Omni Industries overstates profit per share

February 10, 2025 by
Omni Industries reported incorrect earnings per share for the year to September and for the third quarter with the report with the errors remaining on the Jamaica Stock Exchange to date.

Last year May 250 million new shares were offered to the public, effectively increasing the total issued shares to 2.5 billion units. In a strange twist, the company reported an average number of shares at just 1.402 billion units, far less than the amounts originally issued, instead of approximately 2.376 billion. Accounting standards require that the average number of shares in issue is the weighted number of shares outstanding during the period. The company split the 20.9 million shares before the IPO into 2.25 billion. The effective number of shares from the beginning of January is total after the split, of 2.25 billion.  The 250 million new shares issued in May are to be taken together with the 2.25 billion units to compute the weighted average share issued in computing the earnings per share for the year to date and the total issued shares of 2.5 billion are used to compute the EPS for the quarter as there is no average as all 2.5 billion shares were issued before the quarter started.
The effect of the error is that the critically important earnings per share reported in the quarterly are severely overstated. Instead of 2.7 cents for the quarter and 10.4 cents for the nine months, earnings should be 6 cents for the nine months and 1.5 cents for the September quarter.

The company seems to have used the originally stated capital and computed the average based on that. Stock splits or bonuses do not change the equity capital of a company, all they do is to increase the number of issued shares. There is no averaging of the amounts before and after the split as the new shares in issue replaces the original amount. Only freshly issued shares will result in the need for a weighted averaging of the amounts in issue.
Almost three months have elapsed since those results were posted with the glaring error and it still remains on the website of the Jamaica Stock Exchange. This and other issues are reminders that investors are not well served in Jamaica.

 

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: , ,

SOS to split stocks into 9 units

June 22, 2023 by

Shareholders of Stationery and Office Supplies seem set to enjoy the benefit of splitting existing stock into nine ordinary shares for each they own to take effect and will result in the total number of shares jumping from 250.12 million units to 2.251 billion effective on July 25.
To accommodate the split, shareholders will be asked to vote on a resolution to be tabled at the company’s annual General meeting of July 25 to effect the split and will also be asked to vote to increase the number of shares to 500 billion units, with effect from July 25.
The shares of SOS that hit a record high of $34.98 on Wednesday closed at $33.89 on Thursday on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange.

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Stock split news lift SOS to a record $26

June 20, 2023 by

Investors in office supply Junior Market listed company Stationery and Office Supplies are having a grand time, with the company reporting two highly profitable years with 2023 starting off on a promising note for another year of record profits.

Stationery & Office Supplies hit a new high after the proposed stock split announcement.

Over the past year, shareholders will receive dividends amounting to 38 cents per share with the second payment in July. To add icing to the cake, the announcement on Monday that the board of directors will meet on Wednesday to consider a stock split has pushed the share price to a record high of $26 in early trading on Tuesday, with an increase of 52 percent for the year to date on top of 179 percent gain in 2022. Up to late May, the stock was trading in the $15 region, a level that it was at for weeks.
In premarket trading there were several bids amounting to over 306,000 units at $26, the maximum the stock will trade at initially, against 23,811 on offer up to $26. Trading in the stock is halted until 10:30 but currently, there are 21 bids at $26 to buy 282,981 shares. On the other hand, the lowest offer is at $30.50 with 23,000 units, followed by 575 shares at $34.96 and 28,774 units at $35.01 and then 42,277 stock units at $44.97.

Filed Under: Company News, General Business News, JSE Junior Market, Stock Market Tagged With: , , , , ,

SOS directors to consider splitting the stock

June 19, 2023 by

The board of directors of Stationary & Office Supplies informed the Jamaica Stock Exchange that they will meet on Wednesday, June 21st to discuss and consider whether or not to recommend a stock split to the company’s shareholders.

SOS is likely to split stock in 2023.

