(Bloomberg) Oil price action has moved from a selloff to a collapse, with West Texas Intermediate plunging 7.1 percent in yesterday’s session. The latest leg-down in the price came after OPEC warned that demand for its crude is falling faster than expected. A barrel of WTI for December delivery was virtually unchanged at $55.75 by 5:45 a.m. Eastern Time as the International Energy Agency welcomed the oil market’s return to surplus.

Fitch has lowered its forecast for Mexico’s real GDP growth in 2019 to 2.1%, from 2.7% previously. Fitch expects economic growth in Mexico to slow over the coming quarters, as investors sour on President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). Investment is expected to remain weak in 2019, as uncertainty around policy formation under AMLO outweighs more clarity in US trade relations following an agreement on NAFTA 2.0. The service sector will remain the key engine of growth, but the pace will slow as weaker investment ways on payrolls and inflation remains elevated.

(Barbados GIS) The government of Barbados is on track to revise its current suite of international business legislation by year-end to ensure compliance with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action 5 on harmful tax practices. According to the Ministry of International Business and Industry, the work is ongoing and engaging the full attention of the Office of the Attorney General, the Chief Parliamentary Counsel, the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank of Barbados and the Financial Services Commission. A new regime which replaces the existing International Business Companies (IBC), as well as the International Societies with Restricted Liability (ISRL), would be rolled out effective January 1, 2019. While this will effectively bring to an end the issuance of new IBC and ISRL’s licenses, the new regime will ensure that the main incentives currently available to entities engaged in global business will continue.

 For the third quarter ended September 30, 2018, JSE reported a net profit of $293.3Mn (EPS: $0.42), representing a 96.6% improvement relative to the $149.2Mn (EPS: $0.21) reported last year. The performance was driven by strong growth in revenue due to an increase in Cess and Fee income attributed to increased volume of business, especially in relation to trading of securities. JSE continues to focus on the promotion of new and existing market, and new product development as a means of diversifying and growing revenue.

• KPREIT has advised that it has completed the acquisition of a four-story, 32,000 square feet commercial building located at 52-60 Grenada Crescent in New Kingston. 
• The Company further advised that the purchased brings to a total of three properties held in Jamaica and that the building is fully tenanted with a wide cross-section of tenants ranging from law firms, government agencies, and a BPO firm.
• “The property was acquired at a price of $435 million and was financed both by a senior secured loan facility with CIBC First Caribbean Jamaica and the net proceeds of the sale of condos in the US,” KPREIT stated.

Source: JSE

At GraceKennedy Ltd.’s Annual General Meeting, held on Wednesday, May 30 at the Company’s Harbour Street, Kingston Headquarters; Don Wehby, Group CEO, signalled to shareholders some of the strategic plans for the Company in the lead up to its 100th year anniversary in 2022.

The company has outlined some key priorities which include: embedding lean management practices for increased efficiency; facilitating empowered and autonomous subsidiaries to foster entrepreneurship; maintaining strong corporate social commitments through the Foundations; consistent pursuit of innovation and new growth opportunities; and inculcating a customer-centric culture throughout the Group.

The leadership has made a firm commitment to achieve these goals and has already engaged the services of London Consulting Group a firm which previously worked with companies such as  Nestlé and ING.

Mr. Wehby also indicated that 2018 is expected to be a very successful year and the Company has set for itself an aggressive target of achieving a record-breaking J$100 Billion in revenues by year-end.

Source:  Media Release - GraceKennedy Group looks to 2022 by the GraceKennedy Corporate Communications Department, May 31, 2018.

The Board of Directors of LASCO Financial Services Limited (LFSL) is pleased to present the company’s audited consolidated statements for the year ended 31 March 2018.

The Initial Public Offering (IPO) for Elite Diagnostics Limited opens on Monday, February 5, 2018 and features the following details:

• 70,680,000 Shares for Subscription
• Priced at J$2.00 per share
• Invitation closes February 12, 2018

The Elite Diagnostics Prospectus can be viewed here.

The Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) and the Jamaica Central Securities Depository Limited (JCSD) are leading an initiative to bring Jamaica in line with many of the major markets across the world with regards to the settlement period for financial products traded on the Jamaican securities markets.

Currently, when you buy or sell securities, the transactions are typically settled three (3) days after the completion of the trade. This is referred to as a T+3 settlement period. On December 11, 2017, Jamaica will be changing to a T+2 settlement period. This means that trades will be settled 2 days after the completion of the trade and not 3 days as currently exists. 

The new settlement cycle represents a faster and more efficient means for settling trades. Please click here for more information.