Camelot to be listed on Stock Exchange

Accra (Greater Accra) 30 July ’99

Three years after the last listing on the Ghana Stock Exchange, another company is ready to add its name to the Accra bourse.

Camelot Ghana Limited a local computer paper manufacturer will bring the number of equities listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange to 22.

About 26 per cent of the company's shares will be floated to the general public at the initial public offer, to raise a total of 700 million cedis to increase working capital towards its expansion programme and offset debts.

The shares will be the first to be underwritten by CDH Securities, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CDH Financial Holdings Limited. All other equities were issued on best-effort basis.

Speaking at a meeting in Accra on Thursday, Mrs Elizabeth Villars, Managing Director, said since its establishment in 1977, the company has had to adopt strategies to meet demand and to stay in competition and expand.

For example, operations began with the importation of printed rolls of listing paper and commercial reels that were collated locally.

It moved from importing to printing its own listing paper and customised forms, and has now introduced security printing processes with fluorescent ink features and magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) numbering.

Currently, it is the only company in the country printing MICR cheques for the Bank of Ghana.

As a result of these and other innovative programmes, it has captured 75 per cent of the Ghanaian market and exports its products to some West African countries, including Togo, Cote d'Ivoire and Benin. It hopes to command about 85 per cent of the local market after the shares offer.

Mrs. Villars said despite the steady growth, the absence of long-term capital and high cost of borrowing has made it difficult for Camelot to compete with emerging companies.

Giving figures, the MD said the company paid about 90 million cedis as interest last year, while bank charges and commercial activities were fixed at 10 million cedis.

Mr Villars said the high interest being paid by the company to creditors could go to shareholders as dividend, while the company itself could proceed with its expansion programmes and become more profitable.

The company currently has 18 shareholders.

Mr Fred Apaloo, Managing Director, CDH Financial Holdings Limited, said liquidity on the stock market has gone down considerably.

He said this is irrespective of the fact that interest rates have come down, and the economy has improved.

Mr Apaloo said the future looks bright and expressed the hope that the market will improve with the listing of Camelot, among other things.

Brokers said investors should not panic because of the market's performance.

"The year is not ended, and the listing of Camelot is a welcome idea, since it would enable investors to have more variety to choose from," one broker said.

GRi../