Purchases by dealers of foreign currencies on Monday, resulted in the Jamaican currency selling rates making gains on all currencies. The market closed with dealers buying the equivalent of US$47,062,033 in contrast to US$29,745,740 on Friday, while they sold the equivalent of US$45,274,288, previously US$28,648,727.
In US dollar trading , dealers bought US$42,791,535 compared to US$27,282,457 on Friday. The buying rate for the US dollar fell 6 cents to $116.77 and US$42,919,455 was sold versus US$27,192,334 on Friday, the selling rate decreased 1 cent to $117.43. The Canadian dollar buying rate fell 14 cents to $87.42 with dealers buying C$1,881,308 and selling C$1,381,874, at an average rate 
that dropped 49 cents to $89.35. The rate for buying the British Pound dropped 34 cents to $180.09 for the purchase of £1,483,662, while £606,987 was sold, at an average rate that dipped 3 cents to $182.43. At the end of trading, it took J$130.49 to purchase the Euro, with a decline of 18 cents on Friday’s rate, according to data from Bank of Jamaica, while dealers purchased the European common currency at J$127.86 for a fall of 25 cents on Friday’s rate. Other currencies bought, amounted to the equivalent of US$573,877, while the equivalent of US$360,399 was sold.
Highs & Lows| The highest buying rate for the US dollar, fell 2 cents to $117.58 while the lowest buying and the highest rates were unchanged at 
$96.19 and $123.26 respectively and lowest selling rate rose 4 cents to $96.19. The highest buying rate for the Canadian dollar declined 10 cents to $90. The lowest buying rate lost 17 cents to $71.46, the highest selling rate remained at $92.34 and the lowest selling rate declined 90 cents to $86.10. The highest buying rate for the British Pound, jumped $4.86 to $188.06, the lowest buying rate rose 29 cents to $147.62, the highest selling rate climbed 38 cents to $190.30 and the lowest selling rate fell 15 cents to $177.85.
J$ gains all round on Monday
4 stocks fell on junior market
The JSE junior market fell on Monday with 4 stocks declining and none advancing 8 securities traded resulting in 1,007,936 units valued at $3,170,193 changing hands. The market gained 2.39 points to close at 1,030.77.
The market ended with 5 securities closing with no bids to buy, while 5 had no stocks being offered for sale and 4 stocks closed with bids higher than the last traded prices and only 1 with the offer being lower.
Stocks trading are, Access Financial Services traded 280 shares to close at $19, Cargo Handlers ended with 250 shares changing hands at $31, Caribbean Cream traded 22,685 units to close at $1.82. General Accident Insurance traded 168,160 units with the price falling 14 
cents, to $1.60 as 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. Lasco Distributors closed with 44,000 units trading, 5 cents lower at $1.95, Lasco Financial Services traded 49,000 units to close at $1.83 after slipping 7 cents, Lasco Manufacturing with 401,561 units changing hands, closed at $1.80 and Eppley cumulative redeemable preference shares 2019 ended with 322,000 units changing hands at $6.05, with a loss of 5 cents.
Witco back at $126 on TTSE
Witco gained 63 cents on TTSE on Monday
In overall trading on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange on Monday, million worth of stocks traded and ended with 10 securities changing hands with 2 stocks rising, 4 declining and 4 traded with prices unchanged as a total of 339,807 shares traded, valued at $2,428,548.
At the close of the market, the Composite Index gained 0.17 points to 1,151.22, the All T&T Index rose 0.35 points to 1,958.71 and the Cross Listed Index remained at 45.09.
Declines| Clico Investment Fund traded 4,035 shares and closed at $22.50, down 1 cent, Guardian Holdings with 34,627 shares changing hands for a value of $446,688, closed at $13.90, after shedding 10 cents to end at a 52 weeks’ low. One Caribbean Media traded 2,875 shares with the price falling 9 cents to $22.31 and Republic Bank traded just 75 units, 7 cents lower at $114.90.Firm Trades| First Citizens Bank with 500 shares changing hands, closed at $35, Grace Kennedy added 760 shares at $3.50, National Enterprises ended at $17.09 with 500 shares changing hands and Sagicor Financial Corporation added 296,085 shares valued at $1,776,458 to end at $6.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 5 stocks with the bid higher than their last selling prices and 5 stocks with offers that were lower.
JSE drops Monday Morning
The Jamaica Stock market made moderate losses in the Monday morning session, at 11:15 am. In the process the All Jamaica Index trades at 111,329.50 having fallen 
by 286.48 points, JSE Market Index declined 256.31 points to 100,552.36. The combined index fell 217.09 points to be at 104,146.72 and the junior market index trades at 1,031.09, having gained 2.71 points.
