NSE LIVE! Equities rally N116b on Dangote Cement’s dividend expectation

Nigerian equities staged a major rally on Monday as the decision by the board of Dangote Cement Plc, Nigeria’s largest quoted company; to distribute dividends to shareholders triggered a massive rally.

The board of directors of Dangote Cement met on Monday and decided to pay dividends to shareholders. The dividend recommendation is expected to be announced early today.

Dangote Cement’s share price rose by 5.0 per cent, the highest percentage change by any stock on Monday at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). Dangote Cement added N6.75 to close at N141.75 per share.

The gain by Dangote Cement boosted the overall market situation. Aggregate market value of all quoted companies on the NSE increased by N116 billion to close at N8.452 trillion as against its opening value of N8.336 trillion.

The All Share Index (ASI)-the value-based common-share index that tracks prices of all quoted companies on the NSE, rallied 1.41 per cent to close at 24,570.73 points as against its opening index of 24,228.79 points. The upswing moderated the negative average year-to-date return to -14.22 per cent.

Dangote Cement is the most capitalised quoted company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), controlling more than a quarter of total market capitalization. The dividend recommendation followed the approval of the audited report and accounts of the company for the year ended December 31, 2015 at the same meeting. The board of directors agreed that the dividend will become payable after the approval of the shareholders at the annual general meeting scheduled for April 19, 2016.

The board of Dangote Cement is chaired by Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the Africa’s richest multi-billionaire, whose investment holding company-Dangote Industries Limited, holds more than three-quarters of the cement’s issued shares.

Meanwhile, with 18 gainers to 18 losers, the market situation remained cautious. Other top gainers included Seplat Petroleum Development Company, which rose by N9 to close at N349. Mobil Oil Nigeria followed with a gain of N6.97 to close at N156.97. Ecobank Transnational Incorporated chalked up 79 kobo to close at N16.75 while Presco rose by 25 kobo to close at N34.25 per share.

On the negative side, Conoil led the losers with a loss of 91 kobo to close at N17.43. Nigerian Breweries followed with a loss of 77 kobo to close at N101. Zenith Bank dropped by 28 kobo to close at N11.07. Dangote Sugar Refinery slipped by 27 kobo to close at N5.23 while Oando dropped by 23 kobo to close at N2.97 per share.

Turnover was above average with the exchange of 467.24 million shares valued at N1.49 billion in 2,554 deals. Wapic Insurance was the most active stock with a turnover of 207.11 million shares worth N103.56 million in 11 deals. Access Bank followed with a turnover of 139.97 million shares valued at N562.78 million in 66 deals. Zenith Bank placed third on the activities chart with a turnover of 24.2 million shares valued at N268.7 million in 506 deals.

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