000 units at $28. Pan Jamaican Investment climbed $3.97 to $60 with 6,550 shares, Sagicor Real Estate X Fund had a large trade of 873,309 units at $6.55,Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference share traded 246,146 units at $3.20 after gaining 13 cents. Scotia Group traded only 27,306 shares to close at $22.72 with a gain of 5 cents, Seprod traded only 353 units as the price jumped $2 to $18 and Supreme Ventures closed at a new 52 weeks’ high of $3.20 by gaining 10 cents with 49,476 shares trading.
JSE powering up to break resistance
JSE closed at a new 52 weeks’ high of $2.90 by posting a gain of 89 cents
Monday’s reading suggest a continuation of the bullish tone, although it suggest that there could be less stocks gaining in the main market than on Monday.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows 13 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 4 with offers that were lower.
Main Market| The JSE Market Index gained 1,055.74 points to 88,470.49, the JSE All Jamaican Composite index rose 1,180.37 points to close at 97,632.41 and the JSE combined index increased by 953.26 points to close at 90,100.14. In all, 28 securities changed hands, ending in 1,437,587 units trading, valued at $28,055,047, in all market segments and 4 stocks closed at new 52 weeks’ high.In trading, Barita Investments closed with 130,500 shares trading at $2.07, for a 12 cents gain, Caribbean Cement had 26,500 units changing hands 20 cents higher at $2.70. Carreras closed trading with 12,563 shares at $45 but traded as high as $46.50 for a new 52 weeks’ intraday high but lost $1 at the end. Grace Kennedy put through 26,573 units to gain 43 cents and end at $62.99, Jamaica Broilers put on 20 cents with 11,628 shares trading, at $4.80. Jamaica Stock Exchange closed with 37,512 units trading at $2.90, after putting on 89 cents gain, to end at a 52 weeks’ high, National Commercial Bank traded at a new 52 weeks’ intraday high of $28, with 840,067
shares changing hands, the stock closed at a 52 weeks’ high of $27.01 with an increase of 29 cents. Pan Jamaican Investment traded just 500 shares to close with a gain of 75 cents at $56.03, Sagicor Group traded 34,338 units at $10.61, to record a gain of 6 cents, Scotia Group had 30,477 shares trading, to close at $22.66 for a 66 cents gain, to close at a 52 weeks’ high. Supreme Ventures closed at a 52 weeks’ high of $3.10 with just 20,000 shares changing hands and put on 23 cents and Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference share traded 76,000 units at $3.07 as the price slipped by 13 cents.
D&G at new high with $64m trade
D&G traded over 10m shares on Monday
Sagicor Investments bought the block as brokers for the buyer. Carreras was the other major traded to take place in the market with 1.3 million shares in ten separate trades. NCB Capital Market sold from in house inventory with Scotia Investments being the broker doing the vast majority of the buying. With the exception of 370 shares which traded at $43, the rest traded at $42.
Activity elsewhere on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, resulted in the prices of 7 stocks rising, 7 declining as 20 securities changed hands, ending in 13,368,989 units trading, valued at $131,890,39, in all market segments.
Main Market| The JSE Market Index lost 327.75 points to 85,319.89, the JSE All Jamaican Composite index fell 366.44 points to close at 94,109.89 and the JSE combined index dropped 351.94 points to close at 87,029.50
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows 12 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 4 with offers that were lower.Carreras traded 1,300,000 at $42 for a $1 fall, Grace Kennedy with 47,691 shares closed trading at $63 for a $2 fall, Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.50% preference share, closed with 250,000 units at $2.02, to record a 2 cents gain, Jamaica Producers Group lost $1.04 in trading only 200 shares and ended at $15.96. Sagicor Group traded 50,268 shares between $10.03 and $10.50 before closing at $10.50, Scotia Group ended up trading 354,932 shares for 45 cents higher at $22.50, Scotia Investments had 20,000 shares changing hands at $23 for a decline of 80 cents and Supreme Ventures closing with 36,120 units at $2.84, a decline of 11 cents.