According to the release, “the market value of the company’s stock has been on a consistent growth trajectory and the liquidity of the stock is also a significant consideration.”
At the last annual general meeting the CEO, Allan McDaniel stated that they were reviewing the matter of a stock split on an ongoing basis but that trading in the stock was fairly liquid as such there was no need to make the adjustment then.
ICInsider.com gathers that the $20 was likely to be the trigger point for a split. Last week the stock traded at $24 but pulled back to $20 where it is now trading, but if history is anything to go by, the price is likely to climb in Tuesday’s trading. With profits for the current year likely to hit nearly $2 per share and around $3 in 2024, that could push the price between $30 and $40 this year and $50 to $60 next year, a split in the order of 10 could place the price closer to where Junior Market investors could find the stock reasonably priced and encourage greater trading in it. A 10 to 1 split would lift the issued shares to just over 2.5 billion units which would be within a level that would facilitate a great deal of liquidity for a number of years, but the price could be back in the teens again in 2024. Even a 5 for 1 would result in an enhanced level of liquidity with just over 1.25 billion units in issue and push it to 16th Junior Market company in terms of the number of issued shares and 6th if a 10 to 1 split was to be approved. The prospects of profit jumping sharply in 2024, if achievable and seen by management as likely then a 10 to 1 split would seem to be the better option.
The split if approved by the directors, would require ratification by shareholders at a general meeting and that is likely to be at the company’s upcoming general meeting.
The next stock split could well come for Cargo Handlers, with thin trading currently with the price now in excess of $20. Dolphin Cove seems to be shaping for a possible spilt as well but that would be more likely down the road.

Filed Under: Buy Rated, Company News, Dividends Tagged With: , , , , ,

Is SOS the next stock Split?

June 13, 2023 by

Business has been great for Stationery and Office Supplies (SOS) over the past two years, with sales rising 55 percent over 2021 last year and 16 percent over the covid-19 affected 2020 in 2021 and is up 22 percent for the first quarter to March this year.

The surge in sales drove pretax profit excluding one-time income, up 34 over last year on top of a 151 surge in 2022 over 2021. While the company has started 2023 positively, reports are that its first shipment of goods to Cayman Island, which is expected to be an ongoing trade, has been sent off and that, in addition to its connection with Trinidad and Tobago that started in the latter part of 2022 and reports indicate that arrangement is in place for regular shipments to a third Caribbean country.
The stock had nearly two million units on offer up to June 5 at just under $16, but investors aggressively bought 1.5 million on that day and the stock has since seen limited supply on offer. The $20 price level is believed to be the trigger point for the directors to seriously consider recommending splitting the stock to shareholders. The stock price hit a 52 weeks’ high on Monday when it traded a small quantity at $21 and closed there again on Tuesday after 10,230 shares were traded. The stock price is up 22 percent this year and trades at a PE of 11 times 2023 earnings, but has more room to grow, with a PE of 15 putting the price within reach of $30.

SOS executives

More than 91 percent of the issued share are in the hands of the top 10 shareholders, thus reducing the potential supply that can come to the market with only 250 million shares issued. At the close of Tuesday’s trade, stocks on offer below $25 amount to 7,200 units, with 80,000 on offer at $25. After that, the bids start at $35.
Stock splits are popular among investors in Jamaica, with each announcement accompanied by a hike in the price of the relevant stock.
The door is left open for a resolution to be put to the company’s upcoming AGM for a stock split, as the annual report filed with the JSE stated that the date of the AGM was to be determined.

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results, General Business News Tagged With: , , ,

Stock split to drive business for Palace

February 20, 2023 by

Palace Amusement stock will trade x-split starting Monday, February, with the record date of February 28 for the 600 to 1 split that will take the total number of shares to 862 million for 1.437 million currently and provide the company with added ongoing publicity.
The stock has enjoyed regular trading since the announcement of the split with the price reaching a record $3,300 and is now trading in the $2,700 range since releasing half year results with profits and revenues surging 222 percent to $486 million, with a profit of $79 million in the December quarter.
The split will result in the stock trading in the $4 to $6 region and will result in almost daily trading thus providing the company with regular publicity that it never had before based on the limited trading opportunities in the past. Such exposure could well result in a 10 to 20 percent jump in attendance as the name and product are beamed regularly on a wider audience than before.

Filed Under: At the Movies, Company News, Dividends Tagged With: ,

600 to 1 stock split for Palace

December 28, 2022 by

Palace Amusement Company advised that the Board of directors will recommend to shareholders at their upcoming Annual General Meeting to be held on January 24, 2023, that the existing shares be split into 600 units for each currently issued and that the authorised share capital of the Company be increased from 1,500,000 shares to an Unlimited number of shares.

Palace Amusement is recommending 600 to one stock split.

