Prices of 14 securities rose and 15 declined and just 5 held firm when the Jamaica Stock Exchange closed on Wednesday from 34 securities trading in the main and US dollar markets compared to 33 trading on Tuesday.
At the close of trading, the All Jamaica Composite Index advanced by 1,658.37 points to 382,756.89 and the JSE Index gained 1,510.97 points to close at 348,734.83.
Sterling Investments ended at a 52 weeks’ closing high at $18.50, PanJam Investment traded at an intraday high of $60 while Sagicor Real Estate Fund trading at a 52 weeks’ low of $10.68.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Choice bid-offer indicator reading is very strong for continuation of the market’s rally and shows 8 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and only 1 closing with a lower offer.
The main market ended with 117,820,162 units valued at $2,898,097,993 compared to 24,501,665 units valued at $302,847,453 changing hands on Tuesday.
The day’s volume was led by, JMMB Group dominated trading 102,542,622 units and 87.03 percent of the day’s volume, followed by Sagicor Real Estate Fund with 10,177,834 shares accounting for 8.64 percent of main market volume and 138 Student Living with 3,333,334 units and just 2.83 percent of the day’s volume.
Trading resulted in an average of 3,681,880 units valued at over $90,565,562, in contrast to 844,885 shares valued at $10,443,016 on Tuesday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 579,751 shares valued $9,695,343, compared to 387,743 shares valued $4,414,023 traded on the immediately preceding trading day. August closed, with an average of 224,564 shares valued at $4,310,285, for each security traded.
In the main market activity, Barita Investments climbed 84 cents and closed at $18 with 205,636 shares changing hands, Berger Paints rose 32 cents to $22.43, in exchanging 1,500 stock units, Caribbean Cement shed $1.51 to finish at $47.99, in the trading of 15,599 shares, Grace Kennedy rose $1 and finished trading 57,180 shares at $59, Jamaica Broilers jumped $2.75 in trading 73,741 stock units, to close at $28.75, Jamaica Producers rose 50 cents and finished trading 146,786 units at $27, Kingston Wharves dropped $3.70 to $70.30, with 10,470 stock units changing hands, Mayberry Investments lost 25 cents and settled at $8.25, exchanging 13,000 units, NCB Financial Group lost $2 and ended trading of 76,697 shares at $118, PanJam Investment climbed $2.74 and closed at $56.24, while exchanging 53,945 stock units, after it hit a 52 weeks’ high of $60, Sagicor Real Estate Fund gained 99 cents to settle at $12, trading 10,177,834 shares, Scotia Group lost $2 in trading 118,566 units at $60, Seprod lost $1.60 and finished trading 3,791 shares at $45.20, Sterling Investments jumped $1.98 to end at a 52 weeks’ closing high at $18.50, with 66,444 shares changing hands.
Trading in the US dollar market closed with 268,098 units valued at $69,579 as JMMB Group 6% preference share rose 6 cents completed trading of 18015 at $1.06 and Proven Investments traded 250,083 shares at 20 US cents after falling by 2 cents The JSE USD Equities Index declined 7.13 points to close at 159.31.
TTSE stocks inched higher – Wednesday
The two main indices of the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange, closed higher on Wednesday, with the Composite Index rising 1.70 points to 1,220, the All T&T Index gaining 3.36 points to 1,693.61, while the Cross Listed Index remained unchanged at 100.33.
At close, 19 securities changed hands, with the price of 3 rising, 4 declining and 12 remaining unchanged, against 16 trading on Tuesday.
The market ended trading of 1,014,023 shares valued $26,822,916, compared to 562,645 shares valued $7,567,683 changing hands on Tuesday.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading closed with 2 stocks ending with higher bids than the last selling prices and 5 with lower offers.
Stocks closing with gains| Agostini’s advanced $1.82 to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $22.97, after exchanging 10,873 shares, JMMB Group closed with a gain of 5 cents at $1.65, after exchanging 60,362 shares and Trinidad & Tobago NGL gained 39 cents and settled at $29.54, after exchanging 49,741 shares.
Stocks closing with losses| Clico Investments shares fell 10 cents and ended at $19.80, with 12,727 stock units changing hands, Massy Holdings closed with a loss of 10 cents and concluded exchanging 5,258 shares at $47.10, Trinidad Cement shed 4 cents and ended at $2.82, after exchanging 800 shares and West Indian Tobacco lost 10 cents and completed trading at $88.45, with 26,146 unit changing hands.
Stocks trading with no price change| Angostura Holdings ended at $15.75, with 249,020 stock units changing hands, Ansa Mcal completed trading at $56, with 72,578 units, Ansa Merchant settled at $38, after exchanging 38,875 shares, First Citizens closed at $32.60, after exchanging 21,207 shares, Guardian Holdings completed trading of 143 units at $16.90, National Enterprises ended at $8.96, with 334,410 stock units changing hands. NCB Financial Group settled at $5.73, after exchanging 6,968 shares, One Caribbean Media concluded trading at $12.10, exchanging 595 shares, Prestige Holdings completed trading at $8, with 200 units, Republic Financial Holdings ended at $103.69, after exchanging 24,154 shares, Scotiabank completed trading of 99,466 units at $64.94 and Unilever Caribbean ended at $26.25, with 500 stock units changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Modest price changes on TTSE – Tuesday
All three main indices of the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange, closed higher on Tuesday, with the Composite Index fell 0.52 points to 1,218.30, the All T&T Index rose 0.89 points to 1,690.25, while the Cross Listed Index shed 0.27 points to close at 100.33.
