Junior Market in strong gains – Tuesday

Stationery and Office Supplies traded at a new high on Tuesday.

The Junior Market Index jumped sharply by 37.33 points to close at 2,953.12 in trading on 21 securities changing hands compared to 23 on Monday.
At the close of the market there was the exchange of 1,429,313 units valued at $7,069,102 compared to 9,045,733 units valued at $53,607,772 changing hands on Monday.
At the close of market activities, the prices of 10 securities advanced, 5 declined and 6 remained unchanged leading.
Market activity ended with Stationery and Office closing at a new high of $7.55 after trading at an intraday high of $8 as investors continue to respond positively to the release of strong gains in first quarter profit.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 8 stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices and 4 with lower offers.
Market activity ended with an average of 68,063 units for an average of $336,624 in contrast to 393,293 units for an average of $2,330,773 on Monday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 115,694 units with an average value of $536,823 and previously 119,914 units with an average value of $554,562. April closed with an average of 121,622 units at $506,803, for each security traded.
At the close of the market, AMG Packaging ended at $2, with 6,851 stock units, Blue Power concluded trading at $30, with 1,320 units, Cargo Handlers settled 9 cents higher at $9.84, with 5,480 shares, Caribbean Cream ended trading at $4.80, with 17,500 shares, Caribbean Producers finished trading with a loss of 26 cents at $5.29, with 547,035 units. Consolidated Bakeries closed 5 cents higher at $1.90, with 50,000 shares, Derrimon Trading concluded trading with a loss of 14 cents at $9.50, with 13,509 shares, Elite Diagnostic settled 5 cents higher at $3.25, with 135,689 units, Express Catering traded with a loss of 4 cents at $5.61, with 424,840 shares. FosRich Group finished trading 1 cent higher at $2.31, with 7,787 shares, Honey Bun concluded trading with a loss of 10 cents at $4.70, with 3,623 shares, Jetcon Corporation traded 2 cents higher at $4.20, with 1,753 units, KLE Group closed 15 cents higher at $2.50, with 27,499 shares. Lasco Distributors concluded trading 35 cents higher at $4.35, with 10,995 stock units, Lasco Financial finished at $5.44, with 297 units, Lasco Manufacturing settled 19 cents higher at $4.09, with 2,345 shares, Main Event ended trading 16 cents higher at $6.95, with 5,115 shares. Medical Disposables traded at $5, with 10,614 shares, Paramount Trading finished trading with a loss of 9 cents at $3.01, with 116,966 stock units and Stationery and Office closed 5 cents higher at $7.55, with 25,095 units. In the junior market preference segment, Eppley 8.75% settled at $6, with 15,000 shares changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.

Profit jumps 80% at Jamaica Stock Exchange

Profit soared 80 percent in the 2018 first quarter for the Jamaica Stock Exchange to, $101 million from $56 million in 2017 on a strong 45 percent jump in revenues.
Revenues rose, to $350 million from $241 billion in 2017 as income from Cess almost doubled to $126 million from $69 million and fee income rose from $134 million to $188 million. Expenses increased a robust 28 percent from $162 million in the March 2017 period to $207 million.
Earnings per share for the quarter is 14 cents compared to 8 cents for the quarter to March last year, suggesting earnings for the full year could be around 60 cents. These results now mean that the stock cannot be considered over valued at 11 time earnings at the last price the stock traded of $7, on the main market of the Exchange.
Gross cash flowbrought in $105 million but growth in receivables of $137 million used up a large portion of the funds generated.
At the end of March, shareholders’ equity stood at $1.04 billion with no borrowings showing on the financial statement. Net current assets ended the period $400 million well over payables of $263 million.

