Diamond Bank shares hit highest level in 4 months as Chairman, 3 directors resign

The shares of Diamond Bank trading on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) rose to their highest level in four (4) months on Thursday after the bank’s key board members resigned.

The stock, which joined the biggest gainers and extended its bullish trend into the fourth trading session today after records of bearishness last week, rose by 7.19 percent to close at N1.49 per share, the highest level since June 25, 2018.

The bank announced the resignation of the Chairman of its board, Oluseyi Bickerseth, and three other directors of the bank in a notice sent to NSE and signed by its Secretary and Legal Adviser, Uzoma Uja, on Thursday.

The three other directors of the bank include Rotimi Oyekanmi, Mrs. Juliet Anammah and Mrs. Aisha Oyebode.

“We wish to notify the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and the public that the following Non-Executive Directors have resigned from the Board of Diamond Bank Plc with immediate effect.”

“The directors are resigning for varied personal reasons, which will include focusing on their priorities. Diamond Bank will update the market with any further development in due course,” the notice read.

The financial institution had in July appointed Bickerseth as the Chairman of its Board of Directors. Bickerseth took over from Prof. Chris Ogbechie who retired on March 31, 2018 after completion of his tenure.

Diamond Bank is faced with serious liquidity challenge as a result of rising non-performing loans and high operational cost.

In 2017, the bank recorded its first loss in six years as it embarked on sale of assets to manage its capital.

Read also: CBN increases capital base for Microfinance banks by 900%

An analysis of its earnings results for the year ended 30 June 2018 showed that the company post-tax earnings fell from N8.02 billion in the period ended June 2017 to N1.80 billion when compared with the corresponding period in 2018.

The stock is expected to rise further in the short term on strengthening investors’ confidence ahead of new capital injection.

The bank, which was incorporated on December 20, 1990, commenced its operation in 1991 as a private limited liability company, but in 2005, the bank got listed publicly on the NSE.

Meanwhile, the NSE key market indicator, the All-Share Index (ASI), rebounded by 44 basis points to 32,545.06 points after yesterday’s negative performance.

The positive performance was triggered by bargain hunting in highly capitalised stocks like Nigerian Breweries, Dangote Cement and Nestle Nigeria.

In view of this, investors gained N51.6 billion as market capitalisation of all traded equities rose to N11.9 trillion, while the year-to-date return improved to -14.9 percent.

 

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