The Nation Newspaper

Category: Equities

  • Shareholders approve Africa Prudential Registrars’ N700m dividends

    Africa Prudential Registrars (APR) Plc would today distribute N700 million as cash dividends to shareholders following the approval of the dividend recommendation at the annual general meeting of the company.

    APR, Nigeria’s first and only share registration company listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), would pay a dividend per share of 35 kobo to all shareholders. The payment of the dividend will be made on April 10, 2015 to all shareholders on the register of members of the company as at the qualifying date of Tuesday, March 17, 2015.

    Addressing shareholders at the meeting, chairman, Africa Prudential Registrars (APR) Plc, Chief  Eniola Fadayomi said that APR’s dividend policy aims at rewarding shareholders by increasing their wealth, consistently.

    She noted that though market performance in the first half of the year showed momentary positive runs, the second half was far less impressive, pointing out that in spite of the inclement operating environment, the company recorded significant gains when compared to the previous year.

    Managing director, Africa Prudential Registrars (APR) Plc, Mr. Peter Ashade, reassured that the company remains true to her goal of becoming the leading and dominant provider of share registration services in Africa.

    “As a result, our focus for the year will be to continue to profitably grow our businesses while providing our clients and stakeholders with appropriate alternative solutions. We will strive to manage our operating costs by optimizing our processes while concurrently improving the level of service delivery to our clients,” Ashade said.

    Key extracts of the audited report and accounts of the company showed steady growths in all key performance indicators. Gross earnings rose from N1.85 billion in 2013 to N2.11 billion in 2014. Profit before tax also rose from N1.21 billion to N1.30 billion. After taxes, net profit stood at N1.22 billion in 2014 as against N914.46 million in 2013. Earnings per share showed corresponding increase from 46 kobo in 2013 to 61 kobo in 2014.

  • May & Baker records improved earnings

    May & Baker Nigeria Plc recorded impressive growths in the top-line and bottom-line in 2014 as latest earnings report showed that the leading healthcare company has begun to overcome the challenges associated with building and depreciating its world class pharmaceutical plant.

    Key extracts of the audited report and accounts of May & Baker Nigeria for the year ended December 31, 2014 released yesterday at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) showed that turnover rose by 10.2 per cent while the company replaced its loss position with profit.

    Group turnover rose to N7 billion in 2014 as against N6.3 billion recorded in 2013. Gross profit also rose by 13.2 per cent from N2.3 billion to N2.6 billion. Profit before tax stood at N101.1 million in 2014 compared with a pre-tax loss of N11.4 million in 2013. After taxes, net profit was modest at N63 million as against net loss of N103 million recorded in 2013.

    The report indicated that cost containment and efficient resource utilisation were responsible for the rebound. The company reduced financing charges, distribution, sales and marketing expenses to optimize the top-line growth and return the bottom-line to the positive side.

    Operational profitability rose by 16.2 per cent while sales and marketing expenses dropped by three per cent. Finance costs also dropped by 4.2 per cent. However, finance cost still remains a challenge to the company.

    It should be recalled that May & Baker had raised her capacity to produce more products with the construction of the world class pharmaceutical centre known as the PharmaCentre located in Ota, Ogun State. The facility has raised May & Baker’s production capacity by over 60 per cent.

    However, the company got under pressure from financing charges and depreciation allowances as a result of its new pharmaceutical manufacturing plant, which was financed largely by loans during the 2008-2009 capital market recession.

    Finance costs rose by 34.3 per cent to N630.71 million in 2013 compared with N469.63 million in 2012, while the company provided about N240 million annually in 2013 and 2014 out of its gross profit for the depreciation of the new pharmaceutical  facility with monthly depreciation average of N19.8 million. Depreciation on the new plant started in second quarter of 2012.

    The Pharma Centre  is a mega investment in the pharmaceutical sector targeted at making Nigeria one of the leading producers of quality medicines in the world. It is one of the few Nigerian pharmaceutical facilities that were recently certified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP). The PharmaCentre is currently undergoing the process of WHO pre-qualification for its specific products.

    In a recent interview with The Nation, Managing Director, May & Baker Nigeria Plc, Mr. Nnamdi Okafor, said the company will consolidate its performance in the years ahead.

