SSB
Bank records increase in profits
GSE
All-Share Index jumps on gains by GCB, SSB
Accra
(Greater Accra), 2 March 2000
Pre and
post-election periods have been described as bad times for the Ghana Stock
Exchange, as foreigners pull out of the stock market giving it a negative growth.
Mr. Felix
Anyinsah, Head of Merban Stock brokers Limited (MSL) made the observation at a
day's seminar organised by Merchant Bank Ghana Limited at the on-going seventh
International Trade fair on Wednesday.
The seminar
was aimed at introducing participants to the bank's products and its
contributions to developments in the capital city and money market operations.
He
mentioned 1991, 1992, 1995 and 1996 as years within which the stock market
recorded negative growth, adding that last year the market recorded -15.2 per
cent growth.
Mr Anyinsah
said that a similar situation is expected this year, adding, however, that this
is the best period for individuals and organisations to invest in the stock
market since falling share prices always shoot up after an election year.
He said the
Asian crisis and the fall in gold and cocoa prices in 1999 also gave a negative
impact to trading on Ghana's stock market.
In spite of
all the problems, returns on the stock market were far better than returns in
treasury bills and changing cedis into dollars in anticipation of the
devaluation of the cedi.
In 1998, Mr
Anyinsah said, the GSE had 69.9 per cent return while the return on the
Treasury bill was 49 per cent and the cedi devaluation was 41 percent.
He said the
government's aim of reducing the current inflation rate would boost the
confidence of foreigners in the GSE.
The MSL
head said the stock market's current capitalisation was 1.4 billion dollars and
said the bank sponsored 11 out of the 22 listed equities on the market.
Mr Anyinsah
said the bank was responsible for about 50 per cent of the companies listed on
the GSE, naming the Ashanti Goldfields Company (AGC), Super Paper Products
Company (SPPC), SSB bank Limited and Mechanical Lloyd Company
(MLC).
Mrs
Felicity Acquah, Senior Corporate Relations/Research Officer, said that the
bank had established an export desk to give advice to clients in the export
business.
She said
the desk would also source adequate foreign currency, link local exporters to
foreign importers and offer a lot of waivers to clients in the sector.
The bank
would not demand that customers should have been with them for some time; all
you need is a good export business, she added.
"Recent
trends in the economy have made it possible for us to create the small, medium
enterprise (SME) department as well as the export desk in order to propel the
growth of the non-traditional export sector of the economy.
"The
bank is being re-organized to help it
to be competitive on the market.
"What
we are going through now is not restructuring but right sizing, after that
profits would definitely go up", Mrs Acquah said.
She said
the Bank would be listed on the GSE within the next two years.
GRi
Accra (Greater Accra), 2 March 2000
SSB Bank's
(SSB) profit after tax for 1999 went up by 34 per cent from 40,185 million
cedis to 29,942 million cedis in 1998.
The Bank's audited results for the year
1999 released through the Ghana Stock Exchange in Accra on Wednesday said
operating profit before tax in 1999 was 60,050 million cedis, 25 per cent up on
48,215 million cedis recorded in the previous year.
It pegged the total operating income at
126,288 million cedis, 18 per cent higher than the 107,287 million cedis
recorded in 1998.
Net interest income was 97,108 million
cedis, 13 per cent up on 85,995 million cedis for the previous year.
The statement attributed the 13 per cent
increase to a higher volume of advances from 161.3 billion cedis at the end of
1998 to 274 billion cedis in 1999 and a 350 per cent increase in volume of
off-balance sheet transactions.
It said income tax went up by nine per
cent from 18,273 million cedis to 19,865 million cedis.
Earnings per share increased by 38 per
cent from 421 cedis to 581 cedis out of which the Board of Directors has
recommended a dividend per share of 240 cedis.
SSB shares were quoted on the stock
market at 1,985 cedis a share on Wednesday. It gained five cedis.
GRi
Accra (Greater Accra), 2 March 2000
The Ghana
Stock Exchange All-Share Index jumped by nearly two points in trading on
Wednesday on the back of gains by two equities with high market capitalisation
although the volume of trade remained low.
The GSE All-Share Index, the main market
indicator, climbed by 1.58 points to 741.31 points and the change for the year
also jumped from .48 per cent to .70 per cent.
