• Owing to a 25.5% increase in revenues, for the first quarter ending June 2021, Lasco Manufacturers reported a net profit of $401.76Mn (EPS: $0.10), a 17.5% increase over Q1 2020.  
• However, despite the higher revenues, gross margin declined to 36.0% from 39.0% in the prior year due to higher raw materials and shipping costs, which were not immediately recovered through selling price increases. Nevertheless, admin expenses were well contained, falling by 2.1%, which along with an increase in “other income” helped to augment the bottom-line. 
• Higher material and shipping costs due to rising demand relative to supply stemming from the reopening of economies across the world could keep input costs elevated over the near term. Nevertheless, this could be offset by higher revenues influenced by the reopening of schools in September. The government has committed to reopen schools, once it is able to contain the number of new COVID-19 cases and vaccinate a sufficient portion of the population. It is planning to distribute up to 1.4Mn doses of the COVID-19 vaccine by September 30. 
• Lasco Manufacturing stock price has appreciated by 35.1% since the start of the year and closed Wednesday’s trading session at a price of $5.20 per share. At this price, the stock trades at a P/E ratio of 14.7x earnings, which is below the junior market manufacturing sector average of 16.5x earnings.

(Source: Company Financials & NCBCM Research)

• Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, says that approximately 1.4Mn doses of vaccines – both double and single doses, are expected in the island over the next few months up to the end of September. “The target is to deliver doses to 900,000 Jamaicans between now and the end of September. It’s an ambitious target, but I believe with the support of the population and all of society, we can achieve that target,” he said. 
• Tufton, who was addressing a virtual press conference hosted by Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, on Monday (July 26), noted that as soon as new batches of vaccines arrive, the programme will be opened up to all Jamaicans who qualify, aged 18 years and over. He noted that once “we get to the 900,000, plus those who have already benefited, then we will be somewhere in the region of 50% of target, given that we are looking at 1.95Mn or so”. 
• If the government is able to deliver on the distribution of these 1.4Mn doses, this could help to fast-track the country’s economic recovery, as it will put the government in a better position to relax COVID-19 containment measures.

(Source: JIS & NCBCM Research)

• On July 28, 2021, the IMF Executive Board completed the first review under the two-year Precautionary and Liquidity Line (PLL) arrangement for Panama which was approved on January 19, 2021 in the amount equivalent to US$2.7 billion (SDR 1.884 billion). 
• The PLL serves as insurance against extreme external shocks stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, with access in the first program year equivalent to about US$1.35 billion (0.942 billion SDR). The authorities intend to continue treating the arrangement as precautionary. 
• According to the IMF, the performance under the program has been strong and Panama continues to meet the PLL qualification criteria. The authorities remain resolute in implementing the strong policies under the PLL.

(Source: IMF)

• Mexico's state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) on Wednesday reported net profit of $722.5 million for the second quarter, swinging from a loss in the same period last year, thanks to higher crude prices and production. 
• The company said the 14.4-billion-pesos profit was driven by higher income from international sales, which doubled from a year earlier due to higher crude prices and a slight rise in oil volumes exported. 
• However, PEMEX's debt rose from the first quarter of the year, reaching $115.1 billion at the end of the April-to-June period due to the use of short-term financing. Despite this, PEMEX has said it will not resort to the bond markets this year for refinancing as it plans to receive capital injections from the government through the fourth quarter, which should lead to a net debt reduction, a long-standing but so far unfulfilled goal. 
• Given its weak liquidity, and negative free cash flow. which will rise in the next three years due to high debt maturities and lower operating cash flow derived from the expansion of its refining business, on July 27^th Moody’s downgraded PEMEX’s corporate family rating and the senior unsecured ratings on the company's existing notes, from Ba2 to Ba3 (S&P Equivalent: BB-). 
• The agency also maintained the negative rating outlook on PEMEX's Ba3 ratings primarily based on the negative outlook on Mexico's Baa1 rating given the importance of the sovereign's credit strength and ongoing support to PEMEX's ratings.

(Source: Reuters & Moody’s)

• The U.S. trade deficit in goods increased in June as imports continued to rise amid strong economic activity, suggesting trade likely remained a drag on growth in the second quarter. The U.S. economy has rebounded more quickly from the pandemic compared to its global rivals, thanks to massive fiscal stimulus, low interest rates and vaccinations against COVID-19. But bottlenecks in the supply chain have hampered manufacturers' ability to boost production, drawing in more imports. 
• "The widening in the advance nominal goods deficit in June is further evidence that net exports will be a drag on second- quarter GDP," said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody's Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania. 
• The goods trade deficit increased 3.5% to $91.2Bn last month, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday. Imports of goods advanced 1.5% to $236.7Bn. There were increases in imports of food, industrial supplies and capital goods. 
• However, imports of motor vehicles and consumer goods fell. While that could hint at a possible moderation in consumer spending in the months ahead, the drop could reflect a global shortage of semiconductors, which has weighed on the production of motor vehicles and some household appliances. 
• Spending during the pandemic shifted to goods from services, with Americans cooped up at home, but with nearly half of the United States population fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, demand for services is picking up.  That has raised optimism among some economists that fewer goods will be imported in the coming months and allow the trade gap to shrink. However, the Delta variant of the virus is driving a resurgence in new infections across the country, which could limit demand for services. 
• "We expect the overall trade deficit to narrow in the coming months as consumers rotate their spending towards services and greater vaccine diffusion abroad encourages stronger export growth," said Mahir Rasheed, a U.S. economist at Oxford Economics in New York. "However, risks from sticky supply chain disruptions and the rapid spread of the Delta variant could slow trade flows."

