National Commercial Bank’s agreement November 2015 to purchase a 29.99 percent stake in Guardian Holdings Limited is much closer to completion with approval given by the two most important countries in the region.
According to a note in NCB’s March quarter results “the approvals in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago have been obtained, but a few others remain to be received but a few others remain to be received, following which it is expected that the transaction will be completed.”
The acquisition of the shares will be done through a private sale of shares from a group of large shareholders. The successful completion of the transaction required regulatory approval from territories in which both entities operate.
NCB reported profit for the six months ended March of $6 billion or $2.44 per stock unit an increase of $594 million or 11 percent and for the quarter profit of $3.6 billion was realised or earnings per share of $1.47. The group is on target to enjoy earnings for the full year, in the region of $5.50 per share.
Guardian acquisition near complete
JSE slip in early trading – Thursday
Trading in the mid-morning session on the Jamaica Stock Exchange saw decline in the main and junior market indices with the advance decline ratio being nearly even.
The leading trades in the morning session, include Cable and Wireless with 1,502,355 units, Jetcon Corporation with 836,487 units, Lasco Manufacturing 914,053 shares National Commercial Bank with 540,045 units ahead of today’s release of the March quarter results and dividend announcement.
After 90 minutes of trading, on Thursday, the average volume traded amounts to 149,862 units per active stock, compared to an average of 157,938 units traded in the mid-morning session on Wednesday. A total of 29 securities accounting for 4,346,000 shares changed hands as 7 stocks gained and 6 declined.
The market saw the all Jamaica Composite Index slipped 506.63 points to 168,815.53, the JSE Market Index fell 453.01 points to 151,993.07, the JSE combined index ended with a fall of 529.58 points to 162,523.11 and the junior market index declined 10.66 points to 2,099.24.
JSE ends week with gains – Friday
Carib Cement jumped $4.66 to close at $24.66 on Friday after posting strong profit.
A total of 40 securities changed hands, in all market segments, with 19 stocks rising while 8 declined. Trading amounted to 16,161,211 units valued at $141,833,561, in all markets, with the junior market accounting for 2,723,962 units valued at $12,229,768.
The JSE Market Index gained 282.48 points to end at 148,421.03, the all Jamaica Composite Index rose 315.92 points to 164,820.68 and the JSE combined index jumped 1,900.09 points, to close at 159,361.81 as junior market stocks contributed much to the rise.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading showed 17 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 6 with lower offers.At the end of market activities, Cable & Wireless rose 5 cents to close at $1.35, in trading 5,142,218 units, Carreras ended trading with a loss of 49 cents while trading 2,030 shares, to close at $64.50, 1,834 Investments traded 246,750 shares at $1.13, Jamaica Broilers had 8,350 units changing hands, to close with a gain of 45 cents at $14.50. Jamaica Producers jumped $2.93 to end at $34.93 but only 1,000 shares traded. JMMB Group had 30,236 shares changing hands with a loss of 52 cents to end at $9, Kingston Wharves traded 5,000 shares to close at $11.50 after rising 20 cents,
National Commercial Bank traded 24,476 shares to close at $40, Pulse Investments traded 12,996 units as the price slipped by 50 cents to $2.50. Radio Jamaica traded 1,895,681 shares to gain 7 cents to close at $1.20, Sagicor Group fell 15 cents in ending with 76,203 shares changing hands to close at $22.30 Sagicor Real Estate Fund traded 23,300 shares to close at $10 after losing 20 cents, Scotia Group closed unchanged at $30 with 125,253 units changing hands. Scotia Investments ended at $27.50 with 49,431 shares trading, Supreme Ventures gained 50 cents with 1,007,250 shares trading to end at $5.50. Proven Investments ordinary share traded 43,000 units to gain 2 US cents to close at 19 us cents and JMMB Group 7.5% preference shares traded 91,582 units at $1.05.
Just 6 stocks traded on TTSE – Thursday
The Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange more losses on Thursday but the total value of trading climbed with 280,282 shares valued at $10,304,944 changing hands. The market closed with a mere 6 securities trading, as weakness in the overall market continues. At the close, 2 stocks rose, 2 declined, while 2 remained unchanged.
Quotes for Republic Holdings, Massy Holdings and Scotiabank remain well below their last selling price and are likely to take a big bite out of the indices when next they trade.
