Trinidad Cement Ltd of Trinidad and Tobago is the first company on the official listing of the Guyana Association of Securities Companies and Intermediaries Inc (GASCI), Guyana's Stock Exchange.
In a press release, Operations Manager of GASCI George Edwards said yesterday that pursuant to its application for listing accompanied by the relevant documentation and its registration by the Guyana Securities Council, TCL's shares became eligible for trading on the Guyana Stock Exchange at its first session for 2007 on January 3. The release said TCL is also officially listed on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange, the Barbados Stock Exchange, the Jamaican Stock Exchange and the Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchange.
TCL, which was incorporated in 1951 in Trinidad, produces and bags cement for sale primarily to Caribbean countries, including non-Caricom territories. The company has subsidiaries in Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Barbados, Anguilla, Nevis, St Maarten and Guyana. Its subsidiary in Guyana is TCL Guyana Inc whose primary activity is the packaging of bulk cement for sale on the local market.
The release from GASCI said that not only is TCL the first company to officially list in Guyana, but it also is the first non-Guyanese company to be registered on the Guyana Stock Exchange. "We welcome their presence on the stock exchange as well as their role in the supply of cement for construction in Guyana. TCL is contributing to the supplies for the completion of the World Cup Cricket sites," Edwards said.
In an interview with Stabroek News in 2003, Stock Market Analyst Patrick van Beek said that the most important issue for the stock exchange's viability is having companies listed on the exchange, and not merely registered, as the dozen or so companies whose shares are traded weekly are.
At that time he said that there seemed to be some reluctance in companies becoming registered, the incentive of which will be cross listing on Caribbean stock exchanges. He posited that if GASCI could get four or five companies listed, this would comprise the lion's share of the money that is needed for the running of GASCI, which according to him, runs at an annual operational cost of $12M. At the time van Beek was involved in the operations of GASCI.
Guyana's Stock Exchange was launched in June 2003 with a handful of companies' shares trading weekly.