The equities market declined on Friday, with profit-taking in stocks such as Zenith Bank, Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), Wema Bank, Nigerian Breweries, and Nestle Nigeria, among others.

Following a flip-flop trading session, the market capitalisation which opened at N55,520 trillion, lost N9 billion or 0.02 percent, to close at N55.511 trillion.

The All-Share Index also dropped 0.02 percent or 16.4 points, to close at 98,152.91, in contrast to 98,169.30 recorded on Thursday.

Consequently, the Year-To-Date (YTD) return on the index slipped to 31.27 percent, while the market breadth closed negative with 19 losers and 18 gainers.

Meanwhile, Sovereign Trust Insurance led the losers’ log by 10 percent to close at 36k, Regency Alliance Insurance trailed closely by 9.76 percent to close at 37k per share.

Unity Bank lost 7.65 percent to close at N1.69, Japaul Gold Group declined by 6.83 percent to close at N1.91 and Wema Bank shed 6.72 percent to close at N6.25 per share.

Conversely, FBN Holdings, Stanbic, NGX Group led the gainers’ log by 10 percent each to close at N20.35, N49.50, N23.10 per share respectively.

Livestock Feed followed closely by 9.93 percent to close at N1.66, while Vitafoam Nigeria rose by 9.91 percent to close at N18.85 per share.

Analysis of the market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 22.92 percent.

A total of 265.07 million shares valued at N5.02 billion were exchanged in 6,582 deals, as against 297.20 million shares valued at N6.52 billion exchanged in 7,417 deals posted in the previous session.

UBA led the activity chart in volume and value with 42.35 million shares traded in deals worth N980 million, followed by Access Corporation with 28.55 million shares worth N473.11 million.

Initiative Plc sold 26.55 million shares worth N48.02 million, Zenith Bank traded 23.94 million shares valued at N788.67 million and GTCO transacted 16.55 million shares worth N592.20 million.

Over the course of the week, investors on the Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) equities market lost a total of N784 billion, week-on-week.

Specifically, the market capitalisation, which opened the week at N56.296 trillion, shed N784 billion or 1.39 percent to close the week at N55.512 trillion.

The All-Share Index also declined by 1.39 percent or 1,387 points to close the week at 98,152.91, in contrast to 99,539.75 recorded in the previous week.

Similarly, all other indices finished lower with the exception NGX Insurance, NGX MERI Growth, NGX MERI Value and NGX Industrial Goods which appreciated by 0.02, 1.13, 0.09, and 0.38 percent respectively, while the NGX ASeM and NGX Sovereign Bond indices closed flat.

Profit-taking in MTN Nigeria, Zenith Bank, FBN Holdings, among other declined stocks outweighed buy interest in Guaranty Trust Holding (GTCO), United Bank of Africa (UBA), Fidelity Bank, among other advanced stocks to drive the market to a negative terrain.

However, 27 equities appreciated in price during the week, higher than 13 equities in the previous week.

43 equities depreciated in price lower than 62 in the previous week, while 84 equities remained unchanged, higher than 79 recorded in the previous week.

On the top gainers table, Sunu Assurances led by 25k to close at N1.25, CAP Plc followed by N4.85 to close at N28.85, Livestock Feeds Plc rose by 21k to close at N1.66 per share.

Japaul Gold and Venture Plc gained 24k to close at N1.91 and Unilever Nigeria advanced by N1.50 to close at N15.10 per share.

On the other side, Oando Plc led the losers table by N2.25 to close at N9.25, Sovereign Trust Insurance trailed by 8k to close at 36k and Thomas Wyatt Plc declined by 36k to close at N1.78 per share.

FBN Holdings shed N3.95 to close at N20.35 and Wema Bank dropped 90k to close at N6.25 per share.

Meanwhile, investors traded 1.839 billion shares worth N34.258 billion in 37,528 deals during the week.

This is in contrast to 1.597 billion shares valued at N32.313 that exchanged hands last week in 44,915 deals.

The financial services industry, measured by volume, led the activity chart with 1.129 billion shares valued at N22.290 billion traded in 22,008 deals.

This contributed 61.38 percent and 65.06 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value, respectively.

The conglomerates industry followed with 194.179 million shares worth N2.822 billion in 1,923 deals.

The third place was the construction/real estate industry, with a turnover of 130.702 million shares worth N649.957 million in 556 deals.

Also, trading in the top three equities, namely UBA, Access Holdings Plc and Transnational Corporation Plc, measured by volume accounted for 582.024 million shares worth N10.571 billion in 8,849 deals.

This contributed 31.65 percent and 30.86 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value, respectively.

Nigerian Breweries Plc has recorded N81.88 billion gross profit in the first quarter ending March 31.

This represented an 87 percent increase when compared with N43.88 billion posted in the first quarter ended March 31, 2023.

The company disclosed this in its unaudited condensed interim financial statements sent to the Nigerian Exchange Ltd., in Lagos.

The statement was signed by its Managing Director, Mr Han Essaadi, and Finance Director, Mr Bernardus Boer,  of the Breweries.

The group’s total assets also rose by eight percent to N856.79 billion as at March 31, compared to N795.87 billion posted in the same period 2023.

Its total equity for the quarter under review dropped by 82.3 percent to N11.41 billion, in contrast to N63.28 billion recorded as at Dec. 31, 2023.

The group’s total liability as at the quarter ended March 31, advanced by 15.42 percent, to N845.38 billion, compared to N732.59 billion posted for the year ended Dec. 31, 2023.

The company, however, recorded a loss after tax of N52.089 billion for the first quarter ended March 31, indicating 386.13 percent increase, compared to N10.715 billion posted in the same quarter ended March 31, 2023.

The group’s loss before tax for the period under review stood at N65.58 billion, representing a rise of 276 percent, in contrast to N17.44 billion posted in the same period of the previous year.

Essaad said that the performance of the company was subject to seasonal fluctuations as a result of weather conditions and festivities.

He noted that the company’s full-year results and volumes were dependent on the performance in the peak-selling season, typically resulting in higher revenue and profitability in the last quarter of the year.

“The impact of seasonality is also noticeable in several working capital related items such as inventory, trade receivables, and payable,” the managing director said.

Recall that Nigerian Breweries recorded a net loss of N106 billion for the year ended 2023, as against N13.93 billion posted in its 2022 financials, indicating a decline of 860 percent.

The gross profit of the group for the year ended 2023 also fell by 0.3 percent to N212.5 billion, compared to N213.20 billion posted in the previous year.

Also, the operating profit of the group declined by 15.3 percent to 45 billion, as against N53 billion recorded in the corresponding year.

However, the firm disclosed it recorded a loss in its operating profit due to higher input cost and one-off reorganisation cost despite strong and aggressive cost savings and other efficiency measures.

Also, shareholders of the Breweries Plc, on Friday, unanimously approved capital raising of N600 billion by way of rights issue at the 78th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the company in Lagos.

With this development, the board now has the authorisation to undertake capital restructuring by way of a rights issue.

This will enable all the company’s shareholders the opportunity to acquire more shares in proportion to their holdings, at a price determined by the Board, taking into consideration the market conditions.