Main Market activity on the Jamaica Stock Exchange jumped sharply on Thursday, ending trading on with 22,773,292 units valued at $377,866,606 changing hands versus 5,402,156 units valued at $66,110,510 on Wednesday.
Main Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange Market activity ended with 26 securities traded ending with 10 securities rising, 12 falling, 5 trading firm, leading to market indices to a huge fall. The JSE All Jamaican Composite Index dropped 3,876.54 points to 317,331.11 and the JSE Index collapsed 3,531.97 points to 289,124.52.
In the main market activity, Barita Investments closed 50 cents higher at $7.50, with 5,708 shares, Berger Paints jumped $1.35 to close at $21.35, with 32,521 stock units, 
Cable & Wireless concluded trading with a loss of 20 cents at $1.01, with 288,269 units, Carreras finished at $10.95, with 7,029,473 shares, Caribbean Cement settled with a loss of $2.99 at $33.01, while exchanging 39,375 shares. Ciboney Group ended trading at 10 cents, with 4,963,048 shares, Grace Kennedy traded with a loss of 25 cents at $44, with 4,047,260 stock units, Jamaica Broilers finished trading 2 cents higher at $19, with 11,908 units, Jamaica Producers closed $1.90 higher at $17, with 32,106 shares. Jamaica Stock Exchange ended with a loss of 45 cents at $6.55, trading 3,000 shares, JMMB Group concluded trading with a loss of $1.99 at $24.01, after 4,190,962 shares were swapped, Kingston Properties finished at $6.65, with 384 stock units, Kingston Wharves settled at $42, trading 1,908 units. Mayberry Investments ended trading 44 cents higher at $5.45, with 2,000 shares, NCB Financial Group traded with a loss of 50 cents at $99.50, with 69,631 shares, PanJam Investment rose 30 cents to $41.30, with 49,336 units, Pulse Investments finished with a loss of 14 cents at $1.85, with 200,000 shares changing hands. Radio Jamaica settled 1 cent higher at $1.10, with 580 shares, 
Sagicor Group ended with a loss of 99 cents at $36.51, trading 41,250 stock units, Sagicor Real Estate Fund ended trading at $16, with 59,513 shares Salada Foods fell $1 to $10.50, with 687,500 units, Scotia Group finished trading at $52, with 27,741 shares. Supreme Ventures concluded trading with a loss of 19 cents at $11.76, with 34,690 stock units, Victoria Mutual Investments finished with a loss of 1 cent at $4.45, with 454,250 units and Wisynco Group settled with a loss of 79 cents at $10.70, with 456,979 shares. In the main market preference segment, JMMB Group 7.5% rose 14 cents and closed at 99 US cents with 43,900 shares.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place. For more details of market activities, see “JSE main market in sharp drop – Thursday.”
Big drop in Junior Market – Thursday
The Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange index dropped sharply on Thursday with 64.06 points fall to close at 2,860.87 as the prices of 7 securities advanced, 11 declined and 10 remained unchanged from 26 securities changing hands, the same number changing hands on Wednesday.
Market activity resulted in an exchange of 3,574,111 units valued at $13,735,257 versus an exchange of 33,681,650 units valued at $100,532,367 on Wednesday. Trading ended with an average of 137,466 units for an average of $528,279 compared to an average of 1,295,448 units for an average of $3,866,630 on Wednesday. February closed with an average of 338,697 units at an average value of $1,495,774 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 6 stocks ending with the bid higher than the last selling price and 4 with lower offers.
