•As Seplat posts N478.1b revenue in nine months

Heavy price gains recorded by many bluechip firms, largely Dangote Cement and Geregu Power Plant, ensured that the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) closed the month of October 2023 in an upbeat yesterday, causing market capitalisation to soar by N536 billion.

At the close of transactions yesterday, the All-Share Index (ASI) gained 975.13 points, representing a gain of 1.45 per cent to close at 68,111.71 points. Also, market capitalisation rose by N536 billion to close at N37.421 trillion.

The upturn was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst, which are Dangote Cement, Geregu Power, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) and Nigerian Breweries.

Reacting on market performance, analysts at United Capital Plc, said: “We expect mixed investors’ sentiments in the equities market to persist as corporates continue to release earnings.”

Vetiva Dealing and Brokerage, said: “On what will shape the market in the next trading session, we expect the market to trade in line with earnings outcome, as it helps shape their outlook on the near-term prospects of the health of the domestic economy.”

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive, as 45 stocks gained relative to 16 losers. Northern Nigeria Flour Mills (NNFM) emerged the highest price gainer of 10 per cent to close at N18.15 kobo. Chellaram followed with a gain of 9.77 per cent to close at NN3.82, while UAC of Nigeria (UACN) advanced by 9.54 per cent to close at N14.35 kobo.

NAHCO increased by 9.45 per cent to close at N26.05 kobo while The Initiates Plc (TIP) added 9.43 per cent to close at N1.16 kobo. On the other side, Meyer Plc led others on the losers’ chart with 9.87 per cent to close at N2.74 kobo.

Abbey Morgage Bank followed with a decline of 9.71 per cent to close at N1.86 kobo while Regency Alliance Insurance shed 8.33 per cent to close at 33 kobo.

R.T. Briscoe Nigeria lost 6.00 per cent to close at 47 kobo, while Jaiz Bank depreciated by 5.95 per cent to close at N1.58 kobo.

The total volume of trades increased by 89.55 per cent to 430.393 million units, valued at N8.258 billion, and exchanged in 7,656 deals.

Transactions in the shares of Universal Insurance led the activity with 94.753 million shares worth N23.105 million.

United Bank for Africa (UBA) followed with account of 51.263 million shares valued at N1.003 billion, while Custodian Investment traded 33.245 million shares valued at N242.014 million.

Transnational Corporation (Transcorp) traded 32.477 million shares worth N200.850 million, while Zenith Bank traded 24.421 million shares worth N818.460 million.

Meanwhile,Seplat Energy Plc has posted N478.1 billion revenue in its nine months (Q3) operations, N258.7 billion recorded in the corresponding period in 2022.

Specifically, the company’s unaudited result for the nine months ended 30 September 2023, showed 31 per cent rise in revenue to N478.1 billion from N258.7 billion achieved within the same period in 2022.

Its gross profit also increased to N245.6 billion from N118.5 billion posted in the corresponding period in 2022.

Based on the improved performance, the directors are recommending company a dividend of US3 cents per share, in line with higher core annual dividend of US 12 cents.

According to the company, whilst nine months 2023 production averaged 48,152 boepd, up 11 per cent when compared to the 2022 activity, liquids production also increased by 17 per cent during the period.

The company attributed the improved performance to enhance uptime at Forcados Oil Terminal, as well as availability of the Amukpe-Escravos pipeline, which has continued to support its revenue.

It also added that robust cash generation further strengthened the balance sheet.

“Seplat Energy achieved more than 6.4 million hours without Lost Time Injury (LTI) at Seplat-operated assets. The company expressed increasing confidence that President Tinubu’s administration will approve its acquisition of ExxonMobil’s share capital of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPNU).”

Chief Executive Officer, Seplat Energy Roger Brown, said: “Seplat Energy’s operational performance was strong in the third quarter, particularly September which mitigated some of the outages experienced on third party infrastructure and supported production growth of 11 per cent on the same period in 2022.

“Our balance sheet remains strong and thanks to higher commodity pricing and our proactive approach to cash management, we have generated more than $170 million in free cash flow year to date.

“Our focus for the rest of 2023 is on safe and reliable operations, revenue assurance and cost management, all of which will deliver further strengthening of our cash position.

“This keeps us on track for an excellent year that will support the increased quarterly dividends we announced in April and allow us to continue our commitment to reward shareholders.

“Following the serious incident on the Depthwize Majestic rig, which resulted in the tragic loss of life, we have provided significant support to Depthwize, its owner, in its recovery operation. Our own investigations are ongoing, but I can assure all stakeholders of our unwavering commitment to safety on all of our operations.”