The Composite Index declined by 0.27 points to close at 1,130.97, the All T&T Index fell 0.52 points to close at 1,807.81 and the Cross Listed Index remained unchanged at 60.32.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator ended with 5 stocks with the bid higher than the last selling price and 8 with offers that were lower.
Gains| Clico Investment Fund rose by 1 cent in closing at $22.56 with 129,520 shares valued at $2,921,971 and Trinidad and Tobago NGL rose 2 cents to $19.53 and closed with 27,964 shares trading for a value of $545,720.
Losses| ANSA McAL closed with a loss of 3 cents while 106,653 shares changed hands for a value of $6,716,975 at $62.79, Guardian Holdings had 5,995 shares changing hands to end at $12.90 after losing 10 cents.
Firm Trades| National Commercial Bank had 10,000 units changing hands at $2.40 and West Indian Tobacco closed at $126.28 as 150 units changed hands.
Slow start to Friday’s trading
unlike Thursday when there were some large trades trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange got off to a slow start on Friday,
with the largest trade being National Commercial Bank with 139,796 shares trading at $40.48 and Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.50% preference share with 1,331,340 units at $2.15.
Trading saw all major indices rising after 75 minutes of trading on Friday with an average of 73,514 per active stock traded, up from an average of 398,593 units traded in the mid-morning session on Friday.
A total of 22 securities compared to 33 on Thursday, accounting for 1,617,302 shares changed hands at 10.45 am as 4 stocks gained and 6 declined.
The market saw the all Jamaica Composite Index dropped by 1,257.04 points to 165,565.74, the JSE Market Index slipped 1,124.00 points to 149,087.24 the JSE combined index ending with a fall of 946.57 points to 157,122.37 and the junior market index increasing by 9.37 points to 1,834.87.
Rise in TTSE index – Tuesday
Ansa Merchant Bank traded at a new high on TTSE
At the end of trading, the Composite Index gained 0.74 points to close at 1,133.90, the All T&T Index rose 1.55 points to close at 1,814.08 and the Cross Listed Index eased by 0.01 at 60.26.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator ended with 6 stocks with the bid higher than the last selling price and 10 with offers that were lower.
Gains| Ansa Merchant Bank traded 50,000 units valued at $1,975,000 to close with a gain of 55 cents at close at a 52 weeks’ high of $39.50, while Trinidad and Tobago NGL closed with a gain of 30 cents at $20.50 as 41,789 units traded valued at $855,405.
Losses| Clico Investment Fund fell 4 cents and ended at $22.51 with 40,238 shares valued at $906,445 changing hands, First Citizens had 81,751 shares carrying a value of $2,777,971
changing hands with the price declining by 1 cent to end at a 52 weeks’ low of $33.98.Firm Trades| ANSA McAL contributed 125,000 shares valued at $7,875,000 in closing at $63, FirstCaribbean International Bank traded 14,000 shares to close at $6.50, Grace Kennedy traded with 100 shares changing hands at $5.15, National Commercial Bank traded 96,268 shares at $2.40. Sagicor Financial closed at $7.01 with 29,817 units changing hands and Trinidad Cement traded 9,500 shares to close at $3.50.
TCL $33.8m trade dominates TTSE – Monday
TCL dominated trading on Monday
At the end of trading, the Composite Index gained 0.12 points to close at 1,133.16, the All T&T Index rose 0.23 points to close at 1,812.53 and the Cross Listed Index remained at 60.27.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator ended with 5 stocks with the bid higher than the last selling price and 9 with offers that were lower.
Gains| Sagicor Financial gained 1 cent and closed at $7.01 with 3,695 units changing hands while
Trinidad and Tobago NGL closed with a gain of 10 cents at $20.20 as 5,200 units traded.Firm Trades| Ansa Merchant Bank traded 466 units at $38.95, Clico Investment Fund ended at $22.55 with 2,800 shares changing hands, Guardian Media traded just 50 shares to close at $19.75, National Commercial Bank traded 40,000 shares at $2.40. Trinidad Cement traded 9,566,498 shares valued at $33,482,743 to close at $3.50 and West Indian Tobacco added 403 shares to close at $126.28.
Lower profits at Guardian
Guardian Holdings reported lower profit for 2015 of TT$335 million or $1.14 per share compared to TT$341 million or $1.47 per share. While the bottom-line was lower in 2015 profit from continuing operations were higher at $334 million versus $303 million.
