Thursday, January 24, 2008

TERM OF THE DAY:Delisting

This refers to the removal of a listed security from the exchange on which it trades. Stock is removed from an exchange because the company, for which the stock is issued, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, is not in compliance with the listing requirements of the exchange.

The reasons for delisting include violating regulations and/or failing to meet financial specifications set out by the stock exchange. Companies that are delisted are not necessarily bankrupt, and may continue trading over the counter.

In order for a stock to be traded on an exchange, the company that issues the stock must meet the listing requirements set out by the exchange. Listing requirements include minimum share prices, certain financial ratios, minimum sales levels, and so on. If listing requirements are not met by a company, the exchange that lists the company's stock will probably issue a warning of non-compliance to the company. If the company's failure to meet listing requirements continues, the exchange may de-list the company's stock.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

16 Public Offers Worth N980bn Approved in 2007 –SEC

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved 16 public offers of 39 billion units, worth N980 billion last year, according to its Director General, Malam Musa Al-Faki.
In his new year message to members of staff, a copy of which was made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Abuja, Al-Faki said the capital market recorded a robust performance.

He said 11 other offers totaling 801 billion units of shares valued at N239 billion were rights issues in the primary market. Al-Faki said 51 applications were approved last year as against 49 in 2006.
“The year also recorded six private placements of eight million units of shares valued at N2.6 billion and nine supplementary offers of 1.9 billion units of shares worth N2.4 billion,'' he said.

According to the DG, two conversions of loans to equity of 4 billion units of shares valued at N46 billion were also recorded. “Twenty four bonus issues of 22 billion units of shares worth N36 billion and five existing securities of 22 billion units of shares valued at N11 billion were registered,'' he added.
In the secondary market, Al-Faki said, there was a turn-over of 128.5 billion units of shares worth N1.92 trillion between January and November.
“This represented a 250 per cent increaseover the 33 billion shares turn over worthN427 billion achieved in 2006.``The all-share index also recorded an increaseof 21,025.98 points or 36.4 per cent. Opening at33,163 points in January, it closed at 54,189.92points as at Nov. 30, 2007,'' he said.Offers - - 3Al-Faki said the market capitalisationof listed securities (equity only) which stoodat N4.22 trillion in January 2007 rose toN9.11 trillion as at the end of November,representing an increase of 116 per cent.He said the remarkable increase in themarket was attributable to price appreciationrecorded by the ``high-fly in capitalisedstocks''.``Twenty new listings, comprising equitiesand bonds were recorded in the outgoing year.There were 60 supplementary listings whilesix were delisted,'' Al-Faki said.On collective investment schemes, hesaid five were still being processedadding that the number of approvedexisting venture capital companiesstood at 10 throughout the year.``Out of this number only four managinga total of N5 billion remained activeas at the end of 2007,'' he said.SEC - - 4Al-Faki pointed out that a new dimensionto public issues was witnessed in 2007with the introduction of the GlobalDepository Receipts (GDR).According to him, GDR allows

Nigeriancompanies to be quoted in stock marketsoutside the country.``A total of seven GDRs were issued inthe course of the year, out of thesefive were valued at 1.9 billion dollarswhile two were worth 404.3 milliondollars,'' he said.To further deepen the market, the DGsaid the commission would focus onstimulating activities in the bondmarket, particularly the corporatebonds.``Other actions to further deepen themarket and also aim at meetinggovernment public housing programme,were the introduction ofmortgage-backed securities (MBS) andReal Estate Investment Trust,'' headded.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

NSE, SEC to halt share certificates for public issues

BEGINNING from January 1, 2009, subscribers to public offers in the country's capital market would have their subscriptions credited online as the regulatory authorities have concluded arrangements to phase out the issuance of share certificates for public issues.

The Director General of Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Prof. Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, disclosed yesterday at a press briefing in Lagos, that the exchange, in collaboration with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), had fixed December 31, 2008 as the deadline for the total phase-out of share certificates for public issues.

The measure, she explained, was aimed at eliminating complaints associated with dispatch of share certificates to investors.

The e-certificate system is to be handled by the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) immediately after allotment of shares has been concluded.

According to the NSE DG, investors who already have CSCS accounts would be credited as soon as the public issue is concluded while fresh accounts would be opened for new users of the platform.

