Trading on the Ghana Stock exchange for the week ending May 2, continued the decline that has been evident ever since the country’s currency came under added pressure and interest rates were pushed further upwards. In the past week the market reversed the moderate gain experienced in the prior week by shedding the prices of 11 stocks and facilitating only one price gain.
At the close of the week, the market continues to show signs of weakness while the two indices declined with the GSE Composite Index closing at 2,255.20 compared with 2,276.12 at the end of the previous week’s trading. The GSE Financial Stocks index closed at 1,913.11 compared with 1,934.75 on the April 17, leaving the index up 7 percent for the year to date.
The level of trading for the week picked strongly from the 1.5 million shares traded for the previous week, as 9.8 million shares changed hands for the holiday shortened week. Cal Bank accounted for 7,119,700 shares on Tuesday, and on Wednesday 2,186,100 shares of the total traded, while losing 14 percent of its value by week end, to end at GH¢2.50. Except for these two trades, the volume of stocks traded was very low.
Sic Insurance Company lost 5 percent to close at GH¢0.40 and Societe Generale Ghana lost 6 percent to close at GH¢0.66 were the stocks that suffered the greatest loss. At the end of the week there was still signs of weakness with only 15 stocks having bids and 29 offers compared to 18 to 29 at the end of the week before.
11 stocks down, 1 up on GSE
Citizens march on TTSE
First Citizens Bank continues its recover, by ending with another gain in the march towards the $40 mark once more, on a day with trading in 12 securities, of which 4 advanced, 3 declined and 5 traded firm. Only 93,287 stocks traded, with a value of $5,597,251.
The Composite Index advanced 1.53 points to close at 1,181.19, the All T&T Index rose by 3.05 points to close at 2,017.90 and the Cross Listed Index remained flat at 45.16.
Gains| Stocks increasing in price at the close are, Ansa Merchant Bank trading 3,520 units, to close with a gain of 9 cents at $38.49, First Citizens Bank with 29,063 shares changing hands, for a value of $1,118,588, to close at $38.50, up 28 cents, Neal & Massy enjoyed a 50 cents gain, to end the day at $67, a new 52 weeks high, with 1,650 shares changing hands and Republic Bank with 23,853 shares being traded for $2,870,709, gained 2 cents to close at $120.35.
Declines| In trading, Agostini’s with 569 shares, closed at $17.58 and lost a cent, ANSA McAL lost a cent in trading 148 units, to close at $66.44 and Clico Investment Fund fell by 2 cents, to close at $21.56 in posting 8,395 shares valued at $181,005.
Firm Trades| Stocks closing with prices unchanged, at the end of trading, are Guardian Holdings that contributed 14,746 shares, with a value of $199,071, to close at $13.50, Sagicor Financial Corporation 2,000 units to close at $7.02, Scotiabank traded just 198 units at $70 and Trinidad Cement with 1,250 shares changing hands, closed at $2 while West Indian Tobacco added 7,895 shares valued at $931,610 and closed at $118.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 2 stocks with the bid higher than their last selling prices and only 1 with the offer that was lower.
Market directionless
In Thursday’s trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, the market was directionless with advancing stocks numbering just below declining ones and the IC market indicator showing investors in a tussle over the immediate future direction of the market. Prices of 6 stocks rose and 8 declined as 20 securities traded resulting in 3,602,192 shares changing hands valued at $19,621,158 in another lacklustre session.
Main Market| All advancing shares in the market was in the main market and all but one stock that declined was also in this market, but the indices moved up slightly, with the JSE Market Index inching up by just 1.23 points to 74,599.03 and the JSE All Jamaican Composite index edging up by only 1.38 points to close at 82,123.43.
Gains| Stocks recording gains at the end of trading in the main market are Berger Paints trading 89,657 unitss to close with a gain of a cent at $1.68, Caribbean Cement gained 21 cents to close at $3.91 with 20,500 units changing hands, Carreras traded 443 shares to close 6 cents higher at $33.56, Ciboney with 50,000 shares by increasing by a cent to close at 12 cents for a new 52 weeks high, Grace Kennedy 7,439 shares with a gain of $1 to close at $58 and Jamaica Money Market Brokers with 451,214 ordinary shares to close up by 4 cents at $7.24.
