By Modupe Gbadeyanka
No fewer than five companies were listed on the trading floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) between 2016 and 2018.
Since the 2008 global market meltdown, the local bourse has not had any firm listing its shares via Initial Public Offering (IPO) apart from Seplat, which had its in 2014.
The 2008 market crisis saw Nigerian stock market losing over 60 percent of its capitalisation, a development some investors are yet to recover from.
Since then, some investors have been very careful of the stock market, preferring to watch from afar.
But data obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) from the exchange showed that only five new companies were listed in the period under review.
While Initiatives was listed in 2016, the NSE admitted on its trading platform Transcorp Hotels, Global Spectrum Energy Service, Jaiz Bank and Med-View Airline in 2017.
However, during the period under review, not less than 22 firms were delisted by the stock market regulator over non-performance and failure to meet the required post-quotation standards.
The delisted companies included Cappa and D’Alberto, Intercontinental Bank Preference shares, IPWA, G Cappa and West African Glass Industries.
Others were Investment & Allied Insurance, Alumaco, Jos International Breweries, Adswitch, Rokanna, Vono Products, Lennards Nigeria, P.S. Mandrides & Company, Premier Breweries, Costain, Navitus Energy, Nigerian Ropes, Beco Petroleum, M Tech Communication, MTI, UAC and Ashaka Cement.
However, Seven-Up Bottling Company, African Paints and Afrik Pharmaceuticals were delisted in 2018.
Delisting is the process of removing a company from the official list of the stock either voluntarily or by compulsion.
A voluntary delisting window (which seldom happens), a quoted company can decide to delist from the exchange due to reasons such as merger/acquisition.
On the other hand, the NSE can compulsorily delist a firm when it fails to meet up with post-quotation standards.
“Companies will delist for different reasons from voluntary to regulatory delisting, mergers and acquisitions and other things that would cause them to delist.
“Our job is to make sure that we make it easy for companies to come in and if they want to leave, that they leave in an orderly manner.
“So, what we have tried to do with our listing rules in the last one to two years is that we have tried to enhance the rules to ensure that companies behave in an orderly fashion,” chief executive of the NSE, Mr Oscar Onyema, said recently.
Adedapo Adesanya