Scotia Group tops trading on Thursday
The JSE Market Index lost 264.93 points to 97,050.42, the JSE All Jamaican Composite index declining by 296.12 points to close at 107,415.22 but the JSE combined index declined 377.15 points to end at 99,605.19.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator was showing a better reading than Wednesday’s close of 9 to 8, with Thursday’s reading of 12 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 5 with offers that were lower.
In trading, Caribbean Cement closed with 48,780 shares changing hands at $5.45 after slipping 5 cents, Carreras put on 2 cents while trading 26,534 shares at $48.37, Gleaner ended with 30,000 shares changing hands but lost 1 cent to close at $1.07, Grace Kennedy gained 45 cents with only 2,040 units changing hands at $63.95. Hardware and Lumber fell 50 cents to $17.50 with 1,500 shares changing hands, Jamaica Broilers lost 50 cents in trading 1,497 units to end at $5.50, Jamaica Stock Exchange dropped 46 cents in trading 5,400 shares and ended at $6.35. At the close Stocks and Securities offered 982,465 units for sale at $6.80, Kingston Properties climbed $1 to $8 with 2,705 shares, National Commercial Bank rose 10 cents in trading 25,224 shares to close at $29.10, Sagicor Group fell 24 cents with 28,533 units trading to end at $12.61, Scotia Group had 1,419,099 units trading at $23.50, Scotia Investments fell by $2.35 to $27.50 with only 4,217 units. Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference share traded 56,983 units at a loss of 1 cent at $2.98 and Proven Investments 8% preference share ended with 42,500 units trading unchanged at $5.
12 up 12 down on JSE Wednesday
The JSE Market Index lost 137.06 points to 97,315.35, the JSE All Jamaican Composite index declining by 153.20 points to close at 107,711.34 but the JSE combined index declined 273.13 points to end at 99,982.34.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows 9 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 8 with offers that were lower.
In trading, Caribbean Cement closed with 38,245 shares changing hands at $5.50, Carreras traded 12,000 shares but closed with a loss of $2.15 at $48.35, Desnoes & Geddes lost 45 cents in trading 21,600 shares to close at $7.55. Gleaner ended with 13,645 shares changing hands but gained 8 cents at the close to $1.08, Grace Kennedy had 26,700 units changing hands and fell 50 cents to $63.50, Jamaica Broilers remained firm in trading 94,000 units to end at $6. Jamaica Stock Exchange in trading 17,135 shares ended with a gain of 1 cent at $6.81, at the close Stocks and Securities offered 982,865 units for sale at $6.80. Kingston Wharves traded 12,229 shares in closing at $7. The stock traded at a 52 weeks’ intraday high of $7.01, Mayberry Investments traded 123,703 shares to dip 7 cents at $2.53, National Commercial Bank declined by just 1 cents in trading 144,522 shares to close at $29, Proven Investments traded 117,000 shares to close at 21.5 US cents up from the closing price of 19.01 US cents on Tuesday. Sagicor Group fell 10 cents with 1,510,308 units trading to end at $12.85, Sagicor Real Estate Fund closed 1 cent down at $8 after 11,625 shares were exchanged and Scotia Group had 156,455 units trading 25 cents higher at $23.50.
JSE poised to rise on Wednesday
Activity on the Jamaica Stock Exchange picked up with one of the better trading days in terms of the number of securities being active. At the close there were 14 stocks rising, 8 declining as 39 securities changed hands, including 4 that closed at new 52 weeks’ high and ending in 4,671,007 units trading, valued at $73,832,092, in all market segments.
The changes in the market indices were very small with the JSE Market Index gaining just 13.43 points to 97,452.41, theJSE All Jamaican Composite index rising by 15.01 points to close at 107,864.54 but the JSE combined index declined by 4.07 points to end at 100,255.47.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows 14 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and just 3 with offers that were lower, a suggestion that advancing stocks should have the upper hand again on Wednesday.
In trading, Cable & Wireless closed with 1,149,216 units trading to end at 45 cents, Carreras traded 321,462 shares and gained $2.19 to end at $50.50, Desnoes & Geddes gained 44 cents in trading 733,245 shares to close at $8. Gleaner ended with 108,114 shares changing hands but lost 8 cents at the close, Grace Kennedy had 26,700 units changing hands and put on 64 cents to $64, Jamaica Broilers gained 55 cents while trading 8,410 units to end at $6. JMMB Group ended with 20,085 shares trading unchanged at $7.50, Kingston Wharves put on 30 cents in closing at $7 having traded just 2,900 units. Mayberry Investments traded 252,867 shares to close at $2.60 after shedding 30 cents, National Commercial Bank lost 44 cents in trading 1,008,211 shares at $29.01 at the end. 138 Student Living regained the 40 cents it lost recently to close at $4.40 with 20,000 units changing hands, Pan Jamaican dropped $2.70 with 59,230 units to close at $60.80, Proven Investments traded 305,252 shares between 22 US cents and the closing price of 19.01 US cents, for a slight gain at the end. Radio Jamaica closed with a gain of 30 cents to a new 52 weeks’ high of $3.50 with just 4,214 shares changing hands, Sagicor Group was up 55 cents with 191,448 units trading to end at $12.95, Sagicor Real Estate X Fund closed 1 cent higher at a new high of $8.01 after 4,000 shares were exchanged. Scotia Group had 95,808 units trading 10 cents higher at $23.25 and Scotia Investments traded 15,000 shares at $29.85 at the close.
