Mayberry profit crushed

March 3, 2014 by

Profit fell sharply at Mayberry Investments for the year ending December 2013, falling to $102 million as it declined sharply from $439 million reported in 2012. Earnings per share came out at only 9 cents as profit took a big hit of $337.5 million from the transaction in connection with the Government  National Debt Exchange Programme (NDX) in February last year. Without the NDX charge, earnings per share would have been around 22 cents in 2013.

Mayberry recorded a decline of $238 million in total revenues driven by declines of $112 million in net interest income, $111.4 million in fees and commissions and $42 million in dividend income and $129 million in net unrealized losses on trading portfolio. There were gains on disposal of a small portion of the associated shareholding of $60 million as well as increase in net foreign exchange gains $105 million.

Total expense for the year was 10 percent lower than for 2012 coming in at $681 million for 2013 and flowed from reduction in staff cost of $32 million and reduced provisions of $91 million as the company recovered some loans.

Mayberry_banner600X250Mayberry operating profit fell to $213 million from $374 million in 2012 before the NDX charge due mainly to lower net interest income and losses on investment valuation.

In the final quarter, Mayberry reported only $3 million pretax profit compared with $162 million in 2012 and after booking a tax credit, ended up at $42 million in the last quarter, still lower than the $176 million reported in 2012. In the last quarter, the company suffered from lower net interest income and reversal of credit loss gains achieved in the prior period.

Assets grew by $1.2 billion during the year to $22 billion partly funded by increased liabilities.

Related posts | Mayberry profit bleeds from NDX | Mayberry’s tough year so far

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

Margaritaville, down the road with risk

March 2, 2014 by

Come Monday March 3, the Margaritaville Turks IPO opens to the public with 21,156,555 ordinary shares on offer at a price of 10 US cents per share payable in US dollars. The IPO aims to raise US$2 million through the issuing of 5,260,740 new shares with the company pocketing the net proceeds. The remainder are existing shares being sold by the parent company Margaritaville Caribbean.

If the issue is successful in selling the minimum amount of 13.5 million shares, they will be listed on the main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange. The company, incorporated in the Turks & Caicos Islands, now has 62,239,259 issued Ordinary Shares to Margaritaville Caribbean. After the issue, it is expected that the issued shares will climb to 67.5 million units and the ownership of the parent will fall 69 percent. The company is a small one with equity of US$3 million but the only debt are amounts due to creditors of $725,000 and current assets of only $841,000.

Value | For the six months to November 2013, revenues climbed by a strong 38 percent to hit $2.74 million with profit more than doubling to $442,000 and should be approximately US$900,000 for the full year to May 2014. For the year ending May 2013, revenues fell to $4.5 million from $4.79 million in 2012 with profits of $598,000 down from $880,000 in 2012.

Revenues were $4.86 million in 2011, $4.3 million in 2010 and $3.55 million in 2009. Profits during this period have not grown in line with revenues, with profit of $842,000 in 2011, $943,000 in 2010 and $1 million in 2009. No doubt the global downturn had a negative impact on the operations. The worsening profit out turn is tied to slipping margins, which was mostly in the 170 percent range between 2010 and 2011 but fell to 143 percent in 2012 and 105 percent in the 2013 fiscal year, and a recovery to 156 percent in the latest six month period as at November 2013. The level in the November quarter slipped to 149 percent.

margaritaville_entranceThe six month earnings to November 2013 work out at 14 cents per share with the PE ratio at 7 times earnings, a bit rich for main market companies. This is like a junior market listing. As such, the valuation is in keeping with those smaller companies.

US$ earnings | As the earnings are in US dollars, many investors may see much more in the IPO than the real numbers suggest. The shares are priced at 2 times book value, which is not out of line with many companies of similar size on the market. In fact, the net book value valuation is below several junior market companies and is selling at roughly one times sales, which seems to be on the high side compared with the majority of listed companies. The above suggests that investors may have to wait sometime for a rich payoff.

