Trading activity on the Junior Market closed with only 5 securities trading and ended with 76,353 units valued at $161,387 changing hands. The JSE Junior Market Index rose 0.41 points to close at 693.11, with the price of 1 stock advancing and 2 declining.
At the close of the market, there were 6 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and only 1 with the offer that was lower. The junior market closed with 4 securities closing with no bids to buy and 6 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale.
At the close, Honey Bun traded 4,686 shares at $1.95, Knutsford Express Services closed with 15,000 shares trading, 5 cents lower at $5.80, Lasco Distributors ended trading with 14,569 units at $1.40, Lasco Financial Services closed with 37,098 shares changing hands while gaining 5 cents to $1.05 and Lasco Manufacturing lost 1 cent in trading 5,000 shares at $1.18.
Demand for some junior stocks, supply low
Only 3 Junior market stocks traded Wednesday
Caribbean Producers price fell on Wednesday
At the close of the market, there were 5 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 1 with the offers lower. The junior market closed with 4 securities ending with no bids to buy and 5 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale.
Lasco Manufacturing closed at $1.20 with a gain of 4 cents as 45,204 shares changed hands, Dolphin Cove traded 1,500 shares to end at $8.50 and Caribbean Producers closed with 84,565 units trading at $2.11 with a fall of 4 cents.
AMG flat sales push profit down 15%
Revenues rose a strong 36.56 percent for the year to August 2014 for junior market listed, AMG Packaging, hitting $607 million but it increased by a much slower pace of 28 percent in the final quarter of the financial year, to $165 million.
Those strong gains may have cannibalized sales in the November quarter with flat sales compared with 2013 quarter, with revenues of $151 million. But the performance comes against the back ground of volumes sold, climbing a very strong 19 percent for the year. The fall in volume started from the August quarter as units sold increased by 23.4 percent, management stated in a release accompanying the May results.
While sales increased impressively in 2014 fiscal year margins came under pressure with only 23.7 percent for the year to August down from 33 percent in 2013. For the latest quarter gross profit margin comes out at 25.9 percent but could end up at 31.5 percent for the current year if sales volumes increase by 10 percent for the rest of the fiscal year. Gross profit for the quarter amounted to $34.4 million up from $33.3 million in 2013 but increase mainly administrative cost that rose 28.4 percent eroded profit slightly by 15 percent to $15.4 million from $18 million in 2013. The company got a double whammy, with the Jamaican dollar losing value, resulting in a 28 percent more Jamaican dollars having to be found to purchase a US dollar since September 2012, and the price of paper on the world market moving 22 percent from US$720 per tonnes at September 2012 to US$830 in August 2013 and now US$875, which it has been since June last year.
Receivables are down by $12.7 million from the amount at the end of August last year and so too is amounts in payables by $26 million. Cash funds grew to $33 million from $22 million while inventories is down from to $118 million at August to $113 million, which is nearly 4 months supplies based on sales in the quarter and is up from just two and a half months back in 2013 and seems to be a hedge against devaluation of the Jamaican dollar. But that is only a part of the story. A check on world prices for pulp shows a pretty sharp increase since 2012.
AMG has to continue to grow its business by continued strong volume growth to become a more cost competitive producer with lower unit cost. The company needs to put strategies in place to return volume sales to growth and needs to continue cost containment measures to ensure profit improvement going forward. With increase through put, unit cost of production will fall allowing more growth in gross to flow into overall profits. A bright spot for the company is the fall in the cost of fuel and electricity will help in keeping cost down for the rest of the fiscal year.
IC Insider’s forecast for 2015 is 90 cents per share and $1.50 for 2016 on the assumption that volume sales return reasonable growth.
Little trading in junior stocks
Activity on the Junior Market closed with only 3 securities traded and ended with 166,818 units valued at $202,761. The JSE Junior Market Index slipped 0.70 points to close at 700.75, with the price advancing.
At the close of the junior market indicators continue to point to the likelihood of price gains ahead. At the end of trading on Friday, there were 4 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and none with the offer lower. The junior market continues to reflect renewed interest with only 5 securities closing with no bids to buy compared with as many as 11 a few weeks ago. There were 8 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale which is an indication that supply for a third of the junior market stocks are not readily available to trade and most likely will require the bids to be more in line with historical valuation measures.
The three stocks trading are, Lasco Manufacturing gained 1 cent while trading 153,678 shares at $1.20, Honey Bun traded 240 units at $1.71 followed by Lasco Distributors with 12,900 shares at $1.42 after losing 8 cents.
Honey Bun new low of $1.70
Activity Trading on the Junior Market closed with only securities traded and ended with 566,814 units valued at $860,032. The JSE Junior Market Index fell 7.75 points to close at 679.54, with the price of one stock advancing and five declining.
