Business
Ecobank, Seplat, and Ardova are stocked to watch this week
Ecobank, Seplat, and Ardova are stocked to watch this week
The stock market remains closed today Monday due to the Presidential inauguration of President-elect, Bola Tinubu, however, on Tuesday, the bourse will open for investments.
The next day, the equity market will resume trading, with Ecobank, Seplat, and Ardova among stocks to watch in the Nigerian bourse.
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Ecobank has announced that the company needs capital for its operation, and approval has been given to borrow the needed fund through any financial instruments.
The commercial bank disclosed last week Thursday that its directors have been given the go-ahead to borrow $500 million in the debt market, a move that will increase the liabilities of Ecobank.
“The General Meeting hereby authorized the directors to raise to US$500,000,000 (Five Hundred Million United States Dollars) during the year 2023 in senior-ranked debt, additional Tier 1, Tier 2-qualifying subordinated debt or a combination of any or all of these forms of instruments as the board of directors may deem appropriate,” Ecobank said.
It’s left to see how investors react to Ecobank’s decision to increase its debt burden, considering the firm’s total liabilities of N12.43 trillion account for 93.01 percent of the lender’s total assets.
Note that the day before Ecobank announced the decision to borrow $500 million, the firm’s share was trading at N12.60 kobo, but closed trading on Friday at N12 per share, indicating equity investors snubbed Ecobank after the announcement.
So, trade with caution this week, as the stock market resumes trading this week on Tuesday.
Seplat
Seplat Energy is moving forward with its acquisition of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPNU) from oil and gas firm, ExxonMobil, despite the industry’s regulators standing against the deal.
Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited have blocked the deal since it was first announced in February 2022.
The acquisition of MPNU is expected to increase Seplat’s revenue sources and shareholders’ investment value in the long term.
Seplat said despite the challenges in getting the deal completed, it had agreed with ExxonMobil to extend the timeframe expected for the deal to be sealed, as it hopes and awaits approval from the industry’s regulator.
Before the announcement, Seplat’s share had been trading flat at N1,175 since May 5, however, following the disclosure on Wednesday, the company’s share rose to N1,200, as investors renewed their interest in the firm.
Ardova
Ardova closed trading among the top five losers in the Nigerian stock market last week, as the capital market deserted the firm’s shares.
This resulted in Ardova’s shareholders losing 13.90 percent of their investments, as a drop in demand dragged the company’s share price down from N20.15kobo to N17.35kobo.
So Ardova will resume this week’s trading from the losers’ table, with last week’s selloffs hanging over the company in the stock market.
Although the decline in share price opens the door for investors looking to invest in Ardova at a lower price, investors need to be cautious, as the selloffs could spill into this week.
