Economy
LASACO Assurance Plans Share Reconstruction
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The board of LASACO Assurance Plc has indicated its intention to carry out a share reconstruction exercise, Business Post has gathered.
However, to make this happen, the company wants the approval of its highest decision-making organ, the shareholders.
A notice from LASACO Assurance said it would want the shareholders to authorise this share reconstruction of its existing 7.334 million ordinary shares at the 39th Annual General Meeting (AGM) fixed for Thursday, September 12, 2019 at the City Hall in Lagos.
The board wants to restructure the shares to one new unit for every four previously held by its investors.
“This notice is hereby given that the 39th Annual General Meeting of LASACO Assurance Plc will be held at City Hall, Catholic Mission Street, Lagos Island, Lagos on Thursday, September 12, 2019 at 11am for the following purposes.
“To lay before the members, the reports of the directors, the audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2018 together with the reports of the audit committee and the independent auditors thereon. To declare a dividend, to elect directors.
“To authorise the directors to fix the remuneration of the external auditors; BDO Professional Services, who has been appointed as company’s external auditors in place of Doyin Owolabi & Co who retired as company’s auditors having served the statutory five years as stipulated by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) code.
“To elect members of the audit committee, to fix the directors fees.
“To reconstruct the existing shares of 7,334,344 ordinary shares [to] one new share for every four shares previously held.
“That the directors be authorised to appoint all necessary parties and to do all such acts and things to give effect to the share capital reconstruction exercise,” the notice said.
Business Post reports that companies use share reconstruction exercise to reduce the number of outstanding shares and then increase their share price proportionately without affecting the total book value of those shares.
Recall that in September 2018, the board of LASACO Assurance said it was planning to raise fresh capital with the creation of additional 40 billion shares.
In its financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2018, the insurer grew its profit before tax by 12 percent to N958.2 million from N854.3 million, while the profit after tax appreciated by 11 percent to N736.3 million from N661.9 million.
In the results released by the company, the gross premium written rose by 35 percent to N9 billion from N6.7 billion, while the net underwriting income jumped by 31 percent to N5.2 billion from N4 billion.
However, the investment income went down by 14 percent to N753.7 million from N874.7 million, while the other income dropped by 67 percent to N190.5 million from N576.4 million.
During the year under consideration, the net claims paid by LASACO Assurance reduced by 8 percent to N1.8 billion from N2 billion.
An analysis of the firm’s balance sheet showed that the total assets depleted by 8 percent to N17.1 billion, while the total liabilities reduced to N8.6 billion from N10.4 billion, with the shareholders’ funds increasing by 4 percent to N8.5 billion from N8.2 billion and the earnings per share (EPS) rising to 13 kobo to 12 kobo.
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited returned to green territory on Friday, closing higher by 0.10 per cent after investor sentiment turned bullish.
Business Post reports that the market breadth index was positive yesterday after the bourse ended with 29 appreciating equities and 21 depreciating equities.
Linkage Assurance gained 10.00 per cent to trade at N1.43, Livestock Feeds appreciated by 9.93 per cent to N8.41, Mutual Benefits jumped by 9.84 per cent to 67 Kobo, UBA soared by 5.75 per cent to N36.80, and Oando grew by 5.59 per cent to N51.00.
Conversely, Red Star Express lost 9.91 per cent to finish at N4.82, Learn Africa depreciated by 9.85 per cent to N3.02, FTN Cocoa declined by 9.43 per cent to N4.80, Coronation Insurance slumped by 9.39 per cent to N2.22, and Ikeja Hotel slipped by 9.35 per cent to N9.70.
Customs Street grew yesterday as a result of buying interest in banking equities, which dominated the activity chart, according to data from the bourse.
Fidelity Bank transacted 62.3 million shares for N1.1 billion, Access Holdings traded 38.3 million equities worth N843.7 million, Tantalizers sold 32.0 million stocks valued at N99.2 million, Veritas Kapital exchanged 31.4 million shares worth N38.4 million, and Zenith Bank traded 22.7 million equities valued at N1.1 billion.
