Trading activity slowed last week in the Bahamas capital market as only 23,116 shares changed hands. The market saw 11 out of the 20 listed stocks traded, of which one advanced, four declined and six remained the same.
Volume leader and big advancer for the week was Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) (BAB), with 6,500 shares changing hands and accounting for 28 per cent of the total shares traded. BABﾴs share price increased by $0.07 to end the week at $1.17. On the down side, FamGuard Companyﾴs (FAM) share price declined by $0.15 to close at $6.05.
The FINDEX ended the week at 591.41, down 0.21 points. The FINDEX is a price weighted total return index, created by Fidelity to measure the total return, including both price changes and dividend payments, of all the stocks of public companies in the Bahamas.
FOCOL Holdings Limited (FCL)
FCL announced that on January 17, 2006, it finalized an agreement to purchase all the outstanding shares of Shell Bahamas for $32.5 million. The purchase includes Shellﾴs Turks and Caicos Islands operations.
Within the next 90 days, FCL hopes to disclose the final purchase terms and any additional material information related to the transaction. It was speculated that the $25 million preference share issue by FCL in December 2005 was conducted to help finance the purchase of Shell. In related news, FCLﾴs Board of Directors has declared a dividend of $0.11 per share payable on February 9, 2006, to all common shareholders as at record date January31, 2006.
Source: The Tribune
