C & I Leasing gets SEC approval for N3.23bn rights issue
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved an application filed by C & I Leasing regarding an equity capital raising worth N3.23 billion through a rights issue, the company said Wednesday in a notice filed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
The approval followed plans by the publiclyowned support and logistics company to sell new 539,003,333 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at N6 per share to its existing shareholders on the basis of four new ordinary shares for every three ordinary shares held.
“The company has obtained an approval from the Securities Exchange Commission to conduct the signing ceremony with regards to the proposed rights issue,” C & I Leasing said in the notice issued by Mbanugo Udenze & Co, the Company Secretary.
Th e company’s planned rights issue offering is coming months after it conducted share reconstruction exercise aimed at consolidating four ordinary shares into one ordinary share.
Only shareholders whose names appear in the company’s Register of Members at the close of business on Wednesday, September 4, 2019, would be qualified for the planned rights issue offer, according to the company.
C & I Leasing provides transportation logistics solutions in the form of car and marine rental, fleet management as well as human resource solutions. Its support services are provided along three business lines; fleet management, personnel outsourcing and marine services.
According to the company, the application list is expected to open on November 11, 2019, or any other date approved by Nigeria’s capital market regulator and shall open for a maximum period of 28 days. However, this is subject to the approval of the executed offer documents by the SEC.
Shares of the company remained unchanged at
N6.60 after the close of business on Wednesday at the Lagos bourse, bringing its return since the start of this year to 270.8 percent. This makes the stock, which has been affected by the share reconstruction exercise, the top performer in the market.
Rights circular will be distributed to shareholders while application forms would also be made available on the website of the company’s Registrars for ease of access, the notice read. The company advised shareholders to contact their stockbrokers and other financial advisers for more details on the offer.
Gross earnings of the company surged by onethird to N26.55 billion in the first nine months of this year from N19.86 billion in the previous year. But higher operating costs weighed on the gains, causing its net profit for the period to fall by 6.67 percent to N1.20 billion compared with N1.28 billion achieved a year earlier.