By Nkiruka Nnorom

Last week, the shares of Presco Plc, UAC of Nigeria Plc, Cutix Plc, Beta Glass Company (Nig.) Plc, Union Bank of Nigeria, UBN Plc and Custodian and Allied Plc enjoyed unalloyed patronage from the investing public, thereby emerging the most active stocks on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, in terms of price movement.

Others that featured on the list of top performers include Oando Plc, P.Z. Industries Plc, Pharma-Deko Plc and Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc.

Presco Plc, which emerged third on the list of top 10 performers penultimate week, displaced R.T Briscoe to lead the pack. The share price opened at N26.10 to close at N29.70, rising by 13.79 percent or N3.60 per share. An agriculture listed entity, under crop production, Presco has so far delivered132.55 percent 52 week return to investors, and also stands as the best priced stock in its sector in nominal terms. Though the company has been up-to-date in dividend payment, paying N1.00 in 2013 financial year, the underlying benefit to shareholders is absolutely minute as the earning per share for the period stood at N8.38. Available financial statement of the company for 2013 financial year showed it had a difficult year with its turnover dropping to N8.49 billion as against N11.25 billion the previous year, while the profit after tax closed lower at N1.29 billion compared to N3.55 billion a year earlier. However, speaking to shareholders at the 21st Annual General Meeting, AGM, last year, the chairman, Mr. Pierre Vandebeeck, had assured that the company has bright prospects and is contemplating a further expansion. He had assured that the company is poised to reap the benefits of the expansion programme undertaken in 2013. “Our performance in 2013 can be described as good. We achieved a total fresh fruit branches production of 123,695 tons as against 125,491 tons in the previous year; crude oil palm produced was 27,585 tons compared with 33,375 tons for the year 2012,” he said.

UACN was the second with 10.33 percent or N2.90 price appreciation, closing at n30.98 from N28.08 per share. UAC has made a number of acquisitions over the last few years in a bid to strengthen its footprint in the key sectors of the economic and achieve a conglomerate structure. Among the acquisitions recently made was the take of Livestock Feeds, where it has 51 percent equity stake, Chemical and Allied Products Plc, where it also has 51 percent interest and Portland Paints & Products Plc, where it has 51 percent interest as well. Available 2013 financial statement of the company showed that the intrinsic value in the acquisitions intrinsic is being unlocked as indicated by improved financial outing. It grew its turnover by 13 percent from N69.6 billion in 2012 to N78.7 billion in 2013, while operating profit rose from N11.5 billion to N15.3 billion. Livestock Feeds and Portland Paint, which became members of the company in 2013 contributed N6.30 billion to the group’s turnover. The chairman, Udoma Udo Udoma, attributed the growth to innovative and proactive measures the company adopted to tackle market dynamics and competitive pressures in the operating environment, while expressing optimism that the company will record modest growth in 2014. UAC of Nigeria Plc (UAC) is a leading diversified company, operating in the food and beverages, real estate, paint and logistics sectors of the economy.

Cutix Plc followed with 8.09 percent or N0.11 to close at N1.47 from N1.36 per share. Cutix Plc listed in electronic and electrical products sector of the NSE produces insulated power cables, PVC insulated power cables, polyester aluminum enameled wire, speaker wire and cable, bare aluminum strand wire and cable, and irrigation cable. It recorded 19.43 percent growth in revenue for the third quarter ended January 31, 2014 to N1.68 billion compared with N1.41 billion achieved in the corresponding period of 2013. It, however incurred high input cost as cost of sales margin in the review period jumped to 71.25 percent from 70.90 percent ion nine months in 2013 hence gross profit margins declined to 28.72 percent in Q3 2014 as against 29.14 percent recorded in Q3:13.

Beta Glass appreciated by 7.99 percent or N2.22 to close at N30.00 from N27.78; UBN rose by 6.48 percent or N0.52 to close at n8.54 from N8.02; Custodian and Allied went up by 6.44 percent or N0.23 to close at N3.80 from N3.57; Oando advanced by 6.18 percent or N0.93 to close at N15.98 from N15.05; P.Z Cusson went up by 5.95 percent or N1.46, closing at N26.00 from N24.54; Pharma-Deko appreciated by 4.67 percent or N0.10 to close at N2.24 from N2.14, while Seplat recorded 3.71 percent or N11.13 appreciation to close at N311.13 from N300.00 per share.