The interest rate offered by Bank of Jamaica on its benchmark 30-day Certificate of Deposit will be reduced to 5.25 per cent from 5.50 per cent effective 18 August, Bank of Jamaica announced on Monday.
According to the central bank, “macroeconomic vulnerabilities continue to be reduced in the context of the strong implementation of reforms under the Economic Reform Programme. Annual inflation is expected to be within the 5.5 per cent to 7.5 per cent target range by the end of the fiscal year and is projected to decline in the medium term. This assessment is supported by continuation of low international oil prices, a post-drought recovery in agriculture output and continued reduction in inflation expectations. In addition, the current account of the balance of payments is improving, net international reserves are rising, the Government’s debt ratios have improved markedly, and the Government has demonstrated commitment to a strong fiscal stance”. The rates applicable to the Bank’s lending facilities that are linked to this policy rate will correspondingly fall by 25 basis points.
Bank of Jamaica cuts interest rate
JSE up but looks weak at close
Jamaica Stock Exchange Traded at a new high of $9 on Tuesday.
At the close, the JSE Market Index jumped 687.52 points to 101,415.34, the JSE All Jamaican Composite index rose 768.46 points to close at 112,294.07 and the JSE combined index gained 530.40 points to end at 104,839.62.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had a reading that was very negative with only of 3 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 9 with offers that were lower.In trading, Cable and Wireless with 154,750 shares changing hands with a loss of 1 cent to end at 43 cents, Caribbean Cement had 50,227 units changing hands with a gain of 50 cents at $8, Carreras traded at $50 with 8,706 shares changing hands, Gleaner closed with 63,082 shares and fell 56 cents at $2.17. Grace Kennedy traded at $64 down $1 with 79,842 shares, Hardware & Lumber ended up at $17, after adding $1 with just 500 units changing hands. Jamaica Broilers traded at $6.05 with 8,300 shares changing ownership and lost 94 cents, Jamaica Producers traded at $18.40 with 4,198 shares changing ownership with a loss of 60 cents. JMMB Group traded 20,084 shares at $7.73 to lose 26 cents, with the company reporting strong increase in profit for the first quarter, Jamaica Stock Exchange traded 70 cents up at a new high of $9 with only 9,990 shares changing hands. Mayberry Investments had 50,000 shares trading at $3.40, National Commercial Bank traded 62,888 shares at $30,
Palace Amusement gained $5 in trading 566 shares to end at $65, encouraged by the company reporting earnings of $26.56 per share for the year ended June. Pan Jamaican Investment closed at $62 after trading 27,303 shares to gain $1. Sagicor Real Estate Fund lost 30 cents to close at $7.80 while trading 140,000 units, Salada Foods ended with 2,750 units trading at $8.50 with a loss of $1.90. Scotia Group traded 25,980 units to close at $24.50, up 50 cents, Supreme Ventures ended at $4.50, with 20,000 units to be up 50 cents but the bid at the end of the day was at $4 to sell 300,000 units and Proven Investments ordinary share traded 137,105 units at 19 US cents, up from 18.5 US cents.
Trading expands to 14 junior stocks
Derrimon traded at a new 52 weeks’ high of $2.50 on Tuesday.
The market ended with 4 securities closing with no bids to buy, while 6 had no stocks being offered for sale and 2 stocks closed with bids higher than the last traded prices and only 2 with the offers being lower.
Stocks trading are, Access Financial Services traded 100 shares to close with a loss of 50 cents at $18.50, Blue Power closed with 978 units changing hands at $12.28, Caribbean Cream traded 246,315 units to close 2 cents lower at $1.80, Caribbean Flavours traded 67,516 units at $3, while gaining 18 cents. Caribbean Producers traded 40,012 units for 10 cents gain at $2.80, Derrimon Trading ended with 5,113 shares changing hands to end 10 cents higher at $2.50, for a new 52 weeks’ high. Dolphin Cove traded 3,433 shares and closed at $13 after trading earlier as low as $12.15. General Accident Insurance traded 80,419 units with the price falling 15 cents, to $1.45 as investors continue to react negatively to the company reported profits for the June of just $457,000, and $26.6 million for the first
half of 2015, compared with $88 million and $187 million respectively. Honey Bun with 103,320 shares changing hands, closed at a new 52 weeks’ high of $4 after gaining 60 cents. Jamaican Teas had 1,070 shares trading to close with a loss of 43 cents, at $3.10, Lasco Distributors closed with 48,964 units trading, 14 cents lower at $1.81, Lasco Financial Services traded 45,689 units to close at $1.80, after slipping 3 cents. Lasco Manufacturing with 287,629 units changing hands, closed 5 cents higher at $1.85 and Eppley cumulative redeemable preference shares 2019 ended with 326,469 units changing hands at $6.05.
Republic drops 90C on TTSE
Republic Bank dropped 90 cents to close lower at $114 while trading just 186 units to end at a 52 weeks’ lows. The stock has been under pressure for months having fallen from $122.05 last year July and National Commercial Bank also fell but by just 5 cents to end at $1.58 with 14,636 shares changing hands. The fall in Republic impacted the market indices negatively.
