Access Bank Plc Audited financial result submitted in the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange showed that the bank’s gross earnings was up 26.1 per cent to ₦666.8 billion while Profit After Tax PAT, rose by 2.1 per cent to ₦97.5 billion. The bank also declared a final dividend of ₦0.40 per share, bringing total dividend for 2019 to ₦0.65 per share with a dividend yield of 7.6 per cent. Dividend will be paid on April 30, 2020 while register of shareholders will be closed on the 15th of April, 2020. Also Nestle Nigeria Plc declared a final dividend of ₦45.0 per share to be paid on the 3rd of June 2020, while register of shareholders will be closed from the 18th to 22nd of May 2020. The company’s dividend yield settled at 4.4 per cent. Airtel Africa Plc, on the other hand said that following the receipt of NCC approval, finalised the acquisition of an additional 10 MHz spectrum in the 900 MHZ band in Nigeria from Intercellular Nigeria Limited for a total consideration of $94 million, including NCC fees.
Trading activities opened the week negative amid fears of a persistent decline in global oil prices. The All-Share index fell 241bps to 25,647.54 points due to sell pressures in GUARANTY (-10.0%), ZENITH (-9.8%) and STANBIC (-10.0%). Consequently, investors lost ₦329.4bn as market capitalisation declined to ₦13.4tn while the YTD loss worsened to -4.5%. Activity level dipped as volume and value traded declined 48.6% and 57.3% to 185.6m units and ₦1.8bn respectively. The most actively traded stocks by volume were ZENITH (53.5m units), TRANSCORP (23.1m units) and GUARANTY (15.2m units) while ZENITH (₦907.1m), GUARANTY (₦336.8m) and STANBIC (₦167.4m) led by value.
Performance across sectors was bearish save the Industrial Goods and AFR-ICT indices which closed flat. The Banking (-9.0%) index lost the most, following price depreciation in GUARANTY (-10.0%) and ZENITH (-10.0%). Similarly, the Consumer Goods and Insurance indices were down 2.5% and 2.4% respectively, on the back of sell-offs in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-9.9%), UNILEVER (-10.0%) and CORNERSTONE (-10.0%). Lastly, the Oil & Gas a indices closed lower at -1.4% due to price declines in OANDO (-10.0%) and CONOIL (-10.0%).
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) declined to 0.03x from the 1.2x recorded in the previous trading session as 1 stock advanced relative to the 38 that declined. The best performing stock was CHIPLC (+7.1%) while STANBIC (-10.0%), UCAP (-10.0%) and NAHCO (-10.0%) led the laggards. With the widespread of COVID-19 inducing a four-year low in global crude oil prices, we believe the dark clouds are gathering. As such, we expect investors to remain risk-averse towards the equities market in the near term, although there is headroom for bargain hunting activities due to cheap valuation of stocks and the local bourse relative to peers.
Market Statistics for Monday, 9th March 2020
| Market Cap (N’bn) | 13,365.6 |
| Market Cap (US$’bn) | 37.1 |
| NSE All-Share Index | 25,647.54 |
| Daily Performance % | (2.4) |
| WTD Performance % | (2.4) |
| MTD Performance % | (2.2) |
| QTD Performance % | (4.5) |
| YTD Performance % | (4.5) |
| Daily Volume (Million) | 185.6 |
| Daily Value (N’bn) | 1.8 |
| Daily Value (US$’m) | 5.1 |