    According to him, with the completion and stability of the new factory, which is now running well, management’s focus has shifted to how to optimise the potential of the new factory to generate returns for shareholders.

    “Just on its own, we are going to get a lot of returns from that facility going forward because the output is getting better, the efficiency of the processes is improving, and with that we believe the products should be coming out at a lower cost unit as we do more volumes and our margins will also get better. But beyond that, we have taken a look at our products portfolio and we are repositioning the company in a way that we put emphasis on those products that are not what everybody is doing in the market. Those products surely will give us better returns,” Okafor said.

    He said The Pharma-Centre as a centre of excellence would soon begin to do specialised products that will have better margins and will lead to higher profits for the company.

    He noted that with the WHO certification, the company has been getting a lot of enquiries from multinational companies abroad which want to manufacture on contract basis from that facility, and some Nigerian companies that want quality products; wanting to do their products from the Pharma-Centre.

  • Share reconstruction: Unity Bank to cancel 105.2b shares

    Share reconstruction: Unity Bank to cancel 105.2b shares

    Unity Bank Plc will reduce its outstanding shares by some 105.2 billion ordinary shares under the ongoing share capital reconstruction. The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) will today place Unity Bank on full suspension to facilitate the share reconstruction.

    The shares of Unity Bank will be placed on full suspension throughout this week, implying that there will be no transaction on the stock during the period.

    A regulatory filing obtained at the weekend indicated that Unity Bank will issue one new share in replacement for 10 shares already held by the shareholder.

    Unity Bank currently has total outstanding shares of 116.89 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each. With the one-for-10 exchange ratio, the bank will have 11.69 billion ordinary shares by the end of the share restructuring, cancelling about 105.2 billion ordinary shares.

    Normal transaction in the shares of Unity Bank is expected to resume on Monday, April 20, 2015.

    Market analysts said the share reconstruction would enable the bank to consolidate its recovery and hasten the accretion of returns to shareholders.

    Unity Bank  had made a remarkable turnaround in 2014 as the commercial bank returned to the green with a pre-tax profit of about N14 billion. Against the background of loss before tax of N33.64 billion in 2013, Unity Bank rode on the back of improved capital base, growing top-line and better cost efficiency to record a full-year profit before tax of N13.64 billion.

    Key extracts of the audited report and accounts of the bank for the year ended December 31, 2014 showed that gross earnings rose from N62.83 billion in 2013 to N77.07 billion in 2014. Interest income had grown from N52.2 billion in 2013 to N62.64 billion in 2014 while net interest income rose from N30.14 billion to N45.45 billion. Fee and commission income stood at N10.71 billion in 2014 as against N7.33 billion in 2013. Other incomes totaled N3.72 billion in 2014 compared with N3.30 billion in 2013.

    After taxes, net profit stood at N10.69 billion in 2014 compared with net loss after tax of N22.58 billion in 2013. Earnings per share thus turned positive with a modest 17.45 kobo in 2014 in contrast with loss per share of 58.74 kobo recorded in previous year.

    The balance sheet of the bank also firmed up substantially. Total assets rose to N413.31 billion in 2014 as against N403.63 billion in 2013. Total liabilities meanwhile dropped from N375.42 billion in 2013 to N337.04 billion in 2014. Shareholders’ funds closed 2014 at N76.26 billion as against N28.21 billion in 2013.

  • Learn Africa optimistic on future earnings

    Learn Africa Plc is optimistic that it strategies will lead to quantum leap in sales and considerable improvement in profitability in the business year.

    Managing Director, Learn Africa Plc, Mr. Segun Oladipo, said the performance of the company was hindered in 2014 by the violence in the Northeastern part of the country and myriad of macroeconomic challenges.

    Key extracts of the audited report and accounts of Learn Africa for the year ended December 31, 2014 showed that pleased turnover dropped marginally to N2.21 billion in 2014 as against N2.28 billion in 2013. Profit after tax however halved from N100.13 million to N58.68 million.

