Eppley stock price surged $46 to hit an all-time high of $505 in trading on the Jamaican Stock Exchange junior market, while trading 8,337 shares. The price is now up 26.25 percent since last week.
The new price puts the PE at 7.2 times last year’s earnings of $70.43 per share and comes ahead of the company exploring the raising of added equity capital.
Elsewhere, JMMB Group 7.50% preference share traded 487,151 units at $1.20 and Cable & Wireless is back at $1.20 after slipping as low as 94 cents last week Thursday.
Trading remains subdued with the main market indices rising while the juniors is down slightly after 75 minutes of trading on Tuesday. An average of 30,628 per active stock traded, up from an average of 27,944 units traded in the mid-morning session on Monday.
A total of 26 securities, accounting for only 796,330 shares changed hands at 10.45 am as 9 stocks gained and 4 declined.
The market saw all Jamaica Composite Index fell 470.96 points to 170,339.95, the JSE Market Index rose 421.11 points to 153,356.14 the JSE combined index ending with a gain of 349.40 points to 160,925.26 and the junior market index fell 4.02 points to 1,820.14.
Eppley jumps $46 early Tuesday
More JSE stocks up than down – Monday
Prices on the Jamaica Stock Exchange were mixed on Monday but with more gains than losses. On Monday 37 securities changed hands, in all market segments and ended with 12 stocks rising and 6 declining.
The market closed with 4,039,547 units valued at $84,778,917 changing hands in all markets. The junior market accounted for 1,018,853 units valued at $4,061,844 changing hands.
The JSE Market Index suffered a mild loss of 55.30 points to end at 152,935.03, the all Jamaica Composite Index fell 61.84 points to end at 169,868.99 and the JSE combined index gained 49.20 points, to close at 160,575.86.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading showed 12 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and only 2 with lower offers.
At the end of the market activities, Barita Investments surprisingly traded 62,383 shares to gain 25 cents and closed at $3.50, Cable & Wireless rose 8 cents to $1.09 in trading 22,817 units, Carreras ended trading 421,078 shares to end at $65. 1834 investments traded 43,000 shares with a loss of 10 cents at $1.50, Grace Kennedy closed with 231,970 shares changing hands at $80, Jamaica Broilers traded 55,156 units to close at $14.50. JMMB Group had 94,770 shares changing hands at $10, Kingston Wharves traded 2,965 shares to close at $11.50, 
Mayberry Investments added 30 cents to close at $4 with 32,500 shares changing hands, National Commercial Bank ended with 125,198 shares changing hands to close at $40.01. Radio Jamaica traded just 22,321 shares and recovered the 6 cents it lost of Friday, to close at $1.15, Sagicor Group rose 30 cents and ended with 917,593 shares changing hands at $24. Scotia Group traded 10,448 shares to close at $32.90 after rising $2.90, Supreme Ventures slipped 5 cents to close at $4.95 with 45,179 units changing hands, Proven Investments ordinary shares traded 179,009 units to end at 16 US cents. JMMB Group 7.50% preference share traded 293,449 units at $1.20 after recovering 3 cents and the Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.50% preference share traded 452,187 units at $2.15.
More gains for juniors on Monday
ISP Finance at new high on Monday.
The junior market close slightly higher on Monday with an increase of 9.79 points to close at 1,824.16. Trading ended with 17 active securities, 4 of which advanced and 3 declined as 1,018,853 units valued at $4,061,844, changed hands.
There were 5 stocks closing with bids that were higher than their last selling prices and none ended with a lower offer.
At the end of trading, Access Financial had 6,220 shares trading to close at $16.60, Caribbean Cream lost 50 cents in trading 17,450 shares at $4, Caribbean Flavours rose 55 cents with 5,698 shares trading at $8, Caribbean Producers traded 57,130 units, to end at $4.05, C2W Music had 1,000 units changing hands at 33 cents. General Accident ended trading 59,420 units and closed at $2.59, Honey Bun had just 30,500 shares trading but ended unchanged at $11, 
ISP Finance rose 20 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $2.55 after trading 6,031 units. Jetcon Corporation lost 24 cents to close at $2.60 after 8,680 shares changed hands, Key Insurance closed at $3 with 8,050 units changing hands. KLE Group traded just 1,485 shares to gain 3 cents to end at $1.69, Knutsford Express jumped $4.50 with just 100 units changing hands at $22, Lasco Distributors ended with 319,314 units trading at $5. Lasco Financial closed at $3 with 127,872 shares changing hands, Lasco Manufacturing ended with 160,969 shares changing hands to close at $3.65, Eppley 10% preference share traded 10,000 units at $6.10 and Derrimon Trading preference share fell 15 cents to end at $2.25 with 198,934 units changing hands.