If the resolution if approved at the meeting will take effect from the close of business on February 28, 2023, resulting in the total issued share capital of the company being increased from 1,437,028 ordinary shares to 862,216,800 ordinary shares.
The shares were last traded on Friday at $1,179 each on the Main Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange but jumped nearly 20 percent in Wednesday’s trading session to $1,400, leading to a suspension in trading in the stock. The move will be welcomed by many of the company’s shareholders some of whom have been clamouring for the splitting of the stock for some time and will result in greater liquidity for the stock.

Filed Under: At the Movies, Company News, General Business News Tagged With: , , ,

Sterling’s stock split effective November 27

November 14, 2018 by

Sterling Investments jumps to a high of $19 after split announcement.

The record date of the recently approved 5 for 1 stock split for Sterling Investments will be November 27, the company announced.
The split aimed at increasing the liquidity of the stock was approved by shareholders at an Extraordinary General Meeting on October 8.
Sterling’s most recent results to September, showed that the company’s fundamentals to be healthy, with gross revenues for the period hitting $134 million for the nine months to September 2018, an increase of 44 percent over revenues of $93 million in the similar period in 2017. Profit after tax grew 53 percent to $90 million for the nine months ended September, compared to $59 million in 2017.
For the September quarter, revenues rose to $56 million from $31 million in 2017, resulting in profit after tax for the quarter of $38.7 million versus $16 million in 2017. The 2018 result compares well with the full year results for 2017 when profit of just $52 million was realized from $92 million in revenues.
Sterling garnered $74 million in foreign exchange gains for the nine months period compared to just $11 million for the similar period in 2017 and $35 million versus $9 million in the quarter. Some of that seems set to be reversed in the final quarter of the year as the Jamaican dollar has since revalued and is unlikely to be reversed before year end.
The company reported that details of the upcoming rights issue will be announced shortly. IC Insider.com gathers that the plan was originally, for the split to have followed the rights issue, but that seems to have changed with the announcement of the date for the split.
Shareholders’ equity increased from $895 million at September 2017 to $922 million at September 2018 while total assets under management amounted to $1.27 billion.
The stock last traded at $20.50 on the Jamaica Stock Exchange up from from $14.50 at the time the proposed split was announced in mid September.

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Pulse split should be 4 not 2

May 8, 2017 by

I sometimes wonder who advises company management. The decisions they often make, while seeming to be well intentioned, raise critical questions about what they expect the out turn to be.
Pulse Investments is a case in point. The directors propose to consider the splitting of the issued shares of the company into two units for each one currently issued.
Last year, in a hurriedly called extra ordinary general meeting, the company approved an increase in its authorised share capital and sanctioned the board proceed with a rights issue of share. This was after a resolution was belated inserted on the agenda of at the 2016 Annual General Meeting to approve a rights issue which was forced by shareholders into a postponement.
The company currently has 271,789,674 issued shares, the split would put the total up to 543,579,348 units. The company’s stock last traded on the Jamaica Stock Exchange at $8.05 and carries a PE of 6 compared to 13 for the main market.
From all indications, with the company’s PE ratio well below the general market, the company must be awaiting a greater uptick in stock price before going back to shareholders for more funds, a two for one split is not likely to do the work to get the price more in line with the market.
The problem is that Pulse is not a very liquid stock with just 271 million units issued. From my estimation the board should be considering a split in the order of 4 to 1 that would raise the issued shares to over 1 billion shares. Such a split would most likely excite the market and help move the stock upwards in price. The proposed 2 to 1 is not going to do it. With the Board Meeting is set to be held on Monday, May 22, it is not late for the directors to change their minds.

Filed Under: Commentary Tagged With: ,

2 for 1 stock Kingston Properties stock split

April 4, 2017 by

Gary Sinclair chairman of Kingston Properties

Shareholders of (KPREIT) will see the number of shares owned doubling when they voted to split the existing shares into two units at the Annual General Meeting scheduled for May 16, 2017.
The company’s Board of Directors took the decision on March 31, to recommend to the shareholders of that each of the 500,000,000 ordinary shares in the capital of the Company be subdivided into two ordinary shares each thereby making a total share capital 1,000,000,000 ordinary shares.
On March 6, the directors reported to the Jamaica Stock Exchange that they would be recommending a stock split to shareholders. The stock traded before the announcement at $11 moved up after to a record $16.35 on March 16 and remain sat that price on April 3.
The directors at the same meeting approved a dividend to shareholders on record as at April 18 in the amount of US$0.00124 per unit. The payment date is May 9 and the X-dividend date is April 12.

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