At the close of the market, Access Financial closed at $50, with 15,366 shares, AMG Packaging ended with a loss of 3 cents at $2.03, with 600,000 stock units, Blue Power concluded trading with a loss of 4.99 cents at $35, with 2,000 units, Caribbean Cream ended trading with a loss of 30 cents at $6, with 26,844 shares, Caribbean Flavours traded with a loss of 70 cents at $10, with 18,827 stock units. Consolidated Bakeries closed at $1.90, with 11,700 shares, Derrimon Trading concluded trading at $7, with 53,928 shares, Elite Diagnostic settled with a loss of 17 cents at $2.73, with 317,840 units, Express Catering traded 6 cents higher at $4.34, with 13,842 shares. FosRich Group finished trading 10 cents higher at $2.61, with 72,592 shares, General Accident closed at $2.90, with 423,294 stock units, GWest Corporation ended at $3, with 147,526 units, Honey Bun concluded trading with a loss of 1.14 cents at $4, with 605,300 shares. Iron Rock finished at $3, with 3,600 shares, ISP Finance settled $1 higher at $12.05, with 7,773 shares, 
Jamaican Teas ended trading 29 cents higher at $4.99, with 15,600 stock units, Jetcon Corporation traded at $4.60, with 176 units. Knutsford Express ended at $15, with 4,651 shares, Lasco Distributors concluded trading with a loss of 30 cents at $4, with 432,046 stock units, Lasco Financial finished 22 cents higher at $4.72, with 339,866 units, Lasco Manufacturing settled with a loss of 49 cents at $3.75, with 199,371 shares. Main Event ended trading with a loss of 10 cents at $5.90, with 3,995 shares, Medical Disposables traded with a loss of 4 cents at $4.85, with 59,680 shares, Paramount Trading finished trading 5 cents higher at $3.35, with 32,500 stock units, Stationery and Office closed 24 cents higher at $5.30, with 147,287 units and tTech concluded trading with a loss of 1 cent at $5, with 18,507 shares changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
JSE majors in month end jump – Wednesday
Wisynco had the largest trades.
The Main Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange closed the last day of the month on a high note with the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index rising 1,154.95 points to 321,207.65 and the JSE Index advancing by 1,052.29 points to 292,656.49, in what has become a usual month end rally.
Trading on Wednesday closed 28 securities changing hands with 12 advancing, 8 declining and 8 trading firm, in the main and US dollar markets.
The securities with the largest price changes include, Berger Paints ending with a gain of $1.50 to $20, Caribbean Cement rising $1 to $36, JMMB Group up by $1 to $26, NCB Financial Group traded 95 cents higher at $100, Salada Foods with a gain of $1 higher to $11.50, Wisynco Group settling at $1.19 higher to $11.49 and Scotia Group lost $1 to close at $52. Sagicor Real Estate Fund traded at an intraday all-time high of $17 but closed at $16 and JMMB Group 7.5% preference share closed a 52 weeks’ low of 85 cents.
Main market activity ended with 8,204,593 units valued at $66,110,510 compared to 8,204,593 units valued at $155,870,781 on Wednesday. Wisynco Group accounted for 60.5 percent of the total volume traded in the with 3,266,124 stock units followed by Ciboney Group with 658,995 units or 12.2 percent and Caribbean Cement with 359,865 shares.
Trading results in an average of 200,080 shares valued at $2,448,537 for each security traded, in contrast to 282,917 shares valued at $5,374,855 on Tuesday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 213,336 units valued at $3,392,475 and previously, 214,033 units valued at $3,445,024. In contrast, January closed with average of 349,084 units at an average of $5,801,440 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 9 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 3 with lower offers.
Trading in the US dollar market ended with Productivity Business trading 5,000 shares and rose 2 cents to close at 60 US cents with a value of US$3,000 as the market index rose 1.84 points to 172.55.
For more details of market activities see – JSE rise on reduced volume on Wednesday.
Elite dominates Junior market trading – Wednesday
Elite Diagnostics accounted for 31.7M of Wednesday’s Junior Market trading.
Elite Diagnostic traded 31.7 million shares on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Wednesday with 26 securities changing hands, resulting in an exchange of 33,681,650 units valued at $100,532,367.
The number of securities trading on Wednesday was slightly down from 27 that were changing hands on Tuesday and resulted in 6,804,974 units valued at $25,440,524 changing hands on Tuesday. The Junior Market index advanced 28.52 points to close at 2,924.93 as the prices of 8 securities advanced, 8 declined and 10 remained unchanged.
Trading ended with an average of 1,295,448 units for an average of $3,866,630 compared to an average of 252,036 units for an average of $942,242 on Tuesday. An average of 338,697 units at an average value of $1,495,774 traded, and previously 272,715 units at an average value of $1,495,774. In contrast, January closed with an average of 122,386 shares, valued at $489,704 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 6 stocks ending with the bid higher than the last selling price and 4 with lower offers.