Juniors up majors down early Monday
Trading the Jamaican Stock Exchange is off to a slow start with the main market indices falling while the juniors was up slightly after 75 minutes of trading on Monday. An average of 27,944 per active stock traded, up from an average of 1.4 million units traded in the mid-morning session on Friday. The average on Friday was pushed up by a 43.6 million units of RJR.
A total of 24 securities, accounting for only 670,666 shares changed hands at 10.45 am as 7 stocks gained and 3 declined, reversing the negative trend in place for a few trading days. The only trade of note has been Scotia Group with 2,441 units trading at $32.99 compared with the last price on Friday, of $30 and Cable & Wireless trading 22,817 shares, with a 8 cents gain, taking the price to $1.09 but now has a bid at $1.12 to buy 150,000 units, a total of 964,692 units were offered for sale at $1.20.
Supreme Ventures has 10,053,513 units on offer at $5 but with the bid at $4.86 for 1,601 shares.
The market saw all Jamaica Composite Index fell 249.28 points to 169,681.55, the JSE Market Index dipped 222.90 points to 152,767.43 the JSE combined index ending with a fall of 148.98 points to 160,377.68 and the junior market index moved up by 5.63 points to 1,820.00.
Sharp gains for juniors – Friday
The junior market moved sharply higher on Friday with 51.50 points to close at 1,814.37. Trading ended with 13 active securities, 6 of which advanced and 2 declined as 470,000 units valued at $1,549,597 changed hands.
There were 7 stocks closing with bids that were higher than their last selling prices and none ended with a lower offer.
At the end of trading, CAC 2000 had 4,674 shares trading to close at $6.50, Caribbean Producers gained 25 cents in trading 9,400 units, to end at $4.05, General Accident rose by 26 cents in trading 580 units and closed at $2.59. Honey Bun had just 1,500 shares trading but ended unchanged at $11, Iron Rock rose 5 cents to close at $3.90 after trading 12,048 units,
Jamaican Teas closed at $3.80 after trading 21,710 units. Jetcon Corporation lost 1 cent to close at $2.84 after 149,862 shares changed hands, Key Insurance closed at $3 with 6,300 units changing hands. Lasco Distributors put on 50 cents and ended with 14,882 units trading at $5. Lasco Financial closed at $3 with 128,901 shares changing hands, Lasco Manufacturing ended with 87,508 shares changing hands having risen by 14 cents to close at $3.65, tTech traded 19,740 shares but lost 30 cents to close at $4 and Derrimon Trading preference shares gained 13 cents to end at $2.30 with 12,895.
Juniors steady – Thursday
The junior market took a breather on Thursday from the sharp fall of the past few days to record a moderate gain of 6.85 points to close at 1,762.87. The market ended with 12 active securities, 4 of which advanced and 5 declined as only 785,366 units changed hands, valued at $2,423,588.
There were 6 stocks closing with bids that were higher than their last selling prices and 3 ended with lower offers. The junior market have fallen by a huge 25.5 percent from it peak earlier in the year. Sharp declines in the three Lasco listed stocks are major factors behind the steepness of the fall.
At the end of trading, CAC 2000 fell 3 cents as 11,080 shares traded to close at $6.50, Consolidated Bakeries lost 6 cents in trading 55,367 units, to end at $1.15, C2W Music traded 8,700 units at 33 cents, Dolphin Cove ended at $14.50 with 190 shares trading, General Accident fell by 37 cents in trading 93,021 units and closed at $2.33.
Honey Bun had just 969 shares trading but rose 50 cents to end at $11, Jamaican Teas closed at $3.80 after trading 66,814 units. Jetcon Corporation lost 5 cents to close at $2.85 after 363,344 shares changed hands, Key Insurance gained 10 cents to close at $3 with 19,501 units changing hands, Lasco Distributors lost 1 cent and ended with 110,580 units trading at $4.50. Lasco Financial rose by 1 cent to end at $3 with 1,700 shares changing hands and Lasco Manufacturing ended with 54,100 shares changing hands having risen by 1 cent to close at $3.51.
JSE to consider a dividend
The Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) has advised that the Board of Directors will meet on April 19, 2016 to consider the payment of an interim dividend.