At close, 16 securities changed hands, with the price of 3 rising, 3 declining and 10 remaining unchanged, against 11 trading on Friday.
The market ended trading of just 562,645 shares valued $7,567,683, compared to 116,235 shares valued $1,984,887 changing hands on Friday.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading closed with 2 stocks ending with higher bids than the last selling prices and 3 with lower offers.
Stocks closing with gains|Sagicor Financial advanced 5 cents and ended at $7.75, with 10,750 stock units changing hands, Trinidad Cement gained 6 cents and settled at $2.86, after exchanging 13,255 shares and West Indian Tobacco closed 10 cents higher at $88.55, with 1,946 units trading.
Stocks closing with losses| JMMB Group fell 5 cents and finished at $1.60, after exchanging 205,278 shares, One Caribbean Media fell 1 cent and closed at $12.10, after exchanging 1,980 shares and Trinidad & Tobago NGL lost 10 cents in completing trading of 1,500 shares to close at $29.15.
Stocks trading with no price change|Angostura Holdings concluded trading at $15.75, with 1,000 stock units changing hands, Ansa Mcal closed at $56 trading 25,385 units, Ansa Merchant completed trading at $38, after exchanging 3,774 shares, Clico Investments ended at $19.90, with 1,505 stock units changing hands, First Caribbean International Bank concluded trading 11,600 units at $8.50, First Citizens concluded trading at $32.60, after exchanging 1,365 shares, Grace Kennedy closed at $2.70, with 200,000 stock units changing hands, Massy Holdings closed at $47.20, after trading 30,521 shares, Prestige Holdings closed at $8 after trading 5,000 units and Scotiabank ended at $64.94, trading 47,786 units.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Everything Fresh down but not out
Everything Fresh is one of a hand full of initial public stock offers to be selling below the IPO price months after the issue. The stock that was over priced has only been partially helped by a big jump in 2018 half year profit.
The fall in the price was due to over pricing the initial offer and failure to provide more up to date information on the 2018 performance to the time of the IPO and to address developments with the margins. Even with improved results, the stock remains one of the higher priced units on the Junior Market, at a PE of 14 times this year’s pretax earnings and is in line with the market’s average.
Boosted by a big jump in profit margins, earnings after tax jumped 180 percent in the June quarter, to $26.5 million from $9.5 million in 2017. For the six months to June, profit climbed 99 percent to $38.6 million from $19.4 million in 2017. For the next five years, profit will be free of corporate taxes and in the second five years will pay taxes at half the regular rate.
Sales revenue rose 9.7 percent for the quarter, to $494 million from $451 million and increased 6 percent for the half year, to $969 million from $915 million in 2017.
Improvement in profit margin in the first half of the year that grew from 8 percent to 11 percent, increased further to 13 percent in the June quarter and was the major contributor for the sharp increase in profit. The Chairman, Gregory Pullen informed IC Insider.com, that the company took a deliberate decision in 2017 to go after certain clients with an introduction of low margins, with the expectation that they would be able to enjoy higher margins in 2018 onwards.
The effect of the changes, operating profit rose 84 percent in the quarter, to $66 million from $36 million and increased 49 percent for the year to date, to $108 million from $72 million in 2017.
Sharp increase in administrative expenses by 38 percent to $28 million in the quarter and by 30 percent in the six months period to $54 million, kept the growth in the top line from filtering fully into profit. Marketing expenses associated the public of share issue added to cost in the period. Finance cost rose in the quarter, to $5 million from $4.3 million in 2017 and from $8.7 million to $9.3 million for the six months.
Earnings per share before tax came out at 5 cents for the quarter and 8 cents for the six months and should end the year at 15 cents for PE of 14 times 2018 earnings and 10 times 2019 projected earnings of 20 cents per share. The stock traded at $2.10 on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Friday.
Gross cash flow brought in $48 million but changes in working capital and inflows from the issue of shares, resulted in $213 million of cash funds as of June. A large portion of the share issue proceeds was received after the end of the quarter, the chairman’s report to shareholders stated.
At the end of June, shareholders’ equity climbed to $651 million from $225 million in 2017. Borrowings stood at just $107 million. Net current assets ended the period at $614 million inclusive of trade and other receivables of $503 million and cash and bank balances of $213 million. Current liabilities ended the period at $207 million.
The company is looking at three meat processing facility locally with a view to acquiring one and expects that discussions will conclude by the end of this year or early in 2019. The plan is to enable the manufacturing of products by them to sell directly to its clients at more competitive prices.