Economy
Why Nigeria’s Mutual Funds Now Attract International Interest—Experts
By Dipo Olowookere
Recently, the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that total Asset Under Management (AUM) of mutual funds in Nigeria topped N300 billion for the first time ever.
This was because there has been increased interest and investments in Mutual Funds in Nigeria and experts attributed this to various factors not excluding the current state of the economy, stock market and interest rate fluctuations as well as much improved mutual funds offerings.
This is further backed by a recent report by Quantitative Financial Analytics which estimated that Nigerian mutual funds attracted the sum of N42 billion inflows in Q1, 2017 as against the N49 billion inflow recorded the entire 2016.
It was also observed that Nigeria’s mutual funds’ assets grew to N318 billion as at the beginning of H2, 2017, up by 42 percent on a YTD basis from the 2016-year end value of N223.6 billion.
Mr Emeka Okolo, a Senior Fund Manager and Head, Coronation Asset Management, speaking on this trend at the launch of one of such funds, The Coronation Mutual Funds, noted that active portfolio management by experienced professionals offer investors better prospects on their investments especially in periods of market volatility and economic downturns as is being experienced in Nigeria, making mutual funds an optimal choice.
On the Coronation Mutual Funds, he further added, “No one can doubt the capacity and expertise of Coronation Asset Management to deliver competitive returns to investors in the Coronation Mutual Funds.
“The level of professionalism and quality of investments will be difficult to match by other mutual fund managers in Nigeria and the West African sub-region.
“This, coupled with the proposed investment mix and the fund structures, distinguish these Mutual Funds.”
Indeed the recently launched, Naira denominated, open-ended mutual funds by Coronation Assets Management Ltd which witnessed a high subscription rate by individual, retail and institutional investors has continued to elicit excitement.
“The Mutual Funds, N1.5 billion Money Market Fund, N400 million Fixed Income Fund and the N200 million Balanced Fund, were all offered at par of N1 each.
In the same vein, Chairman of the Bank, Mr Tunde Folawiyo, said that the funds offer all strata of investors, individual and corporate, an opportunity to diversify their investment portfolios backed by the strength of the Coronation Brand and managed by a team of experienced professionals at Coronation Asset Management.
According to him, the Money Market Fund will exclusively invest in short-dated money market instruments, offering capital preservation and liquidity to investors.
The Fixed Income Fund will invest in FGN and investment grade corporate bonds while the Balanced Fund will invest in a diversified portfolio of carefully chosen equity securities with strong fundamentals and prospects of delivering long term positive investment returns, while tactically investing in fixed income securities to actively manage short term volatility in its equities exposure.
The Money Market Fund and the Fixed Income Fund have been assigned low to medium risk ratings, “A- (NG)(f)” and “AA-/FV4 (NG)(f)” respectively, by Agusto & Co, a foremost Nigerian rating agency.
This IPO for the Mutual Funds came on the back of a strong financial year for the premium financial institution.
Recall that Coronation Merchant Bank, the parent company of Coronation Asset Management, grew its profits by 128 percent from December 2015 to December 2016.
The group’s financial strength, coupled with a focus on sound risk management, prudent investment strategies as well as a tradition of delivering excellent value to all stakeholders, has made the IPO for the Mutual Funds more inviting to investors.
The Coronation Mutual Funds are being overseen by institutions with strong track records of providing superior financial services with Coronation Asset Management acting as the Fund Manager, Citibank Nigeria as Custodian and United Securities Limited as Registrar to all three funds.
Stanbic IBTC Trustees Limited will acts as Trustee to the Balance and Fixed Income Funds while United Capital Trustees will act as Trustee to the Money Market Fund.
Investors can visit www.coronationam.com for more information on the Mutual Funds and learn more about Coronation Asset Management.
By Dipo Olowookere
On the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited last week, investors transacted 3.648 billion shares worth N220.568 billion in 251,861 deals compared with the 3.821 billion shares valued at N154.393 billion traded in 258,567 deals a week earlier.
Analysis showed that financial stocks led the activity chart with 2.899 billion units sold for N147.360 billion in 106,603 deals, accounting for 79.48 per cent and 66.81 per cent of the total trading volume and value, respectively.
Services equities recorded a turnover of 164.914 million units valued at N3.615 billion in 16,375 deals, and the consumer goods shares exchanged 157.451 million units worth N7.777 billion in 27,950 deals.
First Holdco, Zenith Bank, and Fidelity Bank were the busiest stocks for the five-day trading week, trading 1.745 billion units valued at N121.828 billion in 31,053 deals, contributing 47.85 per cent and 55.23 per cent to the total trading volume and value, respectively.
