Consolidated Bakeries suffered a reversal in fortunes in their first quarter results to March this year, with Easter falling in mid-April compared to the end of March last year, resulting in revenues falling to $228 million from $261 million last year and profit falling from $22.8 million down to $5.8 million in the latest quarter.
Earnings per share end at 3 cents in 2017 and 10 cents in 2016, for the fiscal year ending December last year the company reported just 5 cents per share in earnings. In the December quarter the company doubled Selling and Distribution cost resulting in a rise of $22 million while revenues rose by just $3 million pulling a profit of $30 million at the third quarter down to just $10 million. For the March quarter, cost in this area came in at $33 million closer to the quarterly spend for 2016 but for December quarter with spend of $43 million.
Administrative, Selling and Distribution cost were effectively flat during the quarter, at $76 versus $73 million in the 2016 period. Gross profit margin declined to just over 36 percent compared to 37 percent in 2016, but gross profit fell $14 million to $82.4 million.
In the 2016 June quarter, revenues were just $210 million and generated $4.3 million in profit. With Easter bun sales taking place mostly in April, the company should see revenues popping around $60 million and profits by around $20 million for the current quarter.
Consolidated ended with cash funds of $148 million and borrowings of just $128 million with shareholders’ equity standing at $553 million. The company has current assets of $271 million and current liabilities of $159 million.
The stock is listed on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange and last traded on Friday at $2.40 and is down from a high of $4.50 earlier this year.
Bun sales shift hit Consolidated
Junior stocks surge in early trading – Tuesday
The junior market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange surged sharply on Tuesday morning, putting the years’ gains to 5.7 percent, as three juniors stocks traded at new highs. The main market fell appreciably with the All Jamaica composite index falling by nearly 1,000 points, with the other major indices declining as well.
Market activity has been moderate so far and resulted in 33 securities traded at 10:45 am, compared to 31 on Monday. A total of 13 securities advanced and 9 declined, resulting in a volume of 1,528,996 shares changing hands, carrying a value of $12,730,951, compared of 842,68 shares changing hands, carrying a value of $7,961,875 on Monday. The average number of shares traded, amount to 46,333 units versus 27,183 units on Monday.
Market activity was helped by Cargo Handlers trading at a new high of $20 with 27,765 units changing hands, Consolidated Bakeries traded 193,390 at a new high of $2.60 and Derrimon Trading had just 2,500 units trading at a new high of $6.
The all Jamaica Composite Index lost 851.92 points to 212,380.07, the Jamaica Stock Exchange Market Index fell 761.78 points 194,280.11 the Jamaica Stock Exchange combined index dipped 562.69 points to 208,112.16 and the junior market index rose 33.74 points to 2,739.37.
Lasco Distributors hits junior index – Wednesday
Lasco Distributors fell initially to $6.55 and headed back to $7.40 and helped hit the junior market index down by 41 points, but main market stocks also slipped but marginally. The fall in the Lasco share price was in reaction to the company’s first quarter profit after tax of $175.4 million, or 33% more than the same period in 2015.
The market saw Scotia Investments trading 100,000 units at $25.01, JMMB Group 7.50% preference share traded 90,000 units at $1.10, Pan Jamaican Investment had 74,764 shares changing hands at $24.50 and Consolidated Bakeries traded 185,000 units at $2.15.
The all Jamaica Composite Index fell 29.18 points to 176,604.86 the Jamaica Stock Exchange Market Index is down 26.10 points to 158,957.91, the Jamaica Stock Exchange combined index declined 409.09 point to close at 169,565.09 points andthe junior market index dropped 37.51 points to 2,155.92.
Trading at 10:45 am resulted in only 22 securities changing hands, accounting for a volume of 663,102 shares, with 7 securities rising and 7 falling. The average number of shares traded amounts to 30,141 units.
Juniors moved higher – Friday
The bids for 9 stocks closed higher than their last selling prices and 3 ended with lower offers.
