For the nine-month period ended February 28, 2019, Paramount Trading Limited reported an unaudited net profit of $45.5Mn (EPS: $0.03) which represents a 31.6% decrease relative to the corresponding period in 2018
The decline in profit was primarily driven by an increase in administrative expenses (+25%), from $215.5Mn in 2018 to $270.1Mn in 2019 coupled with an increase in selling & distribution expense (+18.9%) and the application of a $2.03Mn tax on the company. Notably, the company is now in the 6th year of trading and therefore income tax is now calculated on the profit.
The stock has fallen 25.9% since the start of the calendar year closing at $2.15 yesterday. At this price, PTL currently trades at a P/B of 4.6x which is above the Junior Market Distribution Sector average of 3.5x.
Trinidad Petroleum Holdings Ltd is offering an exchange for all outstanding notes due in 2019 and 2022 for new USD-denominated notes and, if applicable, cash, according to a company statement. New senior secured notes with 9.75% coupon would mature 2026
Trinidad Petroleum conducting consent solicitations from bondholders for amendments that would “eliminate substantially all of the restrictive covenants, certain events of default and release of guarantees upon the sale of certain subsidiaries and other related provisions contained in the Existing Indentures”
The exchange offer and consent solicitation will expire May 10, unless an extension is granted or offer is terminated earlier. Early tender deadline is set for April 26. The company says it has $850m outstanding on notes due 2019; ~$219m outstanding on notes due 2022.
Fitch Solutions expect Panama's fiscal deficit will narrow modestly in 2019 and 2020, with revenues supported by strong economic growth and receipts from the expanded Panama Canal.
An ambitious public infrastructure agenda will drive capital expenditures and likely keep the budget in deficit over the coming years.
A change to the fiscal responsibility law will modestly relax the government’s fiscal targets, although we expect debt as a percentage of GDP to remain contained in the coming years.
Not that anyone was in any doubt, but the Federal Reserve’s dovish turn is consistently being confirmed.
Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said he can see the central bank keeping rates where they are until late 2020.
And there are indications that as the Fed studies what it may have gotten wrong in its policy moves regarding inflation, the review is also starting to consider its employment mandate.
Any changes or review of Fed policy will presumably be music to the president's ears.
The U.K. labor market continued its impressive performance in the three months through February as employment jumped and wage growth far outpaced inflation.
The number of people in work rose by 179,000 to a record high, keeping unemployment at 3.9 percent, the lowest rate since 1975, the Office for National Statistics said Tuesday.
Basic wages rose 3.4 percent from a year earlier, close to an 11-year high.
The figures help to explain the resilience of consumer spending, which has kept the economy growing as companies slash investment amid the continuing deadlock over Brexit.
European negotiators got the green light this week to get started on trade negotiations with the U.S., with a target of getting something done by September.
Meanwhile, the U.S. and China continue to talk and the latter is considering a request from the former to shift some tariffs on agricultural goods to other products, just as U.S. soybean shipments slump.
All in all, the four biggest economies in the world are now gripped by trade negotiations.
The Housing Agency of Jamaica (HAJ) will be increasing the number of affordable housing solutions provided to low- and middle-income earners.
As stated in the 2019/20 Public Bodies Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure, the entity is projecting to deliver some 1,460 solutions this fiscal year, up from 309 in 2018/19. These comprise serviced lots, housing starts and/or completed houses.
In addition, construction is scheduled to commence on 2,058, housing starts, up from 1,477 in the previous financial period.
Officials of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are banking on a return to growth for the Barbados economy as a result of Government’s austerity measures.
Chief of the World Economic Studies Division in the Research Department of the IMF, Oya Celasun is predicting that confidence will return to the local economy in the coming months as a result of the four-year austerity IMF-backed programme.
Responding to a question from Barbados TODAY at the 2019 World Economic Outlook media conference in Washington yesterday, Celasun also pointed out that in coming months, tourism-dependent economies in the Caribbean should experience higher growth than commodity dependent ones.
With the start of the Atlantic Hurricane season in June not too far away, forecasters are predicting a below average season.
In a statement, researchers said: “We anticipate a slightly below-average probability for major hurricanes making landfall along the continental United States coastline and in the Caribbean.”
The Colorado State University Tropical Meteorology predicts five hurricanes, 13 named storms, 50 named storm days, 16 hurricane days, two major (Category 3-4-5) hurricanes and four major hurricane days.
The 2018 season saw 15 named storms and eight hurricanes which included two Category 4 hurricanes. The 2019 hurricane season starts June 1 and ends November 30.
A key measure of U.S. inflation rose less than forecast in March on a drop in apparel prices following a methodology change for data collection, offering some reinforcement for the Federal Reserve’s message of patience on interest rates.
The core consumer price index, which excludes food and energy, rose 0.1% from the prior month, and 2% from a year earlier, according to a Labour Department report Wednesday
Those readings missed both the monthly and annual estimates of economists, while the broader CPI climbed 0.4% as forecast and a faster-than-estimated 1.9% annually.
