Flour Mills to acquire 71.6% of Honeywell, as investors gained N31.8 bn in stock trading

Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc said it has commenced parallel negotiations to acquire a 71.69 per cent majority shareholding interest and a 5.06 per cent equity interest in Honeywell Flour Mills Plc (HFMP) from Honeywell Group Limited (HGL) and First Bank of Nigeria Limited respectively. According to FMN, the acquisition will result in FMN holding a c.76.75% equity interest in HFMP upon completion, subject to relevant regulatory approvals. Meanwhile the All-Share Index rose 14bps to 43,260.13 points following price upticks in FBNH (+6.5%), ZENITH (+1.3%), and OANDO (+6.0%). Accordingly, the YTD return strengthened to 7.4% while market capitalisation gained ₦31.8bn to ₦22.6tn. Trading activity intensified as the volume and value traded surged 117.3% and 43.0% respectively to 433.6m units and ₦4.7bn. MBENEFIT (134.0m units), FBNH (88.7m units), and GTCO (43.2m units) led the volume chart while GTCO (₦1.1bn), FBNH (₦1.1bn), and NESTLE (₦588.7m) led by value.

Performance was mixed across our coverage sectors as 3 indices gained, 2 indices lost, while the AFR-ICT index closed flat. The Oil & Gas was the best-performing index, up 1.3% on gains in OANDO (+6.0%) and CONOIL (+2.5%). In the same vein, the Insurance and Banking indices rose 0.9% and 0.8% respectively due to price appreciation in NEM (+7.9%), FBNH (+6.5%), and ZENITH (+1.3%). Meanwhile, the Consumer and Industrial Goods indices shed 0.1% apiece following selloffs in DANGSUGAR (-1.8%) and WAPCO (-2.2%).

Investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio), firmed up to 1.2x from 0.7x as 18 stocks advanced while 15 stocks declined. HONYFLOUR (+9.7%), NEM (+7.9%), and FBNH (+6.5%) led gainers while UPDC (-9.7%), FTNCOCOA (-9.1%), and JAPAULGOLD (-4.9%) led decliners. In the next trading session, we anticipate mild gains due to bargain hunting on fundamentally sound stocks with attractive prices.

Market Statistics for Monday, 22nd November 2021