Cable Bahamas Listed. Marley Invests In ‘High Times’ Brand

Here is the latest weekly digest (May 25th – Jun 4th, 2017). A quick easy read of this week’s top and most relevant business news. No fluff, just the highlights.

‘High Times, the magazine that has chronicled the transformation of marijuana use from an underground vice to a major American business, said on Thursday that it had been acquired by a group of investors that includes Damian Marley, son of the reggae star Bob Marley.’ This according to the New York Times.

The High Times is distinguishing itself as the definitive resource for all things cannabis, since 1974.

They describe themselves as more than a magazine and affirm that they are ‘fueling the cannabis movement with a series of High Times-sponsored events’, helping people to take a look at the health benefits, business opportunities and rich culture of cannabis.

Is it high time, Jamaica takes a  look at this industry again? For more on the magazine, you can check here. They even have a weekly newsletter, the ‘weed to know’… lol.

At the same time, summer is officially upon us, and forecasters are predicting a very busy hurricane season. Hopefully, none of your investments are impacted by those predictions.  Here are some of the top performers this week.

Big movers this week were PULS, MDS and KEX, up 24.14%, 7.33% and 7.13% respectively. While declines were lead by HONBUN (-20.6%), KREMI (-10.48%) and CHL (-9.5%).

As always, you can see the full list of companies and their stock price performance since the start of the year here.

In other news…

• Cable Bahamas became the first Bahamian company to list on the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) with the listing of the two classes of preference shares by way of Introduction. Including CAB, there are now 66 companies representing 88 securities that are listed on the JSE combined markets.
  • In total, 5,439 (Series 8% fixed rate) preference shares were listed and will mature on June 30, 2023.
  • 4,090 preference shares were listed on the US Dollar Equities Market and 1,349 of the preference shares were listed on the Main Market.
  • The value of the (Series 11- 8% fixed rate) preference shares that were listed on the US Dollar Equities Market amounts to US$4.090m and the value of the Series 11- 8% fixed rate indexed preference shares that were listed on the Main Market amounted to $1.34b.
• Panjam Investment Limited (PJAM) has advised that on June 1, 2017, it successfully raised $2.687 Billion by way of a Private Bond Placement. J$1.2b was allocated to its 2020 Tranche A bond (fixed at 8.25%) and J$1.5 to its Tranche B 2025 (fixed at 9% for the first four years, then varies at 2% above the 6-month Treasury Bill rates for the next four years).
• Margaritaville Caribbean Group Limited will delist its preference shares (pdf) from the JSE within the next 10 days
• Derrimon Trading Ltd, in an effort to refinance its current US dollar debt, recently closed a bond issue valued at $250 million.In a release, the company indicated that the secured note, which was structured and brokered by Mayberry Investments Ltd, was privately issued under exempt distribution guidelines. It is tenured at 24 months and offers a coupon of 10.25 per cent per annum.
• Trade Winds Citrus Ltd showed off a new production line on Tuesday that caps $1.25 billion of investment in Tetra Pak packaging over three years.The beverage company says it’s now in a better position to displace juice imports.
• Key Insurance Company’s claims are growing faster than premium income – and locking out profits.But the general insurer, which went public just over a year ago, expects revenues to rise in coming quarters amid risk management measures to mitigate
• Whitney Fennell has been promoted to step into the role of vice-president, retail sales and distribution. Fennell will lead Flow’s entire retail sales and distribution channels inclusive of more than 90 retail stores, over 22,500 points of sale and team of near 400 direct and indirect employees. This as Stephen Price has taken on the role of managing director at Flow Jamaica.

Internationally (in the U.S.),

• Blue Apron Holdings Inc. , a meal-kit delivery service valued at $2 billion, filed to go public Thursday. The company does not yet have a price range and said it plans to raise $100 million, which is likely a placeholder amount. Blue Apron, which was founded in 2012, posted net revenue of $795 million in 2016, up from $340.8 million in 2015. Sales are growing quickly for the popular meal delivery service, but losses are also mounting. The company is moving to go public while markets are near record highs.
• Streaming music service Spotify could be floated within a year, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday, after co-founder Martin Lorentzon told Swedish radio a listing was not in the pipeline.

Here are some key market and economic figures

• Stock Market Movement (Combined Index):
  • Week to date: 2.40%
  • Month to date:  3.33% May | 4.08% Apr | -3.09% Mar | 9.26% Feb | 10.09% Jan
  • Year to date: 25.54% (27.6% YTD 2016)
• Inflation:
  • Year to date (Dec 16 – Apr 17) 1.3%
• Unemployment: 12.7% – Jan 2017 (12.9% as at Oct 2016)
• GDP: 1.1% Oct – Dec 2016  (2.0% – Jul – Sep 2016) – Rate of Growth of Value Added at Constant (2007) Prices Seasonally Unadjusted

Thanks for reading our weekly digest. (May 25th – Jun 4th, 2017). All weekly reviews can be viewed here.