The management of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has decided to sell its property in Port Harcourt, Rivers State,  as part of its efforts to restructure its operations for better performance.

The property, a commercial building of 15 floors  located on Abba Road,  is owned  by one of its subsidiary-Coral Properties Limited. Although construction work had stopped since 2008, the NSE said it had  expended about N1.677 billion on  the  construction of the building as at December 31, 2010.

However, the Exchange said in its annual reports and accounts for 2010 obtained by THISDAY at the weekend that it had decided to put up the building for sale.

While no official  reason was  given for the decision, market sources said it might not be unconnected with the Exchange’s efforts to cut costs and  remain focus on its vision efforts to become the gateway to African frontier  markets.

An analysis of the cost profile of the Exchange for 2010, showed that the management, led the former Interim Administrator, Mr. Emmanuel Ikazoboh, made efforts to cut some costs. This led to the Exchange  ending the 2010 with  surplus of N357.949 million compared with deficit of N2.218 billion in 2009.

The Exchange recorded gross fees of N4.011 billion in 2010, up from N3.239 billion in 2009. But cost savings, especially in the area of operating expenses boosted the bottom line of the Exchange.

For instance, operating expenses were reduced  by 43 per cent to N1.983 billion in 2010, from N3.466 billion in 2009.

Meanwhile, Interim Head of Council of the  NSE, Mallam Ballama Manu, will tomorrow brief the dealing members on the  overall performance of the Exchange at the  50^th Annual General Meeting (AGM).

Speaking on performance of listed companies in  his  statement  ahead of the AGM, Manu noted that  the  harsh operating environment led to mixed performance by listed companies.

“Declining incomes and savings attributed to rising unemployment, weakened purchasing power arising from inflationary pressure, and investors’ apathy caused a decline in the participation of Nigerians in the stock market. Similarly, the rise in interest rates especially during the fourth quarter, profit taking and absence of margin facilities exerted downward pressure on the stock market,” he said.

Manu added that  the huge margin loans overhang contributed to the lull in the capital market as banks withheld funding acquisition of equities by investors.

“Besides, banks offloaded shares to reduce their exposure to margin loans as directed by the apex bank while profit-taking by investors dictated the pace of movements in key indicators,” he said.

Source: ThisDay/Goddy Egene