Despite disappointing unaudited financial results for Q1, 2026, Mayberry Group remains strong with $12 billion in cash

The Oxford Road-based investment house points out that $1.8 billion of its $2.2 billion loss is attributable to mark to market, with cash and cash equivalents jumping to $6.6 billion in Q1, 2026.

Mayberry stressed, “ Our reported loss is an accounting reflection of market conditions not operational failure.” 

The Group, headed by Christopher Berry, holds $15 billion in equity with a further $7 billion generated by its brokerage operations. It is 80 per cent above the minimum requirement.

It has generated $950 million in net new cash in the last three months.

Its recent foray into the bond market saw it originally seeking $2.1 billion, which was upsized to $3 billion. It raised $4 billion in total, refunding a $1 billion to those looking to benefit from this fixed-income instrument.

Speaking at its latest investor briefing, Mayberry Group CEO Gary Peart assured investors that “ after all the malaise in the Jamaican stock market, Mayberry Jamaican Equities (MJE) still has $10 billion in shareholders’ equity. I believe by December of this year, when it flips, MJE will record a profit north of $2.6 billion. The question is do you buy the history or do you buy the future? If you are interested in the future, buy MJE. 

Chairman of Mayberry Group, Christopher Berry, weighed in with, “ When you invest in stocks in Jamaica, it is not a short-term thing. Right now, MJE is a story of its underlying assets and the one I am most concerned about is Jamaica Broilers, but my concern is not shared by the market.

I think NCB, Dolla, Supreme Ventures and JMMB are all trading at 5X and are likely to be higher at the end of the year. Overall, the portfolio performance should improve this year. This is what I am expecting.”

Turning his attention to the outlook for the Jamaican economy for the remainder of the year, Berry added, “ I think it is going to be a tough year for the economy because we are in hurricane recovery mode. We are not going to get back most of the hotel rooms until the fourth quarter of next year. We will see an increase in construction as we replace a lot of stuff that was damaged. There will also be a boost from insurance inflows. I am not an economist so I can’t really model that, but my gut feeling is it is going to be a tough year.

“The Government does have a lot of investments lined up and will route that from a new facility that needs legislation. Hopefully, they can knock that out before June, and that can lead to future-proofing of infrastructure construction. Projections from the Bank of Jamaica and the Ministry of Finance are not positive. They are projecting a half per cent fall in GDP. I think one of the things they should consider is taking off some of the taxes on fuel because the extra money people are spending on fuel will have a more negative effect on the economy than the money they get from the taxes.

“Yes the Government needs taxes, but sometimes you have to invest in the future. The fiscal deficit is pretty small, and maybe they want to think about widening that out a little bit this year to give the economy a chance to recover.”