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Shareholders urge SEC to make claims process seamless to reduce unclaimed dividends

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7 months ago

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Shareholders have appealed to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), registrars, and stockbrokers to make the claiming processes of unclaimed dividends easy, seamless and less cumbersome. Some shareholders who spoke to journalists in Abuja on Sunday said that making the process easy would help reduce unclaimed dividends. The shareholders reacting to the continuous rise in unclaimed dividend figures of banks and other companies said the process of claiming dividends was currently tedious and frustrating. Bisi Bakare, the national coordinator of the Pragmatic Shareholders Association, said the administrative cost, delays and bottlenecks encountered by probate were discouraging. Ms Bakare listed some factors that had led to the rise in unclaimed dividends to include fictitious names in buying shares during privatisation, relocation, death, and minority shareholders’ neglect due to the small amount of the dividend. “Many shareholders purchased multiple shares they cannot remember the names used, and many of them have relocated before the introduction of e-dividend; hence, no update on the account to pay their dividend into.
“In fact, many shareholders, their wives, husbands or children are not aware of their investment in the share. How do you want them to claim what they are not aware of? Also, the issue of probate; its administrative cost, delays and bottleneck, the role of registrar, and sometimes intentional frustration encountered by shareholders in claiming their money contribute to reasons why unclaimed dividends are growing,’’ she said. Moses Igbrude, the national coordinator, Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria, expressed regret that even some recently listed companies on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) still had unclaimed dividends. Mr Igbrude suggested that registrars reach out to various shareholders through their contacts.
The national coordinator who frowned at the dividend trust fund created by the SEC said a multi-dimensional approach was needed to address the issue of unclaimed dividends in the country. He said that all stakeholders must unite to educate shareholders and probate on how to claim their dividends. “On unclaimed dividends in banks, the bank can generate money out of the system, call these people shareholders, and let them know they have an unclaimed dividend with them. So, if the stakeholders are really sincere, a multi-dimensional approach is what we need if we actually want to address the issue,’’ he said. Mr Igbrude called on all stakeholders responsible for transferring shares from the deceased person to their children to make it easy and transparent. Some banks’ unclaimed dividends for the 2024 financial year rose despite the inauguration of the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) in collaboration with the SEC.
United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc recorded N45.99 billion as unclaimed dividends for the 2024 financial year (FY) ended December 31, as against the N14.895 billion posted at the same period in 2023. Zenith Bank recorded N30.6 billion as unclaimed dividend in 2024 FY against the 30.1 billion declared in 2023. Access Holdings Plc recorded a decline in unclaimed dividends with N17.73 billion in 2024 against the N21.3 billion declared in 2023. NAN

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NGX equity investors gain N97bn

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2 days ago

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December 4, 2025

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NGX market capitalisation inched up on Thursday as equity investors gained more than N92 billion in a wide price upswing that has lasted for three days. Trading activities closed on a positive note, and the bargain hunting boosted key market performance indicators by 0.10%.  The stock market index, or the All-Share Index, increased by 152.28 basis points, or 0.10%, to close at 145,476.15 basis points.

Also, NGX market capitalisation climbed by ₦97.06 billion to close at ₦92.73 trillion. Despite the negative breadth, the market rally reflects investors’ continued caution in the stock market. Stockbrokers reported buying interest in selective stocks including OANDO, WAPIC, UACN, TRANSCORP, GTCO, and others across all sectorial indexes.

In contrast, market activities inched lower as the total volume of all trades and their combine value by -14.15% and -8.47% respectively. Today, approximately 1,932.45 million units valued at ₦19,192.53 million were transacted across 23,369 deals.

FIDELITYBK was the volume driver, accounting for 9.04% of all stocks volume executed in the local bourse, followed by GTCO (8.25%), ZENITHBANK (7.90%), ETI (6.38%), and ACCESSCORP with 5.16%.
GTCO topped value chart, accounting for 19.52% of total value of all trades executed on the exchange – the highest traded on the exchange.
UACN led gainers chart, up by +10.00%, trailed by MORISON (+9.94%), ETI (+8.53%), WAPIC (+8.47%), MANSARD (+7.75%), FTNCOCOA (+7.10%), and seventeen others.

A total of twenty-eight (28) stocks depreciated, according to market report released by Atlass Portfolio Limited. With a price depreciation of -10.00%, ELLAHLAKES and EUNISELL both topped the worst performers’ chart, followed by TRANSCOHOT (-9.95%), OMATEK (-9.23%), GUINEAINS (-8.46%), and CAP (-6.16%).

Hence, the market breadth closed on a negative note, as there were 23 gainers and 28 losers. The sectoral performance was positive, as all five major market sectors appreciated. The insurance sector led with an increase of +1.56%, followed by the banking sector (+0.91%), the industrial goods sector (+0.48%), the consumer goods sector (+0.28%), and the oil & gas sector (+0.08%).