At the close of the market, Access Financial closed at $50, with 1,800 shares, AMG Packaging ended with a loss of 14 cents at $2.06, with 221,913 stock units, 
Blue Power jumped $5.12 to close trading at $39.99, with 500 units, Caribbean Cream settled 13 cents higher at $6.30, with 44,700 shares, Caribbean Flavours ended trading with a loss of 20 cents at $10.70, with 3,798 shares. Caribbean Producers traded with a loss of 35 cents at $4.05, with 30,000 stock units, Cargo Handlers closed $10.45 higher at $10.45, with 395 shares, Derrimon Trading ended with a loss of 50 cents at $7, with 127,016 shares, Elite Diagnostic finished 20 cents higher at $2.90, with 31,748,062 stock units, Eppley ordinary share settled at $10, with 50,196 units. Express Catering ended trading with a loss of 5 cents at $4.28, with 280,992 shares, General Accident finished trading at $2.90, with 70,400 shares, GWest Corporation closed at $3, with 159,035 stock units, Honey Bun ended $1.04 higher at $5.14, with 200 units trading. 
Jetcon Corporation ended trading at $4.60, with 161,700 stock units, Knutsford Express closed at $15, with 3,293 shares, Lasco Distributors ended at $4.30, with 41,039 shares, Lasco Financial concluded trading with a loss of 30 cents at $4.50, with 565,272 stock units. Lasco Manufacturing finished with a loss of 6 cents at $4.24, after 59,400 units trading, Main Event settled 15 cents higher at $6, with 49,590 shares, Medical Disposables ended trading 4 cents higher at $4.89, with 3,000 shares, Paramount Trading closed 20 cents higher at $3.30, with 300 shares. Stationery and Office finished trading at $5.06, with 35,154 stock units and tTech ended 55 cents higher at $6, with 13,695 shares. In the junior market preference segment, Derrimon Trading ended at $2.15, with 10,000 stock units and Eppley 9.5% finished at $7.29, with 200 shares changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
JSE rise on reduced volume on Wednesday
Main Market activity on the Jamaica Stock Exchange remained elevated on Wednesday, ending trading on with 5,402,156 units valued at $66,110,510 changing hands versus 8,204,593 units valued at $155,870,781 on Tuesday.
Main Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange Market activity ended with 27 securities traded ending with 11 securities rising, 8 falling, 8 trading firm. The JSE All Jamaican Composite Index climbed 1,154.95 points to 321,207.65 and the JSE Index advanced by 1,052.29 points to 292,656.49.
In the main market activity, Barita Investments closed with a loss of 70 cents at $7, with 20,270 shares, Berger Paints ended $1.50 higher at $20, with 71,216 stock units, Cable & Wireless concluded trading with a loss of 4 cents at $1.21, with 109,384 units, Carreras finished at $10.95, with 54,081 shares, Caribbean Cement settled $1 higher at $36, with 359,865 shares. Ciboney Group ended trading at $0.10, with 658,995 shares, Grace Kennedy traded 25 cents higher at $44.25, with 4,213 stock units, Jamaica Broilers finished trading at $18.98, with 158,864 units, Jamaica Producers closed with a loss of 40 cents at $15.10, with 5,232 shares. Jamaica Stock Exchange ended 55 cents higher at $7, with 4,150 shares, JMMB Group concluded trading $1 higher at $26, with 29,850 shares, Kingston Wharves settled with a loss of 60 cents at $42, with 46,183 units, Mayberry Investments ended trading 29 cents higher at $5.01, with 5,100 shares. NCB Financial Group traded 95 cents higher at $100, with 31,179 shares,138 Student Living ended at $5.50, with 100 shares changing hands, PanJam Investment ended at $41, with 4,880 units, Portland JSX Fund concluded trading with a loss of 22 cents at $10, with 2,000 shares, Radio Jamaica settled with a loss of 1 cent at $1.09, with 45,953 shares. 