Firm| There were only 5 stocks in the main market to close without a change in price as Gleaner with 228,484 shares closed at $1.10, Hardware & Lumber traded 3,300 units and closed at $11.70, Mayberry Investments with 3,060 units closed at $1.70, Scotia Group had 59,888 units changing hands to close at $20.62 and Seprod traded 685 shares in closing at $10.84.
Declines| The number of stocks that declined in the main market are Cable & Wireless with 1,500,888 units while losing a cent to end at 40 cents, Desnoes & Geddes with 76,472 shares to end at $4.30 as the price lost 30 cents, Jamaica Broilers with 450,872 shares to close at $4.86, down 4 cents, Jamaica Producers that traded 6,600 units to close at $18.26 while losing 4 cents, National Commercial Bank 571,665 shares as the price closed with a 10 cents lost, at $18, Sagicor Group had 50,529 units changing hands to close with a fall of 71 cents to $9.50 and Salada Foods 2,400 shares to close 45 cents lower, to end at $7.50
Junior Market| The JSE Junior Market Index declined by 0.59 points to close at 743.20 as only 2 junior market stocks traded at the end of the trading session.
Gains| No stock gained at the end of trading in the junior market.
Firm Trades| Lasco Manufacturing was the only stock in the junior market that traded to close at the same price as the previous trading day with 27,096 units to end at $1.20.
Declines| Caribbean Producers was the only stock declining in the junior market at the end of trading as the price fell 9 cents to close at $2.91 as it traded a mere 1,000 units.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 5 stocks with the bid higher than the last selling price and 6 stocks with offers that were lower.
More stocks up than down on TTSE
The Trinidad stock market continues to trade with a slight upward bias on Wednesday, as trading took place in 13 securities of which 5 advanced, 3 declined and 5 traded firm. A total of 468,162 stocks units traded with a value of $8,166,881.
The Composite Index advanced 0.38 points to close at 1,179.66, the All T&T Index rose by 1.45 points to close at 2,014.85 and the Cross Listed Index fell by 0.09 points to close at 45.16.
Gains| Stocks increasing in price at the close are, Angostura Holdings while contributing 35,851 shares with a value of $466,014, closed a cent higher at $13, First Citizens Bank added 22,679 shares valued at $866,443, to close with a gain of 5 cents at $38.22, Guardian Holdings with 84,130 shares changing hands for a value of $1,135,704, closed at $13.50, with a gain of 23 cents, One Caribbean Media contributed 450 units and closed at $20.40 for a 4 cents gain, and another 52 weeks high and Prestige Holdings exchanged 452 units at $9.41, for a one cent gain.
Declines| Flavorite Foods traded 1,000 shares and lost 20 cents, to end at $6.80, Jamaica Money Market Brokers traded 56,380 shares for $27,082 as the price shed 2 cents, to end at 48 cents and Readymix traded just 200 shares to end at $19.60, for a 7 cents fall.
Firm Trades| Stocks closing with prices unchanged at the end of trading are, Ansa Merchant Bank with 4,585 units to close at $38.40, ANSA Mcal with 1,643 shares to end at $66.45, Clico Investment Fund posted a volume of 244,332 shares valued at $5,272,411, to close at $21.60, Firstcaribbean International Bank had 16,070 shares trading to close at $5.50 and Trinidad Cement 300 shares to close at $2.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 3 stocks with the bid higher than the last selling price and only one stock with the offer being lower.
Proven – growth by acquisition
Proven Investments‘ growth by acquisition took a leap forward with the announcement that they came to an agreement with conglomerate Grace Kennedy to acquire all the shares of First Global Financial Services Limited (FGFS) from First Global Holdings Limited. The agreement was signed on April 24, 2014. This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval. Grace Kennedy stated in a release to the Jamaica Stock Exchange that the transaction is valued at $3.05 billion but excludes the seat on the exchange that the Grace group will keep.
