Shares of Access Bank ‘Burn’ at Stock Exchange After Fire Incident

By Dipo Olowookere

About 24 hours after one of its branches on Victoria Island, Lagos went up in flames, the shares of Access Bank had a very hot day at the stock market on Thursday as the value of the company at the exchange decreased.

Holders of the company’s equities witnessed how their portfolio started showing red as a result of the appetite to offload the stocks despite the management of the bank assuring investors and customers that there was no cause for alarm because the situation has been brought under control.

Almost immediately after the unfortunate incident on Wednesday, the management of Access Bank led by a respected banker, Mr Herbert Wigwe, released a statement to update the investing community on the true state of things.

“This is to inform the investing public, our esteemed customers and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) that the fire incident which occurred this morning (Wednesday) in our branch at Adetokunbo Ademola Street, Victoria Island, Lagos has been extinguished without any human casualty.

“We would like to thank every organisation and individual that helped in managing the situation,” a part of the statement signed by Mr Sunday Ekwochi, the company secretary, read.

However, Business Post observed that at the stock market on Thursday, shares of the leading financial institution in Nigeria and Africa depreciated by 2.34 per cent or 15 kobo.

On the day of the inferno, the equity price of Access Bank closed flat at N6.40 per unit but yesterday, it reduced to N6.25 each, resulting into the reduction in the total market value of the company to N222.2 billion from the previous day’s N227.5 billion.

Access Bank has outstanding shares of 35,545,225,622 at the stock exchange and according to data fetched from the NSE by Business Post, investors traded 13.9 million shares of the lender worth N87.5 million yesterday in 218 deals.

It is still not certain how the stock will perform today (Friday) at the market; if the selloff will continue or cease. However, the decline in the share price of Access Bank gives smart investors the opportunity to buy more because of its potential to rise later.