Iron Rock tops Junior Market performance


Iron Rock Insurance is the top performing stock to the end of October on the Jamaica Stock Exchange Junior Market with a rise of 75 percent following b full year results for 2023 as it bettered the performance with increased revenues and profits for the six months to June.

The market ended the year to date with ten stocks gaining 21 percent and over while the Junior Market index fell 0.9 percent for the year to date. Overall 19 stocks gained and 29 declined. The main feature of rising stocks is due to increased profits and reinforced the concept that profit performance is the major driver of stock prices.
Blue Power was the second best performer up 62 percent followed by Everything Fresh with a gain of 59 percent resulting from a b turnaround in profits, Caribbean Brokers ended with a 49 percent pop and Elite Diagnostic 34 percent, with the company posting b fourth quarter results to June.
Edufocal delivered a huge 78 percent fall for investors, followed by MFS Partners, CAC 2000 fell 43 percent KLE Group 32 percent and Spur Tree 31 percent. The sharp decline in price is primarily due to companies making losses or with profits falling below the prior year.

Caribbean Assurance Brokers up 73%

The Jamaica Stock Exchange Main and Junior Markets recorded mild declines for the year to the end of May, at the same time the Top 10 performing stocks all posted double digit gains with Caribbean Assurance Brokers landing a 73 percent increase to be the best performing stock in both markets.
Three of the top performing Main Market stocks migrated from the Junior Market, two this year and one at the end of May last year. Lasco Distributors ended as the best performing stock in the Main Market with a 44 percent gain, followed by Wigton Windfarms with 35 percent, with demand coming in to buy based on the removal of ownership restriction and General Accident another former Junior Market stock that migrated last year, up 34 percent, with profit reported in the 2023 audited accounts beating expectations and followed by 30 percent rise in the 2024 first quarter profit before taxation. First Rock gained 32 percent and Lasco Manufacturing with improved full year results over 2023 posted gains of 27 percent.
In the Main Market, Radio Jamaica is down 39 percent and Palace Amusement with a decline of 29 percent were the worst performers, the former reporting a loss for the nine months to December last year and Palace that came under selling pressure. Pulse Investment lost 19 percent and the Sagicor Group 15 percent.
In the Junior Market, Dolphin Cove is the second best performing stock with a gain of 37 percent based on improved profit and increased dividend payment and Blue Power is up 30 percent, ending as the number three winner, following improving profit. Honey Bun with improved full year and first half year results gained 23 percent followed by Derrimon Trading up 19 percent. Edufocal fell 48 percent to be the worst performing Junior Market stock followed by MFS Partners with a fall of 47 percent and CAC 2000 down 31 percent, following continued poor results. Also declining are Fontana down 22 percent and Limners and Bards had a fall of 21 percent
Helping the performance is a big jump in the volume and value of stocks traded in the Main Market with the Junior Market suffering from reduced trading compared with last year.

62% Junior Market stocks gained in 2022

The strong start for Jamaican stocks faltered after interest rates on Treasury bills peaked in April, sending the market into reverse from then until year end. Regardless the Junior Market index posted a 16.3 percent gain for the year, but 62 percent of the stocks recorded gains in 2022.
The market peaked at a record high in early May, but it ended the year with 29 stocks with gains compared with 18 losers that fell from 4 percent to 54 percent, with ISP Finance being the worst performer, followed by a 45 percent fall in Mailpac and 40 percent for tTech, with five 2022 IPO stocks being in the TOP15. Fosrich bolted 312 percent for the year to be the leading stock on the overall JSE market in 2022.
The 2022 new listing, Spur Tree Spices, came in at number 2, an ICInsider.com 2022 TOP 15 selection, posted gains of 250 percent. MFS Partners, formerly SSL Venture Capital, came in at number three with 202 percent following the acquisition by a new majority owner and a new business model and Stationery and Office Supplies, an ICTOP15 pick, came in with gains of 145 percent after robust increases in revenues and profit for the year.
The Main Market declined at the end of the year, with the JSE Main Index down 10.2 percent after it struggled to rise a mere two percent by mid-May at its peak for the year.
Technical tools forecast likely market developments well ahead of when they do occur. Junior Market performance was telegraphed from January 2022 by the attached technical chart showing trendlines pointing to a level to a likely high for 2022 beyond 3,800 points. The market index exceeded the upper end in February and remained there until July and pulled below it in the second half of the year ending up just below the lower level in the Middle of November with an initial public offering that drained resources from the secondary market.