Shareholders approve voluntary delisting of GNI shares On Exchange
L-R: Chairman of the company, Bada Aluko; MD /CEO of the, Cecilia Osipitan and Akin Ajayi a director at the event held today in Lagos. photo: http://businesstodayng.com
Shareholders of Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc yesterday unanimously approved the delisting of all the ordinary issued shares of the company from the Daily Official List and from trading on the main board of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
In an explanatory statement to the shareholders of the Company on the proposed voluntary delisting of Great Nigeria Insurance Plc from the main board of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), at the Extra-Ordinary General Meeting (EGM), the management said that over five years, there was little or no trading on the shares held by the minority shareholders, adding that there has also been a considerable fall in trading volumes over the last 12 months with an average daily volumes of circa 1,200 unit during the period March 2017 to March 2018.
“Over the last 5 years, there is little or no trading activity with only 0.50 percent of shares held by the minority shareholders being traded. There has also been a measurable fall in trading volumes over the last 12 months with an average daily volume of circa 1,200 units during the period January 2017 to December 2017.
“Shareholders are not benefiting from the continued listing as shareholders are not getting any exit opportunity and their investments have been locked up and they find it difficult to dispose of their shareholding. Neither the company has benefited as the company’s shares continue to trade at a significant discount to the intrinsic value.
“Also, GNI’s Free Float currently stands at 16.08%, significantly below the NSE’s minimum Free Float of 20%. With this Free Float deficiency, the NSE could take enforcement action even though the quotation committee of the National Council of the Exchange (GCN) has extended the curing period to May 2020. We do not expect that this deficiency will be cured during that period and we expect the NSE to initiate a Regulatory De-listing,”
“Through the Voluntary De-listing of GNI, the Directors of the Company will be exercising a regulatory provision that will shield the Company from any enforcement action that the Exchange may affect which may arise as a result of the outstanding Free Float deficiency.
The board of GNI proposed to delist all the ordinary issued shares of GNI Plc of 3,827,485,380 units from the daily official list and from trading on the Main Board of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
Reacting to this, a member of the independent shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN), Sunday Solomon Akinsoye, said that the continued fining of the company by NSE is destroying the investment of minority shareholders.
He noted that the shareholders are not pleased with the regulator, adding that if such funds paid as fines are channel as dividend or for investment, shareholders will be better for it.
Also, Alex Adio, a shareholder also applauded the board of directors for the bold step they have taken to delist the company voluntarily from the exchange, adding that the company has what it takes to survive after the delisting.
According to him remaining at the exchange has not in any way benefiting to the company, while assuring that shareholders will support all move by the company.
Speaking at the 50th Annual General Meeting (AGM), Chairman of the Company, Bada Aluko, said that the decision to delist the company from NSE was as a result of no trading on the shares of the company over five years.
On the company’s financial performance, he said its profit grew massively by 202 percent from a loss of N442.7 million in 2016 to a profit of N449.7million in 2017.
Gross premium of the company rose also to N3.02billion in 2017 as against N2.21billion reported in the previous year of 2016; indicating a growth of 36.59 percent.
The company’s investment income, according to him appreciated by 30.89 percent from N306million to N401 million in 2017; while value of the company’s total assets appreciated by 1.2 percent to stand at N10.12billion when compared to N10billion reported in 2016.
Shareholders fund also witnessed a 7.7 percent growth to stand at N5.89 billion as against N5.43billipn reported in 2016.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the company, Cecilia Osipitan, in her report noted that that the company was re-engineered in line with the industry trend and are more committed to dominating retail market through continuous and consistent using a motivated retail workforce, improved technology- driven applications and easily adaptable digital platform GNIOnGo to drive its sales.
She said the company will continue to drive improvement in all spheres of its business operation. “We will improve our value proposition to our customer through seamless processes and exceptional service delivery,” she promised.
