Oando suffers share price falls over battle with SEC

Share price of Oando Plc dropped by 9.52 per cent on Monday, the first day of trading after the Securities and Exchange Commission ordered the resignation of the company’s Group Chief Executive Officer and other affected board members, TOPNAIJA.NG reports.

SEC also announced on Sunday night that it had set up an interim management team, headed by a former Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company, Mr Mutiu Sunmonu, to oversee the affairs of Oando.

It said the team would conduct an extraordinary general meeting on or before July 1, 2019 to appoint new directors to the board of Oando who would subsequently select a management team for the company.

Staff members of the company were forced to stay away from work on Monday as policemen stormed the head office of the company in the morning.

Our correspondent who visited Oando’s Wing Office Complex located on Ozumba Mbadiwe Avenue, Victoria Island, observed policemen numbering over 10 at the entrance of the complex before they later moved into the building.

Security officers at the complex told our correspondent that some staff members of Oando were denied access to their office at the instance of their (security officers’) supervisor.

The oil firm emerged the fourth biggest loser at the close of trading on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange as it share price fell by N0.40 to N3.80.

SEC had on Friday announced the conclusion of the investigation of Oando and barred the GCEO, Mr Wale Tinubu and the Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr Omamofe Boyo, from being directors of public companies for a period of five years.

The commission said findings from the forensic audit report revealed serious infractions such as false disclosures, market abuses, misstatements in financial statements, internal control failures, and corporate governance lapses, “stemming from poor board oversight, irregular approval of directors’ remuneration, unjustified disbursements to directors and management of the company, related party transactions not conducted at arm’s length, among others.”

But Oando said the “alleged infractions and penalties are unsubstantiated, ultra vires, invalid and calculated to prejudice the business of the company.”

The market capitalisation of equities listed on NSE dropped to N13.622tn from N13.684tn on Friday, while the All Share Index fell to 30,928.29 basis points from 31,069.37bps.

Twenty-eight stocks, led by GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria Plc, recorded price losses while 15 gained at the end of trading on the NSE.

Analysts at Afrinvest noted that the equities market maintained a bearish outing on Monday as the year-to-date loss worsened to 1.6 per cent.

“However, activity level increased as volume and value traded rose 15.5 per cent and 3.2 per cent to 246.0 million units and N2.8bn respectively,” they said

The top traded stocks by volume were FCMB (70.6munits), Guaranty Trust Bank Plc(34 million units) and OANDO (27.1munits) while GTB (N1.1bn), Dangote Cement Plc(N256.1m) and MTN Nigeria Communications Plc (N200.5m) were the top traded securities by value.

The analysts said, “Performance across sectors was largely bearish as five of six indices under our coverage closed southwards. The oil and gas index declined the most, shedding 5.7 per cent due to sell-offs in Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc (-9.1 per cent).

The insurance and consumer goods indices were down by 0.6 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively; while the banking and industrial goods indices declined by 0.3 per cent and 0.1 per cent respectively.

“Our outlook remains bearish in the near term though we do not rule out the possibility of bargain hunting in fundamentally sound stocks,” the analysts added.