Sagicor dumps Jamaica Stock Exchange
Few investors are trading in Sagicor shares on the Jamaica Stock Exchange. This Barbadian company is listed on the local stock exchange, on the Barbados Stock Exchange and also on the London Stock Exchange.
Sagicor, which recently announced six months profits of over US $40million, will be delisting from the Jamaica Stock Exchange on September 16.
The Barbados-based insurance company says “the main reason for the decision is the insignificant trading activity in the company’s shares which did not justify the operational cost of maintaining this listing” but it further states its “experience with the JSE (Jamaica Stock Exchange) has been a positive one.”
Sagicor has been complaining of the foreign exchange “translation losses” it has been experiencing in Jamaica where the dollar depreciated against the dollar by 13 per cent at the beginning of the year. The exchange rate now stands at 80 Jamaican dollars to one US dollar and things may get worse now that Jamaica is in the clutches of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Sagicor, which has total assets of some US$4 billion, is listed on the Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and the London Stock Exchanges.
It was founded in Barbados in 1840 as Barbados Mutual Life and has over 3,000 employees in some 22 countries. It changed its name to Sagicor in 2002.