The Director General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Professor Ndi Okereke Onyiuke, has given reasons why the Exchange would not delist quoted but dormant companies.

She said that such companies could later bounce back into reckoning and described their shares traded on the floors of the Exchange as possible goldmine.

According to her, investors do not see such companies as dormant but rather as an opportunity waiting to be tapped. “Those companies that you see as dormant, investors see them as opportunity. They buy into these companies, take them over and manage them properly and make good money”.
Okereke Onyiuke further said that “because they can bounce back, that is why speculators still buy their shares.

We can not delist them unless after two years they don’t come to give us their reports, we can then start the process of delisting. In fact, she said that they could be a goldmine when core investors take over and revive them as in the case of Costain West Africa PLC, the Stock Exchange market boss submitted.

However, most traders on stocks lack the courage to invest on dormant stocks which sometimes turnout to be the investor’s bride. Some even say that such stocks should be clearly marked down and defined to be dormant in order to safeguard the interest of uninformed investing public.

Stock brokers who spoke to Daily Sun as to whether trading on stocks of dormant companies should be fully suspended said that there was nothing wrong about trading the stocks of dormant companies on the floor of the exchange.

Mr. Jire Oyewole, general manager of Centre Point Investments Limited insisted that the fact that a company was not in active operation did not mean that it was no longer valuable. According to him a company might have closed operations but might still have “quoted and unquoted investments”.
He pointed out that because of their assets, people might still be interested in such a company, adding that chances were that core investors might come in and revive it.

In similar vein, Mr. Tunde Oyediran of Chart Well Securities also submitted that stocks of dormant companies should still be traded on the floor of the exchange. He said “take Nigerian Wire and Cable for instance. The company was out of active business for a long period until new investors came and turned the company around and now the company is doing well”.

However Mr. Stephen Anyanwu was of the opinion that the price in which such stock was traded should reflect the accurate value, because the physical indices on the ground were what determine value of stocks. In the case of dormant companies, Anyanwu said, the indices could not be said to be favourable.
Anyanwu who is the head of administration in Adonai Stock Brokers noted that the value in which any stock was presented to the investing public must be fair and just as to reflect the situation on ground.