First Global Financial Services Limited, FGFS was established in April 2004, as part of the Grace Kennedy Financial Services Division re-branding and consolidation exercise, when George & Branday Securities Ltd assumed the First Global brand name of First Global Financial Services Limited. Later, FGFS acquired the operations of FGB Securities Limited, First Global Stockbrokers Limited, Grace Kennedy Properties Limited, First Global Insurance Limited, and Grace Pension Management Limited.
The acquisition will swell the assets of Proven which stood at US$146.4 million at the end of 2013. It is expected that the two entities will be merged resulting in a cut in operating cost. FGS is said to have $22 billion in assets plus assets managed for third parties off the balance sheet amounting to $60 billion. Not all of the assets may move over as some clients could opt to shift to other entities within the financial industry. If history is anything to go by, the bulk of the assets should continue with the new owners once the deal is concluded.
Grace plans to use the proceeds to expand First Global Bank locally and the group’s financial services regionally.
Related post | FX gains & securities boost Proven
Is Access now a takeover target?
Despite an 88.6 percent jump in provision for bad loans and infighting within the board, Access Financial Services reported impressive increase in profit for the March quarter with revenues climbing 46 percent to $253 million and profits of $80 million versus $61.5 in 2013. Wages grew by 30 percent to $65 million and other operating expenses climbed by 33 percent both at a slower pace than revenues.
No provision has been made for taxation but the company should be subject to tax on profit in the last quarter at 50 percent of the tax rate for that quarter’s profit.
At the end of the quarter, the balance sheet shows assets of $1.298 billion slightly higher than the $1.27 billion at the end of December last year. In the past the figures at the end of the March quarter usually show a contraction as much of the increased lending ahead of the Christmas period is repaid. Loans outstanding are up strongly by 48 percent to $1.12 billion, almost the same amount at the end of December.
Access should, if they are able to overcome the directorship and management issues, end up with earnings per share around the $1.50 level for the current year. Investors, who would buy into it now, would need to have a long term view of it based on where the price is now — unless of course, there is a hostile takeover that could well push the price up.
Related posts | Access CEO moved but… | Access & its CEO in Court | Access moved to Market Watch
5 up 2 down on TTSE
The Trinidad stock market closed on Tuesday with trading in 13 securities of which 5 advanced, 2 declined and 6 traded firm with 343,281 units trading, with a value of $2,087,465.
The Composite Index advanced by 0.87 points to close at 1,179.28 and the All T&T Index advanced by 1.52 points to close at 2,013.40 and the Cross Listed Index inched up by 0.03 points to close at 45.25.
Gains| Stocks increasing in price at the close of trading are First Citizens Bank that traded 1,414 shares to close with a gain of 6 cents to end at $38.17, Guardian Holdings traded 4,163 units to close at $13.27, up 16 cents, Sagicor Financial Corporation 9,875 shares with a value of $69,323 to close at $7.02, while gaining 2 cents, Scotiabank 1,542 units to close at $70, to gain 25 cents, Unilever Caribbean added 5,300 shares, valued at $311,514 and gained 39 cents to end the day at $58.75, for a new 52 weeks high.
Declines| Agostini’s traded 200 shares to close at $17.59, down 10 cents and National Flour Mills traded 178,722 shares for a value of $191,352, to close at $1.07 for an 11 cents decline,
Firm Trades| Stocks closing with prices unchanged at the end of trading are Angostura Holdings which added 2,709 shares to close at $12.99 and was down by a cent, Ansa Mcal with a volume of 1,000 shares and closed at $66.45, Clico Investment Fund closed at $21.60 while trading 15,030 shares, valued at $324,275, Grace Kennedy traded 3,936 shares to close at $3.60, Trinidad Cement exchanged 114,185 shares for $228,370, to close at $2 and Republic Bank closed at $120.33 with 5,205 units trading.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 5 stocks with the bid higher than the last selling price and no offer was lower.
Trinidad Stock Market Marking time
The Trinidad stock market continues to trade with no clear direction and Monday’s trading session was no exception with activity in 14 securities of which 3 advanced, 3 declined and 8 trading firm. A total of 277,748 stock units changed hands, with a value of $12,479,930.
The Composite Index eased 0.25 points to close at 1,178.41, the All T&T Index declined by 0.48 points to close at 2,011.88 and the Cross Listed Index remained flat 45.22.
