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TTSE: 2 new highs to close week

February 21, 2014 by IC Insider.com

Friday, 21st February 2014 | Republic Bank and One Caribbean Media traded at new 52 weeks high to close off a week on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange that was characterised more by declining stocks than vs. those that enjoyed price gains.

On Friday, 10 securities traded of which 5 advanced, 1 declined and 4 traded firm but the Composite Index declined by 2.22 points to 1,189.87, the All T&T Index advanced by 3.84 points to close at 2,003.47 and the Cross Listed Index fell by 1.10 points 49.40. Trading accounted for only 23,960 shares valued at $709,322.

Gains | Stocks trading with increased prices are ANSA McAL with 25 shares at $66.51, up a cent; One Caribbean Media 261 shares at $19.31 for a gain of 6 cents; First Citizens Bank 77 shares to close up by 27 cents at $38.97; Republic Bank 1,000 shares valued at $117,500 and gained 50 cents to end the day at $117.50; Scotiabank with a volume of 3,000 shares being traded for $216,750 as the price closed up 25 cents at $72.25.

Firm trades | Clico Investment Fund exchanged 11,000 shares valued at $238,480 to close at $21.68; National Enterprises traded 6,153 shares changing hands for a value of $112,292 and Trinidad Cement with 216 units at $2.07.

Losers | First Caribbean International Bank contributed 2,100 shares with a value of $13,650, falling $0.25 to end the day at $6.50.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 6 stocks with bids higher than the last selling price and 4 stocks with offers that lower. The bulk of the stocks with higher bids are Jamaican based companies.

JSE: Main market stocks dominates

February 20, 2014 by IC Insider.com

Thursday, 20th February 2014 | There was trading in 29 securities resulting in 6,367,485 shares with a value of $16,139,565 with 9 stocks rising and 7 declining in today’s trading on the Jamaica stock market Main market stocks did better than the junior market with less than half of the declining stocks coming from the main market, while all but one stock with gains came from the main market. More than a third of the volume was accounted for by Cable & Wireless that rose to a new 52 weeks high.

Main Market | The JSE Market Index declined by 201.56 points to close at 79,363.31 and the JSE All Jamaican Composite fell 305.75 points to 83,939.86 even as advancing stocks in the main market out distanced declining ones by a wide margin.

Gains | Unlike Wednesday when there were only 3 stocks rising in the main market, in today’s trading 7 stocks recorded gains and one in the US dollar market as investors continue to view the latest results for Cable & Wireless favourably. The stock traded 2,348,000 shares to close at a new 52 weeks high of 37 cents by gaining a cent. Desnoes & Geddes traded 5,520 units as the price rose by a cent to close at $5.01; Jamaica Broilers traded 34,497 shares to close up 10 cents at $4.90; Pan Jamaican Investment contributed only 1,170 units at $49, for a 95 cents gain; Proven Investments trading in the US dollar market exchanged 19,010 units at US17.99 cents, as the price gained US0.49 cents; Sagicor Group with 706,311 shares closed gained 15 cents at $9.15; Scotia Group had a volume of 16,759 while closing at 5 cents more at $21.05 and Supreme Ventures 922,600 shares at $2.40 for a 5 cents gain.

Firm Trades | Berger Paints having 35,676 units trading to close at $1.85; Gleaner 5,000 shares to close at $1.15; Grace Kennedy with 1,310 shares changing hands at $55.50; Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.50% preference shares 150,000 units at $2, and the 8.75% preference share, 340,600 units at $3; Jamaica Producers, produced 10,931 units to close at $18.26; Kingston Wharves 2,500 units at $6; Mayberry Investments 39,249 units to end at $1.89 and Salada Foods 1,950 shares to close at $9.

Losses | There were only 3 stocks that declined in the main market as Jamaica Money Market Brokers traded only 3,066 shares to close 2 cents down at $7.48; Sagicor Real Estate X Fund had 12,784 shares trading with the price falling by 10 cents to end at $7 and National Commercial Bank traded 18,200 units to close at $18.02 for a 48 cents fall.

Junior Market | The JSE Junior Market Index declined by 8.40 points to close at 743.34 as there was trading in 9 securities in this market.

Gains | Lasco Distributors was the only stock to trade up in the junior market with 850,000 units, gaining 5 cents to close at $1.35.

