Big gains for Trinidad stocks to May

May 26, 2026 by
The Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange suffered four years of decline, resulting in the T&T Composite index losing 37 percent and the ALL T&T Index declining by a more significant 48.52 percent since the start of 2022 to the end of 2025. For the first five months this year, the market has clawed back a small bit of the loss, with Composite index rising 5.72 percent since the end of last year and the ALL T&T Index rising 4.92 percent.

ICInsider.com returns with an updated PE Chart, with historical and projected earnings to assist investors in navigating stock selection.

Since the start of 2026, Republic Holdings rose $4.02 to $107.25, First Citizens gained $3.02 to $37, National Enterprises more than doubled, jumping $3.50 to $5.50, Trinidad and Tobago NGL surged $7.41 to $10.05, Medcorp dropped $7 to $41, Scotiabank lost $2.49 to end at $45.50 and Endeavor Holdings slipped $2.44 to close at $16.

The market suffered, with several companies posting reduced profits during 2025 and the first quarter this year. Those with increased profits showed mostly mild changes. The same is not the case with Uniiever that reported a major turnaround in profit in the March quarter, suggesting big gains are ahead for the stock price, with the PE ratio at just 10 based on this year’s earnings.  

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Another steady week for Trinidad stocks

November 1, 2024 by
In a holiday shortened week the Composite Index of the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange closed the week higher, at the same time that the All Trinidad index slipped just over 1 point, with prices of 7 stocks falling and six rising.

Trading left the PE ratios of the majority of stocks to be attractively prices with big upside gains ahead.
The average PE ratio of the market is 9.8 versus 10.7 last week compared to 5.3 based on the current year’s earnings. The huge difference between the two shows the undervalued level of the market currently is and the extent of the upside that lies ahead.
The only winning stocks of note for the week are Scotiabank up $2.15 to $58.50, Unilever Caribbean with a gain of 75 cents and Guardian Holdings with a gain of 26 cents. Calypso Investment Fund lost 40 cents to close at $23.60 and LJ Williams lost 22 cents in closing at $1.27.
Stocks that could gain more than 100 percent when the market comes back to life, include, First Caribbean with a possible gain of 250 percent, but the high level of potential supply may stifle this stock from achieving its full potential, Guardian Holdings at 500 percent, Republic Holdings at 110 percent, Massy Holdings at 120 percent, Trinidad Cement with 270 percent, Eric Solis 400 percent and One Caribbean Media with 300 percent.

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More losses for attractive Trinidad stocks

October 25, 2024 by
The Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange closed the week with just 2 points lost in the major market indices but with prices of 10 stocks falling and six rising following last week that ended with 7 stocks rising and 5 declining. Guardian Holdings, One Caribbean Media and Republic Financial closed on Friday at 52 weeks’ lows.
Trading left the PE ratios of the majority of stocks to be very attractive with big upside gains ahead.

The average PE ratio of the market is 10.7 compared to 5.4 based on the current year’s earnings. The huge difference between the two shows the undervalued level of the market currently is and the extent of the upside that lies ahead.

The only winning stocks of note for the week is Scotiabank up 35 cents to $56.35. Ansa McAl gave up the $2.79 gained last week to close at $60. Angostura Holdings lost 50 cents to end at $16 and West Indian Tobacco fell 35 cent to $6.15, a 52 weeks’ low.

Several stocks could gain more than 100 percent when the market comes back to life, these include, First Caribbean with a possible gain of 250 percent, Guardian Holdings at 500 percent, Republic Holdings at 120 percent, Massy Holdings at 120 percent, Trinidad Cement with 270 percent, Eric Solis 400 percent and One Caribbean Media with 300 percent.

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Profit at Republic financial in major recovery

August 9, 2021 by

The Trinidadian based Republic Financial Holdings put in a spirited performance in the third quarter to June this year, with profit rising an impressive 54 percent after tax to $378 million from $245 million to June 2020, with profit due to shareholders of the company climbing to $349 million, up 51 percent from $231 million in 2020.
Profit rose an impressive 32 percent after tax to $1.13 billion from $854 million for the nine months to June 2020, with profit due to company shareholders of $1.04 billion up 34 percent from $774 million in 2020.
While operating revenues, net of interest cost jumped 15 percent to $1.43 billion, operating expenses rose a mere 2 percent from $820 million to $837 million, resulting in operating profit popped 39 percent to $595 million, after $1.4 million in contribution from associated companies. Amounts set aside for credit losses rose from $74 million to $107 million in the quarter, pushing pretax profit up 37 percent to $487 million from $355 million. Taxation for the quarter was relatively flat with that of 2020, at $110 million.
For the nine months to June, operating revenues net of interest expense inched to $4.3 billion from $4.23 billion. Operating expenses slipped marginally from $2.574 million to $2.559 billion and operating profit rose 6 percent to $1.76 billion from $1.656 billion, with $4 million in contribution from associated companies in both years. Provision for credit losses moved from $346 million to $382 million in the nine months, putting pretax profit up 26 percent to $1.5 billion from $1.2 billion. Taxation for the period ended at $382 million, up from $346 million in 2020.
While profit shows good improvement over 2020, it lags 2019 earnings by a small margin, but things generally seem to be improving, with 2022 likely to see a move forward for profit. The group earned $6.37 per share for the nine months period. Management did not think it important to provide investors with the earnings per share for the quarter and did not report it. Based on the issued shares of 162.53 million units, earnings per share for the June quarter amounts to $2.15. The group should end up earning around $9 per share for the year and now trades around 15 times the current year’s earnings at the last traded price of $138 on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange.
While the overall numbers appear to be a good turnaround from a Covid-19 impact in 2020, the group that operates within Trinidad and the wider Caribbean and Ghana in Africa showed mixed fortunes in the various locations. Segment profit rose a strong 43 percent from $516 million in the home country to $739 million in 2021, with flat operating income of $2.04 billion. Barbados contributed profit of $178 million on revenues of $421 million, up from a profit of $139 in 2020 from revenues of $403 million. Revenues and profits were down in Suriname, with revenues falling from $155 million to $122 million and profit collapsing from $46 million down to $17 million. The Eastern Caribbean was slightly better, with revenues rising from $488 million to $501 million but profit suffered from a reduction from $177 million to $145 million. Guyana suffered a reduction in both revenues and profit as operating income declined from $296 million to $282 million and profit fell to $124 million from $143 million. The Cayman Islands division enjoyed a slight bounce in operating revenues of $485 million from $482 in 2020, with profit surging from $100 million to $166 million. The British Virgin Islands operations that were acquired from Scotiabank in 2020 delivered $110 million in operating revenues with none in 2020 and achieved a profit of $29 million. Ghana delivered a profit of $118 million from $77 million in 2020, with revenues that rose from $318 million in 2020 to $356 million.
 Republic controls assets of $108 billion with shareholders’ equity of $10.7 billion. Customer deposits amount to $92 billion and loans advanced of $55 billion, Investment securities amount to $19 billion.