There is added risk | For one, the company has managed to cut cost of sales by what it says is “renegotiated price from suppliers” but this cannot go on forever. A positive is that revenues are up in 2013. Income is highly dependent on one location in a small territory, the Turks & Caicos, and continuity is subject to lease arrangements with Carnival Cruise Lines, the only cruise line doing stopovers at that location. The success of the business is highly dependent on visitors coming to the island by cruise ship and the facility is only open on those days that ships are in. In other words, absent the ships, absent the business.

The company appears to have business interruption insurance coverage for a major catastrophe, but it’s unlikely to cover any downturn flowing from less customers going on cruises. This doesn’t seem to be a problem in the short run with the increased revenues generated to date and the promise of increased visitors in 2014, but could occur at any time.

The Directors are planning to roll out a new Margaritaville menu early in calendar year 2014, which aims to increase average consumption per customer. The Directors also anticipate growth in the Company’s revenues in future, given the following factors:

  1. A continued increase in the number of ship calls to the Grand Turk Cruise Centre destination.
  2. Increase in the number of passengers visiting the Cruise Centre. Data received from the Carnival Corporation show an estimated 750,000 passengers sailed to Grand Turk and the number is expected to reach 1 million in calendar year 2014 based on pre-bookings.
  3. The addition of 4 new bars, and the upgrading of existing bar outlets, the addition of a new revenue centre with introduction of the new casual “Grab N Go” convenience dining concept, the opening of the South Beach Bar and Grill, which the directors anticipate will provide an alternative option for passengers who prefer a more sedate dining environment to that of the Company’s main restaurant, Margaritaville.
  4. The expected improvement of the Company’s average customer spend resulting from upgrading of remote point of sale (POS) system introduced in calendar year 2013, that facilitate the order process for customers’ convenience.

The Company is a part of the Margaritaville Caribbean Group and a wholly owned subsidiary of Margaritaville Caribbean. The Group operates the Margaritaville chain of restaurants in various Caribbean destinations, inclusive of the flagship restaurant in Montego Bay. The IPO listing will only offer shares in the Grand Turks-based cruise pier operation.

The stock may not take off big time in the short run, but it provides a means for investors to diversify their portfolios if they are prepared to accept what appears to be higher risk.

Filed Under: Company News, Feature Stories, Initial Public Offers, Stock Market Tagged With: , ,

Blue Power profit slips

February 28, 2014 by

Blue Power profits slipped for the quarter to January this year as the profit margin got squeezed resulting in profit of $15 million compared to $23 million in the same period in the previous year. The Lumber Depot division contributed under $8 million and the Blue Power division added just over $7 million to the profit.

Profits for the nine months stood at over $70 million compared to $67 million in the same period last year, an increase of just over 5 percent. The contribution of Lumber Depot division was over $37 million, while Blue Power division added $33 million.

Earnings per stock was $1.25 for the nine months compared to $1.18 in the previous year.

Sales for the nine months ended January, 2014 were $780 million compared to $706 million for the same period last year, an increase of $74 million or 10 percent. For the period, sales for the Lumber division amounted to $543 million versus $466 million the previous year, an improvement of 16 percent while Blue Power soap division remained basically flat with sales of $237 million against last year’s $239 million.

Sales for the quarter ended January this year were $259 million versus $266 million for the comparative period in 2013. For the third quarter, Lumber Depot division achieved sales of $176 million versus $178 million the previous year, while Blue Power moved down from $88 million to $83 million.

BluepowerclotheslineReasons for fall | “Small declines in sales in both divisions reflect the tightness in the economy, which is being experienced by our customers, and which has also resulted in downward pressure on prices and margins. Our response to these challenging economic circumstances is to focus on keeping, as much as possible, a lid on price increases, reducing costs especially by investing in solar technology, improving packaging and quality to get greater market share, introduction of new products and bulk-buying to obtain better prices.” the company’s management stated in their release to shareholders.

Blue Power was able to hold administrative cost slightly below that of 2013 at $34.5 million for the January quarter. In 2013, cost in this area was $35.7 million and in the nine months $99.4 million, which fell to $96.8 million in 2014.

Other revenues almost doubled from $5.7 million to $10.8 million for the nine months and helped to keep profits up.

