Trading started in Express Catering shares on Friday on the Junior Market, with the stock enjoying strong demand up to the $3 level. New information obtained this past week from the prospectus resulted in the earnings for this company being upgraded and it is included in the TOP stocks.
Importantly for Express Catering, the prospectus states that effective at the end on of May, the contract that gave rise to the payment of management fees was cancelled. The amount, the equivalent to 9 percent of revenues or roughly US$1.4 million will no longer be paid and should go towards boosting the bottom-line, and should result in the earnings per share around J$0.26 cents for 2018 fiscal year. The change means it is now a part of the TOP 10 Junior Market stocks. With the strong demand for the stock, it should spend just a short time in the list. The same out turn seems likely for Stationery and Office Supplies (SOS) once it starts to trade, with the IPO being nearly 4 times oversubscribed with more than 1,000 applications received for the 52 million shares.
With the initial public offers now out of the way, trading in the secondary markets saw more energy in the past week than for the previous two, with some stocks that were weak before, finding buying at the lower prices.
ISP Finance price rose to $14 after falling to $11 during the past week, but big declines in the prices of AMG Packaging and Caribbean Cream pushed out ISP as well Caribbean Flavours and CAC 2000 out of the top listing.
The only movement in and out of the TOP 10 in the main market were Sagicor Group that spent just one week a short while ago, coming back, as Cable & Wireless dropped out with a big gain in the price in the past week of 17.5 percent.
The average PE ratio for the Junior Market Top stocks is down at 6.6 with SOS in at a PE of 5 times 2017 earnings. The PE for the main market TOP 10, holds at 6.7. The average PE for the overall main market, remains at 13 and 12 for Junior Market, based on 2017 estimated earnings.
At the close of the week, IC Insider.com’s TOP 10 Junior Market stocks now trade at an average discount of 45 percent to the Junior Market average, while those in the main market are trading at a 49 percent discount, to the average of the market, leaving stocks with room for growth in the months ahead.
Last week IC Insider indicated that two stocks to watch were Cable & Wireless with the price around support level and NCB Financial with very limited number of stocks currently being offered. Both stocks bounced with the former rising over 17 percent to 94 cents and NCB rising to $75 from $71.50. Active supply for NCB is very low currently and technical chart suggests a big break out for it very soon. NCB is to be watched for a possible break towards $80 and Express Catering to well over $3.
Over $487m chased Stationery company IPO
More than 1,000 investors are expected to have applied for shares in the latest initial public offer to hit Jamaica stock market.
Shares in office suppler, Stationery and Office Supplies which opened to the public for subscription today and closed at just after 9 am, just after opening has been heavily oversubscribed, IC Insider.com has confirmed.
Reports are that up to Tuesday, over 800 applications were received for the just over 50 million shares on offer at $2 each, but up to 11.30 am on Wednesday, the number of applications processed were already at 980 worth $450 million covering 225 million shares. In a release from the company, they stated that as of 12:00pm on Thursday, July 20, 2017, “the subscription was north of $487,000,000 from more than 1,000 applicants.
The Stationery and Office Supplies IPO is the third issue of ordinary shares to be offered to the market in July with all being oversubscribed. The shares are to be listed on the Junior Market of The Jamaica Stock Exchange.
SOS solidly BUY RATED
Stationery and Office Supplies reported earnings of 26 cents per share for 2016 and IC Insider.com forecast 40 cents pretax for the current year from just over $90 million in pretax profit, a near doubling in profits over the $53 million reported in 2016.
Revenues increased 11 percent in 2013, just 5 percent in next year, 14 percent in 2015 and 12 percent in 2016 and 20 percent for the first six months of 2017, hitting $702 million in 2016 and seems on target to get to around $850 million for 2017.
Pre-tax Profit in 2016, pre-tax profits jumped 279.5 percent to end at $53 million compared to only $14 million in 2015, and $8 million in 2014.
Improvement in the Company’s revenues has been attributable to organic expansion driven by the achievement of deeper penetration in the market for the Company’s products and services but inflation and devaluation of the Jamaican dollar versus the United States currency would also play roles. Improved profit and cash flow generated in the last two years helped to fund increased inventory making more choices available to customers and that is reflected in a noticeable pick-up in sales. The Company has expanded its product offerings, adding to the list of brands it distributes and venturing into manufacturing its own brands of furniture – Image and Torch.
Gross profit as a percentage of sales was a strong 48 percent in 2016, coming from 43 percent in 2015 and 44.55 percent in 2014. Lower cost of sales led to an improved gross profit position of $339 million in 2016, which 26.09 percent increase over that earned in 2015 and 10 percent more in 2015 over 2014.
As at the 31 March 2017, SOS reported first quarter revenues of $220 million, 20.7 percent more than the $182 million reported in the corresponding period for 2016. Cost of sales as a proportion of revenue remained in line with the FY 2016 representing 50.66 percent of total revenue; this percentage was however slightly higher than the 48.75 percent for all of 2016. The company reported pretax profits of $30 million compared to $29.5 million in Q1 2016. A number of factors impacted the 2016 results that resulted in higher profits than would normally be the case as such the 2017 profit are better than the figures suggest. In effect the 2016 first quarter could be around $20 million from normal ongoing operation.
Gross profit for the three month period ended 31 March 2017 was $108.64 million or 16.2 percent more than the $93 million reported in 2016. SOS also reported an increase in administrative costs of 21 percent to $53 million and selling expenses climbed 37.5 percent to $18 million.
Total assets were valued at J$498 million at the March this year comprising current assets of $243 million. Inventories stood at $117 million, receivables $93 million and cash of J$12 million. Total liabilities amounted to J$231 million, with trade and other payables of J$78 million. Shareholders equity stood at $270 million or $1.35 per share.
The company will benefit greatly from listing and sales to climb above recent levels form the increased exposure that will be gained from listing on an ongoing basis as well as the increased working capital that will provide additional choices for customers and help fuel increased sales. IC Insider.com accords the stock BUY RATED with the price to rise sharply after the stock list.