Firm trades | Four stocks traded unchanged at the close of the market with Blue Power Group having a volume of 4,472 units to close at $9; Derrimon trading with 219,000 shares to close at $2.50; General Accident Insurance having 207,900 units at $1.65 and Lasco Manufacturing 89,133 units at $1.23.

Losses | Four stocks lost value in the junior market with Access Financial Services slipping 60 cents while trading 39,074 units to close at $10; Dolphin Cove with 67,278 shares closed down 20 cents at $8.30; Lasco Financial Services saw 187,160 shares trading to close at $1.35 for a 10 cents drop and Paramount Trading exchanged 28,335 units as the price edged down by 12 cents to $2.88.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 6 stocks with bids higher than the last selling price and 4 stocks with offers that were lower.

Filed Under: JSE Main Market, Stock Market Tagged With: Daily Trading, Jamaican Stock, JSE Company, Trading Activity

TTSE: Prices still struggling to move up

February 20, 2014 by IC Insider.com

Thursday, 20th February 2014 | Overall Market activity resulted from trading in 14 securities of which 3 advanced, 2 declined and 9 traded firm. The Composite Index declined by 0.34 points to close at 1,192.09, the All T&T Index slipped by 0.81 points to close at 1,999.63 and the cross listed index advanced by 0.01 points to close at 50.50.

Trading activity on the First Tier Market registered a volume of 159,297 shares crossing the floor valued at$2,583,712.

Gains | Scotia Investments had 1,900 units trading to close at $1.52 as it gained 2 cents; Trinidad Cement had 43,524 shares changing hands for a value of $89,825 and closed up 2 cents at $2.07 and Unilever Caribbean enjoyed a gain of 7 cents to $56.60, a new 52 weeks high.

Firm Trades | Angostura Holdings added 4,905 shares valued at $52,729 to close at $10.75; ANSA McAL traded only 250 units at $66.50; Guardian Holdings had 13,910 shares being traded for $196,966 to close at $14.16; Jamaica Money Market Brokers contributed 13,500 shares with a value of $6,750, and closed at 50 cents; National Enterprises traded a mere 13 units at $8.25; Neal & Massy Holdings put in 526 units at $66.25; One Caribbean Media 30 units at $19.25; West Indian Tobacco. 60 units at $118.

Declines | First Citizens Bank had a 27 cents fall to close at $38.70 as 2,729 shares were traded and Clico Investment Fund traded 73,650 shares valued at $1,596,732 and declined by 2 cents to end at $21.68.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 5 stocks with bids higher than the last selling price and 2 stocks with offers that were lower.

Filed Under: Stock Market, TTSE Market Tagged With: Daily Trading, Trading Activity, TTSE

Inflation moderates slightly

February 19, 2014 by IC Insider.com

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Jamaica’s inflation moderated slightly in January this year, according to data released by Statistical Institute of Jamaica (Statin) compared with the December 2013 inflation rate.

Statin says that the inflation recorded by the All Jamaica Consumer Price Index was 0.5 per cent. Jamaica’s inflation rate for December 2013 was put at 0.6 percent by Statin in an earlier report released in January.

All divisions recorded an inflation rate below 1.0 per cent, with the exception of ‘Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance’, which recorded an increase of 2.9 per cent. This movement was due mainly to the increase of approximately 12.0 per cent in the National Minimum Wage which took effect on January. The highest weighted division, ‘Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages’ moved up by 0.4 per cent a slightly lower movement than the 0.5 per cent recorded for December 2013, as lower prices were paid for vegetables and starchy foods.

The upward movement in the index recorded for the divisions for January were as follows: ‘Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages’ which moved up by 0.4 per cent, ‘Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco’ 0.1 per cent, ‘Clothing and Footwear’ 0.2 per cent, ‘Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels’0.7 per cent, ‘Health 0.3 per cent, ‘Transport’ 0.1 per cent. ‘Recreation and Culture’ 0.1 per cent, ‘Restaurants and Accommodation Services’ 0.5 per cent, ‘Miscellaneous Goods and Services’ 0.7 per cent, ‘Education’ and ‘Communication’ recorded negligible movement for the period under review the release stated.

The Index advanced in all three regions: Greater Kingston Metropolitan Area (GKMA) 0.6 per cent, Other Urban Centres (OUC) 0.4 per cent and Rural Areas, 0.5 per cent.