At the end of trading, Access Financial Services traded 4,500 units at $17, AMG Packaging rose 40 cents in trading 1,823 shares at $12.40, Caribbean Cream gained 30 cents to end at $4.45, after trading 12,400 shares. Caribbean Flavours gained 65 cents and ended with 33,853 shares changing hands at $7.50, Caribbean Producers traded 5,500 shares to close at $4.10, Consolidated Bakeries traded 10,000 shares to close at $2, C2W Music traded 20,000 shares to end at 43 cents. Derrimon Trading fell 55 cents to $3.30, with 3,000 shares changing hands, General Accident Insurance gained 2 cents while trading 2,000 shares at $2.32, Honey Bun dropped sharply from its recent all-time high of $7.50 by 14 percent, by slashing $1.62 in trading on Friday with 243,212 units changing hands, to end at $5.25. A director sold 2 million units of Jamaican Teas shares with the price falling 10 cents as a total of 2,020,886 shares were traded to close at $3.10, Jetcon Corporation had 280,878 units changing hands at $2.65 after falling 5 cents. Lasco Distributors rose 34 cents in trading 2,800 units to end at $7.99, Lasco Financial closed at $3.20 with 38,500 shares changing hands to gain 4 cents, while Lasco Manufacturing closed at $5.05 with 20,688 shares trading with the price rising 5 cents and Medical Disposables traded 4,000 units at $3.53.
Trading falls for juniors – Thursday
At the close, 7 stocks closed with bids higher than the last selling prices and 3 ended with lower offers. Volume traded is 3,938,670 shares valued at $14,970,710.
At the end of trading in a market, AMG Packaging traded 1,848 shares at $13, Caribbean Cream traded 133,566 units to gain 20 cents and end at $4.20, Consolidated Bakeries rose 8 cents in trading 18,782 shares to close at $1.25, Honey Bun rose $1.20 to end at $17 with 4,000 shares trading. Iron Rock Insurance traded at $3.30 while 9,786 shares changed hands with a gain of 20 cents, ISP Finance had 50,000 shares changing hands and rose 29 cents to close at $2.74, Jamaican Teas traded 5,000 shares and gained 30 cents to end at $4, Jetcon Corporation fell 15 cents to end at $2.70 while 880, 327 units traded. Lasco Distributors rose 5 cents and ended at $7.25 with 272,349 shares trading. Lasco Financial lost 10 cents to close at $3 with 1,397,376 shares changing hands, Lasco Manufacturing rose 15 cents to close at $4.85 with 1,213,474 shares trading and tTech ended with 2,162 units changing hands to end with a gain of 3 cents at $4.18.
Purity hopes for a better 2016
Importantly, the final quarter delivered 11 percent more revenues than in 2014 to reach $200 million up from $180 million. Profit margin slipped in the December quarter, to 32.93 percent from 33.94 percent in the September quarter, helping to depress profit. Finance cost of $888,000 in the September quarter jumped to $3.6 million in the December quarter while selling and distribution cost fell in the quarter by $7.5 million compared to the September quarter but administrative cost rose by $2 million over the above period.
Based on the improved revenue gain in the December quarter and the fact that 2015 had some one-off cost, IC Insider is forecasting 18 cents per share for 2016. The stock last traded on the Jamaica Stock Exchange at $1.21 and would place the PE based on IC Insider’s 2016 estimate at 6.7.
Responding to the results Management released detailed report on developments that led to the 2015 performance, we are “pleased to report that increased marketing efforts, company reorganization and our decision to strategically focus on products with growth potential have yielded encouraging results.”
“Our process began in earnest in 2013, resulting in a considerable growth in sales, despite having been met with strong competition. Our activities over the last few years were focused on strengthening our positions and building sustainable growth, which were substantiated by the growth we witnessed of 30 percent and 9 percent in 2013 over 2012 and 2014 over 2013, respectively. Continuing the growth incline, in 2015, the company registered an overall growth of 3 percent, but witnessed double digit growth in some key product areas. Furthermore, during the last quarter of 2015, sales grew by 11 percent over the same period in 2014.”
“In the year under review, we decided to centre our attention on market spaces, in which we made gains. In order to effectively execute on such a strategy, we discontinued several products which we deemed to have the least growth potential with the end goal being to maximize our returns, while placing the organization on a more competitive growth path. Furthermore, in certain product categories, the company chose not to respond to certain competitive price discounts and other activities.”
