• Aided by strong organic growth and the contribution from recent acquisitions, Image Plus Consultants Limited (IPCL) reported a 138.8% year-over-year (YoY) increase in net profit to J$32.78Mn for the first quarter ended May 31, 2026 (Q1 FY2027).
• Driven by higher patient volumes and the acquisitions of The Woman's Place (TWP) and Island Radiology Limited (IR)¹, revenues increased 31.6% year-over-year (YoY) to J$351.93Mn. The acquired businesses contributed J$45.7Mn, or 54%, of the increase in revenue, with IR adding one month of results following the May 1 completion of the acquisition. Furthermore, total scans completed during the quarter rose 28.9% to 17,444 from 13,528 in the prior-year period, while the Ministry of Health (MOH-EHCSD) referral cases represented 8.9% of the total revenues.
• While IPCL’s expanded operations meant direct costs rose 34.5% to J$126.18Mn, revenue growth largely offset the increase, resulting in a relatively stable gross profit margin of 64.2% compared with 64.9% a year earlier.
• Administrative expenses also increased 25.5% to J$153.56Mn as the company absorbed the costs associated with integrating its acquisitions. Even so, operating performance improved, with operating profit surging 77.0% to J$41.84Mn and the operating margin expanding to 11.9% from 8.8%. Ultimately, net profit margins rose to 9.3% from 5.1% in the previous corresponding quarter.
• Looking ahead, management expects the integration of IR to support sustained revenue growth and further operating efficiencies as the enlarged network benefits from greater scale. While higher leverage following the acquisitions could keep finance costs elevated over the near term, the company remains focused on disciplined cost management, seamless integration of its acquired businesses and converting its expanded market position into long-term shareholder value. Achieving these objectives could help IPCL’s earnings rebound to its FY2023 peak of J$236.43Mn.
• IPCL stock has declined 15.0% year-to-date, closing at J$0.85 on Tuesday, July 14, 2026. At its current price, IPCL trades at a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 14.2x, which is below the Junior Market Health Sector average of 22.50x.

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¹During the quarter, IPCL completed its acquisition of Island Radiology Limited, expanding its network to eight diagnostic imaging locations across Jamaica and strengthening its presence in Central Jamaica through the addition of MRI and bone densitometry services.

(Sources: JSE & NCBCM Research)

• The Jamaican Senate has approved the Pensions (Superannuation Funds and Retirement Schemes) (Registration, Licensing and Reporting) (Amendment) Regulations, 2026, paving the way for a phased increase in the proportion of pension fund assets that may be invested in private company equity. The allowable allocation will rise from 5.0% to 7.5% during the current fiscal year, with a further increase to 10.0% by April 2027, subject to regulatory oversight and satisfactory market outcomes.
• Piloting the regulations, Senator Kavan Gayle said the phased approach balances investment diversification with prudent risk management.
• The Government said the reform is intended to modernise the pension investment framework by expanding access to alternative asset classes while maintaining supervisory safeguards. The increased allocation is expected to improve portfolio diversification, reduce concentration risk and enhance the long-term return potential for pension funds.
• Opposition Senator Ramon Small-Ferguson supported the amendment, noting that Jamaican pension portfolios remain heavily concentrated in Government of Jamaica securities. He argued that broader exposure to private equity could strengthen portfolio resilience while directing additional long-term capital toward sectors such as housing, energy, infrastructure and productive businesses.
• Furthermore, the measure is expected to increase the availability of institutional capital for Jamaica's private sector, supporting business expansion, job creation and long-term economic growth, while providing pension fund managers with greater flexibility to pursue diversified investment strategies within established regulatory limits.
• As of September 2025, Jamaica's pension industry managed approximately J$847Bn in assets, with the higher allocation expected to unlock more than J$21Bn in additional capital for investment in private businesses, infrastructure and innovation.

(Sources: JIS & NCBCM Research)

