September 19,2022

MTN Nigeria, Access Bank and FCMB made it into the stocks to watch this week, as trading resumes in the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

Ripples Nigeria stocks watchlist is a selection of stocks monitored for viable trading or investing opportunities. An investor may casually generate a list of equities for investment purposes. But we have taken the pain to do that based on certain parameters in order to save you that hassle.

Kindly note that Ripples Nigeria Stocks Watchlist is not a buy, sell or hold recommendation. It is advisable to consult your financial advisor before making any investment decision.

MTN Nigeria

MTN Nigeria has requested to raise new loan worth N100 billion from the bond market, and the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has given its approval.

The N100 billion is to be raised under the N200 billion Bond Issuance Programme, which means MTN Nigeria still intends to borrow another N100 billion

This is expected to increase the debt burden of the company on its revenue generation over the years, considering its debt rose to N646.11 billion as of first half 2022, from N493,26 billion reported at the end of December 2021.

Note that the fresh loan MTN is seeking follows the N23 billion it borrowed through Series 3 Commercial Paper notes under its N150 billion Commercial Paper Issuance Programme.

Should MTN Nigeria have revenue issue during the maturity period of its loan, it will weigh on its retained earnings and dividends payout to shareholders.

Access Bank

Investors’ confidence in Access Bank has declined following the release of its unimpressive earnings report for Q2 2022, which revealed that its Net Interest Income depreciated by –1.25 percent or N2.51 billion

Access Bank also reported slow growth in Net Profit, as profit after tax rose by 2.21 percent year-on-year, from N86.81 billion recorded in Q2 2021, to N88.73 billion in Q2 2022.

Since the earnings result was released last week Wednesday, demand for Access Bank shares have depreciated, as shareholders engage in sell off on the back of the disappointing turnover, selling the stock for as low as N8.3kobo per share at the close of trading on Friday, from the N8.95kobo it cost on Wednesday.

This means the financial institution will start trading this week from the losers’ position, considering it opened the stock market from N8.85kobo last week Monday, so investors need to trade with caution, as the bearish sentiment might persist into this week.

FCMB Group

Despite making it into the top five best performing bank in Q2 this year, after posting 39.9% year-on-year growth in Net Interest Income and 80.7% in Net Profit, investors were not convinced to hold on to their shares in FCMB.

Investors also took part in a slight sell off last week, causing FCMB share to depreciate by -7.71% from N3.50kobo, to N3.23kobo after trading. This made FCMB one of the top five losers, taking the fifth position

This means FCMB shareholders will also open trading this week from the losers’ position, making the equity one of stocks to watch out for as trading resumes