By Chinwendu Obienyi
Despite the poor performance of the Nigerian stock market in the first quarter (Q1) of 2021, the shares of Champion Breweries and Guinness rose by more than 229 per cent year-to-date (ytd) in the three months.
Analysts had expected a positive outing for equities in Q1 2021 after a bullish trend in 2020 but with a positive annual reporting season which provided investors with the opportunity to earn remarkable dividend from some top-performing companies, compared to the less risky government fixed-income market, the NSE All Share Index (ASI) closed the first quarter of 2021 in red, as a result of sustained sell-offs in the market, driven by the rising yield in the fixed income space.
However, Daily Sun investigations revealed that Champion Breweries Plc emerged one of the best-performing stocks on the bourse, with Ytd gains in excess of 155 per cent in less than 96 days of 2021. The brewery stock has lost more than half of its value when compared with its 52-week high price of N4.13. In recent times, the shares of the company had dropped down to a low of N1.68, presenting bargain hunters with an upside potential of about 55 per cent should Heineken launch a takeover bid of N2.60 per share.
This expectation according to market operators looked reasonable, as Heineken recently acquired 24.3 per cent of the total issued shares of the brewer at N2.6 per share in the second week of January 2021, while the news of the acquisition saw the shares of Champion Breweries surge by more than 350 per cent in less than a month.