Stocks with good interest to buy are Berger Paints with 200,000 units on the bid at $1.60, Jamaica Broilers with the bid at $4.50 to buy 239,065 shares, JMMB Group with 807,884 shares on the bid at $7.02. Jamaica Producers has buyers for 496,855 units at $15.96, Radio Jamaica 200,000 shares at $1.50, Sagicor Group 341,717 shares on the bid at $10.06 and Scotia Investments with the bid at $23 to buy 133,940 shares.There is strong interest to sell Sagicor Real Estate X Fund with 1,400,000 being offered at $6.95 and Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference share at $3.20 for 400,000 units.
JSE off to a slow start
Tuesday’s trading activity on the Jamaica Stock Exchange was lukewarm at best with the prices of 5 stocks rising, 4 declining as 19 securities changed hands, ending in 1,142,877 units trading, valued at a mere $3,840,399, in all market segments.
Main Market| The JSE Market Index lost 136.32 points to 84,969.60, the JSE All Jamaican Composite index fell 152.41 points to close at 93,718.26 and the JSE combined index declined by 6.16points to close at 86,781.76.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows 9 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 5 with offers that were lower.
Stocks of interest include Carreras that traded only 1,100 shares to close at $41.51 with a gain of 43 cents, the bid is at $41.50 for 5,000 shares and the offer is at $44.50 for 3,978 shares.
Grace Kennedy traded 18,162 shares to gain $1 to $63, the stock closed with the offer at $63 for a small volume. Sagicor Group lost 20 cents to end at $10.20 while 65,291 units were traded between $10.20 and $10.45. At the close there were 1 million units on offer at $10.60.
Some of the stocks with bids that are higher than the last selling price are Jamaica Stock Exchange with a bid of $2.30 to buy 100,000 units against the last sale price of $2 and Radio Jamaica with a bid for 5,000 shares by Mayberry for in house purposes at $1.60 last selling price $1.50.
Is this Honey worth buying?
Honey is a sweet product savoured by many, but is this Honey likely to attract many to buy into it? Junior Market listed Honey Bun is reporting first quarter results to December, which is not so sweet, but the results to come could get sweeter as the year unfolds based on many factors.
The company enjoyed increased sales of 11.6 percent, hitting $206 million and resulting in gross profit growing by 11.3 percent compared with the corresponding period last year. As gross profit margin fell slightly to 45.4 percent compared with 45.54 in 2013 and administrative and distribution costs rose by 17.4 percent, profit also declined, falling 17 percent for the quarter to $16.5 million or 17 cents per share. “This reduction was mainly due to increased distribution cost resulting from the takeover of a large contract distributor to maintain our customer service and the lease of vehicles due to accidents of two of our main distribution vehicles. Improvements in this area will be seen in the next quarter. Further, one time cost was incurred during this period as the building on the property acquired was demolished,” management reported, in a statement accompanying the financials.
In the last fiscal year to September, profit fell from $35 million in 2013 to only $23 million partly. The decline was due to added costs associated with the distribution of the products that rose by 20 percent when revenues grew by only 5.7 percent, gross profit margin slipped marginally in the last fiscal year, from 42 percent to 41 percent. But Honey Bun is set to benefit from a fall in the price of fuel used in the transport area and reduced energy cost based on a reduction in rates charged by Jamaica Public Service Company.
The bulk of profit is made in the first six months of the year, with the Easter period significant for sales. The September period is usually a period of losses. The company should be looking at earnings in the 50-55 cents region for the current year with reduced cost in some areas and continuation of growth in sales.
“Exports continue to rise and increased year over year corresponding period by over 150 percent. This was mainly due to the export of its Buccaneer Jamaica brand of fruitcakes to the UK market, where Honey Bun displayed their cakes in ASDA for the first time. We have also seen increased demand in the local market.” the company’s management reported.
At the end of the period, equity stood at $325 million in contrast to borrowed funds of only $64 million and cash funds of $33 million. The current asset ratio was 1.64 to 1.
The company’s stock last traded on the junior market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange at $1.91 and should enjoy some gains if the company hits the projected profit or comes close to it. The stock closed on Thursday with a bid to buy 20,994 units at $1.91, followed by a bid for 99,900 units at $1.80 but offers start at $2.90 to sell 11,000 units.