Carreras dropped $1.50 to $50 with 84,690 shares, Gleaner Company traded 61,465 shares and fell 41 cents to $2.30. JMMB Group traded up to $7.99 with the company reporting strong increase in profit for the first quarter and Scotia Investments traded 9,157 units with decline of 69 cents to $27.30.
A total of 23 securities with a volume of only 865,541 units have traded with 10 stocks declining versus 5 that that rose. Trading saw 6 securities in the junior market changing hands with General Accident falling 14 cents in response to poor second quarter results.
Ansa McAl grows profit
Ansa McAl Group achieved revenues of $2.87 billion against $2.9 billion in 2014. For the June quarter, revenues came in at $1.47 billion, down slightly from $1.48 billion. Profit before tax amounted to $459 million, for the six months to June, an increase of 11 percent over prior year’s $414 million.
After tax profit was up 10 percent to $302 million for the half year versus $274 million in 2014. Earnings per share rose to $1.75 up from $1.59 in 2014 for the half year.
For the quarter, profit attributable to shareholders of the group rose 4 percent to $164 million, from $158 million or 95 cents per share, after pretax profit had climbed to $250 million in the quarter from $240 million. In 2014 for the full year Ansa made $685 million for shareholders of the group or $3.97 per share. Earnings for the full year should just about exceed that of 2014 but not by a great deal and could well end at around $4.40.
Carib Beer one of Ansa McAl products
The company approved an interim dividend of 30 cents per share the same as in 2014 which will be paid on November 6, 2015, October 23, 2015 has been set the Record Date for payment of this interim dividend. The stock last traded on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange at $67.25.
Berger Jamaica in big profit upturn
Jamaica’s Berger Paints reported big improvement in profit flowing from a near 14 percent increase in sales revenue to $440.6 million up from $387.3 million, in the 2014 first quarter, with profit ended at $17 million after tax well up on the reported a loss of $372,000 in 2014.
Earnings per share ended at 8 cents and for the year earnings should be in the 55 cents per share region, if the present trend continues which should be helped by the low price of oil on the world market as a major input into the production of paints is fuel oil based.
For 2015 fiscal year to March, Berger reported profit of $67 million after tax and earnings per share of 31 cents from sales revenues of $1.85 billion.
Gross profit was slightly up on 2014 with $1.286 billion realized in the March 2015 quarter and $1.257 billion in 2014. ”The company continues to yield benefits from process improvements, energy cost savings and its plant and Machinery upgrade, these along with growth in sales contributed to the profit performance” Mustafa Turra, General Manager reported in a short report to shareholders.
Berger last traded on the Jamaica Stock Exchange at $2.55 but that is before the above results were disclosed on Friday.
138SL 2016 profit could hit $80M
“Handing over of the buildings by the contractor will be in stages, scheduled for August 10, August 20 and mid-September. The Management team is now in place and support staff have been recruited to deliver a new experience in student living and to welcome the first batch of 576 students at 138 Student Living in early August 2015,” John Lee, Chairman of the company advised shareholders recently in the release of their June quarter financials.
Based on the completion the units, the company looks set to earn around $80 million in profit in its first full year of operating, well above a loss of $71 million that was projected in the prospectus. By year 2 profits should be hitting the $120 million mark or 30 cents per share, on the assumption that the exchange rate will remain relatively stable versus the US dollar.
Phase 1 of the Construction commenced September 2014 and is being financed by a joint $1.35B loan from Jamaica Mortgage Bank (JMB) and National Commercial Bank (NCB) and from proceeds of the public share issue of more than $500 million raised. Long term funding, by way of a bond, to repay the construction loan received from Jamaica Mortgage Bank and National Commercial Bank has been secured and will be paid on the completion of the buildings, Lee stated.
Construction of phase 2 consisting of another 576 rooms is scheduled to commence in September 2015 and will come into operation in August 2016. Negotiations have commenced with the preferred contractor which should lead to a final construction contract.
The company has signed a new concession agreement with UWI Mona for the restoration and
138 Student Living, artist impression of a block.
The company incurred cost on construction of just over $1 billion up to June that was partially financed by $617 million in loans.
The company has not yet commenced operation, as such there is no income statement as all cost is capitalized as a part of the construction expenditure.
