NCB Financial has been scaling record highs after record and closed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange at $139.99 on Monday as well as a new record high close on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock exchange.
The chart shows the stock moving side ways from November last year after reaching $110, until June this year before it started its climb. The move higher was spurred by record profit for 2018 and later by the announcement that they would be going after another 22 percent of Guardian Holdings’ shares. Last week directors and executives bought $650 million of NCB shares which including the sale of a lesser amount by one insider.
The chart shows short term resistance at $150 with the trendline going back to 2015, there after if and when it breaks the $150 level, then it should move on to $165. Going forward, with pick up in growth in Jamaica’s economy, NCB should have good long-term prospects of growth, ahead of it. The company should earn around $12.50 for the 2019 fiscal year and that should put the price at $190 or more in 2019.
Since July 13 last year NCB has gained 48 percent in rising from $94.50 to Monday’s close of $139.99 on the Jamaica Stock Exchange.
Where is NCB heading $150 or $165?
Gains for Junior Market
Trading on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange reverted to more normal levels on Monday, with 26 securities changing hands, resulting in an exchange of 843,267 units valued at $2,847,021, compared to 37,359,775 units valued at $87,094,646 from 23 securities trading on Friday.
At the close of market activities, the prices of 9 securities advanced, 8 declined and 9 remained unchanged. The Junior Market Index advanced by 35.07 points to close at 3,270.03.
Trading ended with an average of 32,433 units for an average of $109,501 in contrast to 1,624,338 units for an average of $3,786,724 on Friday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to units 177,719 units valued at $607,746 and previously 187,380 units valued at $640,878. October, ended with an average of 69,421 units valued at $347,455 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 5 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 10 with lower offers.
At the close of the market, CAC 2000 finished 90 cents higher at $16.90, with 30,179 shares changing hands, Cargo Handlers settled with a loss of 10 cents at $12.90, trading 500 shares, Caribbean Cream ended trading 1,430 shares with a loss of 50 cents to close at $5.50, Caribbean Producers finished trading with a loss of 1 cent at $5.49, with an exchange of 29,676 units, Consolidated Bakeries closed with a loss of 15 cents at $2.15, with 550 shares changing hands. Dolphin Cove concluded trading at $16, with 3,000 shares, Elite Diagnostic finished at $3, trading 40,896 stock units, Eppley settled 5 cents higher at $9.10, with an exchange of 103 units, Everything Fresh traded 402,623 shares after falling 10 cents and closed at $1.60, Express Catering ended trading 55 cents higher at $8.50, with 32,300 shares changing hands. FosRich Group traded 100,618 shares, at $3.90, General Accident finished trading 50 cents higher at $3.52, with an exchange of 59,500 shares, GWest Corporation closed with a loss of 20 cents at $1.70, with 16,311 stock units changing hands, Honey Bun ended with a loss of 15 cents at 
$4, trading 100 units. Indies Pharma traded 70,958 shares in closing at $3, Jamaican Teas settled at $4, with 10,197 shares changing hands, Jetcon Corporation ended trading 11,100 stock units, at $3.79, Key Insurance traded 75 cents higher at $4, as 1,237 units changed hands, Knutsford Express closed at $11.50, with 500 shares changing hands. Lasco Distributors ended at $3.80, with an exchange of 4,500 shares, Lasco Financial concluded trading with 200 stock units and rose 15 cents higher to end at $5.25, Lasco Manufacturing finished 25 cents higher at $3.50, swapping 18,439 units, Main Event gained 10 cents to end at $6, with 750 shares changing hands. Medical Disposables ended trading with 2,600 shares at $6.20, SSL Venture Capital traded 3,500 shares and gained 1 cent to end at $1.80 and Stationery and Office finished trading with a loss of 52 cents at $9.48, with 1,500 stock units changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Profit jumps 40% at Caribbean Flavours
Caribbean Flavours traded on the Junior Market at $20.
Profit at Caribbean Flavours climbed 40 percent in the quarter to September this year to $25 million from a rise of 21 percent in sales to $120 million, up from $100 million in 2017 and an increase of 137 percent in other revenues to $5 million.
Improvement in profit margin in the in the quarter to 37 percent from 36 percent in the 2017 is also a contributing factor in the improved profit. The effect, gross operating profit rose 23 percent in the quarter to $45 million from $36 million.
Other operating and administrative expenses rose 22 percent to $24 million from $19.4 million in 2017.