At the close of the market, the Composite Index slide 2.01 points to 1,149.21, the All T&T Index declined by 1.42 points to 1,957.29 and the Cross Listed Index fell 0.35 points to close at 44.74.
In overall trading on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange on Tuesday, million worth of stocks traded and ended with 12 securities changing hands with 2 stocks rising, 2 declining and 8 traded with prices unchanged as a total of 339,927 shares traded, valued at $7,336,465.
Gains| Unilever Caribbean gained, 5 cents to end at a 52 weeks’ high at $67.05 while trading 2,000 shares and Clico Investment Fund traded 4,035 shares and closed at $22.51, up 1 cent.
Firm Trades| ANSA McAL contributed 2,287 shares and closed at $67.25, while Ansa Merchant Bank traded 1,000 units at $38.95, First Citizens Bank with 174,464 shares changing hands for a value of $6,106,252 closed at $35 while Guardian Holdings added 
26,141 shares valued at $337,219, to close at $12.90. National Flour Mills with 2,000 shares to close at $2.20, Sagicor Financial Corporation added 55,553 shares valued at $333,318 to end at $6, Scotia Investments had 24,500 shares changing hands at $1.51 and Trinidad Cement contributed 35,160 shares and closed at $2.90.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 6 stocks with the bid higher than their last selling prices and 4 stocks with offers that were lower.
Sagicor Financial raises US$320m
Sagicor Financial’s Jamaican subsidiary Sagicor Group HQ. earnings
JP Morgan and Scotiabank, the joint book runners for the Bond, successfully completed the transaction on behalf of Sagicor. In a recent press release, Scotiabank VP, Dylan Coke, stated, “It is important to note that not only was the Bond very successful overall, there was a robust demand for it within the Region.” He added that approximately a third of the Bond’s takers were Caribbean investors.
Rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Fitch, have both given the Bond issue a ‘B’ rating. This rating has been capped in line with the sovereign rating for Barbados.
Sagicor a Barbados based Life Insurance company is a provider of financial services in the Caribbean and 0perating in 22 countries, including the USA and Latin America, Sagicor has total assets of US $6.2 billion and $774 million in capital. The Sagicor Group offers a wide range of products and services including life insurance, annuities and group and individual health, and has an insured base in the region of two (2) million. Sagicor is a publicly traded company with over 37,000 Shareholders, and is listed on the stock exchanges of Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and London.
The company is the largest shareholder in Jamaica’s Sagicor Group which includes banking, life and health insurance and fund management.
Sagicor Financial recorded net income from continuing operations of US$37.5 million for the first six months ended June, 2015, compared to the prior year result of US$33.2 million, an increase of 13 percent. Net income from continuing operations attributable to shareholders was US$21.8 million, compared to the prior year of US$19.3 million, an increase of 13 percent. Earnings per common share from continuing operations, was 7.0 US cents compared to the prior year result of6.2 UScents.
JSE drops then jumps Tuesday morning
The Jamaica Stock market suffered large losses in the morning seconds before 11 am, in the process the All Jamaica Index trades at 110,787.47 to fall by 738.14 points, JSE Market Index declined 660.40 points to 100,067.42. The 
combined index fell 667.04 points to be at 103,642.18 and the junior market index 1,025.87, down 4.90 points.
A trade in Scotia Group that pushed the price back to $26 swung things around, with the all Jamaica Index jumping 934.41 points to 112,460.02, JSE Market Index gained 836 points to 101,563.82. The combined index was up 735.14 points to be at 105,044.36. The junior market index was at 1,024.90
Dolphin Cove fell 85 cents to $12.15, Gleaner Company traded at 63,082 shares and fell 56 cents to $2.17, Jamaica Broilers fell 89 cents to $6.10, Jamaica Stock Exchange traded at a new high of $8.50 with only 2,000 shares and Palace Amusement gained $5 to $65.
A total of 26 securities with a volume of only 766,233 units have traded with 8 stocks declining versus 7 that rose.
Inflation jump in July
Cost of food jumped sharply in July
Higher rates for electricity, water and sewage were items helping in the inflationary push but the division of ‘Transport’, recorded a decrease of 2.7 per cent, which tempered the upward movement of the overall index. This decline was due largely to 16.7 per cent decrease in adult bus fares for passengers in the Greater Kingston
Metropolitan Area taking Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) buses.Inflation in a calendar year-to-date inflation rate of 1.4 per cent, while the rate since last year July is 3.8 percent. With the price of oil on the world market at US$42 per barrel and the announcement of reduction in electricity cost locally, will have a moderating effect on inflation going forward for a while.
Proven Investments profit jumps
Proven Investments reports net profit attributable to shareholders of US$1.32 million or 0.24 US cents per share. In 2014 the company reported profit of US$2.25 million or 0.76 cents per share but included net extraordinary gains of US$1.36 million. Of note total comprehensive income is negative $300,000 after recording a loss $1.6 million in unrealized losses.