    Oladipo said the performance of the company was affected by the security challenges in the North Eastern part of the country, which prevented the company from securing orders from states in the region, which are now preoccupied with spending huge sums on security matters. He said the security challenges also hindered the company from pushing its products widely as its sales and marketing team was confined to the safe areas.

    He however noted that the company was able to grow open market sales to schools and booksellers by 27 per cent in 2014 in line with one of its corporate objectives to reduce dependence on patronage by government ministries, departments and agencies.

    He pointed out that the outbreak of Ebola epidemic adversely affected the company’s operations because of the closure of schools for several weeks, which coincided with the sales season when the company usually get orders from bookshops and schools.

    He outlined that the recurring issue of book piracy also made it difficult for the company to fully harness the potentials in its market as the pirates have become more daring in the distribution of illegal copies of widely recommended titles across the country.

    According to him, the company also had to contend with the high inflation rate, strong and persistent pressure on the disposable income of an average Nigerian family, remarkable increases in the prices of imported raw materials and the poor reading culture in this country.

    Oladipo noted that in spite of all the challenges that we encountered in 2014, the company was able to achieve a profit after tax of N58.6m and has proposed a dividend of 12 kobo, representing gross dividend of N92.6 million.

    “As part of the measures to achieve a quantum leap in sales figures during the current financial year, we have introduced new product lines into the market.  We feel confident that the release of these products will enable us to compete effectively, increase our market share significantly and sustain our reputation as market leaders in the industry,” Oladipo said.

    He added that the management has also been examining other cost containment measures to reduce overheads and run the operations of the company more efficiently.

    “We are optimistic that the end year result for 2015 will reflect a very significant improvement on last year’s performance. Our position is based on the premium quality of our learning resources, our extensive and aggressive promotions, the wide sales and distribution network, competitive prices and greater operational efficiencies,” Oladipo assured.

  • Firm attributes performance to operational excellence

    Firm attributes performance to operational excellence

    The impressive performance of Afriland Properties Plc in the immediate past business year was due to its operational excellence, commitments to customers and high corporate governance standards, its Chairperson,  Erelu Angela Adebayo has said.

    Key extracts of the audited report and accounts of Afriland Properties for the year ended December 31, 2014 showed a profit before tax of N1.74 billion, representing 311 per cent increase on the previous year. The company’s total assets increased to N8.1 billion in 2014 as against N4.2 billion in 2013. The company is paying a total dividend payment of N499.6 million to shareholders, representing a dividend per share of 40 kobo.

    Addressing shareholders at its annual general meeting in Lagos, Erelu Adebayo said the upturn in the company’s net earnings is attributable to improved operational efficiency and focus on value creation.

    She said the company is prepared to further strengthen its balance sheet and business model this year by tapping into the opportunities that will be created in the building and construction sector.

    “We are equally poised to take advantage of other structural reforms of the federal government, which hopefully will impact the housing sector,” Adebayo said.

    Its Managing Director, Mrs. Uzo Oshogwe said the company’s financial performance is an evidence of its operational excellence, a customer centric culture and high corporate governance standards.

    “Our deliberate focus on excellent delivery has prompted increase in our full-year performance,” Oshogwe said.

    According to her, Afriland Properties as a property development and management company, offers end-to-end services along the real estate value chain, from management to joint-venture investments.

    According to her, with a portfolio size of over N8 billion and one of the largest land banks in Nigeria, Afriland Properties is pioneering the opportunities presented by an institutional approach to real estate, serving niche markets throughout Africa.

    Afriland Properties was spun off from United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc and merged with Heirs Real Estate Limited in December 2013. The merger aligned the long-term interests of both companies and leveraged on their complementary strengths to expand operations and expertise.

    At its first AGM in Lagos, the company had distributed N100 million to shareholders, representing a dividend of 10 kobo per share for the 2013 financial year.

  • Shareholders approve Africa Prudential Registrars’ N700m dividends

    Shareholders approve Africa Prudential Registrars’ N700m dividends

    Africa Prudential Registrars (APR) Plc would today distribute N700 million as cash dividends to shareholders following the approval of the dividend recommendation at the annual general meeting (AGM) of the company.

    APR, Nigeria’s first and only share registration company listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), would pay a dividend per share of 35 kobo to all shareholders. The payment of the dividend will be made tomorrow to all shareholders on the register of members of the company as at the qualifying date of March 17 this year.