Earnings per share came out at 28 cents, for the 2018 fiscal year earnings per share was 97 cents. The company should end the fiscal year to June 2019 around $1.50.
Growth in profit has not been always robust even though it has been positive. Profit before Taxation grew a mere 1.59 percent in 2014, 12.75 percent in 2015, a more respectful 28.34 percent in 2016, a reduced rate of 11.89 percent in 2017 and even less growth of 5.22 percent in 2018.
“The company expects that there will be improvement in our performance in the next period as we
Caribbean Flavours’ produce inputs.
expect sales of Flarorfit, our sugar reduction solution to gain traction,” Chairman of the board Howard Mitchell, stated in his report accompanying the quarterly.
Gross cash flow brought in $26 million. Addition to fixed assets used up $3.5 million and $19 million was used to pay dividends. Cash and invested funds amount to $220 million. At the end of the quarter, shareholders’ equity stands at $424 million with borrowings at just $9 million. Net current assets ended the period at $309 million well over Payables of just $30 million.
The stock traded at $20 on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange with a PE ratio of 13 times 2019 earnings. The stock is ripe for at least a 5 for 1 stock split, with limited supply and just 90 million units issued.
SSL Venture & Key dominate Junior Market
Two big blocks of shares traded on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Friday, as 23 securities changed hands, resulting in an exchange of 37,359,775 units valued at $87,094,646, leading to a 3 to 1 dominance of declining to advancing stocks.
Friday’s trading was well above the level of 1,692,337 units valued at $8,566,971 from 23 securities changing hands on Thursday as SSL Venture Capital traded 24 million units and Key Insurance chipped in with 12 million shares on Friday.
At the close of market activities, the prices of 5 securities advanced, 14 declined and 4 remained unchanged, resulting in the Junior Market Index falling sharply by 44.24 points to close at 3,227.39.
Trading ended with an average of 1,624,338 units for an average of $3,786,724 in contrast to 73,580 units for an average of $372,477 on Thursday. The average volume and value for the month to date 
amounts to units 187,380 units valued at $640,878 and previously 97,570 units valued at $444,262. October, ended with an average of 69,421 units valued at $347,455 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 5 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 3 with lower offers.
At the close of the market, AMG Packaging ended with a loss of 1 cent at $1.89, with 2,570 stock units changing hands, Blue Power concluded trading of 2,773 units, at $5, Caribbean Flavours traded 1,000 stock units, rising by 51 cents to close at $20.01, Caribbean Producers finished trading with a loss of 5 cents at $5.50, with an exchange of 900 units, Derrimon Trading ended with a loss of 5 cents at $2.95, with 235,110 shares changing hands. Elite Diagnostic finished with a loss of 20 cents at $3, trading 67,496 stock units, Eppley settled at $9.05, with 1,000 units changing hands, Everything Fresh traded 3,925 shares after gaining 10 cents and closed at $1.70, Express Catering ended trading 86,777 shares with a loss of 15 cents in closing at $7.95, FosRich Group traded 308,909 shares for 6 cents more to close at $3.90. General Accident finished trading 200 shares, with a loss of 98 cents to end at $3.02, Honey Bun ended activities 4 cents higher at $4.15, with 14,400 units changing hands, Indies Pharma traded 181,193 shares and lost 5 cents in closing at $3, Jamaican Teas settled with a 
loss of 70 cents at $4, while exchanging 5,000 shares, Jetcon Corporation ended trading with a loss of 1 cent at $3.79, with 25,695 stock units changing hands. Key Insurance lost 15 cents in closing at $3.25, with an exchange of 12,070,405 units, Lasco Distributors ended with a loss of 15 cents at $3.80, with 222,000 shares changing hands, Lasco Financial concluded trading of 31,249 stock units, at $5.10, Lasco Manufacturing finished with a loss of 25 cents at $3.25, in an exchange of 23,600 units. Main Event settled with a loss of 60 cents at $5.90, with 10,900 shares changing hands, Medical Disposables ended trading, 20 cents higher at $6.20, while exchanging 26,500 shares, SSL Venture SSL Venture Capital traded 24,025,000 shares and gained 1 cent to end at $1.79 and tTech ended market activities with a drop of $1.25 cents to $5, with 13,173 shares changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Seprod stock allocation fowl up to cost JSE
Seprod’s shareholders did not get full allocation of shares.
There is a big fowl up in the allocation of shares to Seprod’s shareholders who applied for shares in the recent offer of the share by the Musson Group.
