With a total of nine initial public offerings (IPO) confirmed so far to be launched in the first quarter of 2018, the volume of listings to the Jamaica Stock Exchange strongly indicates that the total number of companies to list will surpass that of 2017.
There has been noted increase in companies choosing to raise capital by offering part ownership through shares on the stock exchange. This is partly due to fringe benefits of listing which include an entity avoiding taking on additional debt, and five years break from paying income taxes.
What kind of companies tend to go to market you wonder? Firms ideally should have a marketable value proposition and have at least a few years financial statements to help fulfill the process of filing a prospectus. They should be willing to adhere to the regulations that govern publicly traded entities and should be prepared to offer long term value to shareholders.
The Jamaica Stock Exchange got a boost of confidence in 2015 when Bloomberg noted the 39 year old entity as the best performing exchange in the world. For this year, medical tech company Elite Diagnostics and new financial entity Sygnus Capital are among the first expected to launch prospectuses in January. For the first time ever in the stock exchange’s history, an educational institution- University College of the Caribbean will seek to offer shares to investors.
Additional proposed entities on the roster for a 2018 listing are Caribbean Insurance Brokers, Everything Fresh, Winchester Medical, Medican JA and others.
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