Insider Dealings: Five Sterling Holdings’ directors splash N200.41m on shares

Five directors of Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc have acquired 48,684,200 units of the shares of the group in a bid to ramp up their shareholdings.

The directors, led by Adeyemi Odubiyi, Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, spent N62,250,000 to mop 15,000,000 units of Ordinary shares of the Company at N4.15 per share on June 14, 2024 in the secondary market of the Nigerian Exchange Limited.

The Group Company Secretary, Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc, Temitayo Adegoke, made the disclosure in a notice to the NGX on Friday.

Gross investment by the directors amounted to N200, 408,525.15, coming to an average of about N40.08 million per director.

The Executive Director, Sterling Bank Ltd (Subsidiary of Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc), Tunde Adeola, acquired 10,872,699 units at N4:00 per share, on June 13, 2024.

A Non- Executive Director, Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc, Suleiman Abubakar Abdullahi, acquired 12,811,501 units at N4.15 per share on June 14, 2024.

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Other directors are Temitayo Taslimat Adegoke, Group Company Secretary, Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc, 5,000,000 units at N4:15 per share on June 14, 2024 and Olayinka Oni, Executive Director, Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc, 5,000,000 units at N4.15 per share, June 14, 2024.

In value terms, Suleiman Abubakar injected N53,167,729.15, Tunde Adeola, N43,490,796; Temitayo Adegoke, N20,750,000 and Olayinka Oni, N20,750,000.

The Holdco’s market capitalisation stood at about N123.51 billion as of June 14, 2024 while shares outstanding are 28,790,418,124 in the same period.

The Holding company is expected to raise N142.85 billion fresh capital within the next 18 months.

GTCO opens offer for N500bn fresh capital in July

In the same vein, GTCO, one of Africa’s leading financial services groups whose shares are listed on the Nigerian Exchange Limited, has unveiled its plan to raise a gross fresh capital of N500 billion.

The Offering which goes live in July 2024 targets both local and foreign investors.

According to the Holding Company, the capital issuance is not focused only on fulfilling the recapitalization obligation of the Central Bank of Nigeria for banks in Nigeria.

“The net proceeds of the Proposed Offering will be used for (i) the growth and expansion of the GTBPLC Group’s businesses. Such planned growth and expansion will be effected through investments in technology infrastructure to fortify existing operations, the establishment of new subsidiaries and selective acquisitions of non-banking businesses; and (ii) the recapitalisation of Guaranty Trust Bank Limited,” GTCO said in a disclosure document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission and NGX Ltd.

GTCO’s filing of the Red Herring Prospectus was undertaken with a concurrent filing of a preliminary universal shelf registration statement. The universal shelf registration will permit GTCO Plc to establish a multi-currency securities issuance programme to issue various types of securities, or any combination of such securities, in one or more offerings, from time to time, to raise proceeds in an aggregate amount of up to U.S.$750 million (or equivalent amount in Nigerian Naira) in the Nigerian/international capital markets during the validity period of the Programme.

“The proposed offering is expected to be the first issuance under the Programme. This notice does not constitute an offer of securities for sale in the United States or to U.S. persons (“U.S. persons”), as such term is defined in Regulation S promulgated under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, (the U.S. Securities Act). The Ordinary Shares being offered have not been, nor will be, registered under the U.S. Securities Act or any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to U.S. persons absent registration or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements,” GTCO explained.

Meanwhile, the number of ordinary shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined but it is structured as an institutional offering targeted at eligible investors and a retail offering within Nigeria (the Nigerian Tranche) and a private placing to persons reasonably believed to be qualified institutional buyers outside Nigeria (the International Tranche).

An application will be filed for the approval of the Board of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) with respect to the listing and admission to trading of the Ordinary Shares on the NGX Official List.

GTCO reported a whopping 696.1 percent y/y rise in EPS to N16.24 in first quarter of 2024.The impressive growth in Holdco’s earnings was driven primarily by the fair value gain on the group’s financial instruments (N331.55 billion | Q1-23: loss of N99.00 million) coupled with expansion in its funded income line (+170.6% y/y).

Interest income advanced by 170.6 percent y/y to N281.65 billion, boosted by higher income from loans and advances to customers (+91.0% y/y), investment securities (+307.5% y/y) and cash and balances with banks (+265.9% y/y). We note that the Holdco’s earning asset increased by 104.3 percent YTD to N10.18 trillion as the high-yielding environment also supported growth in core income.

Sequentially, interest expense rose by 147.9 percent y/y to N54.35 billion, primarily driven by the higher interest paid on customer deposits (+141.0% y/y) as the group’s deposits surged to N9.20 trillion (YTD: +87.3%). We however note that Holdco recorded a slight deterioration of its funding mix (CASA as at Q1-24: 88.3% vs FY-23: 88.6%).

Accordingly, Holdco recorded a 176.7 percent y/y increase in net interest income. Following higher charges for loan impairments (+291.8% y/y), the net Interest income (ex-LLE) settled at N213.81 billion, translating to a 171.7 percent y/y growth.

The GTCO Plc group maintains direct and indirect investments in a network of operating entities located in 10 countries across Africa and the United Kingdom. Within these regions, the operating entities provide a comprehensive range of commercial banking and related financial services to millions of retail, institutional, private banking and wealth management customers, in addition to asset management, pension fund administration and payment technology businesses.