On Monday November 12, NCB Capital Market announced that all applicants for reserved shares were fully allocated but that has so far turned out to be incorrect. Information gleaned by this publication is that applicants in the general pool apparently got more shares than they should, apparently at the expense of shares reserved for shareholder’s of Seprod as of the end of August, the cut off date for the purposes of allocating the shares.
IC Insider.com gathers that several of the applications for the Seprod reserved shares did not get their full allocation as they were placed in the general pool. IC Insider.com can confirm that around ten applications that should have been placed in the shareholders poll did not get the full allocation.
The problem, IC Insider.com gathers stems from a glitch in the system at the Jamaica Central Depository, a subsidiary of the Jamaica Stock Exchange. The staff of the JCSD have been working to determine the extent of the error but our sources indicates that up Thursday the matter was still be worked on a suggestion that the extent of the error is wide spread.
The Jamaica Stock Exchange subsidiary
Shareholders who should have received their full allocation will in fact get them subject to funds being provided by the to complete the purchase. From all indications, the stock exchange seems poised to absorb the loss that is likely to be incurred to obtain the shares required to satisfy those shareholders who affected.
A total of 92 million shares were publicly offered for sale with 55 million reserved. A total of 15 million units were reserved for existing shareholders of Seprod. Since the close of the issue that offered the shares at $24 each, the stock now trades at $32 a difference of $8, with the price seeming set to rise.
Junior Market in recovery mode
Chart shows the Junior Market index in recovery mode.
The Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange continue to recover from the decline from the peak in late September with another rise in the index on Thursday with a rise of 19 points, the third in as many days.
Trading ended with 23 securities changing hands, resulting in an exchange of 1,692,337 units valued at $8,566,971 compared to 611,280 units valued at $3,301,546 from 25 securities.
At the close of market activities, the prices of 10 securities advanced, 5 declined and 8 remained unchanged. The Junior Market Index advanced by 19.20 points to close at 3,271.63.
Trading ended with an average of 73,580 units for an average of $372,477 in contrast to 24,451 units for an average of $132,062 on Wednesday. 
The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to units 97,570 units valued at $444,262 and previously 99,170 units valued at $449,048. October, ended with an average of 69,421 units valued at $347,455 for each security traded.
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 6 with lower offers.
At the close of the market, Access Financial closed trading of 12,129 shares at $52, AMG Packaging ended trading 15 cents higher at $1.90, with 17,000 stock units changing hands, Blue Power concluded trading of 100,000 units, with a loss of 45 cents at $5, Caribbean Producers finished trading 4 cents higher at $5.55, with 200 units changing hands, Consolidated Bakeries closed market activity at $2.30, trading 4,300 shares. Derrimon Trading ended 45 cents higher at $3, trading 40,000 shares, Elite Diagnostic finished 2 cents higher at $3.20, with 7,216 stock units traded, Everything Fresh fell 17 cents in trading 114,700 shares to close at $1.60, Express Catering ended trading 60 cents higher at $8.10, with 310,523 shares changing hands, GWest Corporation closed at $1.90, in exchanging 21,574 stock units. Honey Bun ended with 7,200 units trading at $4.11, Indies Pharma traded 78,862 shares and rose 12 cents in 
closing at $3.05, Jamaican Teas rose 32 cents to close at $4.70, with 96,012 shares changing hands, Jetcon Corporation ended trading of 13,699 stock units, at $3.80, Key Insurance rose 24 cents to $3.40, with 29,595 units changing hands. KLE Group traded 339 shares, at $4, Knutsford Express closed with a loss of 30 cents at $11.50, in exchanging 21,000 shares, Lasco Distributors ended with a loss of 5 cents at $3.95, swapping 450,600 shares, Lasco Financial concluded trading 11 cents higher at $5.10, with 263,452 stock units changing hands. Lasco Manufacturing finished with a loss of 4 cents at $3.50, with an exchange of 48,976 units, Main Event settled at $6.50, with the trading of 350 shares, SSL Venture Capital traded 41,063 shares and gained 2 cents to end at $1.78 and tTech ended at $6.25, with 13,547 shares changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
NCB Insiders sending $650m message?
NCB had a good 2018 fiscal year with strong profit gains.
Buying of shares in companies by insiders they oversee is worthy of note. Investors should pay keen attention to the coded message it may be sending.