Gains| Stocks increasing in price at the close are, Angostura Holdings trading 20,201 shares valued at $262,511 to close up a cent at $13, First Citizens Bank that traded 970 shares to close with a gain of 9 cents, to end at $38.11 and Point Lisas Industrial Port Development contributing 800 shares to the volume traded and closed at $3.71 for a one cent gain.
Declines| Agostini’s traded 565 shares and lost a cent to end at $17.69, Clico Investment Fund with 54,122 units, closed at $21.60, down 10 cents, National Flour Mills had 15,400 shares changing hands to close at $1.18, down 2 cents and Trinidad Cement price slipped 19 cents while trading 64,825 shares valued at $129,941, to close at $2.
Firm Trades| Stocks closing with prices unchanged at the end of trading are, Guardian Media while adding 608 shares to close at $19.75, National Commercial Bank with 13,525 shares to close at $1.15, National Enterprises with 696 shares changing hands and closed at $18.75, while Mora Ven Holdings that last traded on July 22 last year, finally traded today with 5,000 shares changing hands valued at $74,850 to close at $14.97, Republic Bank with 87,704 units for a value of $10,553,422, closed at $120.33, Sagicor Financial Corporation 16,452 shares valued at $115,164 to close at $7 and Scotiabank traded 1,880 units to close at $69.75.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 5 stocks with the bid higher than the last selling price and 1 stock with the offer that was lower.
NCB ups dividend as profit climbs
National Commercial Bank approved an increase dividend payment of 35 cents per share payable on May 22, 2014 for stockholders on record as at May 9, 2014. Last year for the March quarter as a result of the fall in profit, the bank cut its dividend paid on May 24 last year to 16 cents per share down from 23 cents they paid in March. A dividend of 32 cents per ordinary stock was paid on February 20 this year.
NCB also released the second quarter results to March and as expected the results showed strong improvement over the 2013 quarter with a net profit of $2.99 billion up from the NDX affected $1.74 billion in 2013. The latest quarterly figures exceeds the amount reported in the December quarter when they made $2.86 billion which was boosted by a $300 million gain from acquisition of a subsidiary. Without that one off non-operating income profit would have grown by 17 percent over the December 2013.
Huge progress has been made in recovering from the negative impact that the NDX debt swap had on net interest income last year as $5.89 billion to $6.11 billion. For the six months to March the bank generated net profit $5.85 billion up from $4.53 billion last year resulting in earnings per share of $2.38 for the current year to date. In achieving these results NCB was able to hold expenses with overall expenses falling in the March quarter compared with the December figures and the latest figures just slightly higher than for the similar quarter last year being just $74 million more at $6.97 billion for March 2013 quarter. For the year to March expenses are up $1.73 billion to $14.3 billion.
The bank seems to be on target to clock around $5 per share earnings for the current fiscal year that ends in September.
The bank grew loans from $141.1 billion to just over $150.5 billion and made provision for bad loans of $492 million versus $390 million in December and $494 million in the 2013 March quarter. For the 2014 six months period bad loan provisioning amounted to $882 million a decline from $1.07 billion.
New listing on GSE as prices gain
The week ending April 25 saw one new entrant to the list of companies as Mega African Capital (MAC) a long-term private investment company became the newest listing on the Ghana Stock Exchange having listed on April 24.
MAC traded 5,500 shares at GH¢3.50 having opened at GH¢3.10 for a gain of GH¢0.40. The company objective is to target high net-worth investors looking for African opportunities to generate high real returns. The total number of shares issued by the company is 8,641,469 units.
At the close of the week, the market continues to show signs of weakness but it managed to slow the decline somewhat, with 6 stocks advancing, to 4 that declined while the two indices gained moderately, with the GSE Composite Index closing at 2,276.12 compared with 2,272.40, at the end of the previous week’s trading. The GSE Financial Stocks index that closed at 1,934.75 on the final trading day of the previous week, closed higher with 5 of the 6 stocks advancing and only one of the declining stocks were from the financial sector.
The level of trading for the week was poor, with only 1.5 million shares trading, of which 1.1 million traded on Friday, Societe Generale Ghana traded 1 million units on that day.
