In its continued push to cut expenses, Trinidad Cement Limited (TCL) has done as planned and delisted from the Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchange (ECSE).

Earlier this year the company’s trading symbol was also removed from the Guyana Securities Council. As announced from mid-2015, the Barbados Stock Exchange is slated to be next.

TCL Chairman Wilfred Espinet said in July last year that TCL would delist from the Barbados Stock Exchange, the Guyana Association of Securities Companies, and the Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchange as little or no trading of the company’s shares takes place on those exchanges, yet the company still incurs listing costs.

In Barbados, one source indicated that these costs run in the region of Barbadian $20,000 annually for the mid-sized company.

TCL is slated to remain listed on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange and the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE).

In general, the JSE is the most liquid in the Caribbean with the highest levels of trading. The Trinidad & Tobago Composite Index delivered 0.99 per cent returns in 2015. The Jamaica Stock Exchange surged more than 80 per cent during the year ended.

A TCL letter dated March 8, 2016 confirmed that it was delisted effective March 1, 2016. The company’s trading symbol was removed from the ECSE’s trading board and all securities were transferred to the Trinidad and Tobago Central Depository.

TCL stated that the reasons for delisting were that trading volumes and frequency were minimal and the negative financial consequence of annual listing/maintenance charges required to be paid to the ECSE.

Earlier this year, TCL advised that by order dated January 11, 2016, the Guyana Securities Council has granted the company’s application for delisting pursuant to Section 40(1) and (2) of the Guyana Securities Industry Act, 1998, and the GASCI Rules #6.16, effective as of the opening of trading on Monday, January 18, 2016.

Again, the reasons for delisting were that trading volumes and frequency were minimal, there were no shareholders resident in Guyana, and the negative financial consequence of annual listing/maintenance charges required to be paid to GASCI.

The TCL Group is engaged in the manufacturing and marketing of bulk and bagged cement, the sale of packaging materials and premixed concrete.

Trinidad Cement Limited and three of its subsidiaries – TCL Packaging Limited (TPL), TCL Ponsa Manufacturing Limited (TPM) and Readymix (West Indies) Limted (RML) – are incorporated in Trinidad and Tobago, while Arawak Cement Company Limited (Arawak) is incorporated in Barbados and Caribbean Cement Company Limited (CCCL) is incorporated in Jamaica.

TCL Trading Limited (TTL), a fully owned subsidiary of TCL, is incorporated in Anguilla and TCL Guyana Inc (TGI) in Guyana.