Top 10 performing stocks

On the list of the top 10 performing stocks last week were Jos International Breweries Plc, Trans-Nationwide Express Plc, Champion Breweries Plc, Multi-Trex Integrated Foods Plc, Wapic Insurance and UACN Property Development Co.  Others are A.G Leventis Nig. Plc, Guinness Nig. Plc, Mansard Insurance Plc and Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc.

Jos International Breweries, JIB, the third least priced stock in the Beverages-Brewers/Distillers sector, led the pack of gainers with N0.35 or 43.21 percent capital appreciation to close the market at N1.16 from N0.81. The stock price had earlier in the year risen to N2.05, its highest so far, following disclosure of re-evaluation of its N1.3 billion debt claims to N970 million and later settlement of N700 million it owed one of the commercial banks by the Plateau State government to retain its status as a going concern.

JIB is presently undergoing revitalisation exercise by the new board members put together in 2010 after three years of inactivity as a result of closure of the company. Available financial statement of the company for the year ended 31st December, 2009, showed 61.07 percent decline in revenue from N524 million to N204 million. It recorded loss before tax of N431million and loss after tax of N432 million, while working capital was in negative position of N1.3 billion as at the time.

Courier/Freight/Delivery listed security, Trans-Nationwide Express, rose by 41.89 percent or N0.31 from N0.74 to N1.05 per share to close as the second top gainer in the week. TRANEX is a wholly owned Nigerian transportation company engaged in express delivery, logistics and freight businesses. At various times, the company has held the franchise for TNT Express worldwide and Bax Global USA, respectively, and currently has a Cooperation Agreement with Hecny Transportation South Africa Pty Limited.

The 2012 full year financial statement showed that the company fell to loss position from a profit position in 2011. It recorded loss after tax of N345.39 million in comparison to a profit after tax of N48.653 million in 2011. Profit before tax stood at N56.168 million, which was four percent less than N58.518 million posted in 2011. However, revenue for the period grew by 6.8 percent from N563 million in 2011 to N601 million in the review period.

Champion Breweries followed with 32.17 percent or N4.71 gains to close at N19.35 from N14.64 per share. Analysts believe that the proposed fresh capital injection to be undertaken through a hybrid offer of debt-to-equity conversion and rights issue has been the reason behind the galloping in the share price. Two years ago, Heineken, the parent company of Nigerian Breweries Plc, bought controlling interest in Champion Breweries. Before the acquisition, Champion was struggling with problem of inadequate working capital, low productivity, poor market share and low employee morale.

Multi-Trex Integrated Foods was the fourth with 20 percent or N0.11 gains. It started the week at N0.55 and closed at N0.66 per share. Multi-Trex was registered in 1999 as a cocoa beans merchant. In 2003, the company expanded its business operation to include processing of cocoa beans into semi-finished industrial products i.e. Cocoa Butter and Cocoa Cake. Then, it exclusively hired the facility of the Nigeria’s premier cocoa processing plant, Cocoa Industries Limited (CIL), Ikeja, Lagos. The stock price had risen to N1.21 before falling to the present price.

Wapic Insurance’s share price rose by 14.29 percent or N0.10 from N0.70 to N0.80; UACN Property advanced by 9.42 percent or N1.55 from N16.45 to N18.00. A.G Leventis went up by 7.69 percent or N0.11 to N1.54 from N1.43 per share. Guinness Nig. Plc’s share price rose by 5.99 percent or N14.97 to close at N265.00 from N250.03, while Mansard Insurance and Neimeth gained N0.10 or 4.69 and N0.05 or 3.70 percent to close at N2.28 and N1.40 respectively.