On August 26th, the Nigerian Stock Exchange ended trading on a bearish note, a situation that inevitably resulted in many investors losing billions of naira. Some of those who lost the most are the core investors in Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc —Austin Avuru and A.B.C Orjiako.
What we know: Seplat Plc was among the worst-performing stocks at the end of yesterday’s trading session. As a matter of fact, the company was atop the loser’s list after declining by 10%, alongside other losers such as Forte Oil Plc, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, etc.
Note that Seplat’s 10% decline meant that the company’s share price fell from N490 on Friday to N441 on Monday; thereby shedding N49. It is currently unclear what exactly influenced the decline in the share price.
[READ: Seplat tops losers’ list as NSE ends Monday’s trading in red zone]
Seplat’s Billionaire’s Loss: Austin Avuru and A.B.C Orjiako are two of the biggest shareholders in Seplat Petroleum which is one of Nigeria’s biggest upstream oil companies. Avuru, who is the company’s Chief Executive Officer, owns a total of 70,823,189 units of shares according to the company’s 2018 full-year financial report. Similarly, Orjiako owns 45,951,325 units of shares thanks to his status as the Non-Executive Chairman of the company.
How they Lost: At N490 on Friday, Austin Avuru’s total direct and indirect shareholding in the company translated to some N34.7 billion. Similarly, A.B.C Orjiako’s total shareholding stood at N22.5 billion on Friday.
Now, fast-forward to yesterday, August 26th; the monetary Avuru’s shareholding had declined to N31.2 billion. In the same vein, Orjiako’s shareholding also declined to N20.2 billion on Monday. What this means, therefore, is that the billionaires collectively lost a total of N5.7 billion in one day.
[READ: From employee to a billionaire; Meet Austin Avuru, the CEO of Seplat]
Seplat Petroleum’s shares are currently trading at N441 on the NSE. It should be noted that it