NSE LIVE! Equities suffer N33b loss as pressure mounts on Nigerian Breweries

Nigerian equities suffered a loss of N33 billion on Monday, continuing a losing streak that had seen investors losing N122 billion last week.

 

The decline on Monday, the fifth consecutive negative trading session, was driven majorly by substantial decline in share price of Nigerian Breweries, the second most capitalised company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

 

Total market value of all quoted equities on the NSE dropped from its value-on-board of N8.770 trillion to close at N8.737 trillion, representing a loss of N33 billion. The All Share Index (ASI), the common value-based index that tracks prices of all quoted equities, declined from its opening index of 25,340.02 points to close at 25,244.29 points, indicating average decline of 0.38 per cent. The continuing decline built up the negative average year-to-date return at the Exchange to -6.1 per cent.

 

Nigerian Breweries, which holds significant influence on overall market position, suffered a steep decline of 5.0 per cent or N6.25 to close at N118.75 per share. Nigerian Breweries has been in the eyes of a brewing storm recently. The special crimes division of the Nigerian Police Force, National Headquarters, Abuja, had earlier this year launched investigation into alleged oil supply racket and insider dealings at Nigerian Breweries.

 

The investigation, which was at the instance of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, was sequel to a petition by an aggrieved supplier of petroleum products to Nigerian Breweries.

 

In a confirmation of the ongoing police investigation, Kufre Ekanem, Corporate Affairs Adviser, Nigerian Breweries (NB) Plc, stated that the company has become aware of the ongoing police investigation, which emanated from a petition written by one of its suppliers, Messrs TMDK Oil Traders.

 

“It appears that the petition is targeted at persons connected to NB, including the wife of our Managing Director,” Ekanem stated.

Read also: NSE RoundUp! Nigerian equities buck global rally with N122b loss

The loss recorded by Nigerian Breweries also dragged the NSE Consumer Goods Index down by 2.3 per cent, the highest by any sector. Also, the NSE Insurance Index dropped by 0.2 per cent. However, the NSE Industrial Goods Index rose by 0.59 per cent. The NSE Banking Index gained 0.3 per cent while the NSE Oil & Gas Index inched up by 0.2 per cent.

 

Stanbic IBTC Holdings followed Nigerian Breweries on the 17-stock losers’ list with a loss of 80 kobo to close at N17. Nascon Allied Industries declined by 37 kobo to close at N7.03. Ecobank Transnational Incorporated declined by 30 kobo to close at N9.50. Cement Company of Northern Nigeria lost 22 kobo to close at N4.28. Eterna dropped by 17 kobo to close at N3.41 per share. Oando lost 15 kobo to close at N4.70. Access Bank dropped by 14 kobo to close at N6.80 while Vitafoam Nigeria dipped by 12 kobo to close at N2.18 per share.

 

On the other hand, Seplat Petroleum Development Company led 14 other contrarian stocks with a gain of N5 to close at N380. Beta Glass followed with a gain of N1.65 to close at N34.72. Dangote Cement rose by 90 kobo to close at N168.01. PZ Cussons Nigeria garnered 55 kobo to close at N11.59. Ashaka Cement added 39 kobo to close at N11.25.

 

Zenith Bank chalked up 29 kobo to close at N15.74. Guaranty Trust Bank gathered 24 kobo to close at N24.25 per share. Lafarge Africa added 22 kobo to close at N42 while Forte Oil and Airline Services and Logistics rose by 13 kobo each to close at N54 and N2.87 respectively.

 

Investors traded a total of 141.9 million shares worth N1.4 billion in 2,386 deals. Guaranty Trust Bank was the most active stock with a turnover of 26 million shares worth N630.2 million. United Bank for Africa (UBA) followed with 25.9 million shares valued at N124.1 million while E-Tranzact placed third with 20.4 million shares worth N102.2 million.

 

“With more earnings reports set to trickle in towards the tail end of February, we expect market performance to be dictated by expectations of these earnings scorecards,” Afrinvest Securities, a Lagos-based dealer at the Exchange, stated.

 

“We expect the bearish mood to continue. However, the market is trading within an oversold condition, indicating a buyers’ market for medium to long-term. We may see accumulating action tilted towards banking stocks ahead of earnings release,” SCM Capital stated in a post-trading note

 

 

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