Business notes...business notes...business notes
Dividend announcements
Elite Diagnostic declared its first dividend since listing in the form of a $0.09 dividend totalling $31.81 million. This will be paid out to shareholders on August 5 for those on record as of July 19. Seprod Limited will be holding a meeting on July 26 to consider a dividend while The Limners and Bards (The LAB) Limited held a special board meeting yesterday to consider an interim dividend. The LAB Limited, Jamaica Public Service Limited, Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) and Seprod Limited will be considering dividend payments to shareholders over the coming weeks. Transjamaican Highway Limited will be paying a quarterly dividend on its eight per cent cumulative redeemable preference shares on July 14 for the second quarter ending June 30.
executive and Director changes
Paula Kerr Jarrett Wegman resigned as a director of Elite on July 5 while Warren Chung resigned as chief executive officer of the company effective September 30. However, Chung will remain a director of the company.
market sales and events
A connected party of Mayberry Investments Limited (MIL) sold 39,234 shares on June 30. A connected party of Mayberry Jamaican Equities Limited (MJE) purchased 463,418 shares on July 9. A connected party of Supreme Ventures Limited sold 55,609 shares between June 28 and 30. A Jamaica Teas Limited sold 295,080 shares on July 2. A senior manager of Lasco Manufacturing Limited sold 131,768 shares between June 30 and July 6. A connected party of Kingston Wharves Limited sold 555,382 shares of the company while another party purchased 447,370 between June 25 to
July 9. Eppley Caribbean Property Fund – Value Fund bought back 92,371 shares of the company between June 28 – 30.
Due to a change in NCB Financial Group Limited’s
(NCBFG) compensation arrangements for Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Patrick Hylton and Deputy CEO Dennis Cohen, the two executive directors agreed to surrender the shares which were owned under the preceding agreement. This resulted in a sale of 61,425,442 shares for Hylton and 33,707,860 shares for Cohen as noted by a Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange release and data from the NCBFG second quarter shareholding list. This valued the transaction at $13.79 billion based on the transaction price of $145. Barring transactions up to June 30, Hylton and Cohen should own 10.7 million shares and 3.87 million shares after the change in the arrangement. The shares, which were surrendered, will be held by a custodian under an existing custodial agreement under which shares are held for future distribution to executives (including Hylton and Cohen).
MIL purchased 60,989,209 shares in MJE during the second quarter. This five per cent purchase pushed MIL’S direct ownership to 74.51 per cent.
Ciboney Group Limited reported an unaudited loss of $5.72 million for its 2021 financial year. The company’s equity went from a surplus of $2.98 million to a deficit of $2.7 million as cash shrunk to $2.75 million from $9.08 million.
Financial sector updates
Scotia Group Jamaica Limited will be launching two new insurance products including a new universal life product during the 2021 financial year (FY). Although Scotiabank plans to introduce the option for customers to freeze their debit cards, President and Chief Executive Officer Audrey Tugwell Henry noted that it might not occur in the FY.
Sagicor Bank Limited is consolidating its Constant Spring location in Kingston by closing its Half-way-tree branch on August 13.
JMMB Bank Limited is introducing new smart ATM’S across various locations in the coming weeks. This will allow for cash deposits to be instantly accessible, tap one’s contactless card on the ATM instead of inserting and allow for the smart deposit of cheques.
earnings season
JP Morgan Chase, Pepsico, Wells Fargo and the Goldman Sachs Group will be announcing its earnings on July 13. Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Alphabet, Disney and Tesla will be reporting later in the month as they report in a time when the economy is slowly reopening and the world remains changed forever. Cemex will be publishing its earnings on July 29.
Locally, NCB Financial Group Limited along with Barita Investments Limited will be reporting earnings in the coming weeks. Companies to watch include Derrimon Trading Company Limited, Sagicor Group Jamaica Limited, Carreras Limited, Jamaica Teas Limited, Lumber Depot Limited and JMMB Group Limited. Companies whose financial year ended on June 30 and are using the 60-day rule should report their earnings by August 29.