• The Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago (CBTT) held its repo rate at 3.50% at its second quarterly meeting of 2026, the level maintained since March 2020. The Bank cited low inflation, slowing credit growth, and weak domestic activity amid natural gas supply constraints, soft business confidence, and decelerating lending. Accordingly, Business Monitor International (BMI) has revised its 2026 policy-rate forecast down from 4.0% to 3.50%, as previously expected hikes now look unlikely.
• Leadership had signalled in September 2025 a need to raise rates to narrow the TT$-US$ differential and stabilise the foreign exchange (FX) market (a move the International Monetary Fund (IMF) encouraged in May). However, elevated oil prices stemming from US-Iran tensions have eased that pressure by boosting energy exports and foreign reserves, supporting the de facto peg to the US dollar.
• Domestic market interest rates have trended upward, with 1- and 10-year Treasury yields moving from 4.11% and 5.61%, respectively, in May 2025 to 4.75% and 6.03% in May 2026. However, rates are expected to move higher in 2027 as the temporary boost fades – namely, rising oil prices stemming from US-Iran tension - and reserves resume their decline.
• Inflation has stayed remarkably low, with headline inflation slowing to 0.3% y-o-y in May 2026 (down from 0.4% in April and 1.4% a year earlier). Aided by fuel price caps, falling housing and transportation costs (together 42.2% of Consumer Price Index (CPI) weight), and a strengthening TT$, that has appreciated toward TTD6.73/USD from 6.77, has helped to keep inflation contained. Food price growth eased to 0.8% following the October 2025 removal of Value Added Tax (VAT) on certain items, and core inflation rose by just 0.2%.
• BMI expects inflation to remain contained, averaging 1.0% for the year and ending at 1.5%, and forecasts the CBTT to hold the rate through year-end while continuing FX intervention to support the currency. Risks are skewed to the upside, as any reignition of US-Iran tensions and higher-for-longer oil prices could pass through into domestic prices.

(Source: BMI, A Fitch Solutions Company, NCBCM Research)

• The Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) warned on Monday that a potentially powerful El Niño weather ​pattern could become the next big test for ‌Latin American markets. It raisied the risk of faster inflation, prolonged high interest rates and fresh pressure on some of ​the region's most fragile economies.
• The bank said ​the weather phenomenon, which disrupts rainfall and temperature patterns ⁠across the Pacific, could bring floods to some ​countries and drought to others, with knock-on effects ​for crops, fisheries, hydropower and infrastructure.
• Among the countries UBS reviewed, Colombia stood out as the most vulnerable, reflecting a combination of high exposure to food and electricity-price shocks, sticky inflation and a weak fiscal position.
• Brazil and Peru were also ‌flagged ⁠as at risk: Brazil because of macroeconomic fragility, and Peru because of heavier direct climate exposure, including possible damage to agriculture, fishing and transport infrastructure.
• UBS said Venezuela could face renewed strain ⁠on hydroelectric output during droughts, while Panama may see lower water levels disrupt canal traffic. Argentina, by contrast, could benefit if stronger rainfall ⁠boosts grain and oilseed production.
• UBS said any El Niño-driven inflation shock would likely reinforce expectations for higher policy ⁠rates, as Latin American central banks remain inclined to stay hawkish to defend credibility and limit currency weakness.

(Source: Reuters)

• Federal Reserve policymakers are far more likely to wait to increase interest rates than to do so later this month, traders bet on Tuesday, after a government report showed inflation cooled more than expected in June.
• The Consumer Price Index increased by a still-high 3.5% in the 12 months through June after surging 4.2% in May, the report from the U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics showed. Excluding food and energy, core CPI increased 2.6% on a year-on-year basis in June after rising 2.9% in May.
• Oil prices, which had cooled in June as the U.S. and Iran held peace talks, are up sharply again in recent days after hostilities around the Strait of Hormuz have reignited. About 20.0% of the world’s crude oil supply was shipped through that waterway before the start of the war in late February.
• The benign readings may help assuage worries at the Fed that high oil prices from months of conflict in the Middle East are accelerating inflation more persistently, requiring a response from the U.S. central bank.
• Fed Governor Christopher Waller said on Monday that the central bank may need to raise rates in the “near term” if underlying inflation, as measured by the core CPI, stayed hot. Waller also said he would need to see several months of cooler inflation data to feel comfortable about not hiking rates at all. Though Waller does not speak for the Fed as a whole, his views have often been a bellwether for shifts in the U.S. central bank’s thinking.
• Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh is scheduled to begin two days of testimony in Congress later Tuesday morning. He will tell lawmakers on the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee in his first hearing that the central bank has “no tolerance” for persistently elevated inflation, according to his prepared remarks. “We still think it’s a matter of when, rather than if, the Fed will raise interest rates,” analysts at Capital Economics wrote. “The big picture to us is that the AI investment boom, coupled with signs of rebounding consumer demand, will continue to keep core inflation above target.”
• Traders now see only about a 10.0% chance of a quarter-percentage-point rate increase at the Fed’s July 28-29 meeting, versus 35.0% before the report, based on Fed funds futures prices as traded at the CME Group. They give a hike at the Fed’s September 15-16 meeting about a 60.0% likelihood, down from more than 90.0% before the release of the CPI data.