Trading up sharply on Junior Market

Trading on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange climbed sharply on top of the pick up on Friday and ended with 23 securities changing hands compared to 30 but with much higher volume.
At the close of the market 9,045,733 units valued at $53,607,772 traded, compared to 2,909,045 units valued at $13,268,308 changing hands on Friday.
At the close of market activities, the prices of 8 securities advanced, 9 declined and 6 remained unchanged leading the Junior Market Index in slipping 8.28 points to close at 2,915.79.
Market activity ended with Stationery and Office jumping to new high of $7.50 following the release of strong gains in first quarter profit, with earnings per share rising 70 percent to 17 cents.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 4 stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices and 4 with lower offers.
Market activity ended with an average of 393,293 units for an average of $2,330,773 in contrast to 96,968 units for an average of $442,277 on Friday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 119,914 units with an average value of $554,562 and previously 90,532 units with an average value of $363,661. April closed with an average of 121,622 units at $506,803, for each security traded.
At the close of the market, Access Financial jumped $2.80 to $50, with 2,100 shares, AMG Packaging ended at $2, with 140,356 stock units, CAC 2000 gained 50 cents to end at $8.50, with 7,000 shares, Caribbean Cream ended trading at $4.80, with 92,602 shares, Caribbean Producers finished trading with a loss of 5 cents at $5.55, in exchanging 6,404,986 units. Dolphin Cove finished 5 cents higher at $14.50, with 6,150 stock units, Elite Diagnostic settled with a loss of 6 cents at $3.20, trading 56,513 units, Express Catering traded 1 cent higher at $5.65, with 43,200 shares, FosRich Group finished with a loss of 10 cents at $2.30, trading 9,678 shares. General Accident closed 12 cents higher at $3.50, with 50,500 stock units changing hands, GWest Corporation ended 14 cents higher at $2.30, with 20,000 units, Honey Bun concluded trading 19 cents higher at $4.80, with 2,000 shares, Iron Rock finished with a loss of 5 cents at $2.95, with 755 shares. Jamaican Teas ended trading at $4.50, with 11,031 stock units, Jetcon Corporation traded 8 cents higher at $4.18, with 21,533 units, Key Insurance finished trading at $4, with 3,000 shares, Knutsford Express ended with a loss of 1 cent at $12, exchanging 926,882 shares. Lasco Distributors concluded trading with a loss of 16 cents at $4, after 847,063 stock units changed ownership, Lasco Financial finished with a loss of 1 cent at $5.44, with 72,502 units, Lasco Manufacturing settled with a loss of 5 cents at $3.90, with 15,400 shares, Main Event ended trading with a loss of 21 cents at $6.79, with 34,859 shares, Paramount Trading finished trading at $3.10, with 57,500 stock units and Stationery and Office closed at $7.50, with 220,123 units changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.

Profit up 19% at Grace for Q1

Group Chief Executive Officer, Don Wehby.

Grace Kennedy recorded a 5.1 percent increase in revenues to $24.9 billion and a 14.9 percent gain in net profit of $1.3 billion, for the first quarter of 2018.
Profit after minority interest, rose by a stronger 18.5 percent to $1.19 billion, resulting in earnings per share of $1.20. While revenues grew just over 5 percent, expenses climbed by a larger 6.2 percent, resulting in a fall in operating profit, to $712 million from $919 million in 2017. An increase of $277 million in other income and a cut in profit tax by $73 million were factors helping to boost the profit for the period.
Segment results show, improved results for food and trading division with operating results of $699 million versus $624 in 2017, gains for banking and Investments while insurance surged from $82 million in 2017 to $205 million in 2018 but Money transfer fell from $747 million to $664 million.
Don Wehby, Group CEO, noted that the company benefitted from performances of key business lines and new acquisitions and the strides being made in both our Foods and Financial Services segments. ”Our newest acquisitions, Consumer Brands and Gray’s Pepper Products, are a very good fit and are integrating well within the Group,” Wehby said.
The Group adopted the new International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) which became effective in January, this year.

Some of Grace Kennedy’s products.