“The deletion of certain SKUs from our system came with a one-off cost of $21m to revenues. The addition of technical personnel, reorganization of staff and increased sales staff to service our accounts aggressively positioned our brand in the market place, but resulted in additional staff costs. We also doubled our spending on advertising and promotions from $8.5m to $16.8m, which in 2015, was a strategy utilized to strengthen the brand platform for future growth. Additionally, we continued to spend on fleet and trucks, spending $19 million on motor vehicles. These additions, plus the cost associated with machinery acquisitions accounted for most of the increased cost for travelling and motor vehicle expenses. Delays in new equipment installation and in the introduction of new products also impacted our revenues and cost of goods sold.”
“Although profits declined for the above stated reasons, our capital base remains strong with total equity of $533 million as at December 31, 2015. Our current assets exceed our current liabilities by $128 million, or by more than 140 percent. Our cash and investment position stood at $118 million at the end of 2015. We continued to maintain 38 percent of those cash and cash equivalents in US currency to hedge against depreciation of the Jamaican dollar, particularly as we continue to roll out more capital expansion. Last year, our capital expenditure totalled $52 million, up from $32 million the year before. Our strong cash position also enables us to easily cover debt payments, such as the $22 million portion of long-term debt due in 2016. Additionally, the company’s gross margin improved from 34.2 percent in 2014 to 35 percent last year.”
Sharp drop for juniors – Thursday
The market ended with 8,580,380 units changing hands, valued at $31,720,793 but with the exception trades for the two big Lasco companies, volume was very thin. At the close, 1 security ended with no bid and only 5 securities had no stocks being offered for sale. There were 5 stocks closing with bids that were higher than their last selling prices and none ended with a lower offer.
In trading, Access Financial Services ended with 3,448 units changing hands at $17 after falling by $3, AMG Packaging lost 25 cents with 2,255 units changing hands to close at $11.15, C2W Music had 9,000 shares trading to end at 43 cents. Caribbean Cream that fell $1.23 to $3.27 on Wednesday, did not trade on Thursday but ended with a bid to buy 5,911 units at $4. Caribbean Producers had 5,000 units changing hands to close at $4.50, Consolidated Bakeries traded 2,642 units to end at $1.50, General Accident gained 19 cents in closing at $2.69 with 150,999 shares changing hands, Honey Bun lost 39 cents in trading 2,800 shares to close at $14.61. Lasco Distributors closed with 490,999 units trading to end at $6, Lasco Financial gained 4 cents to end at $3.05 with 24,700 shares changing hands, Lasco Manufacturing ended 55 cents lower in trading 7,880,027 shares to close at $3.50 and tTech traded 7,510 shares to close at $4.25.
Recovery of juniors continue on Tuesday
The market ended with 1,497,753 units changing hands, valued at $7,035,386 and with 1 stock closing at a 52 weeks’ high and one at an intraday high. At the close, 1 security ended with no bid and only 3 securities had no stocks being offered for sale. There were 3 stocks closing with bids that were higher than their last selling prices and none ended with lower offers.
In trading, Access Financial Services traded at an intraday 52 weeks’ high of $21, but fell back to close at $20.20 with 3,900 units changing hands. AMG Packaging had 4,840 units changing hands for a loss of 60 cents, to close at $11.40, Caribbean Cream gained 42 cents to close at $4.50 with 38,200 units trading, Carib Flavours had 1,873 units changing hands at $8.60. Caribbean Producers had 30,000 units changing hands to close with a loss of 5 cents at $4.50, Consolidated Bakeries traded 59,000 units but lost 9 cents to end at $1.50, Derrimon Trading ended with a gain of 30 cents to close at $4.80 while trading just 2,000 units. General Accident gained 20 cents in closing at $2.80 with 21,910 shares changing hands, Honey Bun traded 21,041 shares to close at $14, Jamaican Teas rose 20 cents and ended with 176 units changing hands at $7, Knutsford Express traded 1,000 shares and gained 49 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $19. Lasco Distributors closed with 651,257 units trading to end 40 cents higher at $6, Lasco Financial fell 7 cents to end at $2.95 with 53,279 shares changing hands, Lasco Manufacturing ended 10 cents higher in trading 271,206 shares to close at $4.10, tTech lost 25 cents in trading 10,971 shares to close at $4.25 and Derrimon Trading 11.75% preference share traded 327,100 units at $2.16 after adding 1 cent.