    Addressing shareholders at the meeting, its chairman, Chief  Eniola Fadayomi said APR’s dividend policy is aimed at rewarding shareholders by increasing their wealth and consistency.

    She said though market performance in the first half of the year showed momentary positive runs, the second half was far less impressive, pointing out that in spite of the inclement operating environment, the company recorded significant gains when compared to the previous year.

    Its Managing Director, Mr. Peter Ashade, reassured that the company remains true to its goal of becoming the leading and dominant provider of share registration services in Africa.

    “As a result, our focus for the year will be to continue to profitably grow our businesses while providing our clients and stakeholders with appropriate alternative solutions. We will strive to manage our operating costs by optimising our processes while concurrently improving the level of service delivery to our clients,” Ashade said.

    Key extracts of the audited report and accounts of the company showed steady growths in all key performance indicators. Gross earnings rose from N1.85 billion in 2013 to N2.11 billion in 2014. Profit before tax also rose from N1.21 billion to N1.30 billion. After taxes, net profit stood at N1.22 billion in 2014 as against N914.46 million in 2013. Earnings per share showed corresponding increase from 46 kobo in 2013 to 61 kobo in 2014.

    The balance sheet of the company also showed appreciable improvement. Total assets closed 2014 at N18.91 billion compared with N16.42 billion in 2013. Total liabilities meanwhile rose from N12.09 billion to N14.38 billion. Shareholders’ funds increased marginally from N4.33 billion to N4.53 billion.

    It would be recalled that APR equally paid a dividend per share of 35 Kobo to shareholders for the 2013 financial year, its first year as a listed company on the NSE.

  • Nigerian equities gain N1.82tr on Buhari euphoria

    Nigerian equities gain N1.82tr on Buhari euphoria

    The negative sentiments and depreciation haunting Nigerian equities gave way to optimism and scramble for quoted equities as the successful conduct of the presidential election and emergence of General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) as president-elect triggered a massive bullish rally that topped the market with about N1.82 trillion.

    As indications emerged on Monday that the March 28 general elections were largely peaceful and credible, and the opposition candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was leading, investors upped demand for Nigerian equities. Quoted equities’ capitalisation, which opened the week at N10.319 trillion, closed Monday at N10.494 trillion. The eventual announcement of Buhari as the president-elect and the concession of defeat by President Goodluck Jonathan spurred the bullish rally.

    Market data released by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) showed that last week saw the largest gain by Nigerian equities this year. Nigerian stock market is dominated by foreign investors, who account for almost two-thirds of total transactions. Buhari had built his campaign on resolution of three core issues of corruption, insecurity and economic underdevelopment.

    Aggregate market value of all quoted equities closed the four-day trading session last week at N12.135 trillion as against the week’s opening value of N10.319 trillion, representing an increase of N1.82 trillion. The benchmark index for the Nigerian stock market, the All Share Index (ASI), also jumped by almost six steps to close at 35,728.12 points as against its opening index of 30,562.93 points. The ASI, a value-based index, tracks the prices of all quoted companies and it is thus directly related to market sentiments.

    The stock market sustained consecutive upswing, rising from N10.494 trillion on Monday to N10.718 trillion on Tuesday and N11.621 trillion and N12.135 trillion on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.  The market performance was driven by increased demand for equities as turnover rose consecutively during the four trading sessions. Investors staked N1.84 billion on 196.26 million shares in 3,638 deals on Monday and increased this to N5.05 billion for 379.45 million shares in 4,138 deals on Tuesday. By Wednesday, turnover stood at N10.94 billion for 881.58 million shares in 4,611 deals. Turnover peaked at N18.75 billion on 1.17 billion shares in 9,006 deals on Thursday. Friday was declared a public holiday in commemoration of Good Friday.

    Major foreign and Nigerian investment firms placed “buy” on several Nigerian stocks, a reference to the reduction in the political risk and the attractiveness of Nigerian equities, most of which had been undervalued by sustained depreciation over the past 15 months. Exotix, a global investment firm, described the successful conduct of the election and the emergence of Buhari as “unprecedented positive”.