The NSE had during the introduction of the CSCS in 1997 pushed for a "certificateless" market while adopting dematerialisation of share certificates for share transactions in the secondary market.

But some key shareholders have kicked against the process because of their preference for share certificates as evidence of share ownership.

The Managing Director of CSCS, Onyewuchi Asinobi, who was also at the briefing disclosed that a total of 1.7 million share certificates were dematerialised in 2007 as against 1.1 million in 2006.

"From 1997 to 2007, CSCS has dematerialised 7.1 million share certificates, which represent 246.66 billion units of shares," he said.

In 2007, 152 shareholders requested for share certificates as against 160 shareholders in the previous year.

Buttressing investors' preference for the CSCS platform, he said: "Since 1997 to December 31, 2007, only 8,358 shareholders have requested for share certificates.

"Also, the number of shareholders in the CSCS system has increased by 81.81 per cent from 1.1 million in 2006 to two million in 2007."

The propelling factor for the current growth in CSCS activities include new equity listings, foreign investors' participation, growing and active local investor population as a result of awareness campaigns by the NSE, other regulators, operators and listed companies.

According to supporters of the e-certificate system, unlike the current system whereby share certificates are not delivered to investors for several months, the new system would enable them to take advantage of capital gains that usually follow the listing of a company after a public offering.

In another development, the NSE noted that it would soon create the NSE 30 stock index based on market liquidity and capitalisation.

According to Okerereke-Onyiuke, the launch of the index should form the basis for the creation of index futures and exchange-traded funds in the country.

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Intercontinental Bank’s net profit hit N18bn Q3

Intercontinental Bank Plc appears set for another rousing year as the bank nearly tripled post-tax profit to push earnings per share into three digits in the first nine months of operations.
Interim report and accounts of the bank for the third quarter ended November 30, 2007 showed that net earnings leapfrogged by 178 per cent to N18.1 billion, indicating earnings per share of about 101 kobo. The bank had recorded a net profit of N10.12 billion in corresponding period of 2006.
The report showed gross earnings of N99.65 billion by November 2007, indicating an increase of 69 per cent on N59.11 billion recorded in comparable period of 2006.
Intercontinental Bank has maintained appreciable growth trend over the years. Audited report and accounts of the bank for the year ended February 28, 2007 showed that gross and net earnings doubled while the balance sheet rose by 91 per cent. Underlying fundamentals showed a more liquid, better capitalised, well-diversified and less risky bank as proportion of non-performing loan assets dropped to a low.
Earnings per share rose from N1.10 in 2006 to N1.38 in 2007, which enabled the bank to increase cash payout from 45 kobo in 2006 to 65 kobo in 2007.
Gross earnings rose by 113 per cent from N41.04 billion in 2006 to N87.36 billion in 2007. Interest income doubled to N51.7 billion in 2007 as against N25.8 billion in 2006 while non-interest income grew by 133 per cent from N15.3 billion in 2006 to N35.6 billion in 2007.

With interest expense at N17.22 billion in 2007 as against N8.35 billion in 2006, net interest income recorded 98 per cent growth to N34.51 billion in 2007 compared with N17.4 billion in 2006. Relatively higher interest expense shaved off a point on net interest margin at 67 per cent in 2007 compared with 68 per cent in 2006. Operating expense rose by 90 per cent from N22.33 billion in 2006 to N42.56 billion in 2007.

Earnings from associated companies also improved from N475.8 million in 2006 to N564.8 million in 2007. Group's pre-tax profit grew by 121 per cent to N22.64 billion in 2007 in contrast with N10.3 billion in 2006. After deductions for taxes, net earnings stood at N15.48 billion in 2007 as against N7.56 billion in 2006, representing an increase of 105 per cent.
Underlying performance indicators supported a positive profit outlook as pre-tax profit margin inched up to 26 per cent in 2007 as against 25 per cent in 2006 and 2005. Interest income/loans and advances ratio improved from 12 per cent in 2006 to 15.5 per cent in 2007 while operating expense relative to gross earnings dropped to 49 per cent in 2007 as against 54 per cent in 2006. Average contribution of each employee to the bottom-line improved from N2.1 million in 2006 to N3.3 billion in 2007. Non-interest income made up 41 per cent of gross earnings in 2007 as against 37per cent in 2006.