Trinidad Cement, (IC Insider BUY RATED) gained 24 cents with less than 40,000 shares trading in Tuesday’s trading on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange. A the close of the market, there was a bid to buy 437,651 units of the stock at a higher than the last traded price, suggesting further increases ahead as investors continue to respond positively to the improvement in the results for 2014.
Trading in the market was again moderate with 10 securities changing hands of which 5 advanced, 2 declined and 3 traded firm with 116,177 stocks units changing hands, with a value of $1,710,814. The Composite Index lost 1.68 points to close at 1,148.42, the All T&T Index fell by 3.36 points to close at 1,982.20 and the Cross Listed Index remained unchanged at 41.19.
Gains| Stocks increasing in price at the close are, First Citizens with 775 units at $35.52 to gain a cent, National Flour Mills with 15,409 shares valued at $17,720 and closed at $1.15 with a gain of 4 cents, while Trinidad Cement with 38,418 shares changing hands for a value of $86,825, gained 24 cents to end at $2.26, Unilever Caribbean added 2,700 shares valued at $170,429 with the price ending at $63.13, with a 6 cents gain, for a new 52 weeks high and West Indian Tobacco 1,128 shares, closed a cent higher at $118.01.
Declines| Stocks declining at the end of trading are, Clico Investment Fund with 50,656 shares valued at $1,114,632 declined by 1 cent to end at $22 and Guardian Holdings contributed 3,379 shares with a value of $45,861, as the price lost 80 cents to close at $13.50.
Firm Trades| Stocks closing with prices unchanged at the end of trading are National Enterprises with 100 shares changing hands at $17.80, Massy Holdings with 1,336 shares at $68.51 and Prestige Holdings 2,276 traded at $9.40.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 4 stocks with the bid higher than the last selling price and 2 stocks with offers that were lower.
Trinidad Cement on the move again up 24c
JSE trading extends to 33 securities on low volume
In Tuesday’s trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, the prices of 9 stocks rose and 9 declined as 33 securities changed hands, resulting in 2,457,366 stock units trading, valued at $5,927,351.
Main Market| The JSE Market Index dropped 323.78 points to 71,151.07 and the JSE All Jamaican Composite index moved lower by 362.04 points, to close at 78,268.02.
Gains| The volume and last traded prices of stocks with gains, at the end of trading in the main market, are Jamaica Broilers with 6,000 shares gaining 15 cents to close at $4.80, Mayberry Investments put through 102,760 shares at 2 cents higher to end at $1.57 and Pan Jamaican Investment with 4,035 shares closed a cent up at $48.51.
Firm| Stocks with volume and last traded prices in the main market to close without a price change, are, Berger Paints with 2,400 shares closing at $1.65, Cable & Wireless 952,637 units at 37 cents, Gleaner had 34,853 shares changing hands at $1.05, Grace Kennedy 4,000 units at $59.50, Jamaica Money Market Brokers exchanged 53,005 at $6.95, National Commercial Bank 30,044 shares changed hands at $18.15 each, Proven Investments US$ ordinary stock, put through 24,750 units at 17US cents, Sagicor Group with 7,553 units at $9 and the Sagicor Real Estate Fund with a mere 300 units, closed at $6.85.
Declines| The volume and last traded prices of stocks with losses at the at the end of trading in the main market, are Carreras with 5,124 shares as the price slipped by 95 cents to end at$34.05, Ciboney 33,000 stocks units was at a cent lower to end at 7 cents, Jamaica Producers with 12,467 shares saw $3.40 lashed off the price to end at $15.60, Radio Jamaica had 3,150 shares changing hands to close 2 cents lower at $1.20, Scotia Group with 33,203 stocks units, lost a cent to end at $18.71, Scotia Investments with only 2,414 shares, lost 62 cents to end at $21.38 and Seprod had 70,427 shares going through the market, 50 cents lower to end at $10.50.
Preference| Eppley 9.5% preference share traded 58,000 units at $6.10, Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference share traded 24,428 units with 2 cents off, to end at $2.98, Proven Investments 8% preference share, saw only 957 units trading at $5.
Junior Market| The JSE Junior Market Index gained 10.43 points to close at 643.38 as 12 securities traded with 7 advancing and only 1 declining.
Gains| Stocks recording gains at the end of trading in the junior market, are Caribbean Producers with 17,000 shares while gaining a cent to $2.31, Derrimon Trading with 7,900 units to close 10 cents higher at $2.15, Dolphin Cove gained 15 cents with 1,028 shares to end at $7.75, General Accident 200,000 shares traded resulted in a 5 cents rise to $1.40, followed by Lasco Financial with 116,015 units at a gain of 10 cents to $1, Lasco Manufacturing with 300,500 units gained 8 cents to $1 and Paramount Trading put on 2 cents, while trading 18,000 units to land at $2.52.
