Chams Plc, Nigeria’s foremost indigenous fintech and digital payments solutions Group is now a holding company having successfully changed its Nigerian Exchange (NGX) listing, over 37 years after being founded.
According to the company’s Group Managing Director (GMD), Gavin Young, at a press conference held at their Victoria Island head office on Wednesday, August 17th, 2022, Chams Plc started the process in 2021 to meet requirements for the renewal and recapitalization of its Mobile Money and Switching payment licenses.
He added that part of the requirements of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was for Chams to change its listing to a non-operating holding company, which the company has now successfully achieved. This change takes immediate effect and we will now be known as Chams Holding Company PLC.
Speaking at the press conference, Young said, “Although the migration to a HoldCo was a major component of our Consumer-Africa-Digital (CAD) 2024 Unicorn vision, led by our founder and Chairman Sir. Demola Aladekomo and our esteemed Board of Directors in 2020, it was also mandated by the Central Bank of Nigeria, as Chams Plc is the majority stakeholder in two major Central Bank of Nigeria payment licences via our subsidiaries ChamsSwitch Limited and ChamsMobile Limited.
“Listing as a Holding Company means that we are focussing on our existing subsidiaries and business assets to build shareholder value, whilst incubating and growing other businesses within our subsidiaries, and also creating new subsidiaries as part of the Holding Company structure.
“The Group has focussed primarily on growing its consumer and business digital payment solutions whilst also expanding other potential and current investments in the digital space, to ensure sustainable value for our stakeholders. All our businesses have returned improved performances, promising growth and good value, and we are working hard to ensure this continues.”
For businesses that Chams Plc was incubating and growing, the GMD hinted that the company had created a separate company for its start-up Education Finance digital solution (Studiez) and moved one other start-up digital business to an existing subsidiary where the businesses were complementary.
Two fintech payment subsidiaries in the Chams Group, which recently recapitalised- ChamsSwitch and ChamsMobile are said to have increased value significantly for shareholders and it is expected that both companies will be major contributors to the prosperity of the Chams Group as they continue to grow rapidly in the Fintech Payments space.