Honey Bun jumps $2.45 on Friday
There were only 4 stocks closing with bids that were higher than their last selling prices and 4 ended with lower offers.
At the end of trading, AMG Packaging lost 12 cents in trading 1,060 units to end at $13, Blue Power closed with 1,179 units changing hands at $11.20, Caribbean Flavours traded 3,000 units to end at $8.55 after gaining $1.05, Caribbean Producers traded 5,750 units and lost 10 cents to end at $3.90. Consolidated Bakeries rose 18 cents with 12,000 shares trading $1.18, C2W Music closed at 33 cents with 2,000 units changing hands, General Accident Insurance traded 594 units at $2.90, Honey Bun jumped $2.45 to close at $15 while 2,748 shares changed hands. Iron Rock Insurance had 1,000 units changing hands to end at $3.65, ISP Finance closed at $2.50 after trading 48,379 units, Jamaican Teas closed at $3.41 after 1,200 shares changed hands but ended with the offer at $3.35 to sell 68,657 shares. Jetcon Corporation ended trading with 70,611 shares at $2.55 having lost 14 cents, Key Insurance fell 35 cents while trading 91,930 shares to close at $2.65, Knutsford Express closed with 406 units changing hands at $19. Lasco Distributors gained 34 cents to end at $5.40 with 93,665 units trading, Lasco Financial closed at $2.62, with 46,756 shares changing hands, the bid closed at $2.94 to buy 38,000 units with good support down to $2.60, Lasco Manufacturing fell 20 cents with 10,233 shares changing hands to close at $3.60 and tTech ended with 37,729 shares trading to end at $4.05 as the price fell by 3 cents.
Eppley up 26% in a week to Tuesday
Eppley surged $46 to hit an all-time high of $505 in trading on the Jamaican Stock Exchange junior market on Tuesday while trading 8,337 shares. The stock is now up 26.25 percent since last week with latest price putting 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 for expansion.
The junior market closed slightly lower on Tuesday with a fall of 5.07 points to 1,819.09. Trading ended with 15 active securities, 5 of which advanced and 4 declined as 1,258,428 units valued at $7,440,298, changed hands.
There were 5 stocks closing with bids that were higher than their last selling prices and one ended with a lower offer.
At the end of trading, Access Financial had 500 shares trading to close at $16.60, Caribbean Producers traded 27,210 units and rose 5 cents to end at $4.10, Consolidated Bakeries had 782,175 units changing hands but fell 15 cents to $1, Honey Bun had 80,402 shares trading and ended unchanged at $11. ISP Finance slipped 3 cents to close at $2.52 after trading 11,000 units, Jetcon Corporation rose 10 cents to close at $2.70 after 49,157 shares changed hands, Key Insurance closed at $3 with 1,000 units changing hands. KLE Group traded 4,231 shares and gained 1 cent to end at $1.70, Knutsford Express dropped $3 with 9,631 units changing hands at $19, Lasco Distributors ended with 30,890 units trading at $5. Lasco Financial closed at $3 with 17,962 shares changing hands, Lasco Manufacturing lost 5 cents and ended with 199,772 shares changing hands to close at $3.60 and tTech traded 2,000 shares and gained 22 cents to end at $4.22.
More gains for juniors 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.
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.
Key Insurance list on junior market
Key Insurance Company was listed today but did not traded by the close but had 87,500 units on the bid above the Initial Public offering price of $2.27 with bids at $2.53. ISP Finance that was listed on Wednesday and closed trading at $2.50 on the opening day did not trade today, but Jetcon Coporation that was listed on the day before Easter, traded to close at $2.90, in a market that had only modest trades, taking place.
At the close, the junior market index gained 30.46 points being added to close at 1,925.22. The market ended with 16 active securities, 6 of which advanced and 5 declined as a mere 617,159 units changed hands, valued at $2,081,398. There were 4 stocks closing with bids that were higher than their last selling prices and 5 ended with lower offers.
In trading, AMG Packaging closed at $11 with 2,500 units changing hands, CAC 2000 traded 2,620 shares at $7, Caribbean Cream traded 46,275 shares as the price rose 11 cents to end at $4.40, Caribbean Flavours fell 2 cents with 3,100 shares changing hands to end at $7.55. Caribbean Producers traded 124,000 shares to end with a rise of 60 cents at $4.80, Consolidated Bakeries had 5,000 units trading with a rise of 10 cents to end at $1.15, C2W Music gained 4 cents with 50,000 units changing hands at 40 cents, Iron Rock had 2,500 shares trading at $4, Jamaican Teas lost 5 cents in closing at $3.80 after trading 14,805 units. Jetcon Corporation traded at a new closing high of $2.90, after trading 230,128 shares, KLE Group traded at $2.10 with a loss of 10 cents with 1,000 shares changing hands, Knutsford Express closed with 2,096 units changing hands to end at $22, Lasco Distributors ended with 19,100 units trading, to end at $5.80. Lasco Financial ended at $3 with 91,755 shares changing hands after regaining 35 cents, Lasco Manufacturing ended with 20,780 shares changing hands to close at $3.70, with a fall of 10 cents and Paramount Trading closed with a loss of 31 cents and closed with 1,500 shares trading at $11.