At the close of trades, a total of 397.2 million stocks worth N14.2 billion exchanged hands in 10,099 deals compared with the 310.5 million stocks valued at N6.3 billion traded in 10,182 deals a day earlier, indicating a decline in the number of deals by 0.82 per cent, and the growth in the trading volume and value by 27.92 per cent and 125.40 per cent, respectively.
The industrial goods and commodity sectors remained unchanged during the session, the insurance and consumer goods indices tumbled by 0.49 per cent and 0.02 per cent apiece, while the energy and banking counters went up by 0.50 per cent and 0.12 per cent, respectively.
The bargain-hunting activities of the market participants lifted the All-Share Index (ASI) on Friday by 104.19 points to 104,962.96 points from 104,858.77 points and the market capitalisation increased by N66 billion to N65.820 trillion from N65.754 trillion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The last trading session this week at the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange ended on a negative note with a 0.44 per cent decline on Friday, March 21.
The market capitalisation of the OTC securities exchange went down by N8.67 billion to N1.939 trillion from N1.948 trillion and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) ended the session at 3,358.61 points after dropping 15.01 points from the preceding day’s 3,373.62 points.
Trading data showed an increase of 50.7 per cent in the volume of securities transacted to 304,188 units from the 201,873 units transacted in the previous trading day, the value of transactions surged by 1,214.8 per cent to N10.2 million from N776,509.51, and the number of deals rose by 88.2 per cent to 32 deals from 17 deals.
Yesterday, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc lost N1.84 to trade at N37.17 per share versus Thursday’s closing price of N39.01 per share, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc depreciated by N1.01 to sell at N22.84 per unit compared with the preceding day’s N213.85 per unit, and Afriland Properties Plc declined by 2 Kobo to close the day at N19.50 per share versus the previous session’s N19.52 per share.
At the close of trading activities, Impresit Bakolori Plc was the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 533.9 million units worth N520.9 million, followed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with a turnover of 69.9 million units valued at N23.7 million, and Geo Fluids Plc with 44.1 million units sold for N88.9 million.
Similarly, Impresit Bakolori Plc was the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with a turnover of 533.9 million units worth N520.9 million, trailed by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with the sale of 13.2 million units valued at N511.8 million, and Afriland Properties Plc with 17.6 million units sold for N360.1 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The value of the Naira depreciated against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, March 21 by N2.72 or 0.18 per cent to settle at N1,537.05/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,534.33/1$.
In the same official FX market, the exchange rate of the Nigerian Naira and the Pound Sterling and the Euro remained unchanged at N1,972.89/£1 and N1,657.81/€1, respectively.
At the parallel market segment, the local currency tumbled against the Dollar during the trading session by N5 to trade at N1,590/$1 versus Thursday’s closing price of N1,585/$1.
The pressure on the market continued as the Dollar strengthened in the international market, making currencies like the Naira weaker.
The continuous downward trend of the Naira has raised concerns about the effectiveness of recent injections into the market even as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) channeled more than $55 million into the banks during the week.
In the cryptocurrency market, most tokens as prices inversed with the wider financial markets, which are down on tariff worries and decreased corporate earnings.
On the regulatory front, the US government is moving towards a market structure bill that has been touted as historic.
Solana (SOL) appreciated by 1.2 per cent to sell at $129.31, Dogecoin (DOGE) rose by 0.9 per cent to $0.1692, Ethereum (ETH) went up by 0.9 per cent to $1,988.34, and Ripple (XRP) added 0.8 per cent to close at $2.40.
Further, Bitcoin (BTC) expanded by 0.6 per cent to $84,293.76, Binance Coin (BNB) increased by 0.4 per cent to $631.94, and Cardano jumped by 0.3 per cent to end at $0.7134.
On the flip side, Litecoin (LTC) went down by 1.8 per cent to $91.25, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
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