Margins | Gross profit slipped to 22.17 percent in the latest quarter from 28 percent in the 2013 period and ended pulling down the year-to-date margin to 25.54 percent compared to 30 percent enjoyed in 2013 and 28.6 percent in the full year to April 2013.

It is quite likely that with government slashing the fiscal deficit from $54 billion in 2013 fiscal year resulted in increased tightness in the economy. Much of the measures that led to the wiping out of the fiscal deficit would have been increased taxes and a sharp cut in interest cost. There is no new tax take for the 2014/15 fiscal year and the economy should be freer to function with some amount of growth. As such, the environment should start to look better in the latter part of this year for companies such as Blue Power.

Finances | The company’s finances are in a very healthy state with no borrowed funds and working capital increasing to $356 million from $302 million at the end of April 2013. Cash funds on hand amounts to $133 million. Amounts due to creditors is only $59 million. while receivables amounts to $77 million but inventories are at $203 million up from $177 in April 2013.

Stock outlook | At the time of writing, the stock was in strong demand by one broker at the $9 level. The weakness shown in the latest quarter sends cautionary signals which may be temporary. We see the current quarter continuing to reflect some of the weakness of the January quarter and we are forecasting earnings of $1.50 per share for the year ending April 2014 and $1.80 for the 2015. We leave the stock as a cautious Buy Rated around the $9-10 region based on the tendency for limited supply and strong current demand for it.

Related posts | Blue Power profits continue up  | Blue Power profit up 20%

Filed Under: Company News, Feature Stories Tagged With: , ,

JSE: 11 Declining stocks & 12 gained

February 26, 2014 by

Wednesday, 26th February 2014 | Trading on the Jamaica Stock market resulted in the prices of 12 stocks rising and 11 declining as 30 securities traded totalling 11,939,265 shares valued at $66,143,847.

National Commercial Bank. after trading $140,618,525 or 88 percent of the value of stocks on Tuesday, was the dominant again with $37,273,344 or more than half the value of stocks traded today.

Main Market | Nine companies in the main market advanced and 9 declined as the indices moved up marginally with the JSE Market Index up by 56.34 points to 79,208.99 and the JSE All Jamaican Composite index moved up 85.45 points to close at 84,045.57.

Gains | Stocks recording gains are Cable & Wireless, trading at a new intraday 52 weeks high of 41 cents, closing at 40 cents for another closing 52 weeks high of a one cent gain while trading 1,519,531 shares; Caribbean Cement closed at $4.80 as the price gained 10 cents with 65,916 units changing hands; Carreras traded only 600 units to close up by 40 cents at $35; Grace Kennedy had 5,150 units trading at $55 at the close with a 43 cents rise; Jamaica Broilers contributed 10,371 units as the price inched up 2 cents at $4.92; Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference shares put on a cent to close at $3.01 with 349,400 units; National Commercial Bank had 1,960,431 shares trading at $19.01 at the close by putting on a cent; Pan Jamaican Investment had only 850 units trading as the price gained 74 cents to end at $48.80 and Scotia Group traded 264,133 units at $21.10 for a 53 cents gain at the end of trading ahead of the release this Thursday of the groups’ first quarter results to January.

JSEIndicesFeb26Firm | There were only two stocks in the main market to close without a price change. Desnoes & Geddes with 831,517 shares at $5 and Mayberry Investments with a mere 2,652 units at $1.90.

Proven Investments 8% preference shares traded 79,320 units and closed at $5.09.

Declines | The number of stocks that declined increased over Tuesday’s trading with Berger Paints losing 5 cents to end at $1.80 with 18,999 shares; Ciboney with 4,000 shares lost 4 cents to close at 6 cents; Hardware & Lumber 4,400 shares traded at $8, a decline of 20 cents; Jamaica Money Market Brokers with 16,267 shares lost 3 cents in closing at $7.45; Radio Jamaica had 3,100,000 shares changing hand and resulted in a 24 cents fall to $1.36; Sagicor Group 11,995 shares closed down 20 cents at $8.80; Sagicor Investments traded just 1,800 units and lost 90 cents in closing at $17.10; Scotia Investments lost 25 cents to close at $25.25 while trading 7,500 units and Seprod with 304,000 units lost 8 cents and closed at $10.92.

