Rising stocks trumped those declining at the close of trading on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Thursday, with trading in 42 securities compared with 41 on Wednesday and ending with prices of 19 rising, 12 declining and 11 unchanged, following a 272 percent rise in the volume of stocks traded, with 235 percent higher value than Wednesday.
Trading resulted in an exchange of 6,736,179 shares for $12,893,338 up from just 1,811,654 units at $3,852,277 on Wednesday.
Trading averaged 160,385 shares at $306,984, compared with 44,187 units at $93,958 on Wednesday with the month to date, averaging 126,617 units at $295,396 compared with 121,141 stock units at $293,517 on the previous day and April with an average of 204,118 units at $439,599.
Mailpac Group led trading with 3.33 million shares for 49.4 percent of total volume followed by ONE on ONE Educational with 1.03 million stocks for 15.2 percent of the day’s trade and Jamaican Teas with 610,100 units for 9.1 percent market share.
At the close of trading, the Junior Market Index rallied 30.89 points to end at 3,791.25.
The Junior Market ended trading with an average PE Ratio of 12.3, based on last traded prices in conjunction with earnings projected by ICInsider.com for the financial years ending around August 2025.
Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows five stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and seven with lower offers.
At the close, Blue Power dropped $1.04 to finish at $3.16 after investors ended trading 8,931 shares, Caribbean Assurance Brokers rallied 62 cents to $3.82 after a transfer of 128,172 shares as investors continued to respond to the release of full year results at the end of last week, Caribbean Cream declined 20 cents to end at $4.01 with traders dealing in 205 units. Derrimon Trading increased 14 cents in closing at $2 with an exchange of 54 stocks, Dolphin Cove sank $1.02 to close at $19.98 with 2,437 units clearing the market, Fontana popped 15 cents to end at $8.95 as investors exchanged 50,181 shares. Future Energy lost 8 cents to close at $3.40, with 114,350 stock units changing hands, GWest Corporation dipped 9 cents in closing at 92 cents with an exchange of 1,592 stocks, Honey Bun dropped 41 cents and ended at $7.50, with 3,749 shares crossing the market. Jamaican Teas shed 12 cents to close at $2.40 with investors trading 610,100 stock units, Jetcon Corporation rose 12 cents to finish at 99 cents with just 10 units crossing the exchange, JFP Ltd gained 9 cents to end at $1.23 with investors trading 5,703 stocks. Lasco Financial popped 9 cents to $1.69 in an exchange of 51,826 units, Limners and Bards advanced 20 cents to close at $1.46 with investors dealing in 20,669 shares, Lumber Depot rose 12 cents in closing at $2.82 in switching ownership of 43,480 stock units and MFS Capital Partners gained 15 cents to end at $1.52 after an exchange of 343,490 stocks.
Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.
Trinidad stocks resume losing streak
Stocks resumed the losing streak for May after a break on Wednesday, with prices mostly pushed lower on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange on Thursday, with the volume of stocks traded dropping 56 percent valued 61 percent less than on Wednesday and resulting in the trading of 15 securities down from 18 on Wednesday, to end with prices of one stock rising, six declining and eight remaining unchanged.
The market closed trading with an exchange of 86,938 shares for $752,643 compared with 195,705 stocks at $1,935,850 on Wednesday.
An average of 5,796 shares were traded at $50,176 compared with 10,873 units at $107,547 on Wednesday, with trading month to date averaging 17,574 shares at $174,482 compared with 19,210 units at $191,749 on the previous day and an average for April of 17,642 shares at $178,724.
The Composite Index fell 3.95 points to lock down trading at 1,160.87, the All T&T Index sank 6.14 points to 1,755.04, the SME Index remained unchanged at 78.90 and the Cross-Listed Index dipped 0.22 points to conclude trading at 73.49.
Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows five stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices and two with lower offers.