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Stock market  investors gain N252bn as NGX Index rises 27 bps

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3 days ago

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December 3, 2025

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Nigerian Exchange (NGX) continued its upward trajectory on Wednesday, with the All-Share Index climbing by 0.27% to reach 145,323.87 points. NGX market capitalisation rose to ₦92.38 trillion as equities investors gained N252 billion. The market demonstrated positive momentum, reflected in a breadth ratio of 1.9x, with 30 stocks posting gains compared to 16 that declined, stockbrokers said. The bullish momentum was fuelled by interest in some oversold stocks across key sectors. Among the top performers were GUINNESS, NCR, NGXGROUP, MULTIVERSE, and SKYAVN, while VERITASKAP, LASACO, PRESTIGE, ROYALEX, and ETI experienced the most significant declines.

Stockbrokers also noted positive price movement in BUACEMENT, UBA, GUINNESS, WEMABANK, STERLINGNG, among others. The All-Share Index added 395.51 basis points to close at 145,323.87 basis points. Trading metrics presented contrasting patterns as the volume of shares traded jumped dramatically by 271.27% to 2.25 billion units, and the number of transactions increased 45.45% to 21,513 deals. Conversely, the total value of transactions dropped 47.17% to ₦20.97 billion. ACCESSCORP emerged as the most traded stock, accounting for 13.60%, followed by ZENITHBANK (13.17%), GTCO (8.70%), STERLINGNG (6.27%), and FIDELITYBK with 5.25%.

ZENITHBANK topped the value chart, accounting for 20.54% of the total value of all trades executed in the local bourse. GUINNESS led the performers chart, gaining +10.00%, trailed by NCR (+9.98%), NGXGROUP (+9.96%), MULTIVERSE (+9.95%), SKYAVN (+9.74%), OMATEK (+5.69%), and twenty-four others. A total of fifteen (15) stocks depreciated, according to data obtained from the local bourse. With a price depreciation of -4.47%, VERITASKAP topped the worst performers’ chart, followed by LASACO (-3.77%), PRESTIGE (-3.03%), ROYALEX (-2.56%), ETI (-1.88%), and CORNERST (-1.75%). Hence, the market breadth closed on a positive note, as there were 30 gainers and 15 losers, stockbrokers reported.

Sector performance showed varied results: the Banking sector led with a 0.65% gain, followed by Industrial Goods which rose 0.47%; Consumer Goods up 0.38%; and Insurance advancing 0.27%. In contrast, the Oil & Gas sector fell 0.47% and Commodities declined 0.24% Ikeja Hotels hits highest valuation in 52 weeks gaining 45 per cent 

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NGX investors lose N129bn in one week

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6 days ago

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November 30, 2025

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The NGX All-Share Index fell by 0.14 per cent to 143,520.53, while market capitalisation closed at N91.286 trillion for the week.

This, compared with 143,722.62 points and N91.415 trillion recorded in the previous week, reflects weaker sentiment across the market.

Investors “lost about N129 billion this week as profit-taking continued across major counters”. Most indices closed lower, except NGX CG, NGX Premium, NGX Banking, NGX Pension, NGX AFR Div. Yield, NGX AFR Bank Value, NGX MERI Growth, NGX MERI Value, NGX Lotus II, NGX Growth and NGX Sovereign Bond.

These indices appreciated between 0.01 per cent and 0.94 per cent, showing selective interest in defensive stocks. Turnover rose to 4.140 billion shares worth N115.889 billion in 102,351 deals, higher than 2.668 billion shares valued at N106.264 billion last week.

The financial services industry led activity with 3.358 billion shares worth N81.175 billion in 43,392 deals.

This represented 81.10 per cent of total volume and 70.05 per cent of total value traded during the week.

The services industry followed with 148.272 million shares worth N1.319 billion exchanged in 7,181 deals. The consumer goods sector placed third with 143.638 million shares worth N7.988 billion in 12,099 trades.

Cornerstone Insurance, GTCO and Access Holdings accounted for 2.005 billion shares worth N47.535 billion in 10,185 deals.

These three stocks contributed 48.43 per cent of total turnover volume and 41.02 per cent of total value.

Thirty-eight equities gained during the week, up from 20 recorded previously, while 36 declined, compared with 60 in the prior week.

Seventy-three equities remained unchanged, higher than 67 posted in the previous trading week. Ikeja Hotel, NCR Nigeria, UACN, CWG and Veritas Kapital emerged top gainers, advancing by N9.40, N13.55, N8.90, N1.90 and 18k, respectively.

Meyer, Sunu Assurances, UPDC, Tantalizer and Abbey Mortgage Bank topped the losers’ chart, shedding N3.05, 68k, 68k, 26k and 65k, respectively.

The NGX disclosed the listing of 243,424 additional units of the Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund.

It said, “The additional units arose from the Fund’s 2025 Q3 scrip dividend distribution to qualifying holders.”

The NGX added that the Fund’s total units have increased to 1,056,257,953 following the fresh listing.

The exchange also confirmed the extension of VFD Group’s Rights Issue following SEC approval. It said trading in the company’s rights “will now close on Friday, December 26.”

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