Junior Market | The JSE Junior Market Index declined by 2.16 points to close at 742.00 as 9 stocks traded with 3 advancing and 2 declining.

Gains | AMG Packaging traded 1,919 units to close at $3.55, up 5 cents; General Accident with 9,400 shares traded resulting in the price moving up 5 cents to $1.75; Paramount Trading put in 1,000 shares to close up 12 cents at $3.

Firm Trades | Derrimon Trading traded 1,670,000 units at $2.50; Lasco Manufacturing 338,154 shares at $1.20; Lasco Financial Services 10,000 shares at $1.30 and Honey Bun 5,500 units at $3.05.

Declines | Blue Power traded 251,000 units at $9.01 down a cent and Lasco Distributors had 1,093,460 shares changing hands at $1.30, off by a cent.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 5 stocks with the bid higher than the last selling price and 2 stocks with offers that were lower.

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

JSE: NCB dominates again

February 25, 2014 by

Tuesday, 25th February 2014 | Trading on the Jamaica Stock market resulted in 11,445,325 shares trading valued at $160,003,244 as National Commercial Bank shares accounted for $140,618,525 of the value. The price of 8 stocks gained and 8 declined resulting in minor index movements.

Main Market | Half of the companies with positive price movements were from the main market as the JSE Market Index advanced by 14.97 points to 79,152.65, the JSE All Jamaican Composite inched up by 22.72 points to close at 83,960.12.

Gains | Desnoes & Geddes trading 901,564 shares valued at $4,507,587 with the price rising by 10 cents to close at $5; Grace Kennedy with 988 shares trading at $54.57 for a one cent gain; Hardware & Lumber 10,875 shares at $8.20 up by 10 cents; and Pan Jamaican Investment with 35,270 shares to close at $48.06 for a cent gain.

JSEIndicesFeb25Firm | Barita Investments traded 1,000 unchanged at $2.50; Cable & Wireless 495,924 shares at 39 cents; Carreras 2,847 shares to close at $34.60; Jamaica Broilers 50,548 shares to end at $4.90; Mayberry Investments 5,100 shares, closing at $1.90; National Commercial Bank 7,402,250 shares at $19 valued at $140,618,525.

In the preference segment, Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.50% preference shares traded 400 units at $3.50 and the 8.75% stock traded 31,708 units at $3.00. Proven Investments 8% preference share traded 300,640 units at $5.09.

Declines | Proven Investments traded 8,500 units and closed down US0.37 cents at US17.62 cents; Jamaica Money Market Brokers had 2,600 units at $7.48, declining by 2 cents; Gleaner 22,843 shares at $1.10 off by 5 cents; Scotia Group had 162706 units changing hands to close at $20.57 for a 13 cents decline; Sagicor Group traded 12,007 units at $9 as the price fell by 15 cents; Caribbean Cement 36,736 shares as the price closed at $4.70 down by 27 cents.

Junior Market | The JSE Junior Market Index declined by 2.97 points to 744.16 even as advancing stocks exceeded declining ones.

Gains | Blue Power closed with 283,700 shares trading to close at $9.02, an increase of 2 cents; Caribbean Cream traded 25,000 units at 90 cents up 5 cents; Honey Bun 4,820 shares to close at $3.05, up 5 cents; Lasco Distributors 29,000 shares to close at $1.31, up 1 cent.

Firm Trades | Stocks trading firm are Cargo Handlers with 20,667 shares at $15; Derrimon Trading 1,030,000 units closing at $2.50; Lasco Financial Services 3,000shares at $1.30.

Declines | Lasco Manufacturing traded 33,605 units to close at $1.20 for a 3 cents fall; Caribbean Producers traded 520,644 units to end at $2.70, down 5 cents.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 8 stocks with the bid higher than the last selling price and 3 stocks with offers that were lower.