(Sources: Reuters)

• The U.S. launched a fresh round of strikes on Iran early Wednesday morning, hours after President Donald Trump warned military strikes would intensify next week if Tehran does not cooperate in peace talks. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a post on X that it began launching a wave of strikes at 6 a.m. ET, describing them as “designed to further degrade military capabilities Iranian forces have used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.”
• CENTCOM said the strikes were completed at 7:30 a.m. ET, with precision munitions launched against Iran’s coastal defence systems and cruise missile storage and launch sites on Greater Tunb Island, located in the Persian Gulf near the Strait of Hormuz. The strikes followed further attacks on Tuesday, while Tehran has launched attacks on multiple Gulf countries.
• In an interview with Fox News, Trump hinted the conflict was more likely to intensify than de-escalate as a fragile ceasefire agreed last month continues to fracture. “We’re going to hit them very hard tonight,” he said. “We’re going to hit them hard tomorrow night. We’re going to hit them really hard the night after.”
• Trump added that U.S. forces would target key Iranian infrastructure next week without a diplomatic breakthrough, warning that “next week comes the power plants” and “next week comes the bridges.” He had threatened to impose a 20% levy on cargo shipped through the Strait of Hormuz earlier in the week before abandoning that demand, saying Gulf states would instead invest in the U.S. as repayment.
• Analysts warned the conflict risks becoming a drawn-out “forever war.” Mike Rosenberg of IESE Business School said “it seems we are no closer to a settlement,” arguing the terms of the Islamabad Memorandum signed by Trump on June 14 were unrealistic and that the most likely outcome is a permanent ceasefire negotiated by Pakistan without nuclear guarantees.

(Source: CNBC)

• Trading in the shares of Derrimon Trading Company Limited (DTL) has resumed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) after the company submitted its outstanding audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2025, and its unaudited first-quarter 2026 financial results on July 10th. The suspension, which was imposed after the filings became overdue, was lifted on July 13th
• Derrimon disclosed that Delayed Financials originated from its implementation of a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, which began in 2021 after delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Following a pilot rollout in late 2022, the company accelerated the migration to the new platform in 2023 after a cybersecurity incident compromised its legacy systems. Configuration and data-related issues, including errors involving unit costs and units of measure, emerged after the system was deployed across all locations in January 2024. However, these were undetected until a comprehensive inventory revaluation in late 2025 uncovered the deficiencies.
• Derrimon disclosed that a comprehensive audit and 10-month remediation exercise identified and corrected the configuration issues within its ERP system that had distorted inventory costs, margins and financial reporting across its retail operations between 2023 and 2025. The company also completed a full inventory revaluation and transitioned its inventory costing methodology from average cost to First In, First Out (FIFO)¹.
• Given the financial restatements, for FY2025, Derrimon reported a net loss of $2.58Bn, largely driven by a $3.77Bn inventory write-off arising from significant variances between physical inventory counts and the perpetual inventory records. Cost of sales was revised to $10.48Bn, reducing the year's gross profit margin to 3.24%.
• With the corrective measures now implemented, Derrimon reported a significant recovery in its first-quarter 2026 performance. Gross profit more than doubled, increasing 120.9% year-over-year to $944.20Mn and gross margin of 31.9%, up from 9.9%. Net loss narrowed 73.0% to $169.26Mn from a restated loss of $628.09Mn in the prior-year period. At the parent company level, DTL returned to profitability, recording net earnings of $77.10Mn compared with a $611.37Mn loss a year earlier.
• Management said the improved results reflect the restoration of normal gross profit margins within its Sampars and Select Grocers retail operations following the ERP corrections, as well as the early benefits of cost rationalisation, operational restructuring and strengthened governance. The company has also appointed new divisional leadership, restructured its finance function and indicated that debt reduction through improved operating cash flows and selective asset monetisation remains a key strategic priority.
• On the first trading day following the end of its suspension, DTL's shares closed at J$1.28, which is 1% below the J$1.46 before suspension. At its current price, the stock traded at a price-to-book ratio of 4.27x, above the Junior Market Distribution Sector average of 3.95x.

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¹Average cost values inventory by assigning every unit the same weighted average cost, calculated by dividing the total cost of goods available for sale by the total number of units available. FIFO (First In, First Out) assumes the oldest inventory purchased is sold first, meaning the earliest costs are recognised in cost of goods sold while newer inventory remains on the balance sheet.

