By NKIRUKA NNOROM

The shares of Dangote Cement Plc could perform better than it is doing at the moment, if the promoters of the company would bring up the public float (number of listed shares) to the required 25 percent for companies listed on the Exchange’s main board, said Jude Fejokwu, Principal Analyst, Thaddeus Investment Advisors & Research.

Public/free float is the amount of shares the promoter(s) of any company seeking listing on the exchange is required to sell to the members of public to qualify for listing.

Before the revision of the NSE’ listing rule, the public float was 25 per cent for both main board and alternative securities market. With the revision, the minimum float was reduced to 20 per cent and 15 per cent for main board and alternative securities market respectively.

In a report tagged, ‘Dangote Cement: The Fulcrum of The Nigerian Stock Market’, Fejokwu said that with 25 percent of the authorised and fully paid up shares listed, Dangote Cement will have more influential hold on activities in the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

He said that whereas other companies listed on the same sector have 25 percent public float, Dangote Cement has 20 percent of its shares listed.

“Dangote Cement is the capitalised stock on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and contributes 25 percent (+-one percent based on a normal curve) of the market capitalisation of all listed companies on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.  Only percent of the company’s shares are listed unlike other companies which is 25 percent.  Dangote Cement could have even had a more influential hold on the Nigerian Stock Market if 25 percent of its authorized and fully-paid up shares were listed,” Fejokwu said.

Meanwhile, the NSE in its X-Compliance Report as at 8th of April, listed Dangote Cement as one of the companies that have free float deficiency. According to the NSE, the company is deficient by 5.11 percent, and has up to 26th October, 2014 to comply.