JKH is back as King of the Bourse!

Premier blue chip displaces SLT to regain number one stock status after 5 year lapse; Its market cap up by
Rs. 55.4 billion or 181% since January; Once high
flying Dialog languishes

John Keells Holdings (JKH) is the King again in the Colombo bourse after the premier blue chip displaced Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) from the coveted status of the biggest company in terms of market capitalisation.
The share price of JKH closed at Rs. 140.50 yesterday giving it a market capitalisation of Rs. 85.92 billion or 10.59% share. Yesterday’s gain helped JKH to edge over SLT and push the national telecom carrier to the second slot with a market capitalisation of Rs. 85.73 billion or 10.57% share.

JKH chief Susantha Ratnayaka

With the market on a bull run with the military victories and the eventual end of war, discerning market analysts has been closely watching the fluid battle for supremacy at the Colombo bourse. In deed it was last Friday when JKH first displaced SLT with a share of 10.61% or Rs. 85.1 billion versus 10.57% or Rs. 84.8 billion respectively. However on Monday SLT overtook JKH with a razor thin margin, 10.56% versus 10.55%. What ensured JKH gaining lead yesterday was its share price moved up by 50 cents whilst SLT remained unchanged at Rs. 47.50.
In its meteoric rise to the top, JKH has given investors an emphatic 181% return, i.e. if someone had invested in the premier blue chip on January 1 and sold yesterday. Considering the depth to which it fell (54-week lowest was Rs. 48.25) soon after the LMS debacle, JKH rise is exponential. JKH’s Price Earnings Ratio is 8.3 times whilst that of the market is 10.71 times and analysts opine JKH has the potential to gain further since there is heavy foreign and local play on it.
Year to date, SLT had gained by 53%. The market peaked to a high on June 19 when SLT stock was trading at Rs. 49.50 and current levels suggest there is more room for upward movement. Its 54-week highest is Rs. 51.
JKH had for years remained Sri Lanka’s biggest stock and lost that status when SLT was listed in 2003. A year later, JKH rose to the top but thereafter mobile telecom giant Dialog ruled the Bourse for three years from 2005 to 2007 before losing to SLT last year. Though remaining still at the number 3 slot and its market cap regaining to Rs. 48.8 billion, same as end 2008 figure with its share price back at Rs. 6 level, Dialog has been under performing as a stock especially given the bull run and the way some of the other stocks had fared.
Among top performers within the relatively liquid and popular stocks include Commercial Bank, Distilleries, HNB, DFCC, Aitken Spence, NDB, Hemas while among the not so liquid include CTC, Carsons, Cargils and Hayleys.
The Colombo bourse has year to date gained by a whopping 67.6% in terms of ASPI and 73.7% on the basis of MPI. Market capitalisation had swelled by Rs. 504 billion or 65%.