Economy
PZ Cussons Stocks Soar After Cancelation of Exit from Nigeria, Others
By Adedapo Adesanya and Aduragbemi Omiyale
The shares of PZ Cussons appreciated by 9.36 per cent on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Thursday to N45.00 from N41.15 on Wednesday.
This was buoyed by news that the company has halted its Nigeria exit plans and unveiled fresh expansion targets driven by renewed growth momentum in its key markets of the country as well as others.
This followed the conclusion of a strategic review, outlining an ambitious plan to strengthen the company’s presence across key markets on the continent including Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana.
The company in a statement on its website on Thursday noted that the renewed focus formed part of a broader strategy to build a portfolio balanced between Developed markets such as the United Kingdom and Australia/New Zealand, and emerging markets including Indonesia and Nigeria.
The review, which began in April 2024, had included the sale of the Group’s 50 per cent stake in PZ Wilmar Ltd., its non-core edible oils joint venture in Nigeria to its partner, Wilmar International, for $70 million.
According to the company, the review attracted substantial interest from potential buyers.
However, the Board resolved that shareholder value would be better maximised by retaining the Africa business and pursuing long-term growth.
PZ Cussons stated that its new strategic direction for Africa would focus on building a winning portfolio of “locally loved brands,” anchored on three major pillars.
The first pillar was core growth across Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana.
This will involve plans to deepen brand-building efforts, expand distribution, improve in-store execution, strengthen revenue-growth management, and enhance digital engagement.
The firm noted that its Nigerian subsidiary had doubled the number of directly served retail outlets since the 2022 financial year, boosting recent performance.
The second pillar targets category expansion into adjacencies such as men’s grooming and beauty, leveraging established brands including Venus, Imperial Leather and Premier.
The third pillar focuses on pan-African expansion, with new markets expected to be supplied through its existing operations in Nigeria and Kenya.
Highlighting Africa’s long-term potential, the Group said the continent’s population was projected to grow by more than 900 million over the next 25 years.
This represented over half of global population growth. Nigeria alone is expected to add over 100 million people, supported by rapid urbanisation and an expanding middle class.
PZ Cussons added that recent economic and currency improvements had supported double-digit revenue growth in the first half of its financial year.
The board expressed confidence in the company’s prospects, citing deep local insights, decades of brand heritage and strong manufacturing and distribution capabilities, especially as several multinationals had exited the market in recent years.
It noted that nearly 80 per cent of revenue in Nigeria was generated from brands that hold the number-one or number-two position in their categories.
“In the 2025 financial year, Africa contributed £141 million in revenue and £16 million in adjusted operating profit, representing 27 per cent and 30 per cent of the Group’s totals respectively.
“Following the divestment from PZ Wilmar, its Africa operations now comprise Family Care and Electricals in Nigeria, and Family Care businesses in Ghana and Kenya.
“The Group holds a 73.3 per cent stake in PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc,” the statement said.
Commenting, Mr Jonathan Myers, Chief Executive Officer of PZ Cussons, said, “Since embarking on the strategic review of Africa, we have identified or agreed the sale of non-core or surplus assets totalling over £70 million.
“This, combined with continued cash generation of the Group, has significantly strengthened our balance sheet.
“After a thorough review of the remainder of the Africa business and careful evaluation of the offers received, the Board believes it is in the best interest of our stakeholders to retain the business.
“Africa is a market of great opportunity. Given PZ Cussons’ deep heritage there, and given the strength of our brands and operational capabilities, we are well-placed to win over the longer term.
“Benefitting from a more stable economic environment in recent months and with positive fiscal reform, momentum in our Africa business is strong, with double-digit revenue growth in the first half of the financial year.
“We will now look to build on this strong performance and extend our category leadership, with nearly 80 per cent of our revenue in Nigeria already coming from brands with #1 or #2 positions.
“With plans underpinned by appropriate guardrails established to reduce risk and manage volatility, we are confident that we have a business that is set up for success.
“We expect Africa to be a significant contributor to overall Group revenue growth as we seek to build a winning portfolio of locally-loved brands, balanced between Developed and Emerging markets.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange remained in the negative territory after it further depreciated by 0.64 per cent on Friday, July 24, despite recording four price gainers.
The NASD Security Index (NSI) dropped 27.4 points at the close of business to settle at 4,294.75 points versus the previous day’s 4,383.48 points, while the market capitalisation gave up N16.49 billion to end at N2.577 trillion, in contrast to the N2.594 trillion it ended a day earlier.
The bourse was down during the session amid heavy sell-offs, with the volume of transactions skyrocketing by 693.9 per cent to 2.99 million units from Thursday’s 377,635 units.
Equally, the value of trades went up by 71.6 per cent to N69.4 million from N40.4 million, and the number of deals increased by 41.0 per cent to 55 deals from the preceding day’s 39 deals.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, trailed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc with 75.6 million units traded for N5.4 billion.