Filed Under: Economy Tagged With: Economy, Inflation, Statin

Eppley profit jumps

February 19, 2014 by IC Insider.com

Eppley is an interesting play with limited income and limited cost in the short term but profit could explode to the upside in 2014 as increased funds under management are put to work.

The company reported a big jump in profits of $34 million or $61.04 per share earnings (EPS) for 2013. In 2012, profit was just $15 million and EPS of $50.21. In the December 2013 quarter, EPS came out at $13.88 as profit amounted to $11 million as no tax was charged due to the exemption for Junior Market companies.

The full year earnings came from income of $65.3 million. Operating expenses were $34 million and interest expense $16.5 million. Eppley generated $24 million in Other Income. Net interest income for the full year was roughly the same as in 2012 at $48.7 million, 2012 $50 million. Income should grow in 2014 as the proceeds of the preference shares issued at the end of 2013 which brought in $387 million at 9.5 percent per annum starts to generate income.

At the end of 2012, there was $463 million total assets under management but that has grown to $814 million, almost doubling the amount. Except for a very small amount, the remainder of the assets are all potentially income generating. At the end of December, only about $160 million of the assets was not placed to maximize returns and that should be corrected in 2014.

Stock outlook | The company stated that it had a $757 million portfolio with an average yield of 15 percent at year end; $474 million of these funds are borrowed but at lower cost than the rate being generated by the portfolio. Earnings for 2014 should be in the region of $60 million or $107 per share after paying preference dividends. If this materializes, the stock could move strongly upwards if enough trading takes place. Eppley announced a $9 per share dividend payable on February 28, 2014. The stock, which trades infrequently, last traded at $380.

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: Eppley, Jamaican Stock, JSE Company

JSE: Stocks trading unchanged on top

February 19, 2014 by IC Insider.com

Wednesday, 19th February 2014 | There was trading in 32 securities resulting in 4,788,900 shares with a value of $10,931,649 as 5 stocks rose and 7 declined in today’s trading on the Jamaica stock market. Twenty stocks closed unchanged in price.

Main Market | The JSE Market Index declined by 352.05 points to close at 79,564.87 and the JSE All Jamaican Composite fell 534.04 points to 84,245.61.

Gains | Cable & Wireless traded 2,263,421 shares to close back at its recent high of 36 cents by gaining 2 cents; Carreras traded 7,900 units as the price moved up by 85 cents to close at $36 and Mayberry Investments contributed 36,956 units at $1.89, a 4 cent gain.

Firm Trades | Stocks that traded with unchanged prices were greater than those with price changes with Berger Paints having 1,500 units trading to close at $1.85; Caribbean Cement 16,000 shares at $4.70; Grace Kennedy with 6,657 shares changing hands at $55.50; Jamaica Broilers, 22,242 shares at $4.80; Jamaica Money Market Brokers ordinary shares 3,202 units at $7.50; Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.50% preference shares 824,800 units at $2; the 8.50% preference shares only had 400 units at $3.50 and the 8.75% preference share, 35,000 units at $3; Jamaica Producers, 290 units at $18.26; Kingston Wharves 16,696 units at $6; National Commercial Bank 13,200 shares at $18.50; Sagicor Real Estate X Fund 1,300 units at $7.10; Scotia Group 105,909 units at $21 and Supreme Ventures 9,891 shares at $2.35.

Losses | Three stocks that declined in the main market were Proven Investments in the US dollar market trading 5,590 units at US17.5 cents, declining by US0.49 cents; Salada Foods with 8,000 shares trading to close at a cent down at $9; Scotia Investments 2,000 shares as the price lost 35 cents to end at $26 and Sagicor Group with 76,687 shares at $9, down 50 cents.

Junior Market | The JSE Junior Market Index declined by 4.12 points to close at 751.74 as advancing stocks were hard to find in this market.

Gains | Cargo Handlers Limited closed at a new all-time high of $15 while trading 91,250 units for a gain of 80 cents and Caribbean Cream had 21,000 shares trading at 85 cents for a 4 cent increase.

Firm trades | Stocks trading unchanged dominated trading with General Accident Insurance having 124,757 units at $1.65; Honey Bun 15,026 shares at $3; Lasco Distributors 120,257 units at $1.30; Lasco Financial Services 319,900 shares at $1.45; Lasco Manufacturing 70,000 units at $1.23 and Paramount Trading 3,700 units at $3.

