Seplat confirms ExxonMobile acquisition to NGX, ASI up 0.2%

Two years after its initial announcement, Seplat Energy Pic has confirmed the approval from the Nigerian Federal Government for its $1.28b acquisition of ExxonMobil’s onshore assets. This deal secures Seplat a 40.0% stake in four oil mining leases, along with key infrastructure such as the Qua Ibo export terminal and a 51.0% stake in the Bonny River natural

Trading at the floor of Nigeria Exchange Limited there were, gains in TRANSCOH (+9.3%), GTCO (+2.9%), and OANDO (+2.0%) that spurred the bourse to an upbeat close as the NGX-ASI rose 0.2% to 98,892.58 points.

As a result, YTD return improved to 32.3% (previously 32.0%), while market capitalisation increased by 0.2% to 59.9tn. Meanwhile, activity level varied as volume traded grew 45.9% to 591.0m units while value traded declined 9.9% to N24.8bn. Performance across the sectors within our purview was mixed as two indices gained and two lost, while the Industrial Goods and AFR-ICT indices closed unchanged. Topping the

leaderboard, the Insurance and Banking indices gained 1.2% and 0.9%, respectively, on the back of buy interest in CUSTODIA (+3.0%), AlICO (+2.6%), GTCO (+2.9%) and UBA (+1.9%). On the flip side, the Consumer Goods and Oil & Gas indices declined 0.7% and 0.6%, respectively, due to sell-offs on DANGSUGAR (-8.8%), HONYFLOUR (-5.8%) and SEPLAT (-0.7%).

Outlook Investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth, weakened to 0.10x from 0.18x in the previous session as 23 stocks advanced, 15 declined, while 83 closed flat. Tomorrow, we expect a subdued performance on the bourse, fuelled by increasing profit booking activities.