NASD OTC Exchange Plc has started arrangements to launch innovative products that will unlock investment opportunities in the real estate and cooperative societies, as part of efforts to deepen the Nigerian financial market.
NASD OTC Securities Exchange is the over-the-counter (OTC) platform for trading of unlisted securities.
Managing Director, NASD OTC Exchange Plc, Eguarekhide Longe, at the weekend, said the leading OTC exchange was awaiting regulatory approvals to launch the new products.
According to him, the new products would help to unlock value in untapped areas of the Nigerian financial services sector while also broadening the Nigerian capital market.
“NASD is focused on origination. To this extent we are driven by the need to be extremely innovative and propelled to drive inclusion of new business area. We are going to conclude the delivery of a few novel products which we have applied to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for approval. As a hint, these products will touch upon the real estate and the much-untapped nigerian cooperative societies. We see 2025 closing with a strong performance, if not stronger than 2024,” Longe said.
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He noted that despite the inclement operating environment in 2024, the Exchange demonstrated resilience and recorded significant growth.
According to him, the NASD Securities Index (NSI) increased by 223.75 per cent to 3,002.68 points in December 2024, from 927.77 points in December 2023.
He stated that although the market capitalization declined by 18.12 per cent, trading activities increased significantly by 127.31 per cent while the value of trades also increased strongly by 176.72 per cent.
Aradel Holdings Plc constituted approximately 79 per cent of the value of trading activity.
“Our market is an incubator for start-ups. This explains why despite the delisting of some large cap stocks like Aradel, which constituted about 79 per cent on our trading value last year, we started on a strong note this year as our operating profit for first quarter 2025 hit N164.0 million, compared to a loss position of N44.1 million in first quarter 2024. Furthermore, our unaudited profit for the period was N212.5 million, as against a loss of N32.7 million in the preceding year,” Longe said.
He added that the recent successful listing of the Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company Plc was a testament to NASD’s orientation to build its business around creating linkages within the economy that will deepen and broaden value.
He assured that the second quarter of the year had commenced with a very positive month of April as the company maintained the business trajectory established in first quarter 2025.
“We realise the only way to grow most things is to build them. Economic development is about building things; whether it be brick and mortar construction, agriculture processing zones, the steel and foundries that are the bedrock of industrialization, the logistics to move people around logically, and the social imperatives like education and healthcare. This is what NASD’s mission is to develop in the Nigerian capital market. We are also mindful of the fact that Nigeria requires a new tribe of investors.
“We see the CBN launch of the Non-Resident Bank Verification Number (NRBVN) as an invitation to a borderless Nigerian capital market, which we will promote and take virtuous advantage of to match liquidity with the content that we will be putting through our market,” Longe said.
He noted that the Exchange recorded profit after tax of N212 .5 million in first quarter 2025, a major leap away from N32.7 million loss recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2024.