    “A broadly effective voter card system, largely peaceful voting days, generally orderly announcement of results, concession of defeat and most importantly, the win for the opposition candidate, comprise a remarkable, unprecedented and positive presidential election in Nigeria,” Exotix stated.

    The firm noted that some macro level concerns which have driven Nigeria to underperform all major frontier markets have thus been removed. Exotix subsequently raised its recommendation for Nigerian stocks, especially banking and consumer goods companies.

    The renewed optimism helped the Nigerian market to reverse its dragging negative average-year-to-date return to positive, with modest average year-to-date gain of 3.09 per cent. All key indices at the NSE showed widespread positive sentiments, with most equities recording their highest gains so far this year. While the ASI indicated average week-on-week gain of 16.90 per cent, the NSE 30 Index, which tracks the 30 most capitalised stocks, indicated higher weekly gain of 17.91 per cent. The NSE Banking Index recorded the highest gain of 23.97 per cent, reflecting the scramble for banking stocks. The NSE Oil and Gas Index, NSE Industrial Goods Index, NSE Consumer Goods Index and NSE Insurance Index recorded average weekly gain of 16.42 per cent, 13.62 per cent, 15.14 per cent and 3.46 per cent respectively. The NSE Lotus Islamic Index, which tracks ethical stocks on the basis of Islamic rules, also rose by 14.30 per cent.

    Price analysis showed that 72 stocks appreciated during the week as against six stocks that depreciated. Several equities rose by almost one –third of their share price. Fidelity Bank appreciated by 38 per cent to close at N2.07. Nigerian Aviation Handling Company rose by 33.9 per cent to close at N6.75. Zenith Bank appreciated by 32.5 per cent to N25.05. Oando rose by 31.3 per cent to N17.60. Guaranty Trust Bank added 30.87 per cent to close at N31.88 while United Bank for Africa rose by 29.8 per cent to close at N4.92 per share.

    Altogether, turnover within the four days surged above average to 2.63 billion shares worth N36.58 billion in 21, 393 deals. The financial sector, driven by banking stocks, remained the dominant sector with a turnover of 2.06 billion shares valued at N21.06 billion traded in 12,133 deals; representing 78.1 per cent and 57.6 per cent of the total turnover volume and value respectively.

    The conglomerates sector was the second most active sector with a turnover of 178.25 million shares worth N2.352 billion in 1,493 deals while the consumer goods sector placed third with a turnover of 118.96 million shares worth N5.59 billion in 2,816 deals.

    The trio of FBN Holdings Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and Access Bank Plc were the most active stocks as they jointly accounted for 834.17 million shares worth N12.16 billion in 5,089 deals, representing 31.7 per cent and 33.3 per cent of the total turnover volume and value respectively.

    Market analysts said the bullish rally might help Nigeria to reverse its negative foreign portfolio investment (FPI) position. The latest FPI report by the NSE had indicated that there was “significant increase in foreign portfolio investment outflow”. The report showed that nearly three-quarters of the transactions on the Nigerian stock market were done by foreign investors during the period, highlighting the dominant negative trend orchestrated by the foreign divestments.

    The report, based on the latest available data for the period ended February 2015, showed that foreign portfolio investment outlook had so far been negative, with year-to-date deficit of more than N32 billion.

    According to the NSE, foreign outflows totaled N81.60 billion in February 2015 as against inflow of N52.35 billion, indicating a significant increase on the downtrend that started the year when foreign portfolio outflow was N51.08 billion against inflow of N48.03 billion.

    Year-to-date, total foreign inflow stood at N100.38 billion compared with outflow of N132.68 billion, representing net deficit of N32.3 billion. The report had underlined concerns that foreign investors were downsizing their portfolios. Nigeria recorded negative net foreign portfolio position of N154.14 billion in 2014 as against a positive net position of a modest N20.48 billion in 2013.

    The latest report also showed continued dominance of the foreign investors in the Nigerian market with foreign transactions accounting for 72.61 per cent of total transactions in February compared with 27.39 per cent contributed by domestic investors. Foreign investors had contributed 52.24 per cent while Nigerian investors accounted for 47.76 per cent in January. Altogether, the proportion of foreign transactions to domestic transactions so far this year stood at 62.28 per cent and 37.72 per cent respectively.

