www.finabiz.com/top-10-performing-stocks-3/
On the top 10 performing stocks were the shares of Vono Products Plc, Champion Breweries Plc, Continental Reinsurance Plc, R.T Briscoe Nig. Plc, Caverton Offshore Support Services Plc and Seplat Petroleum Dev Co. Plc. Others were Omoluabi Savings and Loans Plc, Fidson Healthcare Plc, Aiico Insurance Plc and Guinness Nigeria Plc.

Vono Products Plc led the pack with 24.44 percent or N0.22 gains, closing at N1.12 from N0.90 per share. Following years of low-key performance, the company recently launched a new brand identity, a move that was aimed at helping the company reclaim its market share in the mattress and furniture business.

The Vono brand was before two decades ago, a household name for beds and mattresses in Nigeria, but lost its bearing in the market due to some factors ranging from poor management to government neglect of institutions and economic downturn in the country which took its turn in reduction of purchasing power of con­ sumers.

Today, the brand is back in the market with new packaged beds, headboards, unique relaxing and confer­ ence chairs to cater for the needs of hospitality, offices and homes and institutions (HOI) businesses. Despite this, the company relapsed back to loss position after returning to profitability in 2013.

It had in 2013 returned to profitability after recording losses a year earlier. Breakdown of its nine months financial statement to September 2014 showed that Vono posted 5.7 percent growth in revenue to N889.67 million from N841.41 million in 2012. It reported loss after tax of N5.16 million from another N4.88 million losses in 2013. 2014 Vono Product is involved in the manufacturing of mattresses and bedsprings. The company provides metal furniture, beds, interior spring mattresses, foam and foam products, vehicle seats, and rests chairs.

Champion Breweries Plc followed with 18.31 percent or N1.08 increase, closing at N6.98 from N5.90 per share. The Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, last week admitted 6.3 billion ordinary shares of the company for trading, following the conclusion of N11.65 billion rights issue on September 2014. The company had offered seven new ordinary shares for every ordinary share held as of the close of business on Wednesday, May 7, 2014 at N1.85 per share to its existing shareholders.

According to the distiller, the net proceeds of the issue will be used to repay the existing debt and reduce the interest burden which will potentially enhance the company’s operations and reposition it for profitability and growth. Two years ago, Heineken, the parent company of Nigerian Breweries Plc, bought controlling interest in Champion Breweries. Before the acquisition, Champion was struggling with problem of inadequate working capital, low productivity, poor market share and low employee morale.

Continental Reinsurance trailed closely behind with 17.24 percent or N0.15 appreciation to close at N1.02 from N0.87 it started the week at. The NSE last year fined the underwriter N900, 000 (Nine Hundred Thousand Naira) as a result of its failure to file its 2013 financial statement on time though it was one of the 39 insurance companies that scaled the International Financial Reporting Standard, IFRS, as listed by NAICOM.

R.T Briscoe garnered 16.67 percent or N0.11 increase to close at N0.77 from N0.66 per share; Caverton advanced by 16.33 per cent or N0.49 to close at N3.49 from N3.00 per share; Seplat, which was last week included in the NSE 30 Index, appreciated by 15.18 percent or N48.90, closing at N371.01 from N322.11 per share.

Omoluabi Saving, an ASeM listed security that has been enjoying investors’ patronage for some time now, recorded 15 percent or N0.15 price appreciation to close at N0.92 from N0.80 per share; Fidson followed with 14.71 percent or N0.50 gains to close at N3.90 from N3.40; Aiico went up by 12.50 percent or N0.09 kobo to close at N0.81 from N0.72 per share, while Guinness Nig advanced by 10.72 percent or N16.28 to close at N168.15 from N151.87 per share.