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

JSE: NCB & Real Estate Fund dominate

February 24, 2014 by

Monday, 24th February 2014 | Trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange was dominated by National Commercial Bank with more than 6.2 million shares and Sagicor Real Estate Fund with 29.9 million units in trades that the stockbroker, Pan Caribbean Financial Services had big hands in. Cable & Wireless and Carreras were also highlighted, the former traded at a new new 3½ year high of 39 cents and the latter trading $5.5 million worth of shares.

The JSE Market Index fell 394.07 points to close at 79,137.68, the JSE All Jamaican Composite index declined by 597.78 points to 83,937.40 as 40,200,541 shares traded for a value of $337,696,517.

Main Market | Cable & Wireless closed at a new 3½ year high as investors picked up most of the shares on offer in a continued response to the improved December quarter results.

Gains | Cable & Wireless traded 2,395,400 shares with the price closing at 39 cents for a 4 cents gain and the highest closing price since August 20, 2010 when it closed at 40 cents. Jamaica Broilers Group traded 1,420 units for an 8 cents gain to close at $4.90; Jamaica Money Market Brokers had 15,680 units as the price inched up by a cent to $7.50 and Mayberry Investments gained a cent in trading 9,278 shares to close at $1.90.

JSEIndicesFeb24Firm trade | Stocks trading with unchanged prices are Barita Investments with 7,800 shares at $2.50; Grace Kennedy 1,250 units at $54.56; Jamaica Producers 30,000 shares at $18.26; Kingston Wharves 7,239 units at $6; National Commercial Bank  6,205,995 shares to close at $19; Sagicor Group 12,700 units at $9.15; Salada 6,500 shares to close at $9 and Scotia Group 14,217 units at $20.70.

Declines | Carreras traded 164,394 units but closed at $34.60 by shedding $1.41; Desnoes & Geddes 26,875 shares to close at $4.90 as the price eased back by 10 cents; Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference shares traded 10,000 shares to close at $3 for a decline of a cent; Sagicor Real Estate Fund traded a large volume of 29,869,023 units to close down to $6.95 by slipping 5 cents; Scotia Investments 11,135 units to close at $25.50 down by 49 cents and Pan Jamaican Investment 13,600 shares to close at $48.05 a fall of 94 cents.

Junior Market | The JSE Junior Market Index advanced by 6.58 points to close at 747.13 with 3 stocks trading with higher prices at the end of Monday’s trading and none closing lower.

Gains | Stocks trading higher were Blue Power with 1,500 shares as the price edged up 1 cent to close at $9.01; Consolidated Bakeries 16,000 shares, closing up by 10 cents to $1.15 and Lasco Manufacturing  45,630 units at $1.23 for a 3 cents gain.

Firm trade | Stocks without a change in price are Access Financial Services with 7,800 shares to close at $10; Derrimon Trading, 1,000,000 shares to end at $2.50; Lasco Distributors 256,190 units at $1.30; Lasco Financial Services 49,550 shares at $1.30 and Caribbean Producers 21,365 units at $2.75.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 8 stocks with bids higher than the last selling price and 4 stocks with offers that were lower.

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

Buy Rated: Ja Teas & JMMB big gains

February 22, 2014 by

Friday, 21st February 2014 |  This week on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, Jamaican Teas gained 19 percent and on the Trinidad Stock market, Jamaica Money Market Brokers (JMMB) 11 percent on the Trinidad market.

Meanwhile, Cable & Wireless, a new selection to the Buy Rated list gained 6% during the past week. General Accident also increased by 6 percent.

Lasco stock continue to be lacklustre with Lasco Distributors and Lasco Financial both shedding 7 percent and Lasco Manufacturing down 8 percent.

BuyRatedTable21FebUpdated reporting | The performance tracking of the Buy Rated Stock Chart shows details of stock gains since selection and now shows the performance for the week. Accordingly, there will no longer be weekly comments on changes as the chart shows the latest movements.

Related posts | D&G, Carreras & C&WJ now Buy Rated | Teas profit up 32 percent | JMMB Q2 profits jumps 56%

Filed Under: Company News, JSE Main Market, Stock Market, TTSE Market Tagged With: , ,

JSE: Market closes up

February 21, 2014 by

Friday, 21st February 2014 | The Jamaican stock market closed the week with the main indices increasing to partially recover from two previous days of decline. The JSE Market Index gained 168.44 points to close at 79,531.75 and closed the week down by 82 points, the JSE All Jamaican Composite increased by 595.32 points to 84,535.18 and closed the week higher than it started by more than 200 points.

