Economy
NSE: Banking Stocks to Offer Investors 88% Gain in 2018
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Last year, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) was among the best performing markets in the world, growing by over 40 percent.
This was buoyed by the resilience demonstrated by banks listed on the local bourse amidst tougher operating conditions.
According to a report released by Afrinvest Research, banking stocks, driven by tier-one banks like GTBank, Zenith Bank, UBA and Access Bank, offered the best returns to investors in the equities market in Nigeria in 2017.
The banking sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, which was rated second best bourse in Africa and 11th best in the world, gave equity investors a 73.3 per cent return on investment in one year.
According to Afrinvest, investors showed significant interest in the four above banks, which led to Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) Plc recording 64.9 percent price appreciation in the period, while Zenith Bank Plc recorded 73.8 percent price gain. Access Bank Plc increased its share value with a gain of 78 percent, while United Bank for Africa Plc emerged the most improved stock in terms of price appreciation with 128.9 percent growth.
According to analysts at Afrinvest Research, “Given the resilience demonstrated by the banks amidst tougher operating conditions, the banking index was unsurprisingly the best performing sector in 2017, up 73.3 percent.
“Performance of the banks remained driven by resilient earnings, supported by interest income (due to higher interest rate environment).”
In its outlook for 2018, Afrinvest Research said the banking index will again take the lead with 88.2 percent return with the Consumer Goods sector tipped to return 37 percent, like it did in 2017.
Last year, the Consumer Goods index gained 37 percent as increase in product prices and improvement in access to FX as well as the relative peace in the North Eastern part of the country, positively impacted earnings of companies in the sector.
Also, the Oil & Gas index gained 5.8 percent for the year, majorly due to performance of Upstream players – SEPLAT (+56.9%) and OANDO (+27.4%) – which was bolstered by the cessation of attacks on oil installations in the Niger Delta as well as improved global oil prices.
Sentiment towards the downstream players remained soft during the year, due to absence of reforms needed to revitalize the sector.
The overall performance of the Nigerian stock market has been attributed to renewed interest by domestic and foreign investors following stability in macroeconomic fundamentals recorded by Africa’s biggest economy in 2017.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is seeking a reduction in import duty exemptions, which rose to N34 trillion, limiting its ability to increase its revenue generation threshold.
The Comptroller-General of the Customs Service, Mr Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed that the value of import duty exemption certificate approvals increased to that level in 2025, describing the policy as one of the major factors restricting its revenue generation.
At an investigative session of the Senate Committee on Finance with revenue-generating agencies in Abuja on Monday, Mr Adeniyi explained that government fiscal policies have continued to impact the revenue-generating capacity of the Customs Service, both positively and negatively.
“The NCS would have generated significantly higher revenue over the years if not for government-approved import duty waivers and other external factors affecting collections,” he said.
He added that the Import Duty Exemption Certificate scheme, introduced in March 2020, accounted for about N34 trillion in approvals in 2025, with nearly 60 per cent covering duty-free importation of military hardware due to Nigeria’s prevailing security challenges.
Other government-backed duty waivers, he noted, covered the importation of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), electric and hybrid vehicles, healthcare equipment and medical supplies, industrial machinery and manufacturing inputs, as well as food import intervention programmes.
While acknowledging the impact of the waivers on Customs revenue, Mr Adeniyi argued that fiscal policy should not be assessed solely on the basis of revenue generation but also on its broader economic and social objectives.
He, however, urged the federal government to establish stronger monitoring mechanisms to ensure beneficiaries of duty waivers deliver the intended economic outcomes, including lower consumer prices, increased local production and improved healthcare access.
The committee also expressed displeasure over the absence of several heads of government agencies invited to the hearing, including the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), and the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Jabi.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Mr Sani Musa, warned that the affected chief executives must appear at the committee’s next sitting or face severe sanctions under the Senate’s rules.
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By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose by 0.40 per cent on Monday, July 13, buoyed by buying interest in 11 Plc, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc and UBN Property Plc, which offset the profit-taking in Food Concepts Plc, the parent company of Chicken Republic.
11 Plc gained N20.69 to end at N227.64 per share compared with last Friday’s price of N206.95 per share, CSCS Plc grew by N1.83 to N91.48 per unit from N89.65 per unit, and UBN Property Plc added 1 Kobo to sell at N1.81 per share versus N1.80 per share.
On the flip side, Food Concepts Plc depreciated by 24 Kobo to close at N2.45 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N2.69 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation increased by N9.2 billion to N2.587 trillion from N2.578 trillion, and the NASD Security Index (NSI) improved by 15.33 points to 4,311.67 points from 4,296.34 points.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors surged by 615.9 per cent to 9.1 million units from the previous 1.3 million units, and the value of securities rose by 997.1 per cent to N320.4 million from the preceding session’s N29.2 million, while the number of deals decreased by 12.5 per cent to 28 deals from last Friday’s 32 deals.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 73.9 million units exchanged for N5.2 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