Profit or loss| The company had projected rental income of $335 million based on the exchange rate being at $122 by September 2015 and J$131 by September 2016. Nevertheless, rental income is more likely to be in the region of $320 million, assuming all rooms are rented for 12 months. On the plus side, the cost of electricity that was projected at $67 million may come in under that amount with the fall in the cost of electricity since last year. Interest cost was projected at $270 million but that seems to be far over the actual figure that is likely to be incurred and charged against income in the year to September 2015. Actual interest plus preference dividend chargeable against income in 2016 is likely to be the order of $100 million based on the amount borrowed to complete phase 1 and the issued preference shares of $168 million.
Investments push JMMB profit 111%
JMMB Group posted a net profit of $586 million, an increase of 111 percent over the profit of 2014 after asset tax of $398 million was fully expensed in the 2015 quarter. JMMB earned profit of $278 million and earnings per share of 36 cents for the quarter ended June, this year. The profit for the quarter shows a marked improvement over the mere $79 million reported in the March quarter.
Net Interest Income grew year-over-year moving from $1.29 billion to $1.44 billion, an increase of J$147 million or 11.4 percent. This increase was driven mainly by increased margins, resulting from growth in Group’s loan portfolio in Jamaica and Trinidad coupled with reduced costs of funds.
“Other operating revenues, namely, gains on securities trading, foreign exchange margins from cambio trading and commission income, showed increases of 62 percent, 20.5 percent and 39 percent respectively, driven largely by increased volume activity and taking advantage of one-off market opportunities,” Noel A. Lyon, Chairman and Keith Duncan, Group Chief Executive Officer, advised shareholders, in a release accompanying the quarterly.
Net gains on securities trading, accounted for $1.23 million, was generated in the 2015 period and in 2014, $757 million. After booking the large investment gains, the group still has investment revaluation reserve amounting to $2.25 billion at the end of June which can be shifted to the normal profit stream.
Keith Duncan, Group Chief Executive Officer of JMMB
The released from management continued, “In Trinidad and Tobago, the Group’s operations continue to move in a positive trajectory, contributing J$41 million for the quarter. Management continues to build out its integrated financial services model through JMMB Investments Trinidad and Tobago and its commercial banking arm, Intercommercial Bank.”
Operating expenses for the quarter totalled $2.3 billion, up 13 percent compared to $2 billion for the prior year. This increase was mainly attributable to staff related costs, asset tax and expansion of business activities regionally.
The asset base of the JMMB Group increased by J$4.8 billion to J$222.5 billion from J$217.7 billion as at 31 March 2015. This increase in assets was mainly funded by client deposits and repurchase agreements.
Kingston Properties pulls in $650m
One of Kingston Properties units at Red Hills Rd, Kingston
The Rights Issue which opened on Wednesday, July 22 closed on Friday; August 7, 2015 after an extension by a week. The company stated that there were over one hundred (100) subscribers to the issue.
The plan was that the issue would raise at least $954 million from the 136,271,694 units on offer at $7 each. The amount raised more than doubled the issued share capital that was just over 68 million shares, moving it to 160 million units and the overall equity base to $1.5 billion.
KPREIT reports currently owning fifteen units in the Miami Loft II condominium building, as well as a nineteen unit residential complex in South Florida and an office and warehouse complex in Jamaica. The company will use the proceeds to pursue expansion plans in various real estate markets in the United States and Caribbean countries.
The company is yet to release the second quarter results. For the first quarter, rental income of $25.6 million was recorded versus $25 million in the prior year, with profit before tax of $2.9 million compared to a loss $680,000 in 2014 and total comprehensive income came in at $12.3 million for the March 2015 quarter versus $18.2 million in 2014.
Carreras recovers all taxes
The balance of $870 million due from the tax department for taxes over paid by its subsidiary, Cigarette Company of Jamaica was recovered in full by the company, Carreras reported in a release of the June quarterly results.
This means that the large special capital distributions that the company has been paying for a few years will soon come to an end. The company declared a total dividend of $1.80 per share payable September 3.
Carreras also reported a 6 percent improvement in profit flowing from a 1 percent increase in sales revenue of $2.6 2 billion, up from $2.59 billion in the 2014 first quarter, with profit ending at $622 million, in 2014 profit of $589 million was generated. Gross profit was slightly up on 2014 with $1.286 billion realized in the June 2015 quarter and $1.257 billion in 2014.
The company suffered from decline in volume sales in the quarter due to the price increase effected earlier in the year, which saw a shift in sales taking place in the March quarter as dealers sought to take advantage of the price change. Administrative cost fell from $372 million to $356 million while distribution and marketing expenses declined from $185 million to $164.
Earnings per share came in at $1.28 and should be in the $6 range for the full year.