At the close, Agostini’s ended at $69.03, with 1,553 shares changing hands, Ansa McAl remained at $57 after an exchange of just 3 units, Calypso Macro Investment Fund closed at $23 with investors transferring 3,776 shares. First Citizens Group ended at $47.50 in an exchange of 1,410 stock units, Guardian Holdings popped 1 cent to close at $17.51 with investors dealing in 1,159 shares, Massy Holdings lost 6 cents to finish at $4.19 with a transfer of 25,794 units. National Enterprises ended at $3.70 as investors exchanged 5 stock units, National Flour Mills remained at $1.94 in trading 1,000 stocks, NCB Financial ended at $2.70 after closing with an exchange of 34,012 shares. One Caribbean Media fell 20 cents to close at $3.50 with just 2 stock units changing hands, Republic Financial dipped 4 cents to finish at a 52 weeks’ low of $117.97 with 632 stocks clearing the market, Scotiabank fell 75 cents to end at $66.25 in switching ownership of 682 units. Trinidad & Tobago NGL skidded 5 cents in closing at a 52 weeks’ low of $7.95 with investors trading 6,056 shares, Trinidad Cement slipped 5 cents to $2.55 after 1,000 units crossing the exchange and West Indian Tobacco remained at $10 with traders dealing in 9,854 stocks.
Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.
Berger surges into healthy Q1 profit
There is a huge about-turn in profit at Berger Paints with $48 million generated in the first quarter of March 2024 compared with a loss of $35 million in the first quarter of 2023, following a 7.6 percent climb in sales to $772 million from $718 million in 2023.
Cost control and reduction in some cases played a major role in the turnaround in the operations, with the company reporting a small loss for the fiscal year 2022 and a much bigger $218 million loss in 2023 after a tax credit of $37 million.
The most major development is a sharp fall in the cost of material used in the production to facilitate sales with a drop to 43 percent from 57 percent with costs of $330 million in the latest quarter down from $407 million in 2023, a fall of 19 percent while other manufacturing costs coming in 12 percent lower to $14 million.
Staff cost rose 12 percent to $154 million from $138 million in 2023 while Other operating expenses jumped 17 percent to $212 million from $180 million in 2023. Depreciation rose 16 percent to $22 million from $19 million in 2023, with fixed assets net of depreciation jumping to $480 million from $289 million at the end of March 2023.
The operations generated Gross cash flow brought in $80 million, netting out at $69 million after working capital and capital spending.
Current assets ended the period at $1.7 billion inclusive of trade and other receivables of $595 million, cash and bank balances of $224 million. Inventories were reduced by $200 million to $800 over the twelve months to March this year and receivables by $170 million over the same period to $600 million.
Current liabilities ended the period at $1.17 billion. Net current assets ended at $500 million.
At the end of March, shareholders’ equity amounts to $1.1 billion with little borrowings.
Earnings per share for the quarter was 23 cents. IC Insider.com computation projects earnings of $1.60 per share for the fiscal year ending December 2023, with a PE of 3.4 times the current year’s earnings based on the price of $5.50 the stock traded at on the Jamaica Stock Exchange Main Market. Net asset value ended the period at $5.12 with the stock selling at a mere 7 percent over book value.
Gains for JSE USD Market
The Jamaica Stock Exchange US dollar market ended trading on Wednesday, with a 73 percent jump in the volume of stocks changing hands following a 48 percent drop in value from trading on Tuesday, resulting in trading in seven securities, compared to six on Tuesday with prices of two rising, three declining and two ending unchanged.
The market closed with an exchange of 193,096 shares for US$13,524 compared to 111,519 units at US$25,798 on Tuesday.
Trading averaged 27,585 units at US$1,932 versus 18,587 shares at US$4,300 on Tuesday, with a month to date average of 26,779 shares at US$3,645 compared with 26,623 units at US$3,978 on the previous day and April that ended with an average of 35,401 units for US$2,453.
The US Denominated Equities Index gained 0.71 points to close at 236.50.
The PE Ratio, a measure used in computing appropriate stock values, averages 9.2. The PE ratio is computed based on the last traded price divided by projected earnings done by ICInsider.com for companies with their financial year ending and or around August 2024.
Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows one stock ended with a bid higher than the last selling price and one with a lower offer.
At the close, First Rock Real Estate USD share popped 0.19 of a cent in closing at 4.7 US cents after an exchange of 58 stock units, Margaritaville dipped 1.5 cents to 8.53 US cents in trading 365 shares, Proven Investments remained at 13.09 US cents with 13,966 stocks changing hands. Sygnus Real Estate Finance USD share fell 0.2 of a cent and ended at 8.8 US cents after an exchange of 82,281 units and Transjamaican Highway shed 0.04 of a cent to close at 2.1 US cents with investors trading 96,201 shares.