Losses | Only 3 stocks lost value with Caribbean Producers slipping 3 cents while trading 501,369 units to close at $2.72; Medical Disposables & Supplies 58,000 units as the price edged down by 6 cents to $2 and Dolphin Cove with 6,000 shares to close down 10 cents at $8.50.

IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 4 stocks with bids higher than the last selling price and 2 stocks with offers that were lower.

Filed Under: JSE Main Market, Stock Market Tagged With: Daily Trading, Jamaican Stock, JSE Company, Trading Activity

TTSE: Still exhibiting weakness

February 19, 2014 by IC Insider.com

Wednesday, 19th February 2014 | Trading remained subdued on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange with only 37,483 shares trading valued at $1,826,137. On Tuesday 29,258 shares traded with a value of $1,647,664.

Overall Market activity resulted in 10 securities trading of which 2 advanced, 2 declined and 6 traded firm. The effect of the price changes were reflected in the market indices with the Composite Index advancing by 0.05 points to close at 1,192.43, the All T&T Index inched up by 0.10 points to close at 2,000.44 and the Cross Listed Index remained at 50.49.

Gains | Guardian Holdings with 2,600 shares valued at $36,821 to close at $14.16 and Unilever with 220 units to close at $56.54, both stocks gained a cent each.

Losses | First Citizens Bank had 4,410 shares traded for $171,892 and closed at $38.97 and Agostini’s contributed 4,000 shares with a value of $71,139 to close at $17.79 both declining by a cent.

Firm Trades | Clico Investment Fund posted 8,225 shares valued at $178,473 with the price remaining at $21.70; Neal & Massy traded 789 units to close at $66.25; One Caribbean Media traded only 20 shares to end the day at $19.25; Scotia Bank had 15,553 shares changing hands for a value of $1,119,816 with the price closing at $72; Republic Bank traded 1,560 to close at $117 and Point Lisas Industrial Port Development traded 106 units $3.60.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 5 stocks with bids higher than the last selling price and 2 stocks with offers that were lower.

Image courtesy of watcharakun/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Filed Under: JSE Main Market, Stock Market Tagged With: Daily Trading, Jamaican Stock, JSE Company, Trading Activity

Carreras is back

February 19, 2014 by IC Insider.com

Profits at Carreras is back on track dollar wise, as revenues hit $3.66 billion in the 2013 December quarter versus $3.745 billion in 2012.

Gross profit is above the 2012 period of $1.69 billion at $1.75 billion in 2013. Selling and administrative expenses declined in the latest quarter, which would have pushed the 2013 results above 2012. Carreras booked interest due on the debt owed by the tax department of $1.8 billion as other income, resulting in profits growing to $2.18 billion after tax, versus $1.17 billion in the prior year. Gross profit is down for the nine months to $3.98 billion from $4.34 billion in 2012. Profit after tax for the year-to-date is $3.1 billion versus $5.1 billion, with both periods having swollen figures due to exceptional income.

Volumes are still down, but not as badly as in the June quarter, when sales were negatively affected by the hike in cigarette prices in March 2013 and the stock piling of inventories by the trade ahead of the price hike, a practise that goes back for several years. The December quarter’s performance is in stark contrast to the June quarter when revenues plummeted from $3.1 billion in June 2012 quarter to just $2.16 billion, a sharp 30 percent drop, but profit after tax fared even worse, dipping by 40 percent.

Expenses rise | Administrative, sales & marketing expenses fell in the latest quarter to $600 million from $710 million in 2012 but is marginally up to $1.655 billion for the nine months compared to $1.58 billion for the same period as of December 2012.

Tax Recovered | The tax now recoverable is down to $980 million from $1.733 billion at the end of March and is expected to be fully recovered over the next 12 months and will most likely be distributed as dividends to shareholders.

Carreras ended up with cash funds of $3.8 billion at the end of December, equity is at $4.7 billion or $9.60 per share.

Earnings appears to be back on track to deliver around $6 per share annualised, which would result in some increase in the quarterly dividend that was cut from $1.50 to $1 last year in light of the drop in profit. Carreras declared $1.62 as the latest dividend to be paid March after paying a special capital cash distribution of $1.18 on January 30, 2014.

