By Goddy Egene
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has announced the migration of Chellarams Plc, Living Trust Mortgage Plc, McNichols Plc, and The Initiates Plc from the Alternative Securities Market (ASeM) to the Growth Board.
It also launched the associated Growth Board Index yesterday.
According to the NSE, the migration followed the receipt of applications from the companies requesting to be migrated from ASeM and consequent screening and approval by the council.
The NSE Growth Board was launched to assist small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) and growth-oriented companies looking to raise capital and promote liquidity in the trading of their shares. It offers relaxed entry criteria with less stringent listing requirements making it easier to attract capital flows along with reduced pre and post listing obligations.
Commenting on the migration, the Chief Executive Officer, NSE, Mr. Oscar Onyema, said: “This migration affirms the notable efforts of the four companies to meeting corporate governance standards and underpins the robustness of our market. We congratulate and are pleased to migrate Chellarams Plc, Living Trust Mortgage Plc, McNichols Plc, and The Initiates Plc to the Growth Board where they will have access to a suite of value added services that will give them a competitive edge beyond access to capital. We believe that the inclusion of these companies on the All Share Index and the Growth Board Index of the NSE will provide increased visibility that will attract global investors.”
The migration of the four qualified companies was commemorated with a virtual Closing Gong ceremony where the chairman and chief executive officers of the companies were given the honour to close the market.
The NSE Growth Board was launched on 29 January 2020 to encourage start ups, SMEs and the companies in the fintech industry with high growth potential to use the opportunity to raise long-term capital and promote liquidity in the trading of their shares.
Meanwhile, the market closed on positive side as the NSE All-Share Index (ASI) appreciated 0.45 per cent to 35,042.14, while market capitalisation added N81.8 billion to be at N18.3 trillion.
The appreciation was propelled by gains recorded by Airtel Africa Plc, MTN Nigeria Plc and Union Bank of Nigeria Plc.
Activity level improved as volume and value traded surged 118.4 per cent and 47.1 per cent to 415.5 million units and N4.9 billion respectively. The most traded stocks by volume were Multiverse Plc (84.0 million shares), Zenith Bank Plc (47.0 million shares) and Transcorp Plc (34.1 million shares).
