Zenith Bank Plc, Group Managing Director, Mr Ebenezer Onyeagwu, and two Executive Directors, Messrs. Dennis Olisa and Ahmed Umar Shuaib, have purchased an aggregate of 5 million units of additional Zenith Bank Plc shares.

This was disclosed by the bank, in a notification sent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange, and seen by Nairametrics.

According to the notification, signed by the Company’s secretary, Michael Osilama Otu, the purchase was made in the bourse, over three transactions on the 16th and 17th of September, 2020.

As part of the regulatory requirements, the disclosure must be reported to the Nigerian Stock Exchange, especially when the trade is executed by a major shareholder or director of a listed firm.

Breakdown of the deal

According to the details of the deal verified by Nairametrics, Mr. Dennis Olisa pulled the highest deal as he purchased 2,000,000 additional units of Zenith Bank Plc’s shares at an average of N17.18 per unit, totaling N34.36 million. Mr. Ahmed Umar Shuaib also purchased 2,000,000 additional units of the Bank’s share, at an average price of N16.99 worth N33.98 million. Completing the trio was, Mr. Ebenezer Onyeagwu who purchased 1,000,000 additional units at an average of N17.05 worth N17.05 million.

This major purchase boosted the total number of trade deals (Volume) posted by the Bank in the NSE market, as the deals contributed about 11.61% of the Bank’s total deals between 16th and 17th of September, 2020.

(READ MORE: Zenith Bank rewards customers with massive giveaways in the “Zenith Beta Life” weekly promo)

What this means

Based on the recently released H1 2020 Financial Results of Zenith Bank, Mr. Ebenezer Onyeagwu had 45,500,000 direct shares as of June 30, 2020. Mr. Ahmed Umar Shuaib had 7,577,343 direct shares, while Mr. Dennis Olisa had 7,122,316 direct shares. All these remained unchanged from their reported shares in H1 2019.

With the addition of 1,000,000 shares, Mr. Ebenezer Onyeagwu’s stake increased to 46,500,000, indicating an increase of 2.19%. Mr. Ahmed Shuaib’s shares also leaped by 26.39% to 9,577,343, while Mr. Deniss Olisa’s shares increased by 28.08% to 9,122,316 direct shares.

This deal may signify that the Bank’s insiders expect an increase in share price. It is a positive signal to outsiders, coming from top insiders who are abreast with latest information on the Bank’s prospects.

This can play a vital role in stimulating a bullish trend. Zenith Bank’s share price is currently trading at N16.70 on the NSE.

Conclusion

Regardless of the impact of the pandemic on the income and revenue of banks, Zenith bank still remained one of the high-flying financial organizations in Nigeria. For example, the tier-1 bank’s gross earnings grew by 4.37% from N331.5 billion in H1 2019 to N346.1 billion in H1, 2020. Its Profit After Tax increased by 16.81% from N111.7 billion to N114.1 billion within the period under review. The aforementioned factors might have been the reason behind the recent bullish trend for its stock.

Nigerian bourse closed today’s trading session on a negative note. The All Share Index dropped by -0.07% to close at 25,532.74 points as against -0.19% drop recorded on Wednesday.

• Its Year-to-Date (YTD) returns currently stands at -4.88%. Nigerian Stock Exchange Market capitalization presently stands at N13.344 trillion
• Nigerian bourse trading turnover printed market as at today’s trading volume gained by +9.15% as against the 13.59% plunge recorded in Wednesday’s trading session.
• FBNH, ACCESS, and ZENITHBANK were the most active to boost market turnover.
• Market breadth closed positive as INTBREW led 17 Gainers, as against 11 Losers topped by CAVERTON at the end of today’s session, an improved performance when compared with the previous outlook

READ: Sells-Offs in GTBank, Zenith Bank stocks intensify, investors lose N42.8 billion

Top gainers

INTBREW up 10.00% to close at N3.3
NPFMCRFBK up 8.33% to close at N1.3
CADBURY up 4.23% to close at N7.4
FLOURMILL up 1.54% to close at N19.8
GUARANTY up 0.20% to close at N25

READ: Top NSE30 Stocks you should consider buying

Top losers

CAVERTON down 8.60% to close at N1.7
DANGSUGAR down 5.88% to close at N11.2
CUSTODIAN down 5.21% to close at N4.55
ETI down 2.47% to close at N3.95
FBNH down 1.01% to close at N4.9

READ: GTBank, Zenith Bank, MTN record gains, investors up by N50 billion

Outlook

Nigerian bourse ended Thursday’s trading session on a bearish note. It should be noted that its the third consecutive trading session of losses recorded at Nigeria’s Stock Market.

• Falling oil prices and higher inflation(13.22%) continue to suppress the urge for foreign investors to take large junk in Nigeria’s stocks
• NSE30 stocks like Dangote Suger, Ecobank, and FBN Holdings neutralized the gains recorded by GTBank, Flour Mill, and Cadbury.

Nairametrics expects you to invest on the longer horizon, amid strong fundamentals from many NSE30 stocks showing they are greatly undervalued.

Nestlé S.A, Switzerland, the parent company of Nestlé Nigeria Plc, has increased its stake in the Nigerian subsidiary with the purchase of 229,697 additional units in the shares of the company.

This was disclosed by the company in a notification sent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange, which was seen by Nairametrics.

The purchase according to the notification signed by the Company’s Secretary, Bode Ayeku, was made on the bourse in a single transaction on 11th, September.

This disclosure is a regulatory requirement that must be reported to the Nigerian Stock Exchange, especially when a major shareholder or director of a publicly quoted company purchases or sells shares in the company they own.

The breakdown of the transaction, shows that the purchase consideration for the 229,697 additional units of Nestlé Nigeria shares at an average price of N1,249.65 per unit is put at N287 million.

This purchase and previous purchases strengthen Nestlé S. A’s status as the parent company of the subsidiary. So far, the company has accumulated a total of 977,744 additional shares worth N1.165 billion since 20th August.

(READ MORE: GTBank, Zenith Bank, UBA record losses, investors down by N12.2 billion)

As of June 30th, in line with the shareholding analysis of Nestlé Nigeria in its half-year financial results, the company had exactly 792,656,252 shares outstanding, with Nestlé S.A being the majority shareholder with 524,559,457 units, which amount to 66.18% of the total shares of the company outstanding.

Hence, with the purchase of 229,697 additional units, and previous purchases from 20th August till date, which amount to 977,744 units. Nestlé S. A’s ownership percentage of Nestlé Nigeria is now put at 66.30%.

What it means: Insider transactions, both sales and purchases, are often a sign of how shareholders perceive a company’s valuation. It could also mean a possible capital raise or that the major shareholders are strengthening their existing holdings.

The purchase of the shares of Nestlé Nigeria by Nestlé S.A has reduced the volatility of the company share price, with the parent company consistently mopping up stray volumes on the bourse.

READ: GTBank, Zenith Bank post gains, as market liquidity weakens 

About the company

Nestlé Nigeria PLC is one of the largest foods and beverage companies in Africa, and the largest consumer goods company by market capitalization. Nestlé Nigeria Plc engages in the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of food products including purified water. It also exports some of its products to other countries within Africa.

It has three product segments: Food, Beverages, and seasoning. The Food segment engages in the production and sale of Cerelac, Nutrend, Nan, Lactogen and Golden Morn. The Beverages segment engages in the production and sale of Milo, Chocomilo, Nido, Nescafe and Nestlé Pure Life. While the seasoning segment engages in the sale of Maggi cubes.