SSB Bank,
the third most capitalised equity, gained five cedis at 1,985 cedis while Ghana
Commercial Bank, the fourth most capitalised equity, regained the 13 cedis it
lost last Monday to close trading at 748 cedis.
Volume of
trade went down from 103,800 to 94,210 shares while bids remained low at
117,710 shares from 105,600 on Monday.
Offers
remained well ahead of bids at 884,230 compared with 927,900 on Monday.
Market
capitalisation was up at 3,213.53 billion cedes, from 3,211.03 billion cedis on
Monday.
On the
broader market, there were only two changes, gains by GCB and SSB, with 13
equities still in the shadow of negative pressures. Only one equity, Accra
Brewery Limited had positive on it.
The following are the last prices of
listed equities in cedis:
ABL 470
AGC 18,700
ALW 2,489
BAT 464
CFAO
42
EIC 1,880
FML 935
GBL 1,450
GCB 748 +13
GGL 974
HFC 760
MGL 200
MLC 150
MOGL 14,500
PAF 294
PZ 800
SCB 19,200
SPPC 150
SSB 1,985 +5
UNIL 1,849
UTC-E 125
CMLT
421
GRi
Accra, March 1, GNA - Ghana's adoption of
the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Agreement on Customs Valuation (AVC) would
enable her to gradually integrate herself into the global trading system which
is a necessary pre-requisite for attracting investment and positive credit
rating.
Mr Dan Abodakpi, Minister of Trade and
Industry, said in a speech read for him in Accra on Wednesday by the Deputy
Minister Commander P.M. Griffiths (rtd) that the nation is therefore committed
to abiding by all agreements, which have been signed and ratified.
The speech was read at a day's seminar
organised by the Ghana Shippers' Council (GSC) in collaboration with the
Gateway Secretariat and the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS). It
was for importers and freight forwarders on the new WTO valuation system, the
Destination Inspection Scheme.
The new system, which takes effect from
April one, would be implemented in Ghana through the adoption of a three
dimensional and integrated scheme comprising Price Database System, Computer
Risk Management Systems and the Container X-ray Scanning Operation that would
eliminate the physical inspection of goods for speedy clearance.
The system also replaces the Pre-Shipment
Inspection Scheme and the Commissioner's value and would, among other things,
provide an efficient verification of
imports and limit opportunities for fraud, fiscal evasion and price
discrimination.
Mr Abodakpi said by implementing the new
system, the playing field will be level for all categories of business
operators.
He said in signing the agreement, Ghana
made sure that its implementation would not have any negative impact on
socio-economic direction that may in turn adversely affect the quality of life
of the people.
Mr Abodakpi said under the agreement
signatories are to adopt transaction value as the basis for customs valuation
for duty purposes. But since developing countries derive over 60 per cent of
their revenue from trade taxes, they were granted the dispensation to defer the
implementation of transaction values until January one.
The Minister said Ghana accordingly
delayed implementation to April one to enable the necessary measures to be put
in place as a safeguard against possible loss of government revenue.
The current valuation system under the
Brussels Definition of Value (BDV), that is the pre-shipment and Commissioner's
Value, as applicable in Ghana provides a minimum basis for valuation by CEPS
and allows the service to readily
override
what it perceives to be under-valuation of imports relative to actual
transaction.
Mr Kofi Mbiah, Chief Executive of the
GSC, noted that the issue of valuation for assessment of customs duty is very
important viewed against the backdrop of the dependence on imports for
development programmes.
"The subject is important because it
is one area fraught with a lot of uncertainties, shrouded in obscurity and very
often the cause of dissatisfaction among the trading and shipping
community."
Mr Mbiah cautioned against seeing
the system as "a slavish acceptance" of all concepts enshrined in the
WTO agreement in view of recent publications in some dailies that criticised
Ghana' choice of the WTO valuation system.
He described the WTO as the main
organ of governance and management of global trade in spite of "the
Seattle debacle."
"Ghana cannot survive in
isolation in the current WTO global village.
The fact
that some aspects of the overall world trade agreement are undergoing scrutiny
and refinement is no basis for condemnation of the entire WTO system."
GRi