Guardian Holdings Limited has advised that AM Best, the world`s largest and most established institution for providing ratings and other financial information for the global insurance industry, has affirmed the financial strength rating of A-(Excellent) Read more ...

Dividend payments of $0.0219 and $0.0248 will be made on Jamaica Money Market Brokers Limited 8.75% Preference shares and 8.50% Preference Shares respectively on August 5, 2011 to shareholders on record as at July 26, 2011. The ex-dividend date is July 22, 2011.

The Board of Directors of National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited has advised that the Extraordinary General Meeting to seek approval from the Company`s shareholders to remove the cap on the value of the Authorised Share Capital of the Company, will be held at the Wyndham Kingston Hotel on August 12, 2011 at 4:00 p.m.

Caribbean Cement Company Limited (Carib Cement) has cited increasing costs at a greater rate than its sales as the reason for its conservative 5 per cent price adjustment which becomes effective on Monday July, 11. The Company stated that it had been faced with significant increases in costs since it reduced its prices to customers last October. Carib Cement had been negatively affected by a 25 per cent increase in the cost of diesel, a 34 per cent increase in coal, a 40 percent increase in heavy fuel oil, a 4 per cent increase in packaging and a 21 per cent increase in the cost of electricity. Carib Cement informed that the ex-factory price of a bag of Carib Cement Plus will move from the current $525 to $550. The last time that Carib Cement increased its price was in July 2010, when the price per bag was $568.

Pan-Jamaican Investment Trust Limited has advised that at it`s Annual General Meeting held on June 21, 2011, the following resolution was unanimously passed: That the authorized share capital of the company be increased from 200,000,000 to 250,000,000 by the creation of 50,000,000 ordinary shares.      

Mr. Don Wehby, Group CEO Designate for GraceKennedy Limited, announced that Mrs. Fay McIntosh, Chief Financial Officer, would be retiring from the company on December 31, 2011 and that, as part of the succession planning process, Mr. Frank James has been appointed to the position of Deputy Chief Financial Officer as of July 1, 2011. He will be appointed Chief Financial Officer of GraceKennedy Limited effective January 1, 2012. Yesterday Mr. Fran James was incorrectly inserted in the text when it should have read Mr. Frank James.

Jamaica Money Market Brokers Limited will be making dividend payments of $0.0219 and $0.0248 per preference share on its 8.75% and 8.50% preference shares respectively. The payment date is July 7, 2011 and the record date is June 24, 2011. The ex-dividend date is June 22, 2011.

FirstCaribbean International Bank Limited has advised on June 20, 2011 that it will be branded under the CIBC banner by adopting the cobranded identity `CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank.` FirstCaribbean`s parent company, CIBC, is one of Canada`s largest banks with offices in major financial centresaround the world. As an important member of the CIBC group of companies, CIBC FirstCaribbean will be adopting new branding elements to be closely aligned to the CIBC brand, while still maintaining the FirstCaribbean name and local identity.

Kingston Properties Limited has advised that the following resolution was passed at its Annual General Meeting held on Thursday, June 9, 2011. "To authorize the Directors to issue and/or allot such of the authorized capital of the Company as is presently unissued in the form of Preference Shares, the same to be issued and/or allotted with rights/restrictions as may be fixed by the Directors or a Committee of Directors"

Kingston Properties Limited has advised that it has signed a definitive agreement with Henkel Jamaica Limited to purchase the properties located at 36-38 Red Hills Road, near the intersection of Eastwood Park Road and Red Hills Road.

The property consists of 47,865 square feet of office and warehouse space across multiple buildings. Henkel Jamaica has also agreed to lease roughly 46% of the space with the primary balance of the remaining space rented to strong local and international corporate tenants. For competitive reasons, the price is withheld until the close of the transaction which Kingston Properties expects to be by the end of July, 2011.