Sagicor Group ended trading 50 cents higher at $37.50, with 68,614 stock units, Sagicor Real Estate Fund ended trading at $16, after hitting an intraday all-time high of $17, with 24,139 shares trading. Salada Foods traded $1 higher at $11.50, with 50,000 units, Scotia Group finished trading with a loss of $1 at $52, with 39,787 shares, Sterling Investments ended at $13, with 3,240 shares. Supreme Ventures concluded trading at $11.95, with 21,100 stock units, Victoria Mutual Investments finished 7 cents higher at $4.46, with 247,305 units, Wisynco Group settled $1.19 higher at $11.49, with 3,266,124 shares and In the main market preference segment, JMMB Group closed a 52 weeks’ low of 85 cents higher after losing 15 cents, with 70,332 shares changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place. For more details of market activities, see “”JSE majors in month end jump – Wednesday.
Junior Market trading picks up – Tuesday
Trading in GWest shares accounted for more than 3.7m units.
The market closed with an exchange of 6,804,974 units valued at $25,440,524 compared to 1,526,211 units valued at $4,615,508 on Monday. The Junior Market index lost 19.93 points to 2,896.41 as the prices of 10 securities advanced, 11 declined and 6 remained unchanged.
Trading ended with an average of 252,036 units for an average of $942,242 compared to an average of 66,357 units for an average of $200,674 on Monday. An average of 272,715 units at an average value of $1,495,774 traded, and previously 274,310 units at an average value of $1,538,475. In contrast, January closed with an average of 122,386 shares, valued at $489,704 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 7 stocks ending with the bid higher than the last selling price and 3 with lower offers.
At the close of the market, Access Financial jumped by $5 higher to $50, with 71,095 shares changing hands, AMG Packaging ended with a loss of 24 cents at $2.20, with 115,129 stock units, Cargo Handlers settled with a loss of 1 cent at $10.89, with 1,000 shares, Caribbean Cream ended trading with a loss of 3 cents at $6.17, with 4,000 shares, Caribbean Flavours traded at $10.90, with 2,650 stock units. Caribbean Producers finished trading 40 cents higher at $4.40, with 100 units, Derrimon Trading concluded market activity with a rise of 50 cents to $7.50, with 13,559 shares, Elite Diagnostic settled 3 cents higher at $2.70, with 1,297,976 units, Eppley concluded trading at $10, with 80,000 units, Express Catering ended trading 3 cents higher at $4.33, with 8,000 shares. FosRich Group traded with a loss of 19 cents at $2.51, with 62,000 shares, General Accident finished trading 10 cents higher at $2.90, with 438,271 shares, GWest Corporation rose 40 cents and closed at $3, with 3,703,621 stock units, Honey Bun ended with a loss of 1.05 cents at $4.10, with 355,724 units.
Iron Rock concluded trading at $3, with 3,300 shares, Jamaican Teas settled with a loss of 5 cents at $4.70, with 100,150 shares, Jetcon Corporation ended trading at $4.60, with 65,965 stock units, KLE Group finished trading at $2.30, with 4,325 shares. Knutsford Express closed at $15, with 32,400 shares, Lasco Distributors ended with a loss of 10 cents at $4.30, with 184,234 shares, Lasco Financial concluded trading with a loss of 5 cents at $4.80, with 176,447 stock units, Lasco Manufacturing finished with a loss of 13 cents at $4.30, with 43,940 units. Main Event settled with a loss of 18 cents at $5.85, with 4,668 shares, Medical Disposables ended trading at $4.85, with 3,000 shares, Stationery and Office finished trading 4 cents higher at $5.06, with 25,555 stock units and tTech ended 45 cents higher at $5.45, with an exchange of 7,465 shares. In the junior market preference segment, Eppley settled 4 cents higher at $7.29, with 400 shares changing hands.Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
JSE trading jumps higher on Monday
Main Market activity on the Jamaica Stock Exchange picked up sharply on Monday, ending with more than twice the volume and value of trading on Friday as 9,756,068 units valued at over $152,399,537 changed hands versus 4,322,228 units valued at over $69,892,327 Friday.
Main Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange Market activity ended with 27 securities traded ending with 9 securities rising, 10 falling, 8 trading firm, leading to market indices to just eking out a moderate fall. The JSE All Jamaican Composite Index fell by 296.85 points to 318,961.81 and the JSE Index lost 270.46 points to 290,610.27.