Honey Bun closed at a new high of $6.60 on Monday.
At the close of the market, there was one stock with a bid higher than the last selling prices and none with a lower offer. The junior market is lowly regaining strength but not there yet, with five securities closing with no bids to buy. Eight securities had no shares offered for sale, a positive indicator that prices could be rising shortly.
Paramount Trading ended with 19,429 shares trading with a gain of 6 cents to $2.62, AMG Packaging closed with 580 shares trading at $2.15, Lasco Manufacturing closed with 128,435 shares changing hands to close at $1.10, Access Financial closed with 11,000 units trading, the price slipped 4 cents, to $8.96. Dolphin Cove lost 40 cents to close at $8.10 and finished trading with 3,200 shares. Honey Bun ended trading with 7,000 shares changing hands to close 30 cents lower at $1.70, for a new 52 weeks’ low, Lasco Distributors traded 291,300 units with the price slipping 5 cents $1.45 and Lasco Financial traded 105,870 shares lower by 7 cents at 98 cents.
Low activity on junior market
The junior market has been slowly rebuilding since a 2014 low reached in June
Blue Power closed with 910 units with a 14 cents gain to $6.30, followed by Lasco Distributors finishing trading with just 1,600 units to close trading with an increase of 9 cents at $1.50. AMG Packaging closed trading with 51,578 shares changing hands at $2.15, General Accident had 220,595 shares trading at $1.75 followed by Honey Bun with a mere 300 shares at $2, Lasco Financial ended trading with 3,300 units at $1.05 and Lasco Manufacturing traded 105,000 shares and lost cents 2 to end at $1.10.
Jamaican Teas at new low
The Orchid property being developed that should add to Jamaican Teas’ profits in 2015 & 2016.
Trading in the Junior Market closed with 6 securities traded and ended with 122,569 units valued at $215,553 being active. The JSE Junior Market Index fell 3.08 points to close at 665.49, with the price of one advancing 3 declining. At the close of the market, there were 2 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and none with offers that were lower. The junior market remains on the weak side with 8 securities closing with no bids to buy. There were 6 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale.
General Accident closed with 92,805 units trading, the price slipped 10 cents to $1.65, Honey Bun completed trading with 10,018 shares changing hands to close 10 cents up to $2, Jamaican Teas finished with 5,000 shares trading lower by 34 cents $2.50, to a new an all-time low. Paramount Trading ended trading with 7,000 shares changing hands to close at 5 cents lower at $2.55, Caribbean Producers ended trading with 1,746 shares changing hands to close at $2.15 and Consolidated Bakeries closed with 6,000 shares at 82 cents.
Only 4 junior stocks traded
Trading on the Junior Market, closed with very little activity on a day when trading ended with a mere 157,505 units, valued at $298,019. The JSE Junior Market Index rose 0.84 points to close at 668.57 as only 4 securities traded, with the price of 2 advancing and 2 unchanged. At the close, there were 3 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and none with lower offers. The junior market continues to see slight improvement in sentiment with 6 securities closing with no bids to buy and 7 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale, the highest level since we have been tracking this measure.
At the close of the market, Lasco Financial finished with 11,678 shares changing hands to close 1 cent higher at 97 cents, Caribbean Cream ended with 14,000 shares, 2 cents higher at 70 cents, Honey Bun ended with 26,827 shares trading at $1.90 and Caribbean Producers closed with 105,000 shares at $2.15.
Bulls seen at JSE this morning
The Jamaica stock market is showing some bullish indications this morning, with the main indices all gaining over 1,100 points. The junior market index is also up from yesterday’s close. Main Market|
The JSE Market Index gained 1,179.75 points to 76,223.23, the JSE All Jamaican Composite index jumped 1,319.12 points to 83,939.47, the JSE combined index gained 1,208.88 points to close at 78,008.67 and the junior market index was at 678.07 up 10.65 points, at 11.05 o’clock this morning.
The main movers this morning so far are, Jamaica Producers up $1.04 to $17, National Commercial Bank up 30 cents at $18.50 and Scotia Group with a gain of 40 cents to $20.50 with 935,372 shares traded.General Accident Insurance gained 16 cents to $1.75 in the junior market.
4 junior market stocks trade
Sweet River factory – the company stock was 1 of 4 that traded.
At the close of the market, there were 3 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 3 stocks with offers that were lower. The junior market weakness continues with 8 securities closing with no bids to buy. There were 4 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale.
Market activity saw Caribbean Cream with 7,000 shares changing hands to close at 70 cents, Sweet River Abattoir ended with 4,800 shares changing hands to close at $3.86, Access Financial ended with 4,100 units as the price slipped $1.01, to $9 and Lasco Manufacturing closed with 148,838 shares trading lower by 1 cent to 99 cents.
