Volumes, value rise following Stanbic 40 billion share offer

By David Mugabe

VOLUMES and value at the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE) shot up four days after Stanbic Bank (SBU) listed 40 billion bonus shares on the market.

Bank of Baroda(BOBU) and Stanbic Bank led the way, with sh53m and sh27.4m respectively in turnover.

The market overall gained sh91m in turnover from 1.4 million shares sold.

Stanbic Bank also had the largest share offer of 459,682.

Baroda sold 213,757 shares at an average of sh250 each, while Stanbic sold over one million shares at an average of sh25 each.

Six companies moved shares. New Vision (NVL), Uganda’s largest multimedia house, sold 667 shares at an average of sh600 to gain sh400,200 in turnover. dfcu Bank was the third biggest mover with 6,641 shares, picking sh6.6m at an average of sh1,000.

Uganda Clays, which posted profits in results released this week, sold 79,318 shares at an average of sh35 to realise sh2.8m in turnover.

National Insurance Corporation (NIC) sold 7,735 shares at sh40 each, picking sh309,400 in turnover.

Stanbic’s 40 billion bonus share offer on the was the second corporate action from the bank following the 2011 bonus share offer.

The development brings to 51.2 billion total Stanbic shares on the USE.

Experts believe that the available Stanbic shares will spur activity, following the price drop that followed the corporate action.

Stanbic is now trading at an average of sh25, making it the cheapest stocks followed by NIC and UCL.

But industry players are urging the investing public to open SCD account so that their bonus shares can be posted onto their accounts and enable trading.

The market has witnessed several actions lately, including the ADB bond after months of low activity and a depressed market. Industry leaders expect an improvement with the Umeme IPO in October.