The stocks of Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc lead the league of laggards on Wednesday at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), barely one week after company refuted as false allegations on sugar sales by its newly listed competitor – BUA Foods Plc.
Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc and other top laggards led the Nigerian market to its first dip this week after its share price decreased most by 95kobo or 5.28percent, from N18 to N17.05. The stock had ahead of negative close on Wednesday yielded positive return of 3.4percent year-to-date (YtD).
Also on the top decliners list is Africa Prudential Plc which decreased by 45kobo or 5.77percent, from N7.80 to N7.35; and Ecobank Transnational Incorporated Plc which lost 35kobo or 2.98percent of its N11.75 day-open price to close at N11.40.
On February 16, the company refuted as false allegations of artificial scarcity of sugar amongst others by its competitor BUA Foods plc. Dangote Sugar Refinery, an integrated sugar business set a goal to produce 1.5 million tonnes of refined sugar every year from locally grown sugarcane within the next ten years; to serve local and export markets from factories and plantations across Nigeria.
While noting that the “false allegations may mislead the market and may give an undue competitive edge to BUA,” Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc said its has continued to supply Sugar to meet the market’s demand and have made the necessary supply chain and logistics investments/arrangements to ensure there are no risks to “our ability to meet the current market demands.”
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“Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc remains the highest Sugar supplier in the market today, with over 1.44m MT installed capacity at our Apapa Refinery and we are the only company producing sugar from own grown sugarcane under the Nigeria Sugar Master Plan (NSMP) at the Numan operations in Yola, Adamawa State. We remain committed to fair play and good governance and would continue to supply Sugar to the market without interruptions,” Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc said in a statement signed by Temitope Hassan, its Company Secretary.
Amid record negative close on the Nigeria Bourse, the market’s year-to-date (YtD) positive return decreased to +10.51percent on Wednesday. At the close of trading session on Wednesday, the Nigerian Exchange Limited All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 0.08percent, from preceding day’s high of 47,246.90 points to 47,207.27 points.
Also, the value of listed stocks on the Nigerian Exchange decreased from N25.463trillion to N25.442billion, losing N21billion. In 4,377 deals, investors exchanged 230,645,883 shares valued at N3.493billion. Transcorp, Fidelity Bank, United Capital, Regency Assurance and FBN Holdings were most traded stocks on Wednesday.