    The NSE report is generally regarded as a credible gauge of foreign portfolio investments in Nigeria as it coordinates data from nearly all active investment bankers and stockbrokers. Nigeria presently operates a mono stock exchange, which makes the NSE the sole gateway to the nation’s stock market and the NSE’s benchmark indices, the country indices for Nigeria.

    The NSE report used two key indicators-inflow and outflow, to gauge foreign investors’ mood and participation in the stock market as a barometer for the economy. Foreign portfolio investment outflow includes sales transactions or liquidation of equity portfolio investments through the stock market while inflow includes purchase transactions on the NSE.

    The 12-month foreign portfolio investment report for 2014 had shown that foreign portfolio outflow was N846.53 billion as against inflow of N692.39 billion in 2014, representing a net deficit of N154.14 billion. In 2013, total foreign inflow stood at N531.26 trillion compared with outflow of N510.78 trillion, leaving a positive balance of N20.48 billion.

    The report showed a notable spike in foreign transactions, although the negative colouration indicated that the propensity was towards divestment rather than investment. Total foreign transactions rose by 52.5 per cent to N1.54 trillion in 2014 as against N1.01 trillion in 2013.

     

     

     

  • NSE extends deadline for submission of earnings reports

    The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has extended the March 31 deadline for the submission of audited reports and accounts by quoted companies for a period of one month.

    Companies that operate the Gregorian calendar year as their business year now have up till April 30, 2015 to submit their audited earnings reports for the year ended December 31, 2014.

    The extension came on the heels of an exclusive report by The Nation that more than two-thirds of quoted companies have not submitted their audited reports by the expiration of the earlier deadline of March 31, 2015.

    The NSE stated that the extension was due to some challenges created by shift in the date of national elections from February 14 to March 28 and the layers of regulations for some audited reports.

    According to the NSE, the change in the election calendar also disrupted the meeting calendar and auditing process of some listed companies while some were not able to obtain the prior approval of their primary regulators.

    “While we believe that the timely disclosure of financial information is critical to stakeholders in the capital market, particularly the investing public, the challenges which the listed entities are facing are germane,” NSE stated in a statement signed by Josephine Igbinosun, head of listings regulation department.

    The 30-day extension will apply to the full-year audited report as well as quarterly report. The companies will not be sanctioned or tagged for corporate governance failure during the extended period.

    Post-listing rules at the NSE require quoted companies to submit their earnings reports, not later than three months after the expiration of the period. Most quoted companies including all banks, major manufacturers, oil and gas companies, breweries and cement companies use the 12-month Gregorian calendar year as their business year. The business year thus terminates on December 31.

    NSE’s regulatory filing calendar had indicated that the deadline for submission of annual report for companies with Gregorian calendar business year was Tuesday March 31. They were also expected to submit their first quarter report on or before June Tuesday June 30, 2015. Now, this has been extended to July 30, 2015.

    The Nation had last Wednesday had reported that some 150 companies failed to meet the earnings deadline. A headcount by The Nation had indicated that less than a third of quoted companies have submitted their audited earnings report. There are more than 230 companies quoted on the NSE

    Compliance within deadline is generally regarded as a measure of good corporate governance. Companies that failed to meet the earnings deadline will also be sanctioned by the Exchange. They are liable to monetary fines and naming-and-shaming publication of their names.

    A report on sanctions and fines for similar defaults in 2013 showed that the Exchange slammed about N105.9 million on 48 companies that delayed their results. The fines ranged between N200, 000 and N6.8 million. The NSE had slammed some N60.2 million as fines on 34 companies for failure to meet deadlines for 2011 audited reports. With a range of N3.8 million and N100, 000, average fine for the year was N1.77 million.

    NSE tags and applies fines on companies that fail to meet earnings reports’ deadline.

    Under the corporate governance and rules compliance assessment report known as X-Compliance Report, NSE identified four different kinds of tags or symbols to alert investors about the status of each quoted company. These include below listings standard (BLS), the first degree alert level indicating a company that has not complied with post listing rules such as late submission of financial statements, unauthorized publication, management failures among others.