Firm Trades| Stocks in the junior market that traded to close at the same price as the day before are, Consolidated Bakeries with only 500 shares at 80 cents, Honey Bun with 28,216 shares at $2.34 and Lasco Distributors with 300,000 units, ended at $1.11.
Declines| Only one stock declined in the junior market at the end of trading, with AMG Packaging exchanging 2,700 shares while losing 10 cents to end at $2.40.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 6 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 5 stocks with offers that were lower.
J$ gains with US$12m excess bought
In Monday’s forex trading, authorized dealers bought the equivalent of US$12 million more than they sold. on Friday they also bought more funds than they sold as well. Dealers bought the equivalent of US$51,429,049 versus US$33,052,457 on Friday, and sold the equivalent of US$39,296,236 compared to US$30,402,196 on Friday.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$43,033,837 compared to US$28,114,105 on Friday. The buying rate for the US dollar rose 3 cents to $112.14 and US$32,941,586 was sold versus US$27,347,731 on Friday, the selling rate declined 8 cents to $112.74. The Canadian dollar buying rate fell 30 cents to $101.82 with dealers buying C$2,035,503 and selling C$2,162,384, the selling rate rose 38 cents to $103.69.The Pound closed at $187.33, for the purchase of £3,801,319 as the rate rose $1.24 while £2,552,009 was sold, as the rate was up by 17 cents to $188.27. Other currencies bought, amounted to the equivalent of US$197,287 while selling was the equivalent of US$104,115.
Highs & Lows| The highest buying rates for the US dollar rose by 90 cents to $114, the lowest buying rate and the highest selling rate remained unchanged $91.85 and $117.70 respectively and the lowest selling rate was down by $18.15 to $91.85. The highest buying rate for the Canadian dollar, rose by 40 cents to $103.70 and the lowest buying rate was up 12 cents to $81.88. The highest selling rate gained 82 cents to $106.50 and the lowest selling rate dropped by $10.90 to $87.75. The highest buying rate for the British Pound declined $1.65 to $188.55, the lowest buying rate was unchanged at $150.48. The highest selling rate rose $2.14, to $193.99 and lowest selling rate was unchanged at $181.30.
Low Monday trading on JSE
In Monday’s trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, the prices of 6 stocks rose and 8 declined as 21 securities changed hands, resulting in only 1,773,803 units trading, valued at a mere $8,322,864.
Main Market| The JSE Market Index rose 73.60 points to 71,474.85 and the JSE All Jamaican Composite index gained 82.29 points to close at 78,630.06
Gains| The volume and last traded prices of stocks with gains, at the close of trading in the main market, are Carreras with 1,755 shares trading at $35, to close with a gain of 50 cents, Grace Kennedy with 41,000 units, the price gained $1.90 to reach $59.50 and Seprod with a gain of 50 cents, closed at $11, with 81,490 units changing hands.
Firm| The stocks with volume and last traded prices, in the main market to close without a price change, are Jamaica Money Market Brokers with 111,451 shares at $6.95, Sagicor Real Estate Fund with 5,564 shares closing at $6.85, Scotia Investments with 13,595 units and closed at $22 and Supreme Ventures 71,000 shares at $1.80.
Declines| The volume and last traded prices of stocks with losses at the at the end of trading in the main market, are Berger Paints with 1,000 units after losing a cent to end at $1.65, Cable & Wireless with 370,466 units, 2 cents lower at 37 cents, Gleaner 101,000 shares, traded 7 cents lower at $1.05, for a new 52 weeks low. National Commercial Bank traded 32,099 shares at $18.15, down 10 cents, Proven Investments traded 13,500 of its US dollar ordinary stock for 0.0025 US cent lower at $0.17, Sagicor Group with 17,590 shares, at a reduction of 10 cents, ended at $9 and Scotia Group with 45,650 shares at $18.72, for 3 cents less.
Preference| Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference share traded 242,758 units at $3, while the 7.50% preference share traded 250,000 units at $2 and Proven Investments 8% preference share with 485 units, closed at $5.
Junior Market| The JSE Junior Market Index declined by 0.83 points to close at 632.95 as only 4 stocks traded with 3 advancing and 1 declining.
Gains| Stocks recording gains at the end of trading in the junior market, are Caribbean Cream trading 7,000 units, gained 8 cents to end at 83 cents, Honey Bun with 10,800 units, gained 4 cents to close at $2.34 and Lasco Manufacturing 120,000 units, closed with a 2 cents gain at 92 cents.
