Nigeria Content Online

The value of equities at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE)
yesterday rebounded significantly after two weeks of negative performances.

The NSE market capitalisation of the 201 First-Tier equities
closed on Thursday at N8.125 trillion after opening the day at N8.059 trillion,
reflecting 0.82 per cent or N66 billion gains.

The market also gained N16 billion on Wednesday after the first
upturn in two weeks. Meanwhile, a total of N505 billion has been lost in the
last ten trading days.

The number of gainers at the close of trading session yesterday
closed higher at 37 stocks compared to the 24 recorded on Wednesday, while
losers also closed lower at 18 stocks as against the 42 recorded the previous
trading day.

Analysts at GTI Capital, a stock broking firm, said, “There
appears a likelihood of the free fall in the market indicators abating soon.
This is based on the fact that magnitude on percentage change in the market
index significantly waned on Tuesday,” adding that “another strong point in
support of this assertion is the attractiveness of most stocks in the market
which we believe will buoyed investment ecstasy soonest.”

Virginus Agada, a stockbroker at Eurocomm Securities Limited, a
stock broking firm, said the market may not see significant recovery this
quarter because of political risk, but will rebound after elections.

“With the level of progress in the political scene, I believe
the market will pick up after the election. You’ll notice that the market
recovered a little after major political parties picked their candidates.

“Although the political risk is currently hindering participants
from coming into the market, things should change after election. International
communities are also watching as events unfold,” Mr. Agada said.

Company report

In the meantime, GlaxoSmithKline Nigeria has notified the
Exchange that its board of directors has recommended to its shareholders a dividend
of 90 kobo per share and an additional one-off special dividend of 30 kobo per
share in commemoration of the company’s 40th anniversary.

The dividends are to be paid to members whose names appear on
the register of members at the close of business on Thursday, April 28.

The register of members and transfer of books of the company
will be closed from Friday, April 29 to Thursday, May 5; both days inclusive.

In a related development, Afromedia reported its first quarter
unaudited results for the period ended December 31, 2010 to the market.

On quarter-to-quarter analysis, the company’s turnover grew by
46.5 per cent from N661.67 million in similar period of 2009 to N969.41 million
but fell short of management forecast figure of N1.03 billion by 5.7 per cent.

Meanwhile, the company’s profit after tax dropped by 16.4 per
cent from N161.09 million in 2009 to N134.67 million.