Press Release

Lagos, June 17, 2013 – The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has announced the expected review, by end of June 2014 of the NSE 30, NSE 50 and the five Sectoral Indices of The Exchange – the NSE Banking, NSE Consumer Goods, NSE Oil & Gas, NSE Industrial, NSE Insurance and the NSE Lotus Islamic Indices.

The composition of these indices after the review will be effective on July 1, 2014. With the NSE Index Team having commenced work intensely, the review is set to witness the entry/re-entry of some major companies and the exit of others. Below are the likely incoming and likely exiting companies in the various indices.

 As the Index Committee explained, The NSE-30, NSE-50 and NSE Industrial Indices are modified market capitalization index with the numbers of included stocks fixed at 30, 50 and 10, respectively. The numbers of included stocks in the NSE-Consumer Goods, Banking, Insurance and Oil/Gas Indices are 15, 10, 15 and 7 respectively.

The Stocks will be picked based on their market capitalization from the most liquid sectors. The liquidity is based on the number of times the stock is traded during the preceding half year. To be included, the stock must be traded for at least 70 percent of the number of times the market opened for business.

The Committee further stated that the exchange was not oblivious of the fact that the number of the stocks that will be included in some of the indices may be inappropriate for optimal portfolio diversification; however, the numbers would be reviewed as sector conditions change.

The Nigerian bourse began publishing the NSE 30 Index in February 2009 with index values available from January 1, 2007. On July 1, 2008, the NSE developed four sectoral indices with a base value of 1,000 points, designed to provide investable benchmarks to capture the performance of specific sectors. The sectoral indices comprise the top fifteen most capitalized and liquid companies in the Insurance and Consumer Goods sectors, top ten most capitalized and liquid companies in the Banking and Industrial Goods sector and the top seven most capitalized and liquid companies in the Oil & Gas sector.

In July 2012, the Nigerian bourse launched The NSE Lotus Islamic index (NSE LII) which consists of companies whose business practices are in conformity with the principles of Shari’ah with the aim of increasing the breadth of the market and creating an important benchmark for investments as the alternative non-interest investment space widened. All the companies that appear on the Islamic Index have been thoroughly screened by Lotus Capital Halal Investment, in accordance with a methodology approved by an internationally recognized Shari’ah Advisory Board comprising of renowned Islamic scholars.

The price indices, which were developed using the market capitalization methodology, are rebalanced on a biannual basis -on the first business day in January and in July.

The compiler of the indices maintains the right to modify the circulated selection above in connection with any mergers, takeovers, suspension or resumption of trading or any other company structure changes during the period before the effective date of the annual review.

June 17, 2014