• United States (US)-based Frontier Airlines has announced plans to increase the number of weekly flights to Jamaica, beginning November 1. International Sales Manager, Alfredo Gonsalez, has said that three new gateways will be added to the existing slate, to bring the number of destinations from which scheduled service into Montego Bay is provided, to four. 
• Frontier will commence flights from Atlanta, Georgia on November 1, Orlando, Florida on November 2, and Newark, New Jersey on December 17. These, he indicated, will be in addition to flights from Miami, Florida to Montego Bay, which commenced in May. 
• The decision was based on the need identified after two very difficult years in the travel industry, consequent on the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, to connect [and] bring people from the US back to Jamaica [and] people from Jamaica to the US. He said the airlines’ leadership decided early in the pandemic to identify key potential destinations that would need to be connected, once countries globally lifted or relaxed travel restrictions, adding that Jamaica was definitely one of them. 
• This augurs well for recovery in the tourism industry and indicates that there is demand for travel to Jamaica. It comes against the background of increased consumer confidence around travelling for vacation purposes. According to the US Conference survey of consumer confidence in October, 50% of Americans indicated that they plan to go on vacation within the next six months, the largest since February 2020. As the US market accounts for the largest share of visitors to Jamaica, this bodes well for the demand for our tourism product. 
• Notwithstanding, the CDC’s risk assessment for COVID-19 for Jamaica could pose as a deterrent to some travelers as Jamaica is categorised at level 4. This means that persons should avoid travelling to the destination or be fully vaccinated before travel. The hope is that a continued downtrend in COVID-19 cases will result in a reduction in the island’s risk category ahead of the peak winter season.

(Source: JIS News & NCBCM Research)

• Jamaica Producers Group ('JP') announced that it has established Grupo Frontera Limited ('GFL' or 'Grupo Frontera'), a 50/50 holding company with Norbrook Equity Partners (‘Norbrook’). As part of the transaction, Grupo Frontera recently acquired the assets and operations of Grupo Alaska ('Alaska'), a leading ice and water company in the Dominican Republic. Grupo Frontera was established by JP and Norbrook to acquire and grow well-positioned companies in the Spanish speaking Caribbean and Central America, the first of which is Grupo Alaska. 
• JP is a Jamaican-owned multinational with its primary businesses in food and drink and logistics and infrastructure. JP owns and operates Hoogesteger Fresh Specialist BV, the market leading fresh juice manufacturer supplying Holland, Scandanavia and other markets in Northern Europe. It is also the largest shareholder of CoBeverage Labs SL, a fresh juice manufacturer supplying Southern Europe. JP’s specialty food interests include its Tortuga subsidiary, through which JP operates a Jamaica-based bakery that supplies Tortuga Rum and Spirit cakes to over 15 countries. 
• JP Snacks Caribbean, a subsidiary of JP is a leading regional producer of tropical snacks. JP Farms, Jamaica’s leading banana farm, is the largest private sector employer in St. Mary, Jamaica. JP Group’s logistics interests include Kingston Wharves Limited, a regional multipurpose port, Geest Line Limited, a UK based shipping line connecting European, Caribbean and Latin America markets, and JP Shipping Services a freight forwarding and logistics enterprise based in the UK. 
• This investment in the Dominican Republic will allow JP to tap into this lucrative market while leveraging its expertise in the food and drink business. The Dominican Republic, which was one of the fastest growing countries prior to the pandemic, is expected to grow by 8.2%  in 2021 and 4.8% in 2022, as a swift national vaccination campaign and resilient private consumption drive domestic activity.

 (Source: JSE News, Fitch Solutions & NCBCM Research Team)

• For the 6-month period ending June 2021, Mayberry Investments reported a net profit of $288.93Mn (EPS: $0.24), which is a significant improvement over the net loss of $962.01Mn incurred in the prior year. This came on the back of a $1.74Bn rise in net operating income. 
• Although fees and commission, dividend income and net foreign exchange gains fell by 20.9%, 20.9% and 16.6%, respectively, the primary contributor of this increase in net operating income was an unrealized gain on investment of $508.72Mn, relative to a loss $1.19Bn in 2020. The gains reflect in the year on year rise in the prices of stocks held by the subsidiary company, Mayberry Jamaican Equities. Net interest income (68.3%) and net trading gains ($85.99Mn) also rose to support the bottom-line. 
• These increases in income were enough to offset the $61.27Mn (8.5%) expansion in operating expenses which was driven by higher expenditure, namely computer licensing fees, management fees, sales and marketing, donations, insurance and IT consulting fees. 
• Mayberry Investments’ operating performance should continue to improve in the coming quarters, as increases in private consumption, investor confidence and corporate earnings bolstered by more relaxed COVID-19 restriction measures, support improvements in equity prices and therefore unrealized gains from its equity investments. Nevertheless, the current rise in cases, which could lead to the reemergence of the restrictions poses a risk to the recovery, especially with the emergence of new strains of the virus. 
• Mayberry Investment’s stock price has depreciated by 5.8% since the start of the year to close at $5.65 on Thursday. It currently trades at a price to book of 0.76x, which is below the main market financial sector average of 1.92x.

(Source: Company Financials & NCBCM Research)