“IFRS 9 addresses the recognition, classification and measurement of financial instruments while IFRS 15 addresses the recognition of revenue from contracts with customers. The effect of adopting these standards is a reduction in shareholders’ equity at the start of the year of J$0.9 billion, however the impact on the results for the first quarter has not been material,” Frank James said.
The Grace Kennedy Financial Group (GKFG) performed creditably with good growth in revenue driven by the Insurance business while both the Insurance and the Banking and Investments segments grew in pre-tax profits. GK Insurance (Eastern Caribbean) continued its expansion into the Caribbean with operations beginning in Antigua and Barbuda in April.

First Global Bank (FGB) reported growth in pre-tax profit mainly driven by lower cost of funds and lower expenses. The Bank is focusing on expansion through satellite locations branded FG MoneyLink. Four FG MoneyLink branches are in operation in four parishes.
“We consider compliance to be a competitive advantage and we have been working closely with our partner Western Union to ensure our network meets the highest internal and regulatory standards. In the medium-term we will see positive results. We also expect additional growth to come from the new channel WU.com which allows Jamaicans to send funds to 200 countries. Jamaica was the first country in the Latin America and the Caribbean to have this facility,” Wehby said.
Grace said that the Domestic Foods business as well as that of Canada and the USA showed growth, while the UK business had mixed results with decline in sales in the UK market but strong growth buoyed by deepening market penetration in Germany, Spain, Holland and France. New listings in Publix, Save-A-Lot and Stop & Shop stores in the USA and in Walmart in Canada, have helped boost performance in the Food Trading Segment.

Big recovery for JSE main market – Friday

Caribbean Cement jumped $4.45 to close at $40.05

Investors pushed the Jamaica Stock Exchange the market up strongly on Friday and the market recovered a large portion of what was lost since the record high on the previous week.
At the end of market activities, 28 securities traded, compared to 28 on Thursday, in the main and US dollar markets with the price of 10 stocks rising, 8 falling and 10 trading firm. At the close, the All Jamaican Composite Index jumped sharply by 2,341.33 points to 330,728.92 and the JSE Index climbed 2,133.22 points to 301,331.41.
Stocks with major price changes are, Caribbean Cement jumped $4.45 to close at $40.05, JMMB Group jumped $1 to $28, Palace Amusement jumped $300 to $1,300, followed by NCB Financial that dropped $1.25 to $95. PanJam Investment traded at a 52 weeks’ high of $46.01 while Jamaica Broilers and Supreme Ventures traded at intraday highs.
Trading activity resulted in 3,690,667 units valued at $51,637,707 compared to 3,519,415 units valued at $33,476,075 changing hands on Friday.
The major trades for the day are, Wisynco Group with 1,214,450 units and accounting for 32.91 percent of the day’s volume, followed by Victoria Mutual Investments with 723,173 units or 19.59 percent of trades and Ciboney Group with 402,832 units and 10.91 percent of the volume traded.
Trading resulted in an average of 136,691 units valued at an average of $1,912,508 for each security traded. In contrast to 200,047 units for an average of $4,687,155 on Thursday. The average for the month to date is 342,839 shares with a value of $18,119,875 and previously 367,467 shares with a value of $20,307,869. In contrast, April closed with an average of 708,206 shares with a value of $6,395,518 for each security traded.
In the US dollar market, Proven Investments traded 1,000 shares and fell by 3 cents to 20 US cents and the market index ended at down 0.47 points to 164.82 and JMMB Group 5.75% US preference share traded 5,000 units at $2.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 7 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and none closing with a lower offer.
For more details of market activities see – Big gains for JSE main market – Friday.

Big gains for JSE main market – Friday

Palace jumped $300 back to $1,300 on small volume.

