BLUE Power Group Limited was the best-performing stock in 2024 as the stock grew from $2.67 to $4.79, a 79 per cent improvement in a market where there were more losers than winners.

The soap manufacturing company’s stock price was one of the few stocks during 2024 that exceeded the 50 per cent mark in the year-to-date performance. Other major winners included Wigton Energy Limited (formerly Wigton Windfarm Limited), Lasco Manufacturing Limited, TransJamaican Highway Limited’s USD and JMD ordinary shares, Carreras Limited, IronRock Insurance Company Limited, Caribbean Cement Company Limited, Scotia Group Jamaica Limited and Everything Fresh Limited.

Whilst the increase in these stock prices were quite notable for some investors, especially those who bought the Government-sponsored initial public offerings (IPOs) in 2019-2020, the overall market saw more losers than winners during 2024. The Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) Main Market saw 28 stocks rising, 23 contracting, and one holding firm during the year, but the Junior Market experienced a reduction in 27 stocks, advances in 18 stocks, and one holding firm. The USD market saw only two winners while the other seven all lost value.

That narrow band for improvement on the Main Market was also reflected by the marginal change of the JSE Index which moved from 325,699.78 points to 335,794.94 points — a three per cent increase in value. That also translated to the JSE Index’s market capitalisation rising from $1.68 trillion to $1.78 trillion. The Junior Market Index dipped three per cent to 3,735.05 points with a market cap of $148.45 billion, while the USD Equities Index grew nine per cent to 251.88 points with a market cap of US$1.14 billion. The JSE Combined Index grew three per cent to 347,896.22 points.

All of these price dips also shifted the weightings of the largest companies on the JSE, with Massy Holdings Limited, a Trinidadian investment holding company, now being the largest company by market capitalisation of $168.01 billion, or 9.44 per cent, of the entire JSE Index. In terms of the largest Jamaican company by market cap, Scotia Group Jamaica Limited took the crown as it was worth $166.66 billion at the end of 2024 when it overtook Sagicor Group Jamaica Limited, which dipped 15 per cent to $157.71 billion. NCB Financial Group Limited’s stock price dropped 23 per cent to give the company a market cap of $131.31 billion.

With respect to the Junior Market, FosRich became the largest company by market capitalisation with $11.88 billion worth or 8.03 per cent of the Junior Market cap. This occurred due to the migration of Lasco Manufacturing Limited and Lasco Distributors Limited, which previously accounted for about 18.34 per cent of the Junior Market around the time of their migration.

Despite all of the positive developments for some stocks, EduFocal Limited was the worst-performing stock on the JSE in 2024 as it decreased 75.84 per cent from $1.49 to $0.36. This was followed by MFS Capital Partners Limited, CAC 2000 Limited, First Rock Real Estate Investments Limited (USD shares), Margaritaville (Turks) Limited (USD shares), Pulse Investments Limited, Caribbean Cream Limited, K.L.E. Group Limited, Medical Disposables & Supplies Limited, and JFP Limited.

The market saw two new ordinary listings, with Omni Industries Limited and R A Williams Distributors Limited going public via IPOs. The JSE Bond Market also saw the listing of four new securities, with all of them being subsidiaries of Mayberry Group Limited, while the JSE USD Bond Market saw its first listing when Express Catering Limited listed its bond there. EquityLine Mortgage Investment Corporation Limited was the only company and security to be delisted for breaches of the JSE Rules.

The Main Market saw a 104 per cent year-on-year rise in value traded as it increased from $33.40 billion to $68.13 billion. Two major transactions which would have sent this value higher would have been the A.S. Bryden purchase of a 44.8 per cent stake in Caribbean Producers Jamaica Limited for $5.17 billion in July and the related party transaction on December 23 with Sagicor Group Jamaica Limited shares, which was valued at $15.71 billion. The average number of transactions increased from 734 to 827 transactions on the Main Market.

The Junior Market saw a 26.60 per cent reduction in value traded from $9.60 billion to $7.05 billion. The average number of transactions declined from 516 to 427 transactions on the Junior Market. There were no statistics provided in the JSE Monthly Statistics for the JSE Bond Market and JSE USD Bond Market.