All Ports FULL! Trinidad, Carib Cement Takeover. 14 New Listings For 2017

December 11, 2016

Here is the latest weekly digest (Dec 5th – Dec 11th, 2016). A quick easy read of this week’s top and most relevant business news. No fluff, just the highlights.

National Highlights

  • The Port of Kingston welcomed its largest cruise ship ever this week, the MS Monarch, operated by Royal Caribbean’s Pullmantur Brand. The 2,700 passenger ship came to Kingston after it was unable to secure berths on Jamaica’s north coast as the Montego Bay and Falmouth ports were full.
  • The ports of Falmouth, Montego Bay, Ocho Rios and Kingston hosted a combined six cruise vessels on Tuesday this week. This was the second time in the past four years that this number of ships simultaneously called on Jamaica. In 2012, seven ships made calls on Falmouth, Montego Bay, Ocho Rios and Port Antonio.

  • Jamaican Dollar Revaluation – Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw, says the Jamaican dollar is experiencing a revaluation, due to the Working Group that he established to monitor the foreign exchange market.
  • The Senate approved the bills (On Friday December 4) to reinstate tax incentives for companies that list on the Junior Stock Market (JSM) of the Jamaica Stock Exchange. It was previously passed in the House of Representatives on October 18, 2016.
  • Horse Racing Bills Passed – The House of Representatives approved two Bills on December 6 that will establish a regulatory framework to attract and support investment in Jamaica’s horse-racing industry and facilitate the development of Caymanas Track into a modern world-class racing complex.
  • 5 New Hotels To Start Construction In January, with several other investors scoping out lands they intend to build on. The five developments are slated for the north coast, spanning from St Ann to Montego Bay.
  • Jamaica is targeting a room stock of 50,000 in five years, from which revenue of US$5 billion is projected. The aim is also to grow the tourist market to five million visitors annually in five years.
  • Venezuela has unveiled six new bills set to go into circulation next week. The six new bills ranging from 500 to 20,000 Bolivars will begin circulating on December 15. Currently, the largest-denominated bill is 100 bolivars, not even enough to buy a piece of hard candy at a street kiosk.

Companies & The Markets

  • Carib CementOn Monday Dec 5, 2016 Sierra Trading, a wholly-owned direct subsidiary of Spanish company CEMEX España, S.A. submitted its takeover offer, to acquire 132.6m (132,616,942) or not more than 74.9% of the shares in TRINIDAD CEMENT LIMITED at a price of TT$4.50 per share (a 33% premium on Friday’s TTSE’s price). Sierra already owns 147,994,188 or 39.5% TCL shares and has senior executives on TCL’s board, including Cemex’s CEO.
    • Cemex is prepared to pay US$89 million for the increased stake. The offer values TCL at TT$1.68 billion.
    • If this Offer is successful, TCL will be maintained as a listed company on the TTSE
    • Jamaica’s Carib Cement (CCCL) would become a part of the Cemex Group and would be de-listed from the Jamaica Stock Exchange as well as any other TCL subsidiaries on other regional stock markets in Jamaica and Barbados.
  • Salada Foods Jamaica Limited, producers of Mountain Peak instant coffee, doubled its annual profit despite a reduction in export sales. The company made $69 million at year ending September, up from $31.6 million.
  • Soap and lumber company Blue Power Group made $36.4 million in net profit for the three months ending October 31, more than doubling profit posted a year earlier.
  • Scotia Group Jamaica (SGJ) reported a 14 per cent rise in net profit to $11.6 billion for the year ended October 2016, up from $10 billion. The bank has also approved a more generous dividend for the final quarter of 45 cents per share, payable on January 18. It reflects a six per cent increase in dividends year-over-year, and a dividend payout ratio of 47.08 per cent.
  • Phoenix Printery is pumping capital into new equipment and other aspects of operation under an ambitious plan to corner 40 per cent of the local commercial printing market. Rivals include Lithographic Printers, MAPCO Printers, and Express Printing and Graphics.
  • At least 14 New listings expected on the Jamaica Stock Exchange in 2017. 10 on the Junior market and 4 on the main market.
  • Electricity Provider JPS and Telecommunications company FLOW will start providing information to credit bureaus. JPS started late November and FLOW will start in January.

Thanks for reading Vol. 2016 Issue No. 9 of our weekly digest. ( 5.12.2016 – 11.12.2016 ). All Weekly reviews can be viewed here.

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