Trading activity was moderate on the main market on Friday, but the market gained much ground to recover a major portion of losses incurred since closing at record high on the previous Friday.
The main market closed with 3,690,667 units valued at $51,637,707 trading from 27 securities changing hands, resulting in 11 securities rising, 5 falling and 9 trading. There were three new intraday highs, with PanJam Investment closing at a new high of $46.01. Jamaica Broilers and Supreme Ventures traded at intraday highs of $22 and $13.50 respectively before pulling back by the close of trading.
The JSE All Jamaican Composite Index jumped 2,341.33 points to 330,728.92 and the JSE Index climbed 2,133.22 points to 301,331.41.
In market activity, Barita Investments rose by 50 cents and closed at $11.50, with 4,564 shares, changing hands, Berger Paints closed at $20 with 6,431 units trading, Carreras lost 20 cents and ended at $10.40, with 75,013 stock units, Caribbean Cement concluded trading at $40.05, after jumping $4.55 with 100,591 units, changing hands, Ciboney Group finished at 11 cents, with 402,832 shares, Grace Kennedy settled at $49, with 16,778 shares. Jamaica Broilers ended trading at $20.80, with 6,639 shares, after trading at an intraday high of $22. Jamaica Producers traded at $16.50, with 17,858 stock units, Jamaica Stock Exchange fell 14 cents and finished trading at $6.86, with 25,000 units, JMMB Group jumped $1 to close at $28, with 69,179 shares. Kingston Properties ended at $6.65, with 4,600 shares, Kingston Wharves concluded trading at $48.61, with 9,370 shares, after declining 29 cents, Mayberry Investments lost 9 cents and finished at $6.21, with 39,950 stock units, NCB Financial Group ended down by $1.25 to $95, with 71,713 shares changing hands, Palace Amusement ended trading after posting a $300 jump to $1,300, with just 104 shares. PanJam Investment gained just 1 cent to trade at a 52 weeks’ high of $46.01, with 5,000 shares, Pulse Investments fell 3 cents and closed at $1.75, with 40,150 stock units, Radio Jamaica rose 11 cents and ended at $1.20, with 74,597 units, Sagicor Group lost 26 cents and concluded trading at $38.02, with 31,526 shares. Salada Foods rose 1 cents and finished at $11.26, with 5,000 shares, Scotia Group added just 1 cents to settle at $50.01, with 325,267 shares after dropping $3.98, Seprod rose just 1 cent and ended trading at $35.01, with 2,500 stock units, Supreme Ventures traded at an intraday record high of $13.50 but finished trading up 1 cent at $12.21, with 89,182 shares. Victoria Mutual Investments lost 9 cents to close at $4.30, with 723,173 shares and Wisynco Group fell 30 cents and ended at $10, with 1,214,450 shares. In the main market preference segment,  JMMB Group 7.25%concluded trading at $2.10, with 324,200 shares.

Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place. For more details of market activities, see “Big recovery for JSE main market – Friday.”

Trading up sharply on Junior Market – Friday

Stationery & Office Supplies hit new high after posting good Q1 results.

