Ghana seeking partnership to process cocoa
Accra Bourse index slides down
Accra (Greater Accra) 25 October 2001 - The gold industry has lost its lustre and has to struggle hard to attract and retain the interest of the investor community, Dr Sam Jonah, Chief Executive Officer of Ashanti Goldfields Company, said on Tuesday.
"Over the last four years, gold stocks have lost an average of 67 per cent of their value with the entire capitalisation of gold mining companies being only 26 billion US dollars."
This is because potential investors see negative pictures about the African continent everyday and this had made them to be suspicious and difficult to impress, Dr Jonah said at the anniversary lecture of the Institute of Public Relations in Accra.
In January 1980, gold price stood at 850 US dollars an ounce but currently the same weight of the mineral is sold at US 281 dollars at the world market. "In comparison, America OnLine, a new economic company had a market capitalisation of 83 billion US dollars before its recent merger with Time Warner. Coca Cola's capitalisation stood at 111 billion US dollars, and this is a business based largely on water, sugar and colouring."
Dr Jonah said though the macro-economic conditions that would have contributed to a substantial increase in gold price have taken place the price of the mineral continued to slide downwards.
"These factors include the world-wide recession, the collapse of the equities market, the terrible event of September 11, the ongoing war against terrorism and fears about biological warfare."
Dr Jonah said before 1994, Ashanti was a private company owned 55 per cent by the Ghanaian government and 45 per cent by Lonrho, now Lonmin.
In 1994, Ashanti became public company with the government selling its interest and retaining 20 per cent. "From dealing with essentially two shareholders, Ashanti now had to deal with literally thousands of shareholders world-wide, an army of analysts and brokers, fund managers and bankers in the various stock exchanges.
He said one contributory factor was that the principle of stock management was not understood in the Ghanaian market where stocks are bought and kept as part of the family jewels or heirlooms.
"Most of the small shareholders who bought at the time of the listing when the price was 20 US dollars still kept them even though the price went as high as 27 dollars."
Dr Jonah said the industry has taken the responsibility to educate the public about the intricacies of share holding as the Ghanaian shareholder represents about one per cent of the value of the share holding in Ashanti.
"The battle to win the hearts and minds of a dwindling share holding base has forced us to implement investor relations strategies based on regular presentation of credible, verifiable and comprehensive information to the investment community."
GRi../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra) 25 October 2001 - Ghana is seeking partnerships with companies that utilise cocoa in their products to add more value to the cash crop to increase the country's earnings.
President John Agyekum Kufuor on Wednesday told the visiting Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) of Cadbury Schweppes Plc that Ghana could capture the cocoa market in the sub-region and beyond with such fruitful partnerships.
"Cadbury is one of the pioneer companies which utilises Ghana's cocoa and over the years you have helped us to maintain the quality. You should now help us to add more value to the crop for our mutual benefit."
Ghana, the President said was moving in the right direction to facilitate economic growth, adding that, Cadbury should expand its base in Ghana and use its rich market experience to reach the others in the sub-region.
Mr Sunderland, who arrived in Ghana on Monday, said his visit had been productive and he had had fruitful discussions with ministers of state and other officials.
"Our relationship which spans over 100 years is well cemented and we intend to increase our production levels in Ghana," he said.
Cadbury Schweppes has had a long historical relationship with Ghana dating back to the early 1900s, which has continued to date with Cadbury's continuous use of Ghana's cocoa as a major ingredient in the manufacture of the world's famous Cadbury range of chocolate products.
GRi../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra) 25 October 2001 - The Ghana Stock Exchange All-Share Index, the main market indicator, slipped in mid-week trading on Wednesday after it closed unchanged on Monday in dull trading.
The index closed down marginally by 0.05 points to finish 961.00 points from 961.05 points, as the market continued to feel the pressure of heavy bearish sentiments.
The market was generally dull and shares that changed hands fell to 25,500 from 105,400 shares, underscoring the absence of institutional investors. There were two price changes - one up one down. British American Tobacco gained one cedi at 627 cedis while Ghana Commercial Bank lost one cedi at 1,550 cedis.
Market capitalisation was down slightly at 3,913.82 billion cedis as against 3,913.91 billion cedis at the previous close. Below are the closing prices of the listed equities in cedis:
ABL 320
AGC 18,800
ALW 4,300
BAT 627 +1
CFAO 60
EIC 3,000
FML 950
GBL 1,300
GCB 1,550 -1
GGL 900
HFC 952
MGL 240
MLC 145
MOGL 18,000
PAF 800
PBC 450
PZ 1,000
SCB 20,500
SPPC 340
SSB 2,300
UNIL 2,300
CMLT 430
GRi./
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com