In the preference segment, JMMB Group US8.5% preference share rallied 7 cents to finish at US$1.27 in switching ownership of 5 stock units and Sygnus Credit Investments US 8% ended at US$10.60, with 220 units crossing the exchange.
Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.
Trinidad Exchange breaks losing streak
Stocks broke the losing streak since the start of the month in trading ended on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange on Wednesday, with the volume of stocks traded rising 6 percent but valued 45 percent lower than on Tuesday resulting in the trading of 18 securities compared with 20 on Tuesday and ending with prices of four rising, three declining and 11 remaining unchanged.
The market closed with an exchange of 195,705 shares for $1,935,850 versus 185,374 stock units at $3,535,845 on Tuesday.
An average of 10,873 shares were traded at $107,547 compared to 9,269 units at $176,792 on Tuesday, with trading month to date averaging 19,210 shares at $191,749 down from 20,877 units at $208,588 on the previous day and an average for April of 17,642 shares at $178,724.
The Composite Index popped 2.39 points to end at 1,164.82, the All T&T Index gained 2.44 points to finish trading at 1,761.18, the SME Index remained unchanged at 78.90 and the Cross-Listed Index rose 0.33 points to close at 73.71.
Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows six stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and three with lower offers.
At the close, Agostini’s ended at $69.03 with a transfer of 1,324 shares, Angostura Holdings slipped 10 cents to end at $20, with 658 units crossing the market, Ansa Merchant Bank sank 25 cents to close at $45 after an exchange of 10 shares. Calypso Macro Investment Fund ended at $23, with 53 stocks changing hands, First Citizens Group ended at $47.50 with investors trading 3,261 shares, FirstCaribbean International Bank lost 3 cents to finish at $6.90 after an exchange of 4,185 stocks. Guardian Holdings ended at $17.50 after 213 units were exchanged, JMMB Group advanced 5 cents to $1.40, with 245 stock units crossing the market, Massy Holdings remained at $4.25 with traders dealing in 72,598 shares. National Enterprises ended at $3.70 after 930 stock units passed through the market, NCB Financial remained at $2.70 with investors dealing in 76,000 stocks, Point Lisas ended at $3.70 after an exchange of 128 units. Republic Financial rose 1 cent to $118.01 with investors swapping 7,053 shares, Scotiabank gained 75 cents to finish at $67 after an exchange of 2,680 stocks, Trinidad & Tobago NGL closed at $8 in trading 3,442 units. Trinidad Cement ended at $2.60 as investors exchanged 20,125 stock units, Unilever Caribbean popped 41 cents to close at $11.55 after a transfer of 1,300 shares and West Indian Tobacco ended trading of 1,500 stock units at $10.
Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.
Trading down on the JSE USD Market
Trading dropped on the Jamaica Stock Exchange US dollar market ended on Tuesday, with a 77 percent fall in the volume of stocks changing hands at a 55 percent lower value than on Monday and resulting in trading in six securities, down from 11 on Monday with prices of two rising, one declining and three ending unchanged.
The market closed with an exchange of 111,519 shares for US$25,798 down from 492,062 units at US$57,344 on Monday.
Trading averaged 18,587 units at US$4,300 versus 44,733 shares at US$5,213 on Monday, with a month to date average of 26,623 shares at US$3,978 compared with 28,230 units at US$3,914 on the previous day and April that ended with an average of 35,401 units for US$2,453.
The US Denominated Equities Index skidded 0.58 points to lock up trading at 235.79.
The PE Ratio, a measure used in computing appropriate stock values, averages 9.3. The PE ratio is computed based on the last traded price divided by projected earnings done by ICInsider.com for companies with their financial year ending and or around August 2024.
Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows one stock ended with a bid higher than the last selling price and one with a lower offer.
At the close, First Rock Real Estate USD share shed 0.43 of one cent to finish at 4.51 US cents after 87 units crossed the market, Proven Investments ended at 13.09 US cents in trading 64,242 stocks, Sygnus Credit Investments poppd 0.3 of a cent to 7.9 US cents with 4,594 shares clearing the market and Transjamaican Highway climbed 0.11 of a cent to close at 2.14 US cents with an exchange of 34,429 stock units.
In the preference segment, JMMB Group US8.5% preference share ended at US$1.20 after 67 shares crossed the market and JMMB Group 5.75% remained at US$2 in an exchange of 8,100 stock units.
Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.