By Nkiruka Nnorom

The shares of Ikeja Hotels Plc, Transnationwide Express Plc, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, Okomu Oil Palm Company Plc and United Bank for Africa (UBA) enjoyed much of the investors’ patronage last week to make it to the top performing stocks’ list.

File photo: The floor of Stock exchange

Others that featured on the list include: Diamond Bank Plc, Vono Products Plc, Transnational Corporation (Transcorp) Plc, P.Z Industries Plc and Cutix Plc.

Ikeja Hotels Plc, which was meshed in a boardroom crisis that nearly resulted in ouster of the chairman, Mr. Goddy Ibru, last year, topped others with 26.57 per cent or N0.72 gains to close at N3.43 from N2.71 at the beginning of the week. Goddy Ibru was accused of misappropriating N10billion of shareholders’ fund, which resulted in his forced removal in a controversial Extra-ordinary General Meeting in Lagos. Ibru, however, stuck to his gun as the chairman of the company and is presently challenging his removal in a law court.

The company has been struggling with declining financial position, and its first quarter financial statement indicates that it is far from coming out from the doldrums. The unaudited first quarter result for the period ended March 31, 2014 showed a 53.7 per cent decline in profit after tax to N107.981 million as against N233.283 million posted in the corresponding period in 2013. The profit before tax also fell by 26.7 per cent, dropping to N251.443 million from N343.063 million in the previous quarter. The revenue declined marginally by four per cent to N1.523 billion compared to N1.598 billion recorded in quarter one in 2013. However, the company achieved some improvement in its cost of sales as the figure fell from N641.376 million in 2013 to N611.955 million in the review period.

Transnationwide Express followed with 24.42 per cent or N0.21 to close at N1.07 from N0.86 per share. Last year, the company appointed Mrs. Aderonke Fatade as an Independent Director of the company. Her appointment took effect from Thursday, 12 June 2014. Fatade obtained her B.Sc. in Agricultural Economics (1976 – 1979) with emphasis in Business and Management from Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA before obtaining an MBA Degree from the Golden Gate University, Graduate School of Business Administration, San Francisco, California, USA (1979 – 1981).

The company posted N183.860 million in revenue for the first quarter ended March 31, 2015, down from N718.016 million posted in the equivalent period in 2014, representing 74.4 per cent decrease. Its profit before tax fell by 65.9 per cent from N49.476 million in 2014 to N16.828 million in Q1 2014, while the profit after tax slumped to N12.828 million from N66.771 million in the previous quarter. Transnationwide provides courier services, freight services, logistics, mail room management, haulage and e-commerce from its Headquarters in Lagos and 38 branches.

Stanbic IBTC Holdings placed third with 24 per cent or N4.49 appreciation, closing at N23.20 from N18.71 per share. Stanbic IBTC has been involved in some novel initiatives that are meant to impact the small and medium scale enterprises in the country. For instance, last year, the bank developed an SME business support initiative that offers support to small businesses. The support ranges from business term loans, vehicle and asset finance, to distributor finance, import and export finance, trader loans and agriculture finance.

The bank’s six months unaudited results for the period ended 30 June 2015, showed gross earnings of N68.3 billion, an increase of 11 per cent over the N61.7 billion recorded in the comparable period of last year. Its profit before tax, during the period stood at N9.5 billion, while profit after tax was N9.6 billion. Total assets went up by nine per cent to N1.03 trillion from N944.5 billion in December 2014. The bank had earlier in the year declared its intension to raise N24 billion from a rights issue once shareholders approve the transaction.

Okomu Oil closed as the fourth most active stock, rising by 21.17 per cent or N4.15 to N23.75 from N19.60; UBA followed with 20.57 per cent or N0.65 increase to close at N3.81 from N3.16; Diamond Bank advanced by 17.82 per cent or N0.54 to close at N3.57 from N3.03; Transcorp went up by 15.64 per cent or N0.33 to close at N2.44 from N2.11; P.Z Industries Plc added 15.38 per cent or N3.37 to its share price, rising to N25.28 from N21.91 per share, while Cutix Plc advanced by 14.81 per cent or N0.20 to close at N1.55 from N1.35 per share.