In the main market activity, Berger Paints ended 50 cents higher at $17.75, with 8,158 stock units, Cable & Wireless concluded trading 14 cents higher at $1.39, with 1,106,514 units, Carreras finished $10.85 higher at $10.85, with 539,399 shares, Caribbean Cement settled $1.45 higher at $33, with 50,831 shares, Ciboney Group ended trading at 10 cents, with 1,199,900 shares. Grace Kennedy traded 51 cents higher at $43.51, with 545,333 stock units, Jamaica Broilers finished trading at $18.55, with 905,895 units, Jamaica Producers closed with a loss of 14 cents at $15.01, with 1,748,275 shares, Jamaica Stock Exchange ended with a loss of 55 cents at $6.45, with 750 shares. JMMB Group concluded trading 40 cents higher at $25, with 20,794 shares, Kingston Wharves settled with a loss of 15 cents at $42.45, with 674 units, Mayberry Investments ended trading 10 cents higher at $4.85, with 1,200 shares, NCB Financial Group traded with a loss of 1.02 cents at $98.97, with 11,830 shares. 1834 Investments finished trading with a loss of 8 cents at $1.20, with 11,000 shares, Palace Amusement closed at $560, with 100 stock units, PanJam Investment ended 25 cents higher at $41, with 670 units, 
Pulse Investments finished with a loss of 19 cents at $1.80, with 28,096 shares. Radio Jamaica settled 5 cents higher at $1.10, with 1,141,002 shares, Sagicor Group ended trading with a loss of 54 cents at $36.01, with 1,912,055 stock units and Sagicor Real Estate Fund ended trading at $14.50, with 5,150 shares Scotia Group finished trading with a loss of 50 cents at $53, with 6,955 shares, Seprod closed at $29.05, with 2,879 shares. Supreme Ventures concluded trading with a loss of 20 cents at $11.70, with 75,366 stock units, Victoria Mutual Investments finished with a loss of 9 cents at $4.30, with 141,829 units and Wisynco Group settled 10 cents higher at $10.50, with 96,567 shares. In the main market preference segment, Jamaica Money Market traded with a loss of 5 cents at $1.95, with 9,365 stock units, JMMB Group closed with a loss of 2 cents at $1, with 55,500 shares, 138 Student Living ended with a loss of 60 cents at $5.40, with 129,981 shares changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place. For more details of market activities, see “JSE main market fell on Monday.”
Junior Market volume slides – Monday
The market closed on Monday with 23 securities changing hands, up from 21 on Friday, resulting in an exchange of 1,526,211 units valued at $4,615,508, compared to 5,241,602 units valued at $19,221,963, on Friday.
The Junior Market index fell 11.94 points to close at 2,916.34 as the prices of 8 securities advanced, 9 declined and 6 remained unchanged.
Trading ended with an average of 66,357 units for an average of $200,674 compared to an average of 249,600 units for an average of $915,332 on Friday. An average of 274,310 units at an average value of $1,538,475 traded, and previously 288,936 units at an average value of $1,632,571. In contrast, January closed with an average of 122,386 shares, valued at $489,704 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 4 stocks ending with the bid higher than the last selling price and 3 with lower offers.
At the close of the market, AMG Packaging ended with a loss of 1 cent at $2.44, with 3,500 stock units, Caribbean Cream ended trading with a loss of $1.32to $6.20, with 7,900 shares, Caribbean Flavours traded 1 cent higher at $10.90, with 9,725 stock units, Caribbean Producers finished trading with a loss of 40 cents at $4, with 12,490 units, Consolidated Bakeries closed 12 cents higher at $1.90, with 8,059 shares. Derrimon Trading concluded trading with a loss of 15 cents at $7, with 1,707 shares, Elite Diagnostic settled with a loss of 23 cents at $2.67, with 1,231,455 units, Express Catering traded with a loss of 40 cents at $4.30, with 17,778 shares, FosRich Group finished trading at $2.70, with 103,300 shares. General Accident closed at $2.80, with 6,012 stock units, GWest Corporation ended 10 cents higher at $2.60, with 12,653 units, Honey Bun concluded trading 2 cents higher at $5.15, with 500 shares, Iron Rock finished at $3, with 10,000 shares.
