By Chinwendu Obienyi
Equities trading on Lagos floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) yesterday continued on a negative note as the two major market gauges dropped marginally by 0.04 per cent.
The NSE All-Share Index (ASI) dropped 11.05 points or 0.04 per cent to close at 27,831.95 basis points against a decline of 0.60 percent recorded previously to close at 27,843 basis points.
Similarly, market capitalisation of traded equities closed at N9.558 trillion from N9.562 trillion it started the day’s business.
At the close of business, 43 stocks appeared on the price movement table as 17 stocks appreciated in their prices while 26 others traded at losses.
On top of the gainers table was Oando that led with an appreciation of 51 kobo to close at N5.58 per share; Eterna Oil rose to 23 kobo to close at N2.58 per share; while Airservice gained 9 kobo per share to close at N1.95 per share.
On the other hand, FCMB Bank led the losers with 8 kobo loss per share to close at N1.33 per share; followed by Fidelity Bank that dropped by 6 kobo per share to close at N1.11 per share. Seplat Petroleum Company Plc closed at N282.94 per share having lost N14.89 while Wapco closed at N53.07 per share following a loss of N2.79.
The three most traded stocks of the day were Zenith which accounted for 46.8 million shares valued at N788.2 million, Transcorp which traded 37.3 million shares worth N43.1 million; and Fidelity that exchanged 26.2 million shares valued at N28.6 billion.
After yesterday’s trading session, investors exchanged a total of 275.744 million in 4,126 deals. This is in Contrast to the 300,451 million shares traded in 3,13 deals on Monday.
Forte Oil to raise N50bn capital in debt
By Chinenye Anuforo
Forte Oil Plc has disclosed plans to raise over N50 billion in debt this second half of the year as it aims to double profit and expand its operations.
The Chief Financial Officer of the company, Mr. Julius Omodayo-Owotuga, during the company’s facts behind the figures on Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday, said it plans to raise about N10 or N15 billion on the first phase, and that the debt would be long-term in order to make interest rate predictable.
The capital raising plan is coming less than a year after the company successfully attracted $200 million equity capital injection from Mercuria Energy to acquire 17 per cent of its equity.
According to Omodayo-Owotuga, the company is already looking at optimizing and expanding the Geregu Power Plant asset, diversifying into upstream space through profitable acquisition of upstream assets and deepening focus on high margin products among others.
He explained that Forte Oil strategic focus area for second half (H2) of the year includes; increasing supplies of petroleum products as full deregulation kicks in and forex availability increases, complete major overhaul of the GT13 by the end of August, 2016, improve gas supply for power generation and aggressive follow up on upcoming business oppourtunities etc.
Commenting on the group’s result, the Group Chief Executive Officer, Akin Akinfemiwa explained that revenue grew by 38 per cent from N61.1 billion in H1, 2015 to N84.4 billion in H1 2016 as a result of ongoing strategic retail acquisitions across the country, increase in pump price of PMS and increased commercial customer base for both fuels and lubricants.
Gross margin increased by 48 per cent to N12.3 billion compared to N8.32 billion (1, 2015) largely due to aggressive drive and focus on higher margin product, efficient product sourcing and sales through profitable channels.
He said that the group’s total assets increased by 12 per cent from N121.8 billion in full year 2012 to N136 billion in H1, 2016 driven by over N10 billion paid so far for the major overhaul exercise of Forte oil’s 414MV Geregu power plant aimed at optimizing and increasing its capacity from 414MW to 435MW (with an estimated completion date for Aug, 2016). “This business segment of Forte oil Plc remains our key growth driver”, Akinfemiwa said.