Following approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) will implement the new rules on par value and share price methodology on January 29 2017. The amended rules are expected to enhance market liquidity and transparency.
What are the new rules about ?
Par value rules
Effective 29th January 2018, the minimum price at which stocks on the NSE will trade, will be 10 kobo. Prior to this, the minimum price floor was fixed at 50 kobo per share (which is also the par value). The Par Value of a share refers to its nominal or face value per unit as stated in a company’s corporate documents, i.e., the Memorandum of Association of the company.
Share classification
Stocks have now been grouped into 3 categories
- Group A: Equities trading at N100 and above.
- Group B: Equities trading at between N5-N100.
- Group C:Equities trading between N0.01 kobo and N5.
Price movement
The minimum pricing increments and minimum quantity traded for equity securities will no longer be the one-size-fits-all of One Kobo (N0.01k) which has been used in the market for all equity securities, but now re-standardized and stratified according to equity price groupings. The approved group structure is as follows:
Minimum Quantity
- A trade of at least ten thousand (10,000) units is required to move the price of equities trading at One Hundred Naira (N100) or above (Group A).
- A trade of at least fifty thousand (50,000) units is required to move the price of equities trading at N5 or above but lower than N100 (Group B).
- A trade of at least one hundred thousand (100,000) units shall be required to move the price of equities trading at N0.01k or higher but below N5 (Group C).
Minimum price increments
(a) Group A = Ten kobo (N0.10 kobo)
(b) Group B = Five kobo (N0.05 kobo)
(c) Group C = One kobo (N0.01 kobo)