Top 10 performing stocks

The top 10 performing stocks last week were Union Dicon Salt Plc, Costain (WA) Plc, African Prudential Registrar Plc, RT Briscoe Plc, Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc and Conerstone Insurance Company Plc.

Others were Fidson Healthcare Plc, UBA Capital Plc, Oando Plc and Custodian and Allied Insurance Plc.

Union Dicon Salt, UDS, listed in the food products sub-sector, led the top performers with 34.40 percent or N6.83 price appreciation to close the week at N6.83 from N5.12 it started at. This followed the announcement penultimate week by CBO Capital Partners that it has taken over controlling interest in the foremost salt producing company in order to turn around its fortune.

Established in 1984, Union Dicon Salt, UDS, has for a considerable period, been the largest producer of salt in Nigeria. It has two factories: one in Lagos and the other in Port Harcourt, with a total installed production capacity of 700,000 Metric tons per year.

Costain plc, which was the highest price gainer the previous week, appreciated by 31.18 percent or N0.29 to close at N1.22 from N0.93.

Listed in the building structure/completion/other sub-sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, Costain undertakes construction and civil engineering infrastructure projects. It also produces furniture and joinery for buildings.

It is widely believed that amicable resolution of its debt to First Bank of Nigeria Limited is the reason for interest in the stock.

Only last month, the company dismissed allegation that First Bank of Nigeria limited had appointed a receiver manager to run the company over a trade debt that arose in the normal course of its business.

According to the company, it had made payment to partially liquidate the debt, while agreement was reached to completely liquidate the debt on a later date.

Only recently, it was fined N3.6milion for late filing of its March 2012 audited results. Also, its operation was recently shut down by some of its workers under the aegis of National Union of Construction Civil Engineers Furniture and Woodworkers, CEFWW, and Construction Civil Engineers Senior Staff Association, CCESSA, for non-payment of four months salaries and non-remittance of deducted pension funds.   O Ma Ga oh!

African Prudential Registrar, APR, the first registrar to be listed on the NSE, placed third, rising by 30.58 percent or N0.63 to close at N2.69 from N2.06. It recently acquired UAC Registrar, the oldest non-bank-affiliated registrar in the Nigerian capital market, through a Share Sale and Purchase Agreement (SSPA).

The deal is expected to integrate the resources of both companies and drive the deployment of even more robust information technology platforms to further reduce operating expenses and increase overall profitability for APR.

The company reported a profit after tax of N312.23 million for the half year ended 30 June 2013 as against N220.997 million in the same period of 2012, representing 41.3 percent increase.

RT Briscoe rose by 18.33 percent or N0.22 from N1.20 to N1.42. RT Briscoe is involved in sales and services of motor vehicles and technical equipment and has been operating in Nigeria since 1957.

Available financial statement of the company for the half year ended 30th June, 2013, showed a decrease in profit after tax to N31.03 million from a profit of N132.25 million in the corresponding period of 2012. Cost of sales went up marginally to N19.188 billion from the previous N18.874 billion recorded in corresponding period of 2012.

Transnational Corporation of Nigeria, Transcorp Plc, recorded 17.42 percent or N0.62 price appreciation to close at N4.18 from N3.56. The company has been making efforts to put certain strategies in place to boost its operations.

For instance, it plans to increase output of the recently acquired Ughelli Power Plant from 160 megawatts to 1,500MW over the next five years and there is also plan to develop a 300 room five-star hotel in Ikoyi, Lagos to complement the flagship Transcorp Hilton in Abuja, and is set to take off in first quarter of 2014, among other strategic initiatives.

Cornerstone Insurance went up by 15.38 percent or N0.08 from N0.52 to N0.60; Fidson advanced by 14.29 percent or N0.30 from N2.10 to N2.40; UBA Capital went up by 12.95 percent or N0.18 from N1.39 to N1.57; Oando appreciated by 12.38 percent or N1.74 from N14.06 to N15.80, while Custodian and Allied Insurance rose by 10.50 percent or N0.19 from N1.18 to N2.00 per share.