Shareholders of MTN Nigeria Plc have been rewarded with 665.23 million units of incentive shares in fulfillment of the company’s promise to participating investors during the December 2021 offer for sale which was completed on January 31, 2022.
In relation to the current price of the stock which closed at N248 per unit as of Tuesday, March 7, 2023, the total 665.23 million incentive shares are valued at N164.925 billion, a development likely to boost the market capitalization of the Nigerian Exchange.
To encourage retail participation, the telecom giant had promised investors an offer allotment of one ordinary share for every 20 ordinary shares purchased, up to a maximum limit of 250 ordinary shares purchased during the offer.
As disclosed in the offer, the incentive shares became effective on January 31, 2023, after approval by Nigeria’s capital market apex regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
A notification of the completion of allotment of incentive shares to qualified shareholders which the South Africa-based company filed to the Nigerian Exchange on Wednesday, March 8, indicated that shareholders who qualified for the incentive shares include those who:
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1. Purchased and allotted at least 20 ordinary shares in the offer.
2. Held some or all the shares allotted at the offer as at the qualification date, January 31, 2023, but subject to holding at least 20 ordinary shares; and
3. Those whose names appeared in the register of members at the qualification date.
“Consequently, 120,359 investors representing 94.77 percent of those who participated in the offer qualified to receive the incentive shares totaling 3,977,418 ordinary shares of MTN. This brings the total shares allotted through the offer to a total of 665.23 million,” the company stated in the notification letter signed by the Company Secretary, Uro Ukpanah.
According to the notification letter, the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) accounts of the beneficiaries have since been credited from the shares held by MTN International (Mauritius) Limited “in line with our ambition of creating shared value for our shareholders.”
Meanwhile, the market reacted to the happy development as the price value of MTNN shares rose by +0.60 percent or N1.50 to close at N249.50 per share, up from the opening price of N248 per share on Wednesday.
Gains in the shares of Dangote Cement (+1.8%) and MTNN (+0.60%) triggered a ₦107.43 billion increase in market capitalization which rose to ₦30.40 trillion on Wednesday, and the benchmark All Share Index increased by 0.4 percent to close at 55,801.14 points. As a result, year-to-date gain increased to +8.9 percent.
The total volume traded declined by 4.2 percent to 152.74 million units, valued at ₦3.57 billion, and exchanged in 3,293 deals. COURTVILLE was the most traded stock by volume at 34.60 million units, while Dangote Cement was the most traded stock by value at ₦2.09 billion.
Performance across sectors was broadly positive, as the Industrial Goods (+0.8%), Insurance (+0.2%), and Banking (+0.1%) indices closed higher, while the Oil & Gas (-0.9%) and Consumer Goods (-0.1%) indices declined.
An equal number of stocks (18) gained and lost. TRANSEXPR (+9.9%) and CUTIX (+8.5%) topped the gainers’ list, while MRS (-10.0%) and ABCTRANS (-7.9%) recorded the highest losses of the day.
