Durrant Pate/Contributor

Players in Jamaica’s equity market are anticipating volatility in the share price of micro-financier, Dolla Financial Services, given recent changes at the institution, which became a public company last year.

NCB Capital Market, regarded as the biggest player in the capital and equities market, is among those betting on price volatility this week. This is premised on the sudden resignation of founder and CEO Kadeen Mairs, and the simultaneous appointment of Kenroy Kerr as interim CEO.

All these changes came within the week when it was announced that Supreme Ventures Limited and Mayberry Investments acquired a block of shares amounting to 15 per cent and 9.0 per cent equity holding, respectively. The total amount of shares bought was 600-million units, which, at market value, would amount to J$1.2 billion.

However, Our Today has confirmed that the shares were acquired a little below market value at J$1.1 billion. Arising from these changes, NCB Capital Market assesses that “we expect to see some volatility in price movement this week, with more pressure to the downside. However, a dip could be short-lived, given the company’s strong fundamentals and its plans to expand further into the region”.

In the meantime, Dolla was the main stock advancing last week, up 39.02 per cent followed by Sygnus Credit Investments USD Ordinary Shares, advancing by 29.69 per cent. Dolla’s gains were likely driven by the acquisition of shares by Supreme Ventures and Mayberry.

In the wake of the acquisition, there was an adjustment to its board with the two new investors each gaining a seat.

Stock market performance last week

Overall market activity resulted from trading in 121 stocks, of which 46 advanced, 61 declined, and 13 traded firm. Relative to the week of July 21, when seven of nine indices advanced, trading activity for last week resulted in a majority of the indices (7/9) declining, except for the JSE USD Equities Index (+2.14) and the JSE Manufacturing & Distribution Index (+0.25).

The JSE Financial Index and the JSE Cross Listed Index had the largest week-over-week decline, falling by 1.64 per cent and 1.31 per cent, respectively. Guardian Holdings Ltd (-4.99%) and a -4.35 per cent decline in Sagicor Group shares were the main drivers. There was no direct news to support the movement in these stock prices.

Of the two advancing indices, the USD Equities had the more significant week-over-week gains, buttressed by gains in the share prices of TransJamaican Highway Ltd. (TJH USD) and Proven USD of 2.80 per cent and 1.72 per cent, respectively.