Main Market | Advancing and declining stocks were almost evenly divided at the end of trading as National Commercial Bank dominated trading with 1.6 million units along with Carreras with nearly 1 million units and Desnoes & Geddes with 2 million units.

Gains | Caribbean Cement exchanged 2,100 shares at $4.97 for an increase of 27 cents; Carreras put in 980,789 shares at $36.01 for a one cent gain; Jamaica Money Market Brokers had 3,528 units trading at $7.49 as the price inched up by a cent; Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference share contributed 3,000 units to rise by a cent at $3.01; National Commercial Bank was active in trading 1,590,083 units to close at $19.00 for a gain of 98 cents and Seprod had only 950 units changing hands to close up 10 cents at $11.00.

JSEIndicesFeb21Firm trade | There were only few stocks that traded with unchanged prices. First Caribbean International Bank traded 25,455 units to close at $80; Proven Investments had 580 units at US1799 cents; Sagicor Group had 169,967 shares at $9.15; Sagicor Real Estate X Fund 39,216 units at $7 and Supreme Ventures  59,000 shares at $2.40.

Declines | Cable & Wireless traded 718,201 but the price slipped by 2 cents to end at 35 cents; Desnoes & Geddes swapped 2,015,946 shares at $5 each and lost a cent in the process; Grace Kennedy gave up 94 cents as the stocks traded 3,808 units to close at $54.56; Jamaica Broilers lost 8 cents to close at $4.82 with 31,950 shares; Pan Jamaican Investment had only 350 units trading at $48.99 for a one cent fall; Scotia Group traded 45,965 units but the price slipped by 35 cents to close at $20.70 and its subsidiary, Scotia Investments, closed down a cent as it traded 16,550 units to end at $25.99.

Junior Market | The JSE Junior Market Index declined by 2.79 points to close at 740.55 and kept below the close of the previous week by 26 points.

Gains | Only two junior market stocks recorded gains with Caribbean Producers exchanging 240,000 shares to close at $2.75 for a 3 cents increase and General Accident Insurance 5,000 units to close at $1.70, up 5 cents.

Firm trade | Two stocks closed unchanged. Blue Power having 1,400 shares at $9.00 and Paramount Trading 11,535 shares at $2.88.

Declines | The four junior market stocks suffered price declines include Consolidated Bakeries with 447,896 shares at $1.05 for a 5 cents fall; Lasco Distributors 219,643 units in closing at $1.30 having declined by 5 cents; Lasco Financial Services closed while trading 195,700 units at $1.30, as it too fell by 5 cents and Lasco Manufacturing traded 46,241 shares with a 3 cents fall to close at $1.20.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 4 stocks with bids higher than the last selling prices and 5 stocks with offers lower.

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

JSE: Main market stocks dominates

February 20, 2014 by

Thursday, 20th February 2014 | There was trading in 29 securities resulting in 6,367,485 shares with a value of $16,139,565 with 9 stocks rising and 7 declining in today’s trading on the Jamaica stock market Main market stocks did better than the junior market with less than half of the declining stocks coming from the main market, while all but one stock with gains came from the main market. More than a third of the volume was accounted for by Cable & Wireless that rose to a new 52 weeks high.

Main Market | The JSE Market Index declined by 201.56 points to close at 79,363.31 and the JSE All Jamaican Composite fell 305.75 points to 83,939.86 even as advancing stocks in the main market out distanced declining ones by a wide margin.