Trading picked up on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange ended trading on Friday with 30 securities changing hands, resulting in an exchange of 2,909,045 units valued at $13,268,308.
On Thursday 22 securities traded, resulting in 1,858,849 units valued at $9,781,521 changing hands.
Price changes were high with declining narrowly out pacing advancing ones. At the close of market activities on Friday, the prices of 10 securities advanced, 12 declined and 8 remained unchanged leading the Junior Market Index to advance 6.38 points to close at 2,924.07.
Market activity ended with Stationery and Office jumping to new high of $7.50 following the release of strong gains in first quarter profit, with earnings per share rising 70 percent to 17 cents.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 4 stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices and only 1 with a lower offer.
Market activity ended with an average of 96,968 units for an average of $442,277 in contrast to 84,493 units for an average of $444,615 on Thursday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 90,532 units with an average value of $363,661 and previously 89,483 units with an average value of $350,843. April closed with an average of 121,622 units at $506,803, for each security traded.
At the close of the market, Access Financial closed at $47.20, with 3,980 shares traded, AMG Packaging ended with a loss of 2 cents at $2, with 15,202 stock units, Blue Power concluded trading at $30, with 140 units, CAC 2000 finished with a loss of 1 cent at $8, in the trading of 400 shares, Cargo Handlers settled with a loss of 10 cents at $9.75, with 1,000 shares. Caribbean Cream ended trading 10 cents higher at $4.80, with 500 shares, Caribbean Producers finished trading with a loss of 35 cents at $5.60, with 500,787 units, Consolidated Bakeries closed with a loss of 10 cents at $1.85, with 10,000 shares, C2W Music ended at 45 cents, with 43,154 shares. Derrimon Trading lost 11 cents to close at $9.64, with 38,768 shares, Dolphin Cove finished with a loss of $2.55 at $14.45, with 2,963 stock units, Elite Diagnostic settled at $3.26, with 50,456 units, Eppley ended trading with a loss of $1.06 at $8.14, with 1,000 shares. Express Catering traded with a loss of 1 cent at $5.64, with 22,300 shares, FosRich Group finished trading 5 cents higher at $2.40, with 191,345 shares, General Accident closed 14 cents higher at $3.38, with 12,890 stock units, Honey Bun rose 1 cent to $4.61, with 84,690 shares. Jamaican Teas ended trading at $4.50, with 40,039 stock units, Jetcon Corporation traded 10 cents higher at $4.10, with 863 units, Key Insurance finished trading after rising 60 cents to end at $4, with 3,000 shares, Knutsford Express ended 50 cents higher at $13, with 6,804 shares. Lasco Distributors concluded trading with a loss of 9 cents at $4.16, with 37,722 stock units, Lasco Financial finished with a loss of 5 cents at $5.45, with 36,739 units, Lasco Manufacturing settled 5 cents higher at $3.95, with 1,213,202 shares, Main Event ended trading at $7, with 195,584 shares. Paramount Trading finished trading 39 cents higher at $3.10, with 204,316 stock units, Stationery and Office rose 50 cents to a new high of $7.50, with 102,027 units changing hands and tTech concluded trading with a loss of 13 cents at $5.87, in exchanging 13,654 shares.
In the junior market preference segment, Derrimon Trading 9% concluded trading at $1.90, with 27,020 units and Eppley 8.75% ended trading at $6, with 48,500 shares changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.

JSE main market pull back ends – Thursday

JSE slowly moving upwards.

The pull back from the record reached on Friday by Jamaica Stock Exchange ended with a modest rise in the market index on Thursday as the price of 8 stocks rose, 9 declined and 11 traded firm.
At the close, the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index rose modestly and ended with an increased by 24.50 points at 328,387.59 and the JSE Index advanced by 22.32 points to 299,198.19.
Caribbean Cement shed $1.80 to close at $35.50, Grace Kennedy rose $1 to $49 and PanJam Investments traded at a new high of $46 with a rise of $1.
At the end of market activities, 28 securities traded, compared to 29 on Wednesday, in the main and US dollar markets and resulted in 5,201,225 units valued at $121,866,039 compared to 4,614,305 units valued at $109,133,839 changing hands in the main market, on Wednesday.
JMMB Group trade 2,027,120 units and accounted for 38.97 percent of trading volume, followed by Wisynco Group with 1,193,538 units and 22.95 percent of the volume and Caribbean Cement with 979,272 units and 18.83 percent of the day’s volume.
Trading resulted in an average of 200,047 units valued at an average of $4,687,155 for each security traded. In contrast to 170,900 units for an average of $4,041,993 on Wednesday. The average for the month to date is 367,467 shares with a value of $20,307,869 and previously 389,231 shares with a value of $49,857,592. In contrast, April closed with an average of 708,206 shares with a value of $6,395,518 for each security traded.
In the US dollar market, Proven Investments traded with 206.397 shares and fell 3 cents to 20 US cents and the market index dropped 8.89 ended at unchanged at 165.29. JMMB Group 5.75% US preference share traded 14,000 units at US$1.01, up by a cent.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 4 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 1 closing with a lower offer.
For more details of market activities see – .

More Junior stocks rise than fall – Thursday

Caribbean Producers traded 52 weeks’ high on Thursday.