    Also, financial services companies such as bank and insurance companies awaiting regulatory approval will carry the appropriate symbol of awaiting regulatory approval (ARA). Companies that are undergoing a capital reconstruction exercise including supplementary issue, share buyback, split, share reconstruction among others will be tagged with capital reconstruction exercise (CRE) while companies that have indicated that they will be delisting or companies that are being delisted at the instance of the regulator would be flagged with delisting in process (DIP) symbol.

     

     

  • Investors stake N36.6b on equities in 4 days

    Investors staked about N36.6 billion on Nigerian equities last week as foreign and Nigerian investors scrambled to take positions in Nigerian equities after the successful conduct of the March 28 presidential and national assembly elections.

    Market pundits saw the largely violence-free and credible election and the emergence of General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) as president-elect as signs of Nigeria’s political maturity and possible positive changes in the macro economy.

    The positive outlook fuelled massive demand for Nigerian equities, sustaining a consecutive four-day upswing for the stock market.

    Major foreign and Nigerian investment firms placed “buy” on several Nigerian stocks, a reference to the reduction in the political risk and the attractiveness of Nigerian equities, most of which had been undervalued by sustained depreciation over the past 15 months. Exotix, a global investment firm, described the successful conduct of the election and the emergence of Buhari as “unprecedented positive”.

    “A broadly effective voter card system, largely peaceful voting days, generally orderly announcement of results, concession of defeat and most importantly, the win for the opposition candidate, comprise a remarkable, unprecedented and positive presidential election in Nigeria,” Exotix stated.

    The firm noted that some macro level concerns which have driven Nigeria to underperform all major frontier markets have thus been removed. Exotix subsequently raised its recommendation for Nigerian stocks, especially banking and consumer goods companies.

    Turnover within the four days surged above average to 2.63 billion shares worth N36.58 billion in 21, 393 deals. The financial sector, driven by banking stocks, remained the dominant sector with a turnover of 2.06 billion shares valued at N21.06 billion traded in 12,133 deals; representing 78.1 per cent and 57.6 per cent of the total turnover volume and value respectively.

    The conglomerates sector was the second most active sector with a turnover of 178.25 million shares worth N2.352 billion in 1,493 deals while the consumer goods sector placed third with a turnover of 118.96 million shares worth N5.59 billion in 2,816 deals.

    The trio of FBN Holdings Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and Access Bank Plc were the most active stocks as they jointly accounted for 834.17 million shares worth N12.16 billion in 5,089 deals, representing 31.7 per cent and 33.3 per cent of the total turnover volume and value respectively.

  • BVN cards are free, says NIBSS

    Customers will not  pay for the Bank Verification Number (BVN) cards to be issued to them after the ongoing registration, the Managing Director of the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), Mr. Ade Shonubi, has said.

    He said the BVN initiative is aimed at protecting bank customers and strengthening  banking. It is an initiative of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Bankers’ Committee to save customers’ funds, avoid losses through compromise of personal identification numbers and other criminalities in the industry, he added.

    The NIBSS boss, who is in charge of the implementation of the BVN, said: “We are giving the BVN cards out for free. The cost is borne by the Bankers’ Committee, which considers the whole biometric project very important. They have been bearing the cost; the cost of the cards, cost of almost everything else that has to do with the BVN.”

    Shonubi also stated that the number of bank customers that have so far obtained their BVN had been quite encouraging. He, therefore, expressed optimism that going by the current high rate of customers’ compliance, banks will achieve their target of customer registration.

    Shonubi also assured that banks would soon commence the distribution of the BVN cards, adding that the cards were ready and   awaiting collection by customers.

    “I have got my BVN card. I would encourage banks’ customers to talk to their banks as well. They have been printing them and sending them to the banks to distribute to the branches where you have enrolled, you would be sent an SMS. For those that have given email address, it would be sent to their emails,” he explained.

    To encourage enrolment on the BVN, the CBN directed banks to honour transactions over N100 million from customers with BVN from March 2015. Such transactions, according to the apex bank, include but not limited to, money transfers, loans, and contingencies, among others.