Firm Trades| There was no active stock in the junior market to close at the same price as the day before.
Declines| Lasco Financial with 235,600 units trading for a 5 cents reduction to 90 cents, was the only stock declining in the junior market at the end of trading.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 7 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 6 stocks with offers that were lower.
Massy Holdings rebranding cost TT$59M
Trinidad based, Massy Holdings rebranding and change of name, from Neal & Massy Holdings, to Massy Holdings has cost the group TT$59 million according to information included in the group’s nine months results to June.
The amount helped pulled the net profit for the quarter below that of the similar period in 2013, from $128 million to $99 million. Most of the companies within the sprawling group now carry the Massy name except in Guyana and St Lucia, the company stated in their report to shareholders.
The company’s former name came out of the merging of two companies operated by their founders, Harry Neal and Charles Massy that carried the individual names which were combined to form Neal & Massy. According the group’s 2013 annual report “In 1933, rising to the challenges of survival and growth, two entities concluded an historic merger, and became one – Neal & Massy Engineering Company Limited. They were responding both to world economic conditions of the Great Depression, and to the promptings of shrewd local bankers.”
According to information accompanying the nine months results, half of the rebranding cost relates to signage and painting for all Massy buildings, many of which were due for a face lift. The rest of the cost relate professional services training materials, advertising and events.
Activity continues to be low on TTSE
Trading on the Trinidad Stock Exchange on Monday was moderate, with 10 securities changing hands of which 1 advanced, 1 declined and 8 traded firm, with 105,220 units changing hands, carrying a value of $5,004,784.
The Composite Index barley rose by 0.01points to close at 1,150.10, the All T&T Index rose by just 0.02 points to close at 1,985.56 and the Cross Listed Index was unchanged at 41.19.
Gains| Massy Holdings (now the official name of the former Neal & Massy) was the sole stocks increasing in price at the close, with 52,030 shares changing hands, for a value of $3,564,582 as the price closed at $68.51, with the gain of a cent.
Declines| Clico Investment Fund traded 14,400 shares, valued at $317,003 and closed at $22.01, down a cent to be the sole declining stock, at the end of trading.
Firm Trades| Stocks closing with prices unchanged at the end of trading are, Angostura Holdings with 11,870 shares traded for $151,343, to end at $12.75, ANSA McAL added 8,814 shares valued at $584,363 to close at $66.30, First Citizens traded 3,410 shares to close at $35.51, Guardian Holdings contributed 10,000 shares with a value of $143,000 and closed at $14.30, Jamaica Money Market Brokers with 3,663 shares, closed at 41 cents and West Indian Tobacco 1,033 units traded to close with a gain of a cent to $118.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 6 stocks with the bid higher than the last selling price and 2 stocks with offers that were lower.
C2W Music reports 1st profit
Start up C2W Music is reporting its first quarter of profits since it was listed on the junior market in 2012. The company that had chalked up losses in each quarter since listing, shows a profit of US$16.6000 for the June 2014 quarter, in its latest release of results.
The company booked copy right income of US$30,000 in the quarter and royalty of only US$189, but with administrative expenses of $12,193 and finance cost of US$1,396 the income was enough to leave a surplus for the quarter. This compares with a loss of US$157 million in the 2013 quarter. For the six months to date, losses are down to $66,000 versus $346,000 in 2013. Is this the light at the end of the tunnel? Management seems to think so as the quote to shareholders show below suggest.
“The Company negotiated an extremely strategic joint venture music publishing deal with one of our songwriters and an extremely successful music publisher, Rebellion Corps/Notting Hill Music. In this joint songwriters and an extremely successful music publisher, Rebellion Corps/Notting Hill Music. In this joint venture, they will help us in securing homes for more of our copyrights, which will result in increased revenue for the Company. The Company continues to work closely with the Caribbean Performing Rights Societies to recognize our rightful revenue, as their new royalty distribution systems are now in place. The Company continues to exploit our own catalogue and continues to have success in this area. We are also proud and happy to know that the Maxi Priest album is doing very well with two of our songs on the album, and the Etana album is heating up to be a success story also,” Ivan Berry the company’s CEO stated in commenting on the results.
At the end of the quarter, the company had equity of only US$34,000 having racked up net losses of US$1.25 million, loans of $75,000 and cash of only $2,000.
Medical Disposables revenue up 26%, profit 13%
Winston Boothe – Chairman Medical Disposables & Supplies
Profit after tax is up 55 percent as there was no tax charge in the June 2014 quarter, but tax ate up $4 million of the 2013 profit. “The main reason for the growth in revenue is the strategic focus on new and wider product offerings and greater market penetration”, Kurt Boothe, General Manager stated in his report to shareholders.