All amounts are in Trinidad and Tobago dollars. 

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Jamaica’s FX inflows surpass 2020 flows

March 8, 2021 by

There is a sharp surge in the earnings of foreign exchange in the first two months of this year and the first week of March for Jamaica over the similar period despite the impact that the Covid pandemic has had on business in the country and, in particular the tourism industry.
Data out of Bank of Jamaica shows purchasing by Authorized dealers and Cambios for the year to March 4 amounts to $777 million US$103 million more than in 2020, while selling was just $33 million more in 2021 than in 2020. This development is a huge revelation with the tourism sector, a large foreign exchange sector operating around a third of capacity compared to a full capacity for the similar period last year.
Trading for last week’s Friday resulted in purchases of US$38.5 million and selling of US$60 million against 2020 purchases on the same day of $34.5 million and sales at $47.7 million in all currencies. On Thursday, purchases totalled US$63,861,970 and sales US$59,145,237, well ahead of the same day in 2020.
On Wednesday, purchases amounted to US$54,236,293 and sales US$63,794,632, with the amounts purchased being well ahead of last year’s figure but with sales just $2 million less than last year. Tuesday’s purchases amounted to US$62,667,923, with sales of US$71,359,269, both being much higher than for the similar day in 2020. On Monday, US$67,469,686 were purchased while US$61,868,091 were sold, falling below the 2020 trades.
Last year, trading on the first Monday in March brought in US$73,900,712 while selling amounted to US$73,904,949. Tuesday’s purchases amounted to US$44,971,292 and selling US$65,382,991, while on Wednesday purchases were US$55,679,393 and sales US$79,738,789 and on Thursday, March 5 last year, dealers purchased US$53,369,689 from the system and sold US$47,373,166.
Financial institutions have been selling US dollar short as demand weakens and the rate is appreciating. Monday last week saw just US$2.5 million sold in excess of purchases, but National Commercial Bank went short by nearly US$7 million and JMMB Bank by $3 million. Traders went short on Tuesday to the tune of US$15 million with NCB, the major short seller with US$9 million and BNS, FCIB, JMMB Bank, Sagicor and VMBS, making up the bulk of the rest.

NCB is a big player in the FX market.

On Wednesday, net selling amounted to just over US$12 million, with the big net sellers being First Caribbean International Bank, First Global Bank, JMMB Bank, NCB and Sagicor Bank.
On Thursday, there were no overall net sales as purchases exceeded sales, but Scotia Bank, JN Bank and Sagicor Bank sold more than they bought on that day.
One usually reliable and knowledgeable source indicates that from where he sits, “increased inflows are coming from remittances, entities selling US dollars to pay taxes, increased BPO flows and from some exporters”. The high level of short selling is based on demand being soft currently as financial institutions take advantage of the higher rate that the Jamaican dollar sits at. Others are confirming increased flows from the BPO sector that has grown over 2020, increased remittances and exports. Additional flows may be coming from entities or individuals who bought last year in anticipation of the local dollar running away but may have decided to cash in with the price peaking around the $150 million mark.
On Monday, March 8, dealers bought a total of US$43.3 million in all currencies and sold US$59 million, with short selling of US dollars amounting to $20 million and the selling rate for the US dollar ending at J$148.97. The major short-sellers are BNS, US$3 million, Citibank, US$7.6 million, JMMB Bank, US$2.5 million, JN Bank US$US$2.3 million and Victoria Mutual, US$1.8 million.

Filed Under: Feature Stories, FX Market Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

More gains likely for Jamaican Dollar

September 9, 2020 by

The Jamaican dollar hit a low of $151.27 against the US dollar in August and has rebounded since to trade at $145.3 on Wednesday with one technical indicator showing that it could appreciate further.
The local currency has been on an upward rise since December 2018 as it meanders slowly upwards to hit the low point in August. At the low, traders pushed it beyond the channel top, after moving within the channel as depicted by the yellow lines. It could return to the support line at around $138 later in the year but it could face resistance at the $144 region that it is within reach of currently.
In Wednesday’s trading, dealers sold $64.8 million at $145.306 having bought US$55.8 million at an average rate of $144.43.  In trading, Scotia Bank bought US$8.5 million more than they sold. First Global, JMMB Bank, National Commercial Bank and Victoria Mutual Building Society sold far more US dollars than the bought.

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