Multiverse, Meyer, Wema, others surpass 100% return in 8 months

Seven companies listed on the Nigerian Exchange Limited saw their share prices rise by over 100 percent in eight months to August 31, BusinessDay analysis shows.

Topmost among the stocks that have yielded superior returns for their investor is Multiverse Mining and Exploration Plc. Others are Meyer Plc, Wema Bank Plc, Academy Press, Seplat Energy, Airtel Africa, Guinness Nigeria, and Learn Africa Plc.

Amid a positive take-off to September, the Nigerian stock market ended transactions in trading week to September 2 on a positive note, rising by N197 billion or 0.73 percent, thereby pushing positive return year-to-date to 17.16 percent. This was driven by investors’ bargain hunting on some blue-chip stocks.

The N2.62 per share at which Multiverse Mining and Exploration traded on August 31 implies the stock rose by 1,210 percent in the review period. In half year (H1) to June 30, 2022, Multiverse, which has 426,193,868 shares outstanding, grew its revenue by 240.54 percent to N251.59 million from N73.88 million in H1’2021. In the period, the company reported profit of N60.60 million, compared with a loss after tax of N28.63 million in H1’21.

Read also: Multiverse records first half-year profit in 9 years

The share price of Meyer Plc also advanced by 393.5 percent in the eight-month period to N2.27. The company, which has 531,237,723 shares outstanding, grew its half-year group revenue to N686.96 million from N485.46 million in H1’21, up by 41.5 percent. Meanwhile, the group loss after tax in the same half-year to June printed higher at N20.344 million from a loss of N9.326 billion in H1’21.

Also, Wema Bank Plc shares have far outperformed market with an eight-month return of 386.1 percent. The share price at N3.50 as at August 31 represents an increase of 386.1 percent over the period. Wema Bank has 12,858,155,360 outstanding shares.

In the six months to June 30, Wema Bank reported N60.295 billion gross earnings, up by 45.9 percent when compared with N41.33 billion in H1’21. The bank’s profit after tax for the period was N5.275 billion from N3.71 billion, up 42.18 percent.

“We expect to see a gradual reduction in activity in the market as the MPC meeting draws nearer. In addition, we expect the impact of the increased benchmark lending rate on equity markets to continue to take effect. Investors are expected to continue cherry-picking stocks with solid underlying fundamentals,” United Capital analysts said in their September 5 note to investors.

Read also: Meyer, Wema, Guinness, two others surpass 100% return

Academy Press, at N2.10 per share as at August 31, rose by 320 percent. Also, Guinness Nigeria Plc, at N80 per share in the period under review, rose by 125.4 percent, while Seplat Energy Plc increased by 100 percent to N1,300 per share as at August 31.

Airtel Africa, which traded at N2,040 per share, was up by 113.6 percent in the eight months to August, while Learn Africa increased by 111.1 percent to N2.47 per share on August 31.

“We expect mixed reactions to continue this week,” said Lagos-based GTI Research analysts in their recent note.

In addition to these outperforming counters, some others rose by 50 percent and above in the period under review. They are Abbey Building (63.5 percent), Jaiz Bank (53.6 percent), Champion (63.8 percent), Presco (62.4 percent), Cornerstone (50 percent), Fidson (51.1 percent), and Nahco (52.4 percent).

“We expect the positive sentiment in the equities market from last week to persist this week. This is premised on the fact that prices are at attractive levels, which presents good entry opportunity for investors. However, we note that the fixed income space remains attractive, especially with the expectation of an uptick in rates at the Treasury Bills auction scheduled to hold this week,” also said Meristem analysts in their September 5 note.