NGX Group Looks to Attract Diversified Investors

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Group Plc said it looks forward to attracting diversified investors ahead of its listing on the NGX Limited in the coming months.

Last week, the organisation held its 60th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Abuja. It was the first yearly meeting the company was having after it was demutualised from the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) last year.

During the meeting, shareholders of NGX Group voted in support of the resolutions presented by the board, including the re-election of the non-executive directors who were retiring by rotation and the election of the members of the Audit Committee as well as the proposed remuneration for the board and non-executive members of the erstwhile National Council of the NSE.

In addition, they approved the proposals to introduce equity-based incentives to employees’ remuneration, including an Employee Share Ownership Plan and a Long-Term Incentive Plan, aligning the interests of internal stakeholders with those of shareholders in long term value creation.

The Group Chairman of NGX Group, Mr Abimbola Ogunbanjo, explained that the new equity-based incentive schemes for employees “are in line with the authority granted to directors by then members of NSE at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) conducted in March 2020 and adhere to global best practices allowing us to attract and retain the best talent.

“Today, I am more confident than ever that the group is well-positioned to deliver value to shareholders as we move into a new growth phase.”

He further said, “I am both thankful for the invaluable support of our stakeholders and proud of the resilience NGX Group continues to demonstrate after over six decades.

“Despite the global pandemic and other economic shocks, it is indeed noteworthy that we have already begun to actualise the benefits of demutualisation including the alignment of stakeholders’ interests in the value created by the new Group under a revised corporate governance framework.”

On his part, the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of NGX Group Plc, Mr Oscar Onyema, stated that, “We thank our shareholders for their support of the resolutions proposed at today’s meeting.

“Our 2020 results reflect the challenging macroeconomic and market conditions, as well as operational resilience of the group with income and resulting surplus after tax valued at N6.02 billion and N1.84 billion respectively.

“In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, we maintained tight cost controls, which reduced expenses by 13 per cent despite investments in technology that allowed us to operate remotely with zero downtime. The group ended the year 2020 in a sound financial position with net asset growth of over 10 per cent to N31.28 billion.”