GRi Business 02-03-99

Accra, (Greater Accra) 1 March  

The slide of the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) continued on Monday as the main market indicator the GSE All-Share index slid further in a dull session.

The market indicator lost another 5.3 points to bring the index at the beginning of the week to 856.73. The GSE went down by 5.3 points on Friday to close trading at 862.03 points. The change for the year remained at minus 1.34 per cent. Volume of shares traded during the day finished lower at 29,300, a further indication of loss of investor interest, compared to the 93,000 shares on Friday. Offers stood at 2,768,640 down from Friday's figure of 3,232,130 but bids were up slightly at 425,900 compared to Friday's 397,200. Market capitalisation was lower at 3,302.14 billion cedis down from Friday's close of 3,318.79 billion cedis.

In the broader market, two equities made gains while four others were at the losing end.

Ghana Breweries Limited (GBL) and Uniliver Company Limited (UNIL) were the only gainers making 150 cedis and 45 cedis to finish trading at 2,000 cedis and 1,800 cedis respectively.

Accra Brewery Limited (ABL) lost 200 cedis to close at 800 cedis, Guinness Ghana Limited lost 100 cedis to finish trading at 1,000 cedis and SSB Bank lost one cedi to close at 1,999 cedis.

Pioneer Aluminium Factory (PAF), which issued its 1998 result on Monday, lost 50 cedis to end at 350 cedis. PAF's profit after tax was down at 575.3 million cedis compared with 774.2 million cedis last year. Earnings per share came to 34.95 cedis compared with 47 cedis in 1997 while dividend per share remained at 30 cedis.

Paterson Zochonis (PZ), which also issued its results through the exchange, recorded a turnover of 17.7 billion cedis, up 11 per cent over the 1997 figure of 16 billion cedis. Profit after tax was put at 1.29 billion cedis, up 12 per cent on 1.15 billion cedis recorded in 1997. Earnings per share were put at 46.37 cedis, up on the 1997 figure of 41.39 cedis.

The following are the last prices of listed equities in cedis:

ABL 600 -200

AGC 18,700

ALW 2,600

CFAO 56

EIC 2,010

FML 1,450

GBL 2,000 +150

GCB 1,000

GGL 1,000 -100

HFC 750

MGL 225

MLC 245

MOGL 17,000

PAF 350 -50

PTC 415

PZ 850

SCB 24,000

SPPC 244

SSB 1,999 -1

UNIL 1,800 +45

UTC-E 125

Accra (Greater Accra), 2 March  

A 15-member group from the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry is to pay a working visit to Ghana from March three to nine, the second in 12 months.

A press release from the British High Commission said the group would hold discussions with local organisations and the business community during their stay. It said members represent a wide range of business sectors from corporate gifts to hair colorants, software to specialised equipment and tools to training courses. The group also includes manufacturers and suppliers of switches, polymers, telecommunication equipment, fragrances and flavours, kit for the construction industry, pumps and welding wire.

Ms Rosy Wilkie, UK Mission Manager in Ghana, said "London Chamber of Commerce is delighted to be returning to Ghana as it is an important trading partner for the United Kingdom (UK)".

She said "I am confident companies represented in this group will have fruitful discussions with local business and organisations during the week".

Accra, (Greater Accra) 2 March

 The Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of West African States on Monday called on West African countries to pursue co-ordinated and harmonised economic management policies to ensure the physical integration of the sub-region.

Mr Lansana Kouyate noted that "without such a deliberate attempt at building a regional system of economic relations and interaction, the mere elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers will be of little or no effect.

Mr Kouyate made these remarks at a Regional Conference on Economic Co-operation Through Trade at the second ECOWAS Trade Fair underway at the Ghana International Trade Fair Centre (GITFC).

Conscious regional policies are being pursued to develop an inter-dependent production network.

Mr Kouyate said trade matters are central to regional economic co-operation adding that regional infrastructure programmes are being adopted to ensure the physical integration of the region.

"Trade co-operation is important because the development of regional trade will stimulate competition and engender economic dynamism".

He said trade liberalisation that results from regional co-operation efforts eliminate domestic protection and challenges genuine entrepreneurs.

Mr Kouyate said the expansion of the national markets through the reduction of tariff barriers gives an impetus to the exploitation and development of the resource potentials of the region.

The Executive Secretary said this stimulates economic growth and the creation of additional wealth.

"In this modern economy where technology favours big business and large scale production, the transformation of tiny national markets into large regional economy encourages the achievement of economies of scale", Mr Kouyate added.

Mr Kouyate announced that ECOWAS, in partnership with Mooregate is organising to focus attention on business opportunities in the sub-region.

In this connection a series of meetings, seminars, workshops and ministerial conference and an exhibition will be organised from November 24 to 26 in London on Solid Mineral Resource of West Africa.

Opening the conference, Dr. John Abu Minister of Trade and Industry, called for strong policy measures in all member countries to promote the level of cross border trade.

He Said intra-regional trade is low at about 10 per cent of total trade in West Africa compared with the European Union's over 60 per cent.

"Co-operation and regional integration is increasingly becoming an important stepping-stone towards full integration of regional economies".

Dr. Abu suggested the re-orientation towards co-operation and economic integration, which centre on trade liberalisation, exchange of development experiences, mutual support and assistance, inter-enterprise and business level co-operation and technical assistance among other things.

"All these modalities of co-operation which are creating viable economic spaces, contribute directly to the resilience and buoyancy of the world economy "The pronounced trend of regionalisation in recent years can also be seen as an implicit insurance policy for developing countries in the globalisation and the liberalisation process.

He asked member states, who celebrate their national days and regional workshops not only to highlight on their national economic and cultural potentials but also to draw attention to our '' fragile sub-regional economic integration and come out with measures to help build a tangible meaningful sub-regional integration".