Business Post reports that 60 equities appreciated during the week versus 22 equities in the previous week, 28 shares depreciated versus 57 shares of the preceding week, and 58 stocks closed flat versus 67 stocks of the previous week.
International Breweries gained 40.00 per cent to trade at N13.30, RT Briscoe expanded by 32.02 per cent to N13.40, Livestock Feeds improved by 28.47 per cent to N9.25, First Holdco chalked up 25.82 per cent to close at N69.20, and Abbey Bank rose by 23.65 per cent to N9.15.
On the flip side, McNichols lost 28.57 per cent to finish at N5.00, Thomas Wyatt gave up 11.64 per cent to quote at N2.43, Geregu Power declined by 10.00 per cent to N825.70, CAP shed 9.99 per cent to settle at N157.60, and Guinness Nigeria also slipped by 9.99 per cent to N329.00.
Customs Street was under buying pressure last week, making the All-Share Index (ASI) and the market capitalisation close higher by 6.35 per cent to 243,798.76 points and N156.445 trillion, respectively.
In the same vein, all other indices finished higher apart from the growth and sovereign bond indices, which depreciated by 7.43 per cent and 0.02 per cent, respectively.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose by 2.30 per cent, spurring the NASD Security Index (NSI) to close higher by 96.61 points to 4,296.34 points from 4,199.73 points, and raising the market capitalisation by N57.99 billion to N2.578 trillion from N2.521 trillion.
The market was up yesterday despite a lower activity level, as the volume of securities traded slumped by 94.7 per cent to 1.3 million units from the previous 23.9 million units. The value of securities slipped by 57.2 per cent to N29.2 million from the preceding session’s N68.2 million, while the number of deals executed by market participants increased by 6.7 per cent to 32 deals from the 30 deals carried out on Thursday.
At the close of transactions, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with a turnover of 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, trailed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units valued at N6.5 billion in trades, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc with 70.8 million units traded for N4.9 billion.
GNI Plc was also the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units exchanged for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
During the trading day, there were three price gainers and two price losers, led by Afriland Properties Plc, which shed N1.48 to sell at N15.17 per share compared with the previous session’s N16.65 per share, and Food Concepts Plc, which slid by 7 Kobo to close at N2.69 per unit versus N2.76 per unit.
Conversely, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc improved its value by N9.50 to trade at N150.00 per share compared with Thursday’s closing price of N140.50 per share, CSCS Plc went up by N7.95 to N89.65 per unit from N81.70 per unit, and 11 Plc soared by N6.94 to N206.95 per share from N200.01 per share.
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited lost its footing by 0.07 per cent on Friday as a result of renewed profit-taking by investors.
The fall happened after Thomas Wyatt and Guinness Nigeria led other price losers group comprising 27 stocks at the market yesterday due to selling pressure.
Thomas Wyatt Nigeria shed 10.00 per cent to quote at N2.70, Guinness Nigeria drowned by 9.99 per cent to close at N329.00, Ikeja Hotel slipped by 9.96 per cent to N42.50, Zichis shed 9.94 per cent to trade at N26.37, and McNichols depreciated by 9.91 per cent to N5.00.
On the flip side, International Breweries gained 9.92 per cent to finish at N13.30, NEM Insurance appreciated by 9.61 per cent to N27.95, Jaiz Bank grew by 6.36 per cent to N9.20, UPDC expanded by 6.33 per cent to N4.20, and Livestock Feeds increased by 6.32 per cent to N9.25.
Business Post reports that investor sentiment remained bullish despite the loss recorded during the session, as there were 27 price decliners and 30 price advancers, representing a positive market breadth index.
Yesterday, market participants transacted 441.3 million equities for N19.4 billion in 44,938 deals compared with the 1.7 billion equities worth N112.0 billion traded in 44,780 deals a day earlier. This showed that the trading volume contracted by 74.04 per cent, the trading value declined by 82.68 per cent, and an uptick in the number of deals by 0.35 per cent.
Access Holdings led the activity chart on Friday after selling 40.2 million shares valued at N1.0 billion, Sterling Holdco traded 30.3 million stocks worth N228.8 million, Fidelity Bank sold 26.3 million equities for N505.6 million, Zenith Bank transacted 22.3 million shares valued at N2.5 billion, and First Holdco exchanged 19.0 million stocks worth N1.3 billion.
During the last trading session of the week, the consumer goods sector rose by 0.49 per cent, the insurance counter increased by 0.06 per cent, and the industrial goods index closed flat, while the banking and energy indices lost 0.78 per cent and 0.52 per cent, respectively.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) shrank by 159.97 points to 243,798.76 points from 243,958.73 points, and the market capitalisation moderated by N103 billion to N156.445 trillion from N156.548 trillion.
