Business
Jamaica stock market posts tremendous growth in 2015
Street-Forrest pointed to the interest in Jamaican firms from large multinational corporations, such as Heineken NV’s acquisition of Red Stripe beermaker Desnoes & Geddes Ltd., which sent the shares up more than 500 percent this year. The stock will be delisted in January.
The exchange also saw a flurry of trades in November when Mexico-based Dolphin Discovery Group, a dolphin show theme park operator, announced it would acquire 58.5 percent of ordinary shares in Dolphin Cove Ltd., which is based in Jamaica.
Bennett, who does not hold any stocks listed on the exchange on behalf of clients, said the growth could keep going in 2016 as the government divests state-owned enterprises through initial public offerings.
The country’s Finance Minister, Peter Phillips, has said that the governments positions in the Petroleum Corp. of Jamaica and power generation and electricity distribution companies are candidates for divestiture.
Investments from outside of Jamaica will also be key, Street-Forrest said. The more than 3 million Jamaicans living abroad sent home US$1.9 billion in remittances in 2014, according to the Bank of Jamaica.
This year, the exchange launched the Caribbean’s first online trading platform, seeking to tap Jamaicans living in North America and the United Kingdom. Still, trading online, which requires an account in one of a handful of Jamaican brokerage houses, represents less than 10 percent of inflows, Street-Forrest added.
Denis St. Bernard, a business consultant who lives in London, is starting a diaspora-focused investment company that would pool contributions. He said Jamaicans living abroad know Jamaican brands, such as food and construction material exporter GraceKennedy Group. He said that while convincing them to buy shares of those companies remains a challenge, “that is where the opportunities are.”
Source: Bloomberg
