NSE: Top 10 performing stocks for the week ended 26th June, 2015.

News Released: 30th June, 2015.

Neimeth Plc, led the cream of price gainers on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE last week as it appreciated by 11.72 per cent or N0.15 per share to close at N1.43 per share from N1.28 per share it closed penultimate week.

Nigerian Stock Exchange

The company led the top gainers as twenty two equities appreciated in price during the week under review, lower than twenty eight equities of the penultimate week. The difficult economic challenges bedevilling Nigeria has stunted the growth of Neimeth.  Analysis of the financial statement shows for the period ended December 2014, the company’s net income dipped by 190 percent to N68.09 million from N75.76 million the same period of the corresponding year (Q1) December 2013, while sales fell by 43 percent to N269.26 million.

Gross profits margin reduced to 38.74 percent compared with 54.95 percent the last year, while gross profit fell by 59.48 percent to N104.31 million. The falling gross profits mean Neimeth is not able to produce at relatively lower costs.

Operating expenses margin increased to 53.53 percent in 2014 as against 34.50 percent in the preceding year, while operating expenses fell by 12 percent to N144.14 million. Net margin, a measure of profitability and efficiency, increased to 25.28 percent from 16.17 percent the preceding year. Neimeth’s total assets rose slightly by 1.43 percent to N2.82 billion compared with N2.78 billion the preceding year. The company’s share price closed at N0.74 on the floor of the exchange while market capitalisation was N1.16 billion.

Trailing Neimeth Plc was Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc which surged by 6.61 per cent or N9.85 per share to close at N158.85 per share from N149.00 per share it close penultimate week.

For the financial year ended 31st December, 2014, Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc grew after tax profit  in 2014 by 84 per cent to N6.392 billion from N3.480 billion reported in 2013.  Top line growth was however flat as revenue increased by a marginal 1% from N78.744 billion in 2013 to N79.583 billion in 2014.  Direct cost remains flat at N68.846 billion so also is Admin expenses at N7.342 billion.

Finance cost however rose significantly by over 200% from N50.592 million in 2013 to N158 million in 2014.  Gain on non-current asset held for sale in the sum of N2.851 billion in the year under review was largely responsible for the jump in profit. The board of directors of the company did recommend payment of final dividend of N6.60k to shareholders, a marginal difference from the N6.00 per share the company paid in dividend in 2013.

AIICO Insurance Plc occupied the third position on the gainers chart rising by 5.43 per cent or N0.05 to close last week at N0.97 per share from N0.92 per share it close penultimate week.  AIICO Insurance financial statement  for the first quarter ended March 31, 2015 shows that revenue declined by 9.9 per cent to N7.940 billion from N8.811 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2014;  Profit after tax dropped by 51.6 per cent to N443.047 million from N914.933 million in 2014.

Trailing behind AIICO was Askaka Cement Plc which rose by 5.12 per cent or N1.10 per share to close at N22.60 per share from N21.50 per share penultimate week.

 The NSE recently published Ashaka Cement’s (Ashaka) first quarter,  Q1 2015 result showed that Profit Before Tax,  PBT fell by 59 per cent  Year on Year, y/y to N1.2billion. 

The y/y decline in PBT was driven by a combination of factors including a 30 per cent  y/y reduction in sales to N4.6bn, a 1,319bp contraction in gross margin to 35.7 per cent  and  N211million in other operating expense (compared with a nil charge on the same line in Q1 2014). To a lesser extent, a 48 per cent y/y reduction in net interest income also contributed to the y/y decline in PBT.

These negatives completely offset a 39 per cent y/y decrease in Operating Expenses, opex. The company recorded a lower tax rate of 23.4 per cent compared with 31.9 per cent in Q1 2014, the decline on the PAT line narrowed slightly relative to that on the  Profit Before Tax, PBT line to 54 per cent y/y.

 Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc occupied the fifth position on the price gainers chart to close at N331.25 per share from N315.80 per share, representing a rise of 4.89 per cent or N15.45 per share. The company’s Gross revenue for the first three months ended March 31, 2015  was US$ 131 million (N25.6 billion) as against US146 million (N22.7 billion in the corresponding period of 2014.

 Crude revenue (after adjusting for changes in lifting) was US$ 120 million (N23.4 billion) in the period under review,  a 16 per cent  decrease or US 142 million (N22.1 billion ) in the corresponding period in 2014 . This according to its management was mainly due to the significantly lower oil price, partially offset by increased sales volumes; Gas revenue was US$ 11.0 million (N2.2 billion), a 170 per cent increase from the same period in 2014 mainly due to increased production capacity resulting from wells and work-overs completed by the company in the latter parts of 2014 and higher offtake from the gas buyers.

 Meanwhile, Nestle Food Nigeria Plc, Portland Paints and Products Nigeria Plc, Presco Plc, Learn Africa and Trans Nationwide Express Plc were among the top ten gainers.

 Specifically, Nestle rose by 4.88 per cent to close at N891.45 per share from N850.00 per share followed by Portland Paints which went up b y 4.71 per cent to close at N4.45 per share. Presco  garnered N1.50 per share to close at N33.50 per share, followed by Learn Africa which went up by N0.05 per share to close at N1.26 per share from N1.21 per share, while Trans National Express inched up N0.05 per share to close at N1.27 per share from N1.22 per share.

Source: Vanguard

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