25 CEOs shine as BusinessDay recognises performance on NSE

An extraordinary glint of glamour pervaded the  Wheatbaker Hotel Ikoyi Lagos, Friday night,as the cream of Nigeria’s business community converged there to partake in this year’s edition of BusinessDay’s prestigious  ‘Top 25 CEOs Awards’.

The awards have gained increasing recognition and acceptance among CEOs of quoted companies in Nigeria and this year’s award dinner was exclusively sponsored by Microsoft Lumia.

Among the awardees present at the event were Sola David-Borha CEO, MD Stanbic IBTC Holdings ; Adeyemi Razack Adeola, CEO of Sterling Bank; Henry James Semenitari CEO, Unity Bank; Jubril Aku, CEO, Ecobank  and Leonard Palka, MD, CEO Ashaka Cement. 

Others were Patrick Illodianya, MD Skye Shelter Fund;

Adekunle Abibu, MD Pharma Deko; Fidelis Ayebae, MD, Fidson Health  and George Papachristou, CEO Beta Glass.

 

Others were Akin Akinfemiwa, Group CEO Forte Oil; Oluwole Osmington, MD CEO of Custodian and Allied plc; Gus wiggle, MD, CEO of Linkage Assurance;

Bisi Otegbeye, MD, CEO Regency Alliance Insurance;

Ademola Aladekomo, Group MD Chams plc and

Damilola Ajayi MD CEO of Newgold Exchange.

As part of the Criteria for selection, awardee companies had to have outperformed the NSE All Share Index, be known to have presented quarterly results in a timely manner, and recorded considerable progress in their Q3 results.

Teliat Sule, BusinessDay senior research analyst,said,  “the awards are meant to celebrate the CEOs who have contributed to the capital market growth in the financial year , and to engender competition among the listed firms, and encourage them to release results timely”.

BusinessDay also recognised top growth companies and their CEOs, who are “the ones  to watch this year.” 

The CEOs to watch include Bola Akindele, group managing director Courtville Business Solutions, Paul Bissohong, MD of MRS Oil, Alf Karlsen, MD, CEO, Cement Company of Northern Nigeria, Rose Okwechime, MD Abbey Building Society, Emma Ndu, MD CEO C&I Leasing plc.

The annual event is being coordinated by BusinessDay Research and Intelligence Unit (BRIU) and BusinessDay Conferences and Events.

It was introduced in order to recognise and celebrate the chief executive officers of listed companies on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) who contributed to the progress of the Nigerian capital market yearly. Winners are selected from over 200 listed companies on the NSE after they have successfully met the criteria set up by the Award Committee.

Speaking earlier on the partnership, Kabelo Makwane, Managing Director, Microsoft Nigeria, said, “We are quite excited at the opportunity to collaborate with top CEOs who have contributed immensely to Nigeria’s economic advancement. We look forward to interacting with these captains of industry and understanding how technology can enable their business success.

“As the platform and productivity company in the cloud first mobile first world, we believe in excellence which is why we continually develop products, solutions and services that help individuals and organisations do more and be more.”

To be selected for screening, the share prices of the listed companies should have outperformed the NSE’s All Share Index (ASI) of which the worst case scenario is a zero growth because ASI closed in the red last year at negative 16 percent; companies must have released their quarterly results timely, and recorded improvement in profit after tax (PAT) in their latest quarterly results.

Four companies from the banking sub sector made the list this year. The four banks collectively made N80.13 billion as PAT as at Q3 end 2014. That was 57 percent better than N50.89 billion PAT they realised in comparable period in 2013. In addition, they added N93.33 billion to their market capitalisation last year.

A winner each emerged from the cement and food and beverages sub sectors, just as there are three winners from the healthcare sector. The three firms made N672 million PAT as at Q3 2014 as against N390 million they realised in comparable period in 2013. Their market capitalisation increased by N1.75 billion within the last financial year.

Two CEOs claimed the industrial sector awards. Their PAT for the period stood at N1.46 billion as against N1.05 billion in the corresponding period in 2103 and in addition to that, added N6.67 billion to their market capitalisation.

The CEOs of six insurance companies made it on the award list. Collectively, their Q3 2014 PAT stood at N5.49 billion compared with N3.33 billion in comparable period in 2014. Most of the quoted insurance companies are presently trading at their nominal values, therefore only one added N9.05 billion to his company’s market capitalisation in 2014.

Other winners are the CEOs a microfinance bank, two oil and gas firms, a printing press, and two IT firms. The CEO of one of the oil and gas firms has now won the award back to back.

EDOZIE IFEBI