Carreras is an IC Insider Buy Rated Stock.

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: Carreras, Jamaican Stock, JSE Company

TTSE: Little forward movement so far

February 18, 2014 by IC Insider.com

Tuesday, 18th February 2014 | The Trinidad & Tobago stock market continues to exhibit weakness as most price changes on Tuesday were down with only on price being up.

In today’s trading on the Trinidad stock market 9 securities changed hands of which 1 advanced, 3 declined and 5 traded firm. Trading resulted in just 171,274 shares changing hands valued at $1,501,139.

The Composite Index eased by 0.83 points to 1,192.38, the All T&T Index slipped by 1.75 points to close at 2,000.34 and the Cross Listed Index edged up by 0.02 points to close at 50.49.

Gains | One Caribbean Media was the only stock to advance as the price gained 23 cents to end at $19.25 with 775 shares changing hands.

Firm Trades | While the market tended to be on the weak side here were more stocks trading firm than those declining with Clico Investment Fund closing at $21.70 while trading 22,026 shares valued at $477,964; Jamaica Money Market Brokers had 100,000 shares changing hands for a value of $50,100 with the price closing at 50 cents; Neal & Massy contributed 7,505 shares with a value of $497,341 and closed at $66.27; Point Lisas Port Development traded 316 units to close at $3.60 and Republic Bank had just 53 shares and closed at $117.

Losers | First Citizens Bank added 2,107 shares valued at $82,136, lost 2 cents to end at $38.98; Sagicor Financial Corporation added 37,325 shares valued at $287,403 to close at $7.70 for a decline of 4 cents and Scotiabank price fell 50 cents to close at $72.00 while trading 1,167 units.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 5 stocks with bids higher than the last selling price and 5 stocks with offers that were lower.

Image courtesy of Photokanok/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Filed Under: Stock Market, TTSE Market Tagged With: Daily Trading, Trading Activity, TTSE

USA trade deficit worsens, Caricom improves

February 17, 2014 by IC Insider.com

Trade deficit deteriorates with USA | Jamaica’s trade deficit with the United States of America (USA) to October last year resulted in savings of US$136 million, which flowed from a rise in exports and a reduction in imports. This is a decline from the position in August when there was a $212 million improvement.

At the end of the 2013 period, the trade deficit with the USA stood at US$1.1 billion, down from US$1.24 billion in the comparable 2012 period. The value of imports the during the January to October 2013 fell by US$103 million or 5.6 percent to US$1.753 billion compared to the same period in 2012 and exports rose by US$32 million or 5.2 percent to US$651 million, representing 49.6 percent of total earnings from exports.

Expenditure on goods imported from the USA accounted for approximately 34.0 percent of Jamaica’s total expenditure on imports.

Image courtesy of Sommai/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Caricom trade improves | The trade deficit with the Caricom region for the year to October 2013 showed a US$65 million or 9 percent improvement over the similar period in 2012 with the deficit amounting to US$654 million, down from US$719 million in the comparable period of 2012.

Imports from CARICOM during January to October 2013, fell by 10.2 percent or US$80.3 million to US$709.6 million as a result of a decrease in expenditure on “Mineral Fuels, etcetera”. Up to August, imports fell by US$80 million as well and the reduction seems to have stabilised at a lower level than before. Expenditure on this commodity group accounted for 66.6 percent of goods imported from CARICOM during the 2013 period and imports fell by US$87 million or 15.6 percent to US$472 million in the current period. By comparison, in the January to October 2012 period, imports of “Mineral Fuels, etcetera” represented 70.8 percent of Jamaica’s total import bill with CARICOM.

Importation of “Food” rose by 9.3 percent or US$11.9 million to US$140.2 million. Spending on “Beverages & Tobacco” also rose marginally to US$33.4 million.

Total exports declined by 21.2 per cent or US$15.0 million to US$55.8 million during the January to October 2013 period. Domestic exports moved down from US$62 million to US$48 million because of decreases in “Chemicals”, “Misc. Manufactured Articles” and “Mineral Fuels, etcetera”. Earnings from these three commodity groups fell in the 2013 review period to US$5.1 million, US$3.4 million, and US$0.4 million respectively.

Related posts | Non-Traditional exports up | Caricom imports drop

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Filed Under: Economy Tagged With: Deficit, Economy, GOJ, Trade