By Al Edwards, Business Co-ordinatorJAMAICAN CONGLOMERATE Grace, Kennedy & Company's share price continues on an upward trajectory and yesterday set a new record, trading as high as $62.50. The stock traded in the band of $56.00 and $62.50 and closed at $57.21.
In January of 2003, Grace's share price stood at $38 and closed the year at around $50.50.
September's unaudited results posted revenues for the nine-month period of $16.4 billion, an increase of 22 per cent over the equivalent 2002 figure of $13.5 billion. Net profit attributable to stockholders increased by $171 million over the corresponding period of 2002, moving from $895.6 million to $1.06 billion, an increase of 19.1 per cent. Earnings per stock unit was 43.30, compared with $2.77 in 2002.
After these impressive results Grace, Kennedy announced a 35 cent dividend for those holding the stock to November 27, 2003. With Grace being cross listed on both the Barbados Stock Exchange and the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange, price differentials and anticipation over the prospects of the group were attributable for this performance at the end of the year.
Grace has started the new year with the proverbial bang. NCB Capital Markets' analysts Audrey Williams and Karlene Bailey commented :"This stock (Grace) is expected to do well this year, however its early days yet and there maybe some price corrections in the months to come."
Speaking to The Gleaner last night, chairman and chief executive officer of Grace, Kennedy & Company, Douglas Orane said: "Grace's share price is (price, earnings ratio) running at approximately 10 times earnings. Companies of a comparable size operating in the CARICOM region have a P/E of 15. Therefore there is a lot of upside potential with our share price.
The individual stock exchanges in the region are increasingly behaving less like stand alone exchanges and are exhibiting more integrated tendencies. Let's not forget that Grace was the first Jamaican company to cross list in both Trinidad and Barbados. Demand for Grace's goods and services both locally and in the region is very strong and this may well be a factor driving the share price. Our beverages in the United States grows year over year. The Grace Caribbean Fixed Income Fund, the Caribbean's first fixed income fund, has received registration approval in Jamaica and has grown to over US$8 million. It will be officially launched in Jamaica in the next few weeks.
"Our bill payment service is now available in the Eastern Caribbean and this initiative will continue in 2004. We are seeing a demand for Grace's own brand products and this particularly manifested itself over the Christmas period with our hams doing brisk business. December was a particular excellent month for our retail business with Rapid & Sheffield and Hardware & Lumber doing well. Hilo also put in a very good performance.
"Last Saturday we had a retreat with 400 key members of Grace, Kennedy where we outlined our strategy going forward into 2004. We also had employees over from Trinidad & Tobago, Belize, Guyana, Haiti the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
"In times of uncertainty in the Caribbean people continue to have unmet needs and we are listening to the needs of the Jamaican people and trying to meet them."