Revenue for the three months period net of interest cost amounted to US$5.64 million, an increase of 84.45 percent over the three months ended June 2014 of US$3.06. The increased revenue is mainly from the consolidation of Access Financial Service results into the Group.
For the three months ending June 2015, operating expenses increased by 63 percent to US$3.4 million from US$2.1 million in the prior year period as a result of increases in administrative and general expenses, from the inclusion of PWL Transition and AFS in the financials of the Group.
Proven in the commentary accompanying the quarterly results states that earnings per share is 0.24 US cents but in the financials the company reports it as 0.33 US cents. There is no explanation for the difference and no indication in the report of the number of shares issued, a major omission. The company has 551,595,777 issued ordinary shares according to the Jamaica Stock Exchange which means that earnings is 0.2377 US cents per share or 0.95 US cents for the year. The stock at last traded price of 18.5 US cents is selling at 20 times earnings based on the first quarter results annualised in a market that has an average of 6.5 times this year’s earnings.
Derrimon Trading pumps up profit
Derrimon Trading made major stride in improving performance in the year to June with a big surge in profit of $51 million for the six months, a $49.5 million increase over the corresponding period in 2014, with net profit of just $1.7 million. For the quarter to June, profit came in at $31 million versus a loss of $9.4 million, from revenues of $1.58 billion, 16 percent up from $1.35 billion generated in 2014.
The profit out turn for the quarter is 49.6 percent ahead of the profit generated in the first quarter. Earnings per share amount to 11 cents for the quarter and 19 cents for the half year and should ends up around 40 cents for the full year. For the year to December 2014 the company made profit of $51.6 million or 19 cents per share.
The six months results reflect revenue of $2.88 billion, an increase 6.3 percent to $171.47 million over the $2.707 billion reported for the first six months period in 2014. “The growth in revenue was primarily due to improved sales within the retail segment of the business. Gross profit reported for the period was $360 million or 36.2 percent above the $264 million reported for the same period in 2014, the improvement reported in gross profit is due to improved margins within both the distribution & retail segments of the business,” Derrick Cotterell, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer stated in his report to shareholders. For the June quarter gross profit jumped a strong 59.5 percent to $193 million and is well ahead of the 16 percent growth in revenues for the quarter.
Operating expenses for the period was $298 million, which represents an increase of 11.9 percent or $32 million over the $266 million reported for the same period in 2014. For the June quarte, expenses rose 14 percent to $157 million from $137.6 million. “The major factors for this increase were the increase in cost for property rental, staff cost, contracted services such as trucking, and professional fees,” Cotterell stated. Finance charges increased from $21.3 million to $40.4 million or 90 percent in the six months period reported. For the quarter, interest cost amounts to $21.5 million versus $6.4 million. Associated company contributed $12 million in the quarter and $20.5 million for the half year to profit.
Finances| While the profit performance is up strongly, the same cannot be said about the company’s finances. Receivables stood at $495 million at the end of 2014, climbed to $881 million in June and inventories are up to $817 million from $604 million, payables of $1.06 billion moved from $599 million. Loan payments due within twelve months, amount to $338 million. With cash of $137 million on hand and cash flow running around $70 million per annum, the company may have to be going back to the financial market to seek funding to facilitate payment of the loans, but reduction in the amounts due from customers and inventories can deliver the cash to help fund the payments.
IC Insider is placing a Market Watch rating on the stock.
JSE slips slightly at close Monday
The Jamaica Stock Exchange on Monday closed with main market indices undergoing small losses. The Jamaica stock market closed with 8 stocks rising, 12 declining as 28 securities changed hands with 3,402,118 units trading, valued at $40,255,758, in all market segments.
At the close, the JSE Market Index dropped 80.85 points to 100,727.82, the JSE All Jamaican Composite index shed 90.37 points to close at 111,525.61 and the JSE combined index dipped 54.59 points to end at 104,309.22.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had a reading of 7 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 6 with offers that were lower.
In trading, Berger Paints had 27,080 shares changing hands with a gain of 5 cents to end at $2.60, Carreras dropped $1.50 to $50 with 157,969 shares changing hands, Gleaner closed with 70,665 shares and gained 2 cents at $2.73 after the price had fallen in the morning session to $2.30. Hardware & Lumber ended up at $16, after adding $1 with 13,500 units changing hands. Jamaica Producers traded at $19 with 100,000 shares changing ownership. 
JMMB Group traded 12,000 shares up to $7.99 to gain 19 cents, with the company reporting strong increase in profit for the first quarter, National Commercial Bank traded 99,530 shares at $30 while losing 10 cents. Pulse Investments lost 10 cents in trading 57,000 shares to end at 35 cents, Radio Jamaica traded 27,440 shares to end at $4, with a gain of 5 cents, Sagicor Group ended trading with 1,770,848 units at $13, Sagicor Real Estate Fund lost 20 cents to close at $8.10 while trading 23,990 units. Scotia Group did not trade but had a bid at $24.51 that is higher than the last selling price of $24 and Scotia Investments traded 9,157 with decline of 69 cents to $27.30.