GNI Plc was also the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units exchanged for N8.4 billion, trailed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units transacted for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million.
The market ended the session with four price gainers and two price losers, led by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which lost N7.44 to trade at N136.19 per share compared with the previous day’s N143.63 per share, and CSCS Plc, which declined by N1.64 to N93.63 per unit from N95.27 per unit.
But MRS Oil gained N13.50 to sell at N148.50 per share versus N135.00 per share, Afriland Properties Plc advanced by 56 Kobo to N17.41 per unit from N16.85 per unit, UBN Property Plc surged by 18 Kobo to N1.93 per share from N1.75 per share, and Food Concepts Plc climbed by 1 Kobo to N2.50 per unit from N2.49 per unit.
By Dipo Olowookere
Nigeria’s stock exchange succumbed to profit-taking on Friday, losing 0.19 per cent when the closing gong was hit at 4 pm.
Shares in the banking and energy sectors influenced the decline suffered by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited during the session, as they respectively closed lower by 0.40 per cent and 0.04 per cent.
The industrial goods index was flat yesterday, while the insurance counter gained 0.68 per cent and the consumer goods space chalked up 0.25 per cent. The gains by these two segments could not keep Customs Street in the green territory at the close of business.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) retreated by 474.00 points to 247,357.40 points from 247,831.40 points, and the market capitalisation decreased by N306 billion to N159.588 trillion from N159.894 trillion.
Presco dropped 10.00 per cent during the trading day to close at N2,070.00, Thomas Wyatt crumbled by 9.93 per cent to N3.63, Trans-Nationwide Express plunged by 8.44 per cent to N2.82, Royal Exchange slipped by 7.86 per cent to N1.29, and LivingTrust Mortgage Bank shrank by 7.32 per cent to N3.80.
On the flip side, C&I Leasing improved by 9.48 per cent to N6.35, Cornerstone Insurance rose by 9.09 per cent to N6.00, RT Briscoe jumped by 8.61 per cent to N13.25, Honeywell Flour expanded by 7.38 per cent to N17.45, and Africa Prudential increased by 6.98 per cent to N13.80.
Despite the poor performance, the local bourse recorded a positive market breadth index after finishing with 35 price gainers and 25 price losers, representing strong investor sentiment.
It was a relatively quiet market on Friday, as the activity level dropped, with the trading volume down by 27.72 per cent to 565.5 million units from 782.4 million units, and the trading value contracted by 46.89 per cent to N29.9 billion from N56.3 billion, while the number of deals executed by investors soared by 16.03 per cent to 53,688 deals from 46,273 deals.
Access Holdings was the busiest stock for the session, with a turnover of 128.0 million units sold for N3.8 billion, First Holdco transacted 35.4 million units worth N4.3 billion, Chams exchanged 34.8 million units valued at N154.3 million, Zenith Bank traded 30.4 million units for N3.9 billion, and UBA sold 30.4 million units worth N1.5 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira marked a whole week of appreciation against the United States Dollar on Friday, July 24, further gaining N5.67 or 0.41 per cent to close at N1,362.09/$1 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) compared with N1,367.76/$1 it ended on Thursday.
Equally, the local currency appreciated against the Pound Sterling in the official FX market yesterday by N10.83 to trade at N1,813.62/£1 versus the preceding day’s N1,824.45/£1, and improved against the Euro by N7.68 to settle at N1,549.10/€1, in contrast to the N1,556.78/€1 it was exchanged a day earlier.
However, at the parallel market and GTBank forex counter, the Nigerian currency remained unchanged against the greenback during the session at N1,400/$1 and N1,379/$1, respectively.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) buffer has been strengthened with sustained foreign portfolio inflows and robust foreign reserves, which stand above $52 billion.
The apex bank’s policy signals that the Naira will be stronger in the near term, with Nigeria clearing hurdles with FX reforms and settlement of all backlogs.
However, some traders expect that pressure may come due to foreign-currency buying from fuel importers as they make Dollar purchases to build inventories.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC), in the digital currency landscape, trimmed recent gains as it fell by 2.3 per cent to $63,787.73.
The weak action in the AI momentum trade is feeding through to crypto as well.
Further, Cardano (ADA) dropped 3.7 per cent to close at $0.1615, Solana (SOL) dipped by 2.8 per cent to $73.71, Ripple (XRP) crashed by 2.3 per cent to $1.08, Ethereum (ETH) slid by 1.9 per cent to $1,851.58, Dogecoin (DOGE) retreated by 0.8 per cent to $0.0694, Binance Coin (BNB) contracted by 0.7 per cent to $564.18, and TRON (TRX) lost 0.5 per cent to trade at $0.3292, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