It would appear that some directors and executives at NCB Financial Group, see big things ahead to have put down J$650 million in buying a block of the stock close to the highest piece it has traded at in recent times. According to the Jamaica Stock Exchange, NCB Financial Group advised that two directors and six executive officers purchased a total of 4,793,610 NCBFG shares on November 20, 2018. The only issue with the announcement is that the stock exchange report for the November 20 shows only 4.2 million NCB’s shares traded on that day.
The acquisition took place after an announcement that NCB was now cleared to acquire an additional 22 percent of Guardian Holding shares at TT$18 each. For the nine months to September, profit attributable to equity holders of the Guardian jumped to TT$371 million for the nine months to September, from $254 million in 2017 and rose to $156 million in the quarter from just $60 million in the 2017 period. Guardian reported audited profit of TT$407 million in 2017.
Earnings per share ended at $1.60 for the 2018 nine months period, compared to $1.75 in the twelve months of 2017. At $18 per share NCB is getting a bargain with the stock selling around 9 times 2018 earnings while NCB is selling locally at 14 times earnings. Guardian’s shares closed trading at TT$18 on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange today while NCB traded 211,790 shares with the last price at a record $137.
NCB closed with buying interest in just over 417,000 units between $125 and $136.01, with selling of 215,000 units between $137 to $169.80.
Junior Market up again on Wednesday
Trading on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange ended on Wednesday with 25 securities changing hands, resulting in an exchange of 611,280 units valued at $3,301,546 compared to 864,036 units valued at $3,263,089 on Tuesday from 20 securities.
At the close of market activities, the prices of 7 securities advanced, 13 declined and 5 remained unchanged as the Junior Market Index advanced by 24.50 points to close at 3,252.43.
Trading ended with an average of 24,451 units for an average of $132,062 in contrast to 43,202 units for an average of $163,154 on Tuesday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 99,170 units valued at $449,048 and previously 119,515 units valued at $473,813. October, ended with an average of 69,421 units valued at $347,455 for each security traded.
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 6 with lower offers.
At the close of the market, Access Financial closed $2 higher at $52, with 20,293 shares trading, Blue Power concluded trading of 1,200 units and rose 65 cents to $5.45, CAC 2000 finished with a loss of 1 cent at $16, trading 2,062 shares, Caribbean Cream ended trading 92 cents higher at $6, with 4,065 shares, Caribbean Flavours traded with a loss of 50 cents at $19.50, in exchanging 1,100 stock units. Caribbean Producers finished trading of 24,271 units and lost 4 cents at $5.51, Consolidated Bakeries closed 30 cents higher at $2.30, trading 4,331 shares, Derrimon Trading ended with a loss of 15 cents at $2.55, with 50,230 shares changing hands, Dolphin Cove concluded trading of 2,270 shares with a loss of 30 cents to close at $16. Elite Diagnostic finished 18 cents higher at $3.18, in exchanging 15,500 stock units, Everything Fresh fell 1 cent in trading a mere 2,500 shares to close at $1.77, Express Catering ended trading 2,500 shares at $7.50, FosRich Group traded 46,985 shares, with a loss of 1 cent at $3.84, Honey Bun ended at $4.11, trading 44,400 units. Indies Pharma traded 179,065 shares and fell 7 cents in closing at $2.93, Jamaican Teas settled 8 cents higher at $4.38, while trading 
1,000 shares, Jetcon Corporation ended trading 500 stock units at $3.80, KLE Group finished trading of 16,639 shares at $4, Knutsford Express closed with a loss of 20 cents at $11.80, with 3,417 shares changing hands. Lasco Distributors ended trading 124,909 shares at $4, Lasco Financial concluded trading with a loss of 21 cents at $4.99, with 49,301 stock units changing hands, Lasco Manufacturing finished with a loss of 1 cent at $3.54, with 6,000 units, SSL Venture Capital traded 5.300 shares and lost 5 cents to end at $1.76 and tTech ended with a loss of 25 cents at $6.25, in exchanging 1,340 shares. In the junior market preference segment, Eppley 9.5% finished 1 cent higher at $6.01, with 2,102 shares changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Junior Market pushes higher on Tuesday
The Junior Market rose at the end of trading on Tuesday with Index to gaining 21.85 points to close at 3,227.93 on a day of moderate trades as 20 securities changed hands versus 21 on Monday.
