Trading session at NSE

The shares of Nestle Nigeria Plc Wednesday hit a historic high of N511.03 per share at the stock market following consistent high demand by investors. The equity led the price gainers’ chart with a gain of N11.03 to rise from N500 per share, which it had remained for 21 days to close at N511.03 per share.

Although this is the first time the equity of the consumer goods manufacturing firm, which is a subsidiary of Nestle S.A Switzerland, has reached since its listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in 1979, it is the highest level ever attained by any listed equity on the Nigerian bourse.

Nestle Nigeria first hit N500 per share this year on July 18 and climbed to N505 the following day. It fell back to N500 and remained at the price until yesterday when renewed demand pushed it to N511.03.

However, market operators are not surprised at the rate of appreciation the equity is experiencing at the stock market. According to them, apart from the impressive financial performance of the company, its shares are not available to meet the high demand.

Nestle S.A controls 62 per cent of the 792.656 million shares of the Nestle Nigeria, indicating that only 38 per cent or about 301.209 million shares are available for trading.

“But again, these 301.209 million shares are closely held by individuals and institutional investors, who do not trade them regularly. Given the high demand for the shares, the share price of the Nestle Nigeria is bound to rise,” a stock dealer said.

For instance, only 603,555 units of the shares exchanged hands at the end of trading yesterday.

In all, the market closed on a positive note as the NSE All-Share Index appreciated by 0.25 per cent to be at 23,199.03, from 23,141.08 the previous last Friday. Market capitalisation of equities added N18 billion to close at N7.384 trillion, up from N7.366 trillion.