By Peter Egwuatu
Shareholders of Partnership Investment Co. Plc have endorsed the proposed plan by its Board of Directors to lists the company’s shares on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

Speaking the minds of shareholders at the company’s 18th Annual General Meetimg (AGM) held last week in Lagos, the Chairman, Nigeria Professional Shareholders Association, Mr. Godwin Anono said, “ We the shareholders are in support of the listing. We leave the listing to the management, since they are vast in the business. They should decide the right time for the listing to be done.”

On the company’s result, he said, “We commend the company’s board and management for weathering the storm during the crisis. Many financial services and stock broking firms went down during the crisis because they could not survive the recession.”

Meanwhile, the board of directors of Partnership Investment Company Plc has said that the company will approach the Nigerian Stock Exchange soon for listing by introduction.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Partnership Investment, Mr. Victor Ogiemwonyi
said that the company’s shares were being registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
According to him, “Our company’s shares are being registered with the SEC, following which we shall approach the NSE for listing by introduction.

We have made all necessary plans for the listing. We are just waiting for SEC’s nod; immediately our shares are registered, we will approach the Exchange. We believe this will enable buyers and sellers to trade the shares on the floor of the Exchange.”

He added, “We are also waiting for the operating environment to be more conducive. We know that this is not the best time to list but in a couple of months, we expect things to turnaround at the capital market. Meanwhile, we are currently concluding arrangements to have all our share certificate dematerialised and put in the Central Securities and Clearing Systems.”

According to the financial result released by the company for the year ended December 31, 2009. Loss after tax stood at N393.62m in 2009, representing a 301 per cent decline, from N195.47m recorded in 2008. Gross earnings fell by 48 per cent, from N1.15bn in 2008 to N598.57m in 2009.
Presenting the result, Ogiemwonyi noted that the drop in earnings was due to the global melt down.
He explained, “The worst hit in the financial system in Nigeria was arguably the capital market where our company plays. The year 2009 saw the value of equities on the NSE which had risen to an all time high of over N13tn by market capitalisation fall to N4.5tn. Investors’ confidence in the market became so low that majority wanted out; a situation where everybody was only interested in exiting and not entering the market.”