Insurance premium income rose to $5.17 billion from $5.03 billion while net profits from insurance activities jumped to TT$662 million from $490 million. Investment income was flat at $772 million but gains from investment securities dropped from $86 million to just $6 million. Expenses were held tightly with operating expenses rising 6.3 percent to $962 million while finance cost rose 8 percent to $141 million.
Guardian has assets of TTS22.18 billion at the end of 2015 with financial assets and loans of $16.624 billion. Borrowed funds amount to $2.15 billion and equity capital ended at $2.73 billion.
The stock last traded on the Trinidad Stock Exchange at $13.80 for a PE just below 10 times earnings. IC Insider considers the stock to be undervalued but with the Trinidad’s economy in recession and with the bulk of Guardian business emanating in that country it will be difficult for revenues to rise in a meaningful manner and deliver consistent increased profits.
Guardian Holdings is primarily involved in the business of life insurance, investments and general insurance with operations throughout the Caribbean. In 2015, National Commercial Bank agreed subject to regulatory approval acquire just under 30 percent of the issued shares from a group of shareholders.
No end in sight for TTSE slide
Massy trades at a new low on Wednesday
The market closed with the Composite Index declined by 5.30 points to close at 1,130.15, the All T&T Index fell by 10.53 points to close at 1,805.98 and the Cross Listed Index remained at 60.35.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator ended with 5 stocks with the bid higher than the last selling price and 7 with offers that were lower. More telling is the fact that about a third of the listings have no bids to buy, a clear sign of a weakness.
Gains| Unilever Caribbean gained 1 cent to close at $66 with 48 shares trading and West Indian Tobacco traded 350 shares and gained 1 cent in ending at $126.28.
Losses| Agostini’s traded 1,000 shares at $17.02 with a fall of 2 cent in trading at $17.01, Clico Investments Fund ended with a volume of 23,885 shares valued at $538,607 to end with a gain of 1 cent at $22.55, Guardian Holdings ended trading 10,703 shares but declined by 15 cents to close at $13.80. Massy Holdings ended with 72,398 shares valued at $3,981,164 changing hands as the price dropped $1.01 to end at a 52 weeks’ low of $54.98,
National Enterprises closed with 7,388 shares changing hands at a 52 weeks’ low of $9 after falling by 49 cents. Republic Financial Holdings dropped 1 cent to close at $111.99 with 150 shares changing hands and Scotiabank closed with 392 shares changing hands with a loss of 6 cents to end at a 52 weeks’ low of $57.43.Firm Trades| Firstcaribbean International Bank closed at $6.50 with 114,000 units valued at $741,000 changing hands and National Commercial Bank traded 43,862 shares to end at $2.40.
TTSE falters again – Monday
The slide on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange continued on Monday as trading ended with 170,815 shares valued at $1,057,665 changing hands. A total of 10 securities traded with 3 falling, 2 gaining while 5 remained unchanged. One stock closed at a 52 weeks’ low.
The market closed with the Composite Index declined by 3.87 points to close at 1,138.76, the All T&T Index fell by 7.34 points to close at 1,824.12 and is down by 6.3 percent since the start of the year and the Cross Listed Index declined by 0.04 points to 60.21.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator ended with 5 stocks with the bid higher than the last selling price and 7 with offers that were lower. More telling is the fact that about a third of the listings have no bids to buy.
Gains| Guardian Holdings ended trading just 100 shares but rose 10 cents to close at $13.80 and Trinidad and Tobago NGL ended trading 5,705 shares, but rose 1 cent to end at $19.06.
Losses| JMMB Group contributed 7,164 shares valued but lost 2 cents in closing at 57 cents, National Enterprises closed with 11,640 shares changing hands at to close at a 52 weeks’ low of $10 after falling by 50 cents 
and West Indian Tobacco traded 829 share but lost 2 cents in ending at $126.28.
Firm Trades| Ansa Merchant Bank traded 1,028 units at $38.95, Clico Investments Fund ended with a volume of 12,700 shares to end at $22.55, Firstcaribbean International Bank closed at $6.50 with only 2,516 units changing hands. Grace Kennedy traded 53,773 shares to end at $5.20 and National Commercial Bank traded 86,000 shares at $2.40.