THE Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has advised quoted firms to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the ‘Fact Behind The Figure’ Programmes to educate their shareholders and other members of the capital market community.

Also, the NSE has announced plans to unveil in January 2014, a new index to track the performance of industrial goods sector.

According to the Chief Executive Officer, NSE, Oscar Onyema, quoted companies should endeavour to raise the quality of their investor relations programmes including disclosing information about their operations to stock market stakeholders on a regular  basis.

Speaking during First Aluminium Nigeria Plc’s ‘Facts Behind The Figure’ presentation, Onyema explained that it will be difficult for stockbrokers to adequately price stock if they don’t have adequate information about the company.

The NSE boss said: “Without timely and adequate information, financial journalists and analysts alike will be unable to appropriately represent the company in their write-ups and analyses.

“More importantly, rational investors will find it difficult to invest in a company they do not have adequate information about. These and a lot more reasons make it imperative for companies listed on our bourse to take part actively in managing investor relations.”

He explained that the NSE has laid Corporate Governance on the front burner as one of the vital elements for ensuring a sound investment environment and maximising shareholder returns.

“The NSE will continue to consistently enforce its rules on Corporate Governance in a firm and fair manner in order to build a strong investment climate for market participants,” said Onyema, adding: “We (NSE) cannot afford to do otherwise if we are to become the gateway to African markets”.

Onyema said the industrial goods sector where First Aluminum was listed on November 5, 1992, has 27 companies, “26 of these are quoted on the Main Board and one on ASeM. The Year-to-Date (YTD) performance of the sector is +8.54 per cent. Comparing this with global industrial goods performance shows that the sector can do better”.

The NSE boss also used the opportunity to challenge First Aluminium Plc and all the companies quoted in the Building Materials Sub-sector of The Exchange to elevate their efforts in dealing with current housing deficit confronting our country.

Quoting official statistics, he said Nigeria’s housing deficit currently stands at about 16 million units. “If we are to have a solution to this problem, companies quoted in the building materials sub-sector of the NSE will have to rise to the occasion by providing quality materials that are priced within the reach of average Nigerian”.

Source: The Guardian/Moses Ebosele