By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The headquarters of Unity Bank Plc in Lagos was gutted by fire on Monday, causing panic around the area, with many scampering to safety.
Business Post gathered that the inferno started on one of the floors of lender’s head office, but was quickly put under control.
According to a statement issued by Unity Bank, “The cause of the fire incident is yet to be ascertained but the fire service has intervened and has brought the situation under control.”
The financial institution said, “While the extent of damage is being assessed, we are happy to note that there was no casualty or loss of life as a result of the incident.”
“From current observations, however, the Banking Hall and other strategic business areas were not affected,” it added.
The news of the unfortunate incident reached the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) today and at the close of transactions, shares of the company traded flat, but the volume of the trades decreased significantly.
Business Post reports that Unity Bank shares closed at 68 kobo each on Monday, the same rate they were exchanged last Friday.
However, what changed today was the volume of transactions, which went down to 1,302 units from 309,503 units traded last Friday.
Unity Bank, which is listed on the main board of the NSE, presently has shares outstanding of 11,689,337,942 valued at N7.949 billion.
Shares of the firm rose to 68 kobo last Friday from 63 kobo on Thursday. Last Tuesday and Wednesday, the bank’s stocks were sold at 65 kobo each after rising from 63 kobo on Monday and traded at 70 kobo the penultimate Friday and 67 kobo a day earlier.
Dipo Olowookere 
Aduragbemi Omiyale