(Source: Reuters)

• The International Monetary Fund warned Tuesday that there’s a risk inflation will prove to be more than just transitory, pushing central banks to take pre-emptive action. 
• The issue is currently dividing the investment community, which has been busy contemplating whether a recent surge in consumer prices is here to stay. In the U.S., the consumer price index came in at 5.4% in June, the fastest pace in almost 13 years. In the U.K., the inflation rate reached 2.5% in June the highest level since August 2018 and above the Bank of England’s target of 2%. 
• Higher prices increase the chances that central banks will start to curb their ultra-accommodative monetary policies, such as a tapering of market-friendly stimulus like asset purchases. 
• Speaking earlier this month, U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the jobs market was “still a ways off” from where the central bank would like to see it before it reduces stimulus. He added that inflation would “likely remain elevated in coming months before moderating.” The IMF had already pointed out earlier this month that if the U.S. were to provide more fiscal support then this could increase inflationary pressures even further and lead to a hike in interest rates earlier-than-expected. 
• IMF Chief Economist Gita Gopinath said in a blogpost Tuesday that “more persistent supply disruptions and sharply rising housing prices are some of the factors that could lead to persistently high inflation. She also warned that “inflation is expected to remain elevated into 2022 in some emerging market and developing economies, related in part to continued food price pressures and currency depreciations.”

(Source: CNBC Economy)

• The GOJ created history, on July 23, 2021, with the successful completion of a catastrophe bond (CAT bond) issuance through the World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)) that secured US$185.0Mn in financial protection against major hurricanes. 
• The Jamaican government is the first in the Caribbean and the first island state in the world to independently access the CAT bond market. The bond was issued under the World Bank’s “capital at risk” notes program and will provide the GOJ with critical disaster insurance protection against losses from named storms across three Atlantic hurricane seasons up to December 2023. 
• This historic transaction transfers financial risk associated with tropical cyclones and hurricanes to the international capital market. Along with the other layers of disaster risk financing that have been put in place, the CAT bond strengthens Jamaica’s ability to finance the emergency costs of hurricanes and tropical cyclone, which improves the country’s economic resilience against these economic shocks.

(Source: Ministry of Finance)

• Medical Disposables & Supplies Limited (MDS) has advised that the Company was appointed as the distributor for the following product lines: Simply and Benjamin’s Cosmetics Jamaica Black Castor Oil (JBCO). 
• Both Simply and JBCO are local brands. The Simply brand is a line of everyday essential products, manufactured in Jamaica, that fall within the categories of personal care, home remedies and flavourings. These include items such as Rubbing Alcohol, Olive Oil and Vanilla, etc. The JBCO personal care range of products are made with authentic Jamaican Black Castor Oil and other natural oils which promote healthy hair and skin. This includes JBCO Shampoo, Conditioner, Beard Oil, Beard Wax and Oils. 
• The addition of this distribution arrangement bodes well for the company’s thrust to grow revenues and increase its bottom-line.

(Source: JSE)

• While Trinidad and Tobago's expected fiscal consolidation and its sizable government assets will continue to support the investment-grade rating of 'BBB-‘, on July 27, 2021, S&P Global Ratings revised its outlook on the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago to negative from stable. 
• The negative outlook incorporates the risks that poor economic performance and only modest GDP growth prospects prevent Trinidad and Tobago from recovering the economic resilience lost in recent years, as measured by GDP per capita. 
• The ratings could be lowered over the next two years if S&P believes that GDP growth is insufficient to recover the economic resilience, as measured by GDP per capita, that was lost following five years of falling per capita income. 
• There could also be a downward revision if the external debt position or the government’s debt burden deteriorates beyond expectations, or if the agency believes that the government's policy choices have weakened support for long-term sustainable public finances or balanced economic growth. 
• On the other hand, outlook could be revised to stable during the next 12-24 months if strong economic performance and favourable long-term GDP growth prospects help stabilize the recent erosion of the sovereign's financial profile. 
• A more resilient and prosperous economy, along with improved fiscal outcomes that stabilize the rise in the government's debt burden and ease external pressures, could also lead to a stable outlook.

(Source: S&P Global Ratings)

• The Bahamian aviation industry was yesterday said to have been thrown “a curve ball” by the government’s tightening of COVID restrictions having regained just 40-50% of pre-pandemic business. 
• Anthony K Hamilton, Southern Air’s director of administration, and president of the Bahamas Association of Air Transport Operators, told Tribune Business that the industry will have “to roll with the punches” after the government reintroduced the PCR test requirement for all non-vaccinated travellers leaving New Providence, Grand Bahama and Eleuthera/Harbour Island. 
• He said the measures, brought in to counter the latest spike in COVID-19 cases that is threatening to overwhelm the public health system, will “certainly have an impact” on domestic aviation operators and the wider industry through “minimizing to some degree the traffic potential”. 
• The reintroduction of the COVID-19 PCR test requirement will raise travel costs, and the associated bureaucracy and red tape, for non-vaccinated passengers and may discourage them from travelling. Tribune Business yesterday received a video, said to have been filmed in Exuma at 10.35am yesterday, of around 30-40 persons sitting on a hillside in Exuma waiting to receive a COVID test so they can travel.

(Source: The Tribune)