Jamaican Teas Dissapointed In Stock’s Performance. Chooses Corporate Bond Instead

Investors can expect the Jamaican Teas Corporate Bond Offering any time now. However when questioned about the main reason for a bond offering instead of more equity CEO John Mahfood couldn’t resist lamenting the poor performance of his stock on the Jamaican Stock Market. Oh Ooooh. 🙁

The main reasons John gives in a July 23, 2013 radio interview with Financial Analyst Ralston Hyman for his decision to go with a bond offering instead of more equity is the poor performance of his stock, and in general the poor performance of the Jamaica Stock Exchange. His two reasons are

1. His stock price (JAMT) is not where it should be, and
2. Investors are not investing / confident enough in the stock market (right now)

John, why are you surprised?

Jamaican Teas Stock Market Price @ Aug 9, 2013

Jamaican Teas did its IPO in June 2010 raising over J$83.9 million from the market in an IPO that was oversubscribed in 2 minutes! However 3 years later the company is trading at J$4.40, only 31% percent above its J$3.37 IPO price. The stock has traded between J$3.70 to J$4.60 over the past 52 weeks (up to August 9, 2013)

However towards the end of his interview with Financial Analyst Ralston Hyman, he did have some positive words for other companies (despite how his experience is turning out).

He encouraged other companies to use the stock exchange, as its a lot more attractive than going to banks and paying back high interest rates. He empathized with companies that sometimes may not want to sell a part of their company for all that scrutiny, but encouraged them as in the end the company benefits and is much more professional, with additional capital.

Investors can expect the corporate bond to be floated by early august 2013, and it should be listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange Corporate Bond Market