The Junior Market Index declined 15.45 points to close at 2,917.69, as 22 securities traded, with 9 stocks rising, 7 declining while 6 remained unchanged.
Market activity ended with two highs and 2 new lows as Caribbean Producers (CPJ) and Stationery and Office (SOS) jumped to new highs and GWest and Derrimon Trading 9% preference fell to new lows. Investors pushed SOS to new high based on expected good first quarter results while they responded to increased profits at CPJ.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 7 stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices and only 1 with a lower offer.
At the close of market activities, 1,858,849 units valued at $9,781,521 changed hands in contrast to Wednesday, when 19 securities were traded resulting in 1,096,815 units valued at $3,914,766.
Market activity ended with an average of 84,493 units for an average of $444,615 in contrast to 57,727 units for an average of $206,040 on Wednesday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 89,483 units with an average value of $350,843 and previously 90,161 units with an average value of $338,109. April closed with an average of 121,622 units at $506,803, for each security traded.
At the close of the market, AMG Packaging ended 2 cents higher at $2.02, with 783 stock units traded, Caribbean Flavours closed at $12, while exchanging 12,323 stock units, Caribbean Producers finished trading 66 cents higher to a 52 weeks’ high of $5.95, with 154,000 units, Consolidated Bakeries rose 10 cents to $1.95, with 25,000 shares, C2W Music ended at 45 cents, with 83,363 shares. Derrimon Trading concluded trading 30 cents higher at $9.75, with 3,670 shares, Elite Diagnostic inched up by 1 cent at $3.26, with 34,366 units, Eppley ended trading with a loss of 2 cents at $9.20, with 438,296 shares, Express Catering traded at $5.65, with 116,168 shares. FosRich Group finished trading 5 cents higher at $2.35, with 40,874 shares, General Accident closed 9 cents higher at $3.24, with 14,650 stock units, GWest Corporation ended with a loss of 14 cents to end at a an all-time low at $2.16, with 95,500 units, Iron Rock finished at $3, with 400,000 shares. KLE Group closed with a loss of 15 cents at $2.35, with 511 shares, Knutsford Express ended with a loss of 50 cents at $12.50, with 10,000 shares, Lasco Distributors concluded trading with a loss of 6 cents at $4.25, with 51,461 stock units, Lasco Financial finished at $5.50, with 313,128 units. Lasco Manufacturing settled with a loss of 10 cents at $3.90, with 27,000 shares, Main Event ended trading 19 cents higher at $7, with 400 shares, Medical Disposables traded at $5, with 9,000 shares and Stationery and Office climbed by 70 cents to a an all-time high of $7, with 5,376 units. In the junior market preference segment, Derrimon Trading 9% ended with a loss of 10 cents close at an all-time low of $1.90, with 22,980 stock units, changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.

Q3 profit dipped at CPJ

Caribbean Producers profit fell in the March quarter but rose year to date.

Profit attributable to Caribbean Producers’ shareholders, suffered a decline after tax in the March quarter, to end at U$847,119 from $929,172 in 2017 even with much lower taxes booked in the 2018 quarter.
Profit rose nearly 5.5 percent for the quarter over the 2017 period and 13 percent for the nine months to March, to US$81.65 million from US$72.3 million in 2017.
The results led to earnings per share of 0.08 US cents for the quarter and 0.21 US cents for the six months period.
Gross profit rose faster than revenues, with an increase of 6.5 percent for the quarter to US$7.9 million but it grew below the growth in revenues for the nine months period with an increase of 10.5 percent to $22.3 million.
While depreciation and finance costs declined for the quarter and for the year to date, selling and administrative costs rose from $5.1 million to US$5.88 million and for the nine months from US$14.5 million to US$16.3 million.
At the end of March, shareholders’ equity stood at $23.7 million and borrowed funds were close behind at US$22.44 million. Current assets stood at US$47.9 million versus current liabilities of $21.5 million which includes borrowings of US$10 million. Net asset value per share stands at 2.3 US cents.
The stock last traded at J$5.40 on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange at the close on Wednesday.