• The latest report from the Economics and Statistics Office estimated Cayman’s annual inflation rate at 2.8% at the end of March 2026, up from 1.3% in the previous quarter. This increase in the annual Consumer Price Index (CPI) is not unexpected, given the global energy shock that unfolded since the end of February 2026, which placed upward pressure on consumer prices.
• The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) spot price for a barrel of oil increased to US$102.86 on 31 March 2026, up from US$71.87 a year earlier. The sharp rise in crude oil prices would have contributed to higher consumer prices in the Cayman Islands through multiple channels. However, the pass-through from global energy prices to local electricity and fuel prices typically occurs with a lag of several months.
• While the report shows electricity prices up by 5.1% year-on-year, transport and fuel prices fell over the period. But, in addition to the direct increase in electricity costs, there would also have been indirect increases to most goods in supermarkets because of higher shipping and logistics costs. Furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance also saw prices rise by 6.7%.
• Cayman imports more than 90% of the goods and food it consumes, and the report shows widespread price increases in import-sensitive categories, including clothing, household goods, food and communication services and equipment.
• Another contributing factor was the increase in the minimum wage, which took effect on January 1. This resulted in a 6.7% increase in the prices of Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance, driven by a 45.8% rise in the index for employed staff (paid staff privately employed). 
• The increase in wages may also have contributed to the 5.1% year-on-year rise in prices for restaurants and hotels during the first quarter of 2026.
• However, the report identified the principal driver as “a 6.5% increase in the cost of accommodation services (local and abroad).” In addition, the quarter-on-quarter increase in this category was also significant, indicating that price pressures intensified during the first three months of 2026.
• Cayman’s CPI in the first quarter of 2026 was 0.8% higher than in the fourth quarter of 2025. Cayman only reports inflation numbers every quarter – unlike the US or the UK, where inflation numbers are released monthly. As a result, changes in Cayman’s reported inflation rate may appear more pronounced, as three months of price movements are reflected in each release rather than being spread across monthly updates.
• Although global energy prices subsided in Q2 and the West Texas Intermediate oil price hovers around US$80 per barrel, it remains to be seen if next quarter’s inflation report will show lower inflation. However, there are upward risks as geopolitical tensions re-escalate, resulting in higher oil prices.

(Source: Cayman Compass, NCBCM Research)

• Mexico's annual inflation rate fell in June for the third consecutive month, to its lowest level since December 2020, official data showed on Thursday. Annual prices in Latin America's second-largest economy slowed more than ​expected and settled into the central bank's target range, easing pressures to hike rates.
• Consumer ​prices rose 3.37% in the year through to June, the national statistics ⁠agency said, down from a 3.94% increase the prior month. In a ​Reuters poll, economists had expected a 3.52% increase.
• The larger-than-expected decline "will be welcomed by Banco de Mexico (Banxico) and means ​that interest rates will remain on hold in the near term," Capital Economics analyst Kimberley Sperrfechter said in a note. The annual core rate stood at 4.03%, slightly above the Mexican central bank target range ​of 3%, plus or minus a percentage point.
• Banxico held its benchmark interest rate at 6.5% late in June, in a unanimous decision, amid inflation ‌concerns ⁠linked to foreign trade policies and geopolitical conflicts. The central bank is expected to publish the minutes of that meeting later Thursday. The authorities will likely keep the rate unchanged until they see more convincing evidence that core inflation is ​converging toward the ​target," Pantheon Macroeconomics' ⁠analysts said.
• The market expects the benchmark rate to remain unchanged for the rest of this year ​and in 2027. However, opinions are divided on whether the ​next move ⁠will be a cut or a hike.

(Source: Reuters)

• President Donald Trump said the United States was reinstating its blockade of Iranian shipping in the Gulf and would keep the Strait of Hormuz open for a fee while warning that U.S. forces would strike Iran again “very hard” in the coming hours after the two sides exchanged missile and drone attacks.
• The hostilities followed Iran’s weekend announcement that it was closing the vital waterway, casting further doubt on an interim deal to halt the war and driving oil prices higher. Writing on Truth Social, Trump said the U.S. would collect a 20% toll on all cargo shipped through the strait.
• S. Central Command said it began a third consecutive night of strikes against Iran at Trump’s direction. Iran’s semi-official YJC news agency reported seven explosions in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas and two more on Kish Island. Trump also threatened to strike Mount Kolang Gaz La, or Pickaxe Mountain, a heavily fortified site near the damaged Natanz enrichment facility that experts say is beyond the reach of the most powerful U.S. bunker-buster bombs.
• Iran’s state TV said its army targeted a “hostile” U.S. vessel with cruise missiles and struck U.S. facilities in Kuwait with drones, while the Revolutionary Guards said they shot down a U.S. MQ-1 drone over Hormuz. Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi wrote that Tehran was the guardian of the strait and would remain so “forever,” adding that “20% is of course too much. We will be fair.”
• The U.S. Navy-led Joint Maritime Information Center said the blockade would take effect at 20:00 GMT on Tuesday and apply to all vessel traffic regardless of flag, covering the entire Iranian coastline including ports and oil terminals. It said neutral transit passage to non-Iranian destinations would not be impeded and that humanitarian shipments would be permitted subject to inspection.
• Oil prices jumped more than 9% on Monday, with Brent futures posting their biggest single-day dollar gain since April 2. Higher energy prices are politically sensitive for Trump ahead of November midterm elections that will determine whether his Republican Party retains control of Congress.

(Sources: Reuters)