TPHLTT's results through June of this year show strong growth which reflects the company's corporate reorganization into a pure E&P company and the new management focus on profitability. Management mentioned in the results releases that TPHLTT "exceeded all its financial and operational targets."
For the first nine months of the 2019 fiscal year (last 3 quarters ending June '19) revenues were $1.30Bn and EBITDA was $255.00Mn, which annualized indicates a $340.00Mn EBITDA with a 19.0% margin. This results in net leverage of about 5x and estimated interest coverage at between 2.7x-3.0x.
The company's release indicates that production grew sequentially every month since the beginning of the year, reflecting new management efforts to increase operating efficiency. TPHLTT also said that it signed an MOU with Shell to develop its offshore oil reserves, among other activities.
The TPHLTT '26s entered the EMBIGD index in August, which should increase its investor base given its high coupon, government ownership, and 'Ba3/BB' ratings.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (St. Vincent) will see moderate real GDP growth in the coming quarters as tourism arrivals increase and the government boosts current and capital spending.
However, the economy will remain vulnerable to Atlantic hurricanes and a growth slowdown in developed markets, which would likely undermine tourism activity.
Fitch maintains its real GDP growth forecasts of 2.3% y-o-y for 2019 and 2.4% in 2020, an uptick from 2018's estimated 2.1% expansion.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson made his first public attempt to renegotiate his predecessor’s agreement on the U.K.’s withdrawal from the European Union by focusing on the intractable problem of the Irish Border.
There seems to be little hope for a breakthrough in negotiations as the government plans a publicity blitz aimed at preparing the public for a no-deal exit.
Johnson is to meet the leaders of Germany and France in their capitals this week before going to the Group of Seven summit.
The pound unwound some recent gains to trade under $1.21 this morning.
Europe has a lot at stake ensuring the 2019 Group of Seven summit doesn’t end badly like last year’s gathering in Canada.
Europeans worry that Trump will turn his tariffs on them as he has on China. While trade isn’t on the G-7 agenda, it’s almost certain to be a pressure point.
The EU is braced for the WTO giving the U.S. the green light for levies on as much as $7Bn of EU goods after a ruling on illegal aircraft subsidies.
Trump is weighing whether to impose tariffs on auto imports, and a decision could come by mid-November. Doing so would spark retaliation from Brussels and pummel a German economy already on a brink of a recession.
All this amounts to a big test for French President Emmanuel Macron as he tries to maintain G-7 peace at a time of trade stress and steady a global economy wobbling because of it.
Oil is headed for its first weekly gain in three, but it certainly wasn’t spared from the market’s wild ride in recent days. The saga of an Iranian oil tanker caught in a spat between the U.S. and the U.K., trade war headlines, rising stockpiles and weakening global demand have all assailed the commodity.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg data shows Russian oil companies raked in at least $905 million in additional revenues since November because U.S. sanctions on Iran and Venezuela have boosted demand for their particular brand of crude.
And from black gold to gold gold: Investor angst is leading futures on the precious metal to a sixth weekly gain, their best streak in three years. And did you know the gold vault that floods when breached by bandits in Netflix’s La Casa de Papel is a real thing?
At the tail end of a wild week in markets, it’s back to Fed watch. As the debate rages over whether the fresh inversions of the yield curve signal recession, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard threw cold water on speculation the central bank would call an emergency gathering ahead of the Sept. 17-18 meeting.
Chairman Jerome Powell may shed some light on how he sees things at Jackson Hole next week, potentially saying “I told you so” as solid data rolls in.
Minutes of the July policy meeting Wednesday will also offer insight into last month’s decision to cut rates for the first time since the crisis.
Panama will see moderate economic activity growth in the coming quarters as on-going US-China trade tensions and slowing global growth limit demand for Panamanian exports.
However, Panama's commitment to infrastructure development and business-friendly economic policies will support the construction industry and drive foreign investment.
Fitch has revised down its 2019 and 2020 real GDP growth forecasts to 4.3% y-o-y and 4.5%, from 4.8% and 4.7% previously, to reflect the increasing risks to global growth.
The Dominican economy has enjoyed strong growth since 2014 (6.6%, the highest in the Western Hemisphere), supported by stable macroeconomic and financial policies, and a favorable external environment.
Growth has generally been above potential, but inflation remains muted and the external position is in line with fundamentals. The strong economic and policy performance has strengthened resilience to downside risks, but vulnerabilities remain.
The fiscal position is under moderate sustainability and affordability pressures; key structural bottlenecks have not been addressed; and social outcomes can be further strengthened. Upcoming elections in 2020 are likely to dominate the near-term policy landscape.
Irvine, Calif.-based customer service outsourcing provider Alorica Inc.'s revenues and margins have contracted meaningfully beyond our expectations, causing leverage to increase beyond the mid-4x area, where S&P expects it to remain through the rest of the year.
As a result, S&P has lowered the issuer credit rating on the company to 'B' from 'B+', with a negative outlook. The rating agency also lowered the senior secured issue-level ratings to 'B+' from 'BB-'. The recovery ratings remain unchanged.
The negative outlook reflects continued concerns surrounding limited covenant cushion as well as potential execution risk surrounding Alorica's restructuring initiatives and related weakening cash flow.
Alorica Inc operates in the business process outsourcing (BPO) space in Jamaica and is the main tenant of Stanley Motto’s 58 Half Way Tree property.
According to the Statistical Institute of Jamaica’s (STATIN’s) monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) survey, the inflation rate for the month of July 2019 was 1.1%. This represents the biggest month-over-month increase in the CPI since the start of the calendar year.
This movement was mainly as a result of a 2.4% increases in the ‘Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages’ component of the index during the month. In particular, the component related to ‘Vegetables and Starchy Foods’ advanced by 7.9 %, reflecting higher prices for produce such as carrots, cabbage, lettuce, onions, tomatoes and yams. At the same time the index for ‘Transport’ moved up by 0.7 % due to higher cost for petrol and air travel.
On the other hand, the overall movement in the index for ‘Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas, and Other Fuels’ division declined by 1.4 %. Increased rates for water and Sewage were tempered by the fall in electricity rates resulting in the index for the group ‘Water Supply and Miscellaneous Services Related to Dwelling’ recording a 4.1 % increase, while the index for the group ‘Electricity, Gas, and Other Fuels’ showed a decline of 3.5 %.
For the period under review the calendar year-to-date movement was 2.5 %, the point-to-point inflation 4.3 % and the fiscal year-to-date 1.8 % for the period.