At the close 10 securities rose, just 4 declined with 6 remaining unchanged. In moderate trading, just 864,036 units, valued $3,263,089 changed hands, well below the 5,717,296 units valued $15,894,662 that traded on Monday.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator closed with 3 stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices, while 5 closed with lower offers, an indication of a bias towards declining stocks dominating on Wednesday.
Trading ended with an average of 43,202 units for an average of $163,154 in contrast to 272,252 units for an average of $756,889 on Monday. 
The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 119,515 units valued at $473,813 and previously 109,127 units valued at $494,523. October, ended with an average of 69,421 units valued at $347,455 for each security traded.
At the close of trading, Access Financial closed 50 cents higher at $50, with 500 shares changing hands, AMG Packaging ended with a loss of 5 cents at $1.75, with an exchange of 42,863 stock units, Blue Power concluded trading of 34,430 units at $4.80, Caribbean Cream ended trading 6 cents higher at $5.08, with 7,000 shares changing hands, Caribbean Producers finished trading 13,500 units with a loss of 10 cents to $5.55. Derrimon Trading ended with a loss of 30 cents at $2.70, exchanging 9,000 shares, Elite Diagnostic closed at $3, with 103,120 stock units changing hands, Eppley climbed $1.05 to $9.05, exchanging 750 units, Everything Fresh fell 2 cents in trading a mere 100 shares to close at $1.78, Express Catering ended trading of 24,913 shares at $7.50. FosRich Group traded 223,700 shares and rose 35 cents to $3.85, Honey Bun ended 31 cents higher at $4.11, with 17,973 
units changing hands, Indies Pharma ended trading of 6,410 shares to close at $3, Jetcon Corporation ended trading 7,851 stock units at $3.80, KLE Group finished trading 500 shares 59 cents higher at $4. Knutsford Express closed at $12, with 1,000 shares changing hands, Lasco Distributors ended 5 cents higher at $4, $2, in exchanging 48,328 shares, Lasco Financial concluded trading 20 cents higher at $5.20, swapping 600 stock units, Lasco Manufacturing finished 15 cents higher at $3.55, with $2, with an exchange of 296,410 units and Medical Disposables ended trading with a loss of $1.50 to close at $6, with 25,088 shares changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Profit jumps 83% for tTech
Profit at junior market listed tTech, rose 83 percent in the September quarter, to $12.2 million from $7 million in 2017 and for the nine months to September, profit climbed 59 percent to $29 million from $18 million in 2017.
Sale revenues grew 25 percent for the quarter, to $70 from $56 million but was up 31 percent for the year to date, to $215 million, from $164 million in 2017. Investment income brought $12 million for the nine months and $7 million for the quarter
The company is overcoming a period when profit retreated from the high level generated when it went public back in 2015, as the build out of staffing ahead of increased business sapped profits. The company seems to believe that the work they have put out to attract customers is now bearing fruit, with more to come going forward.
Profit having risen to peak at $39 million in 2016, on rising sales revenues, in 2017 both revenues and profit declined, with the profit declining below that earned in 2015 as it hit $19 million down sharply from the 2016 out turn.
Gross profit margin in the first 3 quarters of this year, is up just 14 percent to $161 million compared to revenues that grew 31 percent and it rose by 9 percent in the September quarter to $51 million, just a bit below the growth rate in sales.
Other operating expenses increased 52 percent to $20 million for the nine months but grew 29 percent to $7 million in the quarter. Administrative expenses rose 12 percent to $42 million in the quarter and increased just 8 percent in the nine months period, to $125 million.
Earnings per share came out at 12 cents for the quarter and 27 cents for the nine months and should end the fiscal year ending to December, around 40 cents. IC Insider.com is forecasting 80 cents per share for a PE of 8 times 2019 earnings
“We have had a good third quarter and our business development team continues to leverage the momentum by closing opportunities presented to us. we expect continued growth and performance as we provide guidance and support for digital transformation,” the chief Executive Officer, Christopher Reckord stated in his commentary on the third quarter results.
Gross cash flow brought in $25 million but addition to fixed assets and investments resulted in a net buildup of funds for the year to date. At the end of September, shareholders’ equity stood at $207 million with no borrowings to support the operations. Net current assets ended the period at $164 million inclusive of trade and other receivables of $151 million, cash and investment balances of $152 million. In addition, the company has $31 million in non-current investments. Current liabilities stood at just $57 million.
The stock traded at $6.50 on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange with a PE ratio of 15 times 2018 earnings. Net asset value per share s $1.95 with the stock selling at 3.3 book value.