At a colourful event which held at Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, at the weekend, BusinessDay Media Group, publisher of BusinessDay and BDSunday, honoured some chief executive officers of firms listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) for having distinguished themselves by contributing to the growth of the market capitalisation of quoted firms in 2018 in spite of the overall market performance ending in the negative territory.
BusinessDay, in the Next Bulls Awards, also celebrated a number of firms for inculcating good corporate governance, innovations and raising the standards of their organisations to a point where it would be seamless if they were to be listed on the NSE today.
Access Bank, ASL Nigeria, Berger Paints, AIICO Insurance, Beta Glass, CAP, Caverton Offshore Support, CCNN, Custodian Investment, Eterna, FCMB Group, and Fidson Healthcare won in the Top 25 CEOs Awards. Other winners of the Top 25 CEOs Awards include Linkage Assurance, Prestige Assurance, Neimeth International, NEM, NPF MfB, Seplat, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Sterling Bank, Unity Bank, Vitafoam and Wema Bank.
Access Bank and e-Tranzact got special recognitions.
Similarly, Airtel Networks Limited, Dana Airlines, Enyo Retail & Supply, IHS Towers Limited, Phase 3 Telecoms, Rack Centre, System Specs, VFD Group, Farmcrowdy, Alpha Mead Group,AJE Group PTY Nigeria, Innoson Group, Mojec International Limited,Parlton Morgan Holdings,Sona Group Nigeria,Tolaram Group, Urban Shelter Limited, WACOT Limited, Zinox Technologies Ltd and Halogen Security Limited won the Next Bulls Awards.
Welcoming dignitaries to the dinner/gala event, Frank Aigbogun, publisher/CEO, BusinessDay Media Limited, expressed his appreciation to all the attendees who in spite of their busy schedules decided to celebrate with their friends and associates.
“On behalf of BusinessDay Media Group, you are all welcome to the 2019 Top 25 CEOs and Next Bulls Awards. As the leading voice of businesses in West Africa, our sole responsibility is to promote confidence in the Nigerian capital market; to call attention to the humungous opportunities which should be tapped by individuals, households as well as businesses,” Aigbogun said.
He commended the managements of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) for their relentless efforts to attract more interest into the market. He, however, said the capital market is currently dominated by the bears, an indication that equity prices are grossly undervalued as most stocks trade below their actual valuations, in spite of the forecasts about the post-election rally.
“The Nigerian economy has shown a lot of mixed signs since the beginning of 2019, indicating that investors will have to be cautious in their decision-making until stakeholders are sure of the directions of the business cycles. The mixed signs manifest in the forms of the annual inflation rate that is trending downward, unemployment and total debt stock that are skyrocketing, while the general economy is struggling to grow at about 2 percent,” Aigbogun said.
The annual Top 25 CEOs Awards, which debuted in 2012 as BusinessDay’s way of recognising CEOs who distinguished themselves by adding value to the investments of shareholders, have as parameters share price appreciation and profitability. A team of analysts at BusinessDay Research and Intelligence Unit (BRIU) peruses the performances of listed firms on the NSE once transaction ended on the last trading day of the year. Supported with the appraisal of each firm’s latest financials, the list of listed firms is then pruned down to 25, whose CEOs are honoured annually at the event.
The Next Bulls Awards made its debut this year to support the mandate to get more firms listed on the NSE. Companies considered for this category of awards are those that will seamlessly get listed on the NSE should they decide to do so today.
The roll call of eminent personalities at the event included Oscar Onyema, CEO, the Nigerian Stock Exchange; Herbert Wigwe, group managing director/CEO, Access Bank; Ladi Balogun, GMD, FCMB Group; Mahmud Turkur, MD/CEO, Eterna Plc; Akinwunmi Lawal, MD/CEO, NPF Microfinance Bank; Omolara Iswat Elemide, MD/CEO, CAP; Laurent Mousard, MD/CEO, ASL Nigeria; Modupe Oguntade, MD/CEO, Berger Paints; Daniel Braie, MD/CEO, Linkage Assurance Plc; Niyi Toluwalope, CEO, e-Tranzact International; and Femi Akintunde, GMD/CEO, Alpha Mead Group.
Other dignitaries that graced the occasion included Onyeka Akumah, co-founder/CEO, Farmcrowdy; Wale Olaoye, GMD/CEO, Halogen Security Company Limited; Mohamad Darwish, MD/CEO, IHS Towers Nigeria Limited; Segun Ogunsanya, MD/CEO, Airtel Networks Limited; Abayomi Awobokun, MD/CEO, Enyo Retail & Supply Limited; Nonso Okpala, MD, VFD Group; Wole Abegunde, Group MD, Meristem Group; Kemi Akinde and Sename Johnson, senior analysts at Meristem Securities; Anthony Olukoju, Michael Daudu, Michael Osinloye and Joshua Ojo, all of Deloitte & Touche, among others.
Ladi Balogun, GMD of FCMB Group, said the award was a confirmation of the transformations taking place at FCMB. He dedicated the award to the Group’s numerous employees and customers because, according to him, without them, there would not be FCMB Group.
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