Fifteen directors and six institutional investors of listed companies on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) traded N1.87 billion worth of own shares in August 2020, the data on insider trading collated by BusinessDay Research and Intelligence Unit (BRIU) has shown.
The directors involved included Frank Uzo Nneji of ABC Transport; Aderemi Makanjuola and Akin Kekere-Ekun of Caverton; Chimaraoke Ijeoma of McNichols Consolidated; Abubakar Suleiman, Emmanuel Emefienim, Raheem Owodeyi, Tunde Adeola and Yemi Odubiyi of Sterling Bank, and Oyewusi Ibidapo Obe of Zenith Bank.
Others are Ayoku Liadi and Tony Elumelu of the United Bank for Africa (UBA); Lipede Olakale Adewale and Kayode Tinuoye of the United Capital, and Ojokovo Joy Onoeme of Nigerian Breweries.
The institutional investors involved in trading own shares included Nestle SA, DVCF Oil & Gas Plc, Heineken Brouwerijen BV, Rapido Ventures Limited, Blakeney LLP and Unilever Overseas Holdings.
Nestle SA traded 636,384 units of shares in Nestle Nigeria at N1,174.67 per share worth N747.54 million to record the highest insider trade in August 2020. It was followed by Blakeney LLP that traded 80 million units of UAC at N5.75 per share worth N460 million.
Heineken Brouwerijen BV traded 7.40 million units of Nigerian Breweries shares at an average price of N35.85 per share worth N264.62 million while Unilever Overseas Holdings traded 17.02 million units of Unilever Nigeria’s shares at N12 per share worth N204.28 million in August 2020. The five aforementioned transactions accounted for 88 percent of the insider trading in this month.
Frank Uzo Nneji and Rapido Ventures Limited traded N0.64 million worth of shares of ABC Transport. Abubakar Suleiman, Raheem Owodeyi, Tunde Adeola, Aderemi Makanjuola, and Akin Kekere Ekun traded N49.2 million shares of Sterling Bank.
DVCF Oil and Gas traded N0.69 million worth of The Initiates shares while Tony Elumelu traded N71.9 million worth of UBA shares.
The All Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Stock Exchange closed last Friday at 25,309.37 points last Friday representing -5.71 percent year to date returns. NSE Oil & Gas Index posted -28.64 percent which is the least year to date returns among the sub sectoral indexes on the NSE.
But in August, the ASI gained 2.49 percent but the Main Board Index gained 5.9 percent to outperform the market. Others that outperform the market include NSE Corporate Governance Index which posted 5.04 percent return; NSE Banking Index, 5.52 percent; NSE Insurance Index, 8.23 percent, the NSE Oil and Gas Index, 9.99 percent among others.