ISP Finance settled $1.05 higher at $11.05, with 2,500 shares, Jamaican Teas ended trading with a loss of 3 cents at $4.75, with 12,045 stock units, Jetcon Corporation traded at $4.60, with 11,050 units, Knutsford Express ended at $15, with 1,627 shares. Lasco Distributors concluded trading 3 cents higher at $4.40, with 19,647 stock units, Lasco Financial finished with a loss of 15 cents at $4.85, with 24,372 units, Lasco Manufacturing settled at $4.43, with 6,000 shares, Main Event ended trading 3 cents higher at $6.03, with 3,000 shares, Stationery and Office closed 2 cents higher at $5.02, with 18,059 units and tTech concluded trading with a loss of 40 cents at $5, with 2,832 shares changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
JSE main market lost ground again – Monday
NCB lost ground following the lapsing of the offer to acquire majority shares in Guardian Holdings.
The Main Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange closed down on for the second time in two days on Monday, with JSE All Jamaican Composite Index dropping 296.85 points to 318,961.81 and the JSE Index falling 270.46 points to 290,610.27.
Trading on Monday closed 28 securities changing hands with 8 advancing, 14 declining and 6 trading firm in the main and US dollar markets.
The securities with the largest price changes include, Caribbean Cement with a gain of $1.45 to $33 and NCB Financial that traded with a loss of $1.02 to end at $98.97 after the acquisition deal to buy up to 62 percent of Guardian Holding was cancelled due to investigations into the deal being carried out by the securities commission of Trinidad.
Main market activity ended with 9,756,068 units valued at over $152,399,537 compared to 4,322,228 units valued at $69,892,327 on Monday. Sagicor Group accounted for 19.6 percent of shares traded with 1,912,055 units, followed by Jamaica Producers 17.9 percent with 1,748,275 units and Ciboney Group with 12.3 percent and ending trading with 1,199,900 shares.
Trading results in an average of 348,431 shares valued at $5,442,841 for each security traded, in contrast to 160,083 shares valued at $2,588,605 on Friday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 213,111 units valued at $3,322,294 and previously, 204,802 units valued at $3,183,567. In contrast, January closed with average of 349,084 units at an average of $5,801,440 for each security traded.
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 4 with lower offers.
There was no trading in the US dollar market.
For more details of market activities see – JSE trading jumps higher on Monday.
Jamaican Teas exports sales up 66%
Jamaican Teas CEO, John Mahfood addressing the company’s last AGM in 2017.
Export sales at Jamaican Teas grew a very strong 66 percent for the December quarter while domestic manufacturing sales increased by 15 percent. Overall sales at increased 22 percent to $456 million the quarter.
Revenues from our manufacturing operations grew 40 percent in the period while supermarket sales increased by 9 percent. Profit after tax rose 9 percent to $51 million, reflecting better performance from core operations and resulted in earnings per share of 7.6 cents.
A release accompanying the results by the company, stated that, “importantly, the trend in sales continued into the second quarter and are meeting the Company’s expectations. Our investment portfolio continued to increase in value over the December levels.”
Gross profit margin increased from 23 percent to 24 percent in the quarter over 2016. Other income was down by 59 percent, falling from $17 million to $7 million. The 2016 results benefited from greater contributions from realized investment and foreign exchange gains than in the latest quarter. In this regard realized investment gains during the quarter was $6 million compared with $12 million in the same period a year ago.
Marketing and sales cost rose 16 percent to $9.6 million, administrative cost rose 34 percent to $43 million, reflecting added associated with the KIW acquisition, but finance cost fell 51 percent to $4.6 million.
The company said that “with the acquisition of KIW International and the reinvestment of the proceeds of sale from the property formerly owned by the company, quoted investments at the end of the quarter totaled $319 million.” It could have a major impact on profits, if the local stock market continues to record gains for the year.
The financial position improved over 2016 with equity capital of $1.1 billion, net current assets of $549 million and long term loan of $193 million.
The stock last traded at $4.78 on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange.
John Jackson is a directors of the company.