Gains | Unlike Wednesday when there were only 3 stocks rising in the main market, in today’s trading 7 stocks recorded gains and one in the US dollar market as investors continue to view the latest results for Cable & Wireless favourably. The stock traded 2,348,000 shares to close at a new 52 weeks high of 37 cents by gaining a cent. Desnoes & Geddes traded 5,520 units as the price rose by a cent to close at $5.01; Jamaica Broilers traded 34,497 shares to close up 10 cents at $4.90; Pan Jamaican Investment contributed only 1,170 units at $49, for a 95 cents gain; Proven Investments trading in the US dollar market exchanged 19,010 units at US17.99 cents, as the price gained US0.49 cents; Sagicor Group with 706,311 shares closed gained 15 cents at $9.15; Scotia Group had a volume of 16,759 while closing at 5 cents more at $21.05 and Supreme Ventures 922,600 shares at $2.40 for a 5 cents gain.

JSEIndicesFeb20Firm Trades | Berger Paints having 35,676 units trading to close at $1.85; Gleaner 5,000 shares to close at $1.15; Grace Kennedy with 1,310 shares changing hands at $55.50; Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.50% preference shares 150,000 units at $2, and the 8.75% preference share, 340,600 units at $3; Jamaica Producers, produced 10,931 units to close at $18.26; Kingston Wharves 2,500 units at $6; Mayberry Investments 39,249 units to end at $1.89 and Salada Foods 1,950 shares to close at $9.

Losses | There were only 3 stocks that declined in the main market as Jamaica Money Market Brokers traded only 3,066 shares to close 2 cents down at $7.48; Sagicor Real Estate X Fund had 12,784 shares trading with the price falling by 10 cents to end at $7 and National Commercial Bank traded 18,200 units to close at $18.02 for a 48 cents fall.

Junior Market | The JSE Junior Market Index declined by 8.40 points to close at 743.34 as there was trading in 9 securities in this market.

Gains | Lasco Distributors was the only stock to trade up in the junior market with 850,000 units, gaining 5 cents to close at $1.35.

Firm trades | Four stocks traded unchanged at the close of the market with Blue Power Group having a volume of 4,472 units to close at $9; Derrimon trading with 219,000 shares to close at $2.50; General Accident Insurance having 207,900 units at $1.65 and Lasco Manufacturing 89,133 units at $1.23.

Losses | Four stocks lost value in the junior market with Access Financial Services slipping 60 cents while trading 39,074 units to close at $10; Dolphin Cove with 67,278 shares closed down 20 cents at $8.30; Lasco Financial Services saw 187,160 shares trading to close at $1.35 for a 10 cents drop and Paramount Trading exchanged 28,335 units as the price edged down by 12 cents to $2.88.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 6 stocks with bids higher than the last selling price and 4 stocks with offers that were lower.

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

Eppley profit jumps

February 19, 2014 by

Eppley is an interesting play with limited income and limited cost in the short term but profit could explode to the upside in 2014 as increased funds under management are put to work.

The company reported a big jump in profits of $34 million or $61.04 per share earnings (EPS) for 2013. In 2012, profit was just $15 million and EPS of $50.21. In the December 2013 quarter, EPS came out at $13.88 as profit amounted to $11 million as no tax was charged due to the exemption for Junior Market companies.

The full year earnings came from income of $65.3 million. Operating expenses were $34 million and interest expense $16.5 million. Eppley generated $24 million in Other Income. Net interest income for the full year was roughly the same as in 2012 at $48.7 million, 2012 $50 million. Income should grow in 2014 as the proceeds of the preference shares issued at the end of 2013 which brought in $387 million at 9.5 percent per annum starts to generate income.

eppleytype150x150At the end of 2012, there was $463 million total assets under management but that has grown to $814 million, almost doubling the amount. Except for a very small amount, the remainder of the assets are all potentially income generating. At the end of December, only about $160 million of the assets was not placed to maximize returns and that should be corrected in 2014.

Stock outlook | The company stated that it had a $757 million portfolio with an average yield of 15 percent at year end; $474 million of these funds are borrowed but at lower cost than the rate being generated by the portfolio. Earnings for 2014 should be in the region of $60 million or $107 per share after paying preference dividends. If this materializes, the stock could move strongly upwards if enough trading takes place. Eppley announced a $9 per share dividend payable on February 28, 2014. The stock, which trades infrequently, last traded at $380.

Related posts | Eppley preference shares over | Profit up 92% for Eppley | IPO: What or who is Eppley?

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