Gross profit grew 27 percent to $65.6 million from $51.66 million and gross margin moved to 36.24 percent in the quarter, from 33.78 percent in the 2013 June quarter but down from 42.15 percent in the March 2014 quarter. “This improvement was due to the product sales mix, increases in sales of products with higher margins and consistent review of our pricing structure to maintain the gross margin efficiency” Boothe stated. The audited accounts showed Gross profit margin of 35 percent for 2013-14 fiscal year.
Operating expenses climbed 49.7 percent in the June quarter over the 2013 quarter and “was driven mainly by staff related expenses, professional fees and special bank charges. Staff related expenses, in particular, were driven by the strategic decision to realign the staff complement and compensation to sustain the current growth, development and expansion of the business,” the general manager stated.
Earnings per share for the June quarter was 6 cents per share with the full year set to come in around 25 to 30 cents per share based on existing operations. At a stock price around $2 there is not much room for the price to make any major moves in the short term, unless the stock market becomes bullish.
Medical Disposables was listed on the junior market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange in December 2013, when it sold 63,157,895 Shares at $1.83 each and raised $113.7 million in its IPO.
Year over year current assets climbed from $370 million to $514 million due mainly to the IPO funds raised, while current liabilities stood almost static at $221 million. Shareholders’ equity jumped to $369 million from $163 million in March 2013 while borrowed funds are down from $147 million to $128 million, or just under two years’ cash flow.
Big jump in RJR Q1 profit (BUY RATED)
Radio Jamaica’s (RJR) profit for the first quarter to June jumped by 829 percent to $15.2 million up from only $1.6 million in 2013. The bottom-line improvement came from an increase of 7 percent in revenues for the June quarter, to $507 million.
Revenues from operation actually rose by 10 percent but a fall in other income from $35 million to $21 million, pulled the overall revenue gains down. Gross profit grew 27.6 percent to $272 million and gross margin hit 127 percent in the quarter, up from 94 percent in 2013. The improvement came primarily from new revenue streams outside of Jamaica in the Caribbean region, Management stated in their commentary on the results as well as shared sporting activities and some cost reduction in the cost of covering sports.
Operating expenses climbed 11 percent in the 2014 quarter over the 2013 quarter, to hit $268 million. The audited accounts showed gross profit margin of 35 percent for the last fiscal year to March. For the twelve months to March this year, RJR made profit after tax of just $59 million, having just breaking even on its main operation. In 2013, the group made a loss of $77 million before taxation and $30 million, after recording a tax credit of $47 million. The group would have benefited from increase sponsorship and advertising income emanating from the broadcast of the world cup football on radio as well as the staying of commentary on Television. As such some of the improvements in both revenue and profits may not repeat any time soon. What seems of import is that the worse seems behind them now and with prospects of an improving economy ahead, added revenues should flow mostly to the bottom-line as most cost are substantially fixed. The stock is now accorded a BUY RATED rating.
IC Insider is forecasting $131 million or 35 cents per share earnings in 2015. They should generate gross cash of $250 million for the full fiscal period which should a far way in reducing their indebtedness.
On the negative side cash is down from $155 million in March this year to $113 million and receivables is up to $456 million from $370 million and borrowings are stable at $246 million.
Seprod added, others now BUY RATED
Seprod is added to the BUY RATED list for the first time, as profit seems to be settling down with reduced losses in the sugar production operations. The PE for the stock is currently at 4.4, with an eye on 2015 when results should get even better.
Radio Jamaica is now elevated to BUY RATED list, from market watch, based on a big improvement in the first quarter results, to June and IC Insider’s forecast for earnings of 35 cents per share for the fiscal year. The stock is trading at $1.22, giving it a very attractive PE of 3.
Cargo Handlers third quarter results is up on 2013, putting earnings in 2015 in the $3.40 per share level and close to $3 per share for 2014 fiscal year, to September, putting the PE at 5. Berger Paints Jamaica is moved to the BUY RTAED list, with gains in its first quarter results, to June and IC Insider forecasting of 43 cents per share earnings, for the year to March 2015. The prices of Consolidated Bakery, Caribbean Flavours and Paramount Trading, have all pulled back sharply from earlier levels making them more attractive buys.
Supreme Ventures and Jamaica Stock Exchange are added to the Market Watch list. The latter is based on a virtual wipe out of losses in the June quarter and an eye on the stock market activity that should be picking up going forward and thus enhancing the earnings and the value of heightened trades.
Cable & Wireless is still on the list with good top line growth, coming mainly from strong mobile growth. The company is heading for a break even position or small profit for the current fiscal year. Supply of the stock is low and a big payoff should take place in 2015, if the present trend in revenue continues.