138 Student Living big trades
On a day the junior market reached a new all-time high with 7 stocks advancing and none losing, with 4 stocks closing at new highs, the main market slipped, with only 3 stocks advancing with all losses coming from this market. The markets closed with the prices of 10 stocks rising, 11 declining as 31 securities changed hands, ending in 28,982,879 units trading, valued at $131,346,625, and 7 new 52 weeks’ highs and 1 new low, in all market segments
TheJSE Market Index lost 310.43 points to 97,890.06, the JSE All Jamaican Composite index fell 346.98 points to close at and the 108,353.72 JSE combined index dropped 220.38 points to end at 100,762.69.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows 9 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 8 with offers that were lower. The junior market that recorded all gains showed weakness at the end with 5 stocks closing with lower offers than the last sale and only 2 with bids that were higher.
Stocks trading include, Cable & Wireless with 645,332 shares changing hands with a loss of 1 cent to close at 44 cents. Desnoes & Geddes closing with 870,000 stock units trading at $8, Grace Kennedy had 10,000 shares changing hands at $63.90 to lose 1 cent, Hardware & Lumber closed with 7,147 shares trading to end with a gain of $1 at a new 52 weeks’ high of $19. Investors continue to react to Jamaica Stock Exchange big jump in profits and announcement of a 53 cents dividend as they snapped up the 50,000 stock units on sale and still wanted more with bids at $6.00 to $6.55 to buy 162,000 units. The stock gained 25 cents for the day and closed at $6. JMMB Group saw 179,100 shares trading, to close at $7.26, down 24 cents, 138 Student Living traded 12,202,200 stock units and lost 40 cents to end at $4. Sagicor Group had 16,457 shares trading with a gain of 24 cents to end at a new 52 weeks’ high of $12.30, the stock closed with a bid of $13.20 to buy 1,000 shares, posted at 12:24 pm on Wednesday. Sagicor Real Estate Fund traded 63,800 stock units at $7.60, Scotia Group had 31,000 shares trading, to close with a 10 cents loss at $24.40, Scotia Investments fell $3.57 with 6,300 stock units trading, to end at $26.28. Seprod lost 50 cents with 6,888 shares trading, to close at $15.49, Proven Investments traded 229,035 stock units at 21 US cents, Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.50% preference share trading 1,401,000 units at $2.03 while 138 Student Living preference share traded 12,000,000 units at $5 and Proven Investments 8% preference share traded 42,955 units at $5.
JSE profit surged – 2016 could be big
Jamaica Stock Exchange reported a huge jump in first quarter earnings showing profit of $87 million or 62 cents, up from a loss of $3 in 2014, after tax. Revenues jumped from $82 million to $253 million, on the back of 10 fold increase in cess, due to primarily to the transfer of ownership of the controlling interest in Scotia Group, from the Canadian parent, to one set up to own the Caribbean entities directly.
Total cess income jumped to $161 million compared to only $15 million. Access Financial managing director switched ownership of his shares to a company, resulted in a transaction over the exchange of $1 billion and Pan Jamaican Investments had a $1.3 billion transaction in March. While the latter two unusual transactions would have increased the cess around $12 million, the cess for Scotia Group is estimated by IC Insider at around $120 million, leaving around $40 million as cess from normal ongoing operational activities. Trading values grew by 27 percent in the first quarter, including the two transactions in March. Fee income which rose by 67 percent would have been partially impacted by the big one off transactions, but increased value traded and a slight increase in listing fees would also have helped.
In the second quarter to mid May trading has increased 333 percent to $2.6 billion, the amount is equal to the total value traded for the entire second in 2014. The increased value of trading will lead to increased fees. In the 2014 second quarter, income from cess was only $10 million and fee income $45.5 million. Not only will the cess rake in more funds from the increased volume of trading now on the way but also from an increase in the rate charged for cess over the 2014 level.
While the increased trading activity so far will lead to increased fees for the second quarter, the potential income will be no more than around $100-120 million and will be sufficient to produce a profit for the quarter and help in lifting profit for the full year beyond $1 per share.
Looking forward, with more unit trust schemes being set up there will be more demand for stocks to satisfy the demand of equity funds. The Stock Exchange is poised to take over repo trading and acting as the registrar for them and result in additional fee income is going in the not too distant future, also of great import is that rising stock values increases the base for listing fees to be levied in 2016.
The exchange has cash and investments of $500 million with a working capital ratio of 2:1 and equity of $650 million. The stock remains IC Insider BUY RATED and is now available at $3.50 which it traded at on Friday, but won’t remain that way forever and investors should be buying this one for big long-term gains.