In December last year, the company made a second dividend payment of 47 cents per share on December 30, to shareholders on record as at December 23 following a payment in July of 53 cents per share which brought the total pay-out to $1 per share for a total $140 million. Last year’s dividends provided a staggering 63.7 percent yield based on the 2014 closing price of $1.57. With the price of the stock in the $20 range in 2016, the yield is bound to drop dramatically to around 10 percent or less. The stock last traded on Wednesday on the Jamaica Stock Exchange at $19.55.
The company reported earnings for 2015 of $1.25 per share or $175 million, up from only $3 million in 2014. JSE had the best quarter in March with revenues of $259 million and profit of $87 million after tax. The 2016 first quarter seems set to better that of the 2015 first quarter with a big $110 million income from trading a block of Desnoes & Geddes shares almost equal to the estimated $120 million hauled in from the block of Scotia Group shares that was transferred from the Canadian parent to a Caribbean based one.
Marlene Street Forrest – General Manager of the JSE
What should help boost the first quarter results is added business undertaken by the exchange particularly, the registrar services, for handling of the repo business and increased stock market activity in 2016 over the first quarter of 2015. Last year, for the first quarter, regular trading was $4.9 billion while for 2016 its $6.44 billion, for a 31 percent increase. The JSE also engineered increases in fees charged for some of it services.
Big RJR trade on JSE – Wednesday
RJR traded 149M shares on Wednesday.
Stocks & Securities executed the bulk of the 148,818,235 Radio Jamaica shares that traded on the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Wednesday, with a value of $186 million. At the market continued to lose altitude, with the majority of stocks trading declining by more than a 2 to 1 ratio on Wednesday as 36 securities changed hands, in all market segments. The market ended with 9 stocks rising and 21 declining. One junior market stock traded at an intraday high.
The market closed with 153,740,039 units valued at $225,415,956 changing hands in all markets. The junior market accounted for 2,838,527 units, valued at $11,128,849 changing hands.
The JSE Market Index dropped 1,921.08 points to end at 150,282.68, the all Jamaica Composite Index dropped 2,148.48 points to 166,902.68 and the JSE combined index plunged 2,346.74 points, to close at 157,416.59.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading was 8 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 6 with lower offers.
At the end of the market activities, Cable & Wireless sunk to $1 in trading 1,046,100 units, to close with a 7 cents loss, Caribbean Cement dropped $1 with just 250 shares changing hands to end at $24, Carreras added $1.12 in trading 6,526 shares to end at $66.14. The Gleaner Company, now renamed 1834 Investments and owns the non-media assets of the company, traded 15,000 units to close with a loss of 17 cents at a new low of $1.60. Grace Kennedy closed with 23,026 shares changing hands at $80.20 after losing $1.70 cents, Jamaica Broilers traded 71,240 units to close at $14.50, after falling 10 cents, Jamaica Producers traded 5,000 shares at $31. JMMB Group rose 30 cents as 24,730 shares changed hands at $10, Kingston Wharves traded 51,000 shares to close at $11.30, 
National Commercial Bank rose 49 cents with 108,051 shares changing hands to close at $41, Pan Jamaican Investments traded 15,826 shares to close at $93. Radio Jamaica with the largest trade of 149 million shares but lost 18 cents to close at $1.25, Sagicor Group fell 40 cents and ended with 333,131 shares changing hands at $23.60, Sagicor Real Estate Fund gained 2 cents in trading 45,610 shares to close at $10.02. Scotia Group traded 205,685 shares to close at $30, Scotia Investments fell $2.85 with only 916 shares changing hands to end at $25.10. Supreme Ventures rose 5 cents to close at $5 with 10,390 units changing hands, Proven Investments ordinary shares traded 112,700 units to end at 17.47 US cents down from 17.50 cents previously.
Major JSE tumble early Wednesday
Trading the Jamaican Stock Exchange is off to a rocky start with the all Jamaica Index slipping almost 2,000 points, after 75 minutes of trading on Wednesday. 
The junior market just inched up slightly. An average of 40,324 units of active stocks traded, up from an average of 27,804 units that traded in the prior mid-morning session.
A total of 25 securities, accounting for only 1,005,853 shares changed hands at 10.45 am as 7 stocks gained and 12 declined continuing the negative trend in place for some time. Jetcon accounted for 272,907 units and Sagicor Group accounted for 115,403 units, being the only companies to trade over 100,000 units. Of note is that Key Insurance traded at a new high of $3 but the stock was offered at $2.90 after wards.
The market saw all Jamaica Composite Index dropped 1,947.44 points to 167,103.72, the JSE Market Index fell 1,741.33 points to 150,462.43 the JSE combined index ending with a loss of 1,603.40 points to 158,159.93 and the junior market index rose 20.37 points to 1,812.24.