JSE gains in early trading – Thursday
Key Insurance listed on the junior market of the Jamaican Stock Exchange this morning but has not traded so far but have bids between $2.50 and $2.51 to buy 55,000 shares, there were no stocks offered for sale.
After 75 minutes of the market’s opening, Caribbean Cement rose by $1 to $26 with a small volume, Jamaica Broilers traded with a gain of 57 with 362,086 shares at $14.85, JMMB Group lost 94 cents to trade at $10.01, RJR traded for the first time since the merger with the Gleaner and after issuing a bonus and splitting of its stock to shed 20 cents to be $1.46.
A total of 27 securities, accounting for 1,498,580 shares have changed hands at 10.45am as 7 stocks gained and 7 declined.
The indices enjoyed moderate gains in the main market after suffering modest declines earlier in the session with the all Jamaica Composite Index rising 18.35 points to 170,915.88, the JSE Market Index gaining 16.42 points to 153,871.09 the JSE combined index ending with a gain of 221.95 points to 162,404.47 and the junior market index gained 22.30 points to 1,917.06.
ISP Finance – next junior listing
ISP Finance is an unsecure loan company that is seeking to list on the junior market of the Jamaica stock Exchange with the raising just over $97 million from directors staff and the general public.
The company is now offering 48,982,500 ordinary shares to the public of which 45,900,000 are reserved for directors and employees, at $2 per share. Only a small amount, 3 million units will be available for the general public unless the reserved shares are not fully taken up. Opening Date of the offer is March 21, 2016.
ISP started operating in 2007 and has a number of years of profitability but is yet to wipe out accumulated losses. Currently there are 56 million shares issued to the Chief executive Dennis Smith and his wife. In 2015 the company reported audited profit of $30.7 million before tax but benefited from a refund of captive insurance premium of $12.3 million, excluding this, the company made profit of just $6 million. Additionally, salaries cost fell to $62.5 million from $77.6 million. While 2014 showed a loss of $4.5 million before tax after booking insurance premium of $41.7 million, excluding this amount would result in profit of just over $36 million or earnings per share of 65 cents. The earnings based on 2015 results, adjusted for the one off income, would be 10.7 cents and 65 cents for 2014. The PE based on pretax profit would be 18.7 times 2015 earnings and just 3 times 2014 numbers.
In the first four years of operation the Company’s customers were primarily employees from the security services sector. The Company has since expanded its customer base to other private and public sector workers as well as to micro and small entrepreneurs in the manufacturing, services and distribution sectors.
ISP Finance intends to strategically expand its reach geographically to other areas where there is a concentration of employed individuals and business development, including Montego Bay, Ocho Rios, Mandeville, Spanish Town, Portmore and May Pen.
The Company utilizes cash generated by the business and loans from a variety of sources to fund loans to customers. Indebtedness to banks, financial institutions and other lenders amounts to $218 million as of February 11, 2016.
Since commencing business in February 2007, the Company’s Loan portfolio has grown from approximately $2.5 million to $304 million in 2015 before provision for loan losses. Loan loss provision stood at $62 million at the end of 2015 compared with $44.5 million at the end of 2014. Loan loss expense for 2015 amounted to $18.6 or 7.75 percent of net loans and is favorable compared with Access Financial at 8.9 percent. Interest rates on loans ranges from 50 to 65 percent.
Clifton Cameron is an Independent, Non-executive Director and Chairman of the Board. He was a major owner of Manufacturers Merchant Bank that was acquired by Sagicor Bank.
The results for 2015 looks disappointing with just a small profit but results for 2014 when adjusted for the high level of insurance cost looks very promising. The company is involved in high risk business with loan provisioning amounting to 20 percent of overall loan portfolio an increase from 15.7 percent at the end of 2014. Expansion if not managed well can be costly but they will face strong competition in the market with much bigger companies than themselves.
At the end of 2015 equity capital was negative $7 million with accumulated deficit of $12 million, down from a deficit of $39 million at the end of 2014.
ISP is not the last company slated fro the junior market as IC Insider gathers that Key Insurance Company is also set to offer shares to the public to try and make the junior listing before the end of March.