The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has reported an 8 per cent decline in revenue for the financial year ended December 31, 2018, due to political and economic uncertainties. The Chief Executive Officer of the NSE, Mr Oscar Onyema, who made the disclosure on Monday at the 58th Annual General Meeting of the exchange, held in Lagos, said the Exchange recorded N7.67 billion in revenue compared with N8.30 billion achieved in the corresponding period in 2017.
He attributed the decline to uncertainties as investors sought guaranteed investment asset classes.
Onyema added that the listings revenue stream was the most impacted with a drop of 21 per cent to N1.4 billion during the period under review.
He stated that transaction fees influenced by capital market trends within the period, declined to N3.3 billion during the period under review.
According to him, the exchange witnessed a 47.6 per cent increase in foreign outflows of N642.65 billion, compared with N435.31 billion in the corresponding period in 2017. He attributed the development to flight to quality by foreign investors in search of higher yielding assets with lower risks in developed countries.
Onyema noted that the situation was intensified by the political risks associated with the February presidential elections, stressing that the Federal Government had during the period borrowed N1.2 trillion to finance fiscal and infrastructure deficits.
The NSE boss added that State governments and corporates raised a total of N157 billion from the NSE during the period under review.
“We believe this level of activity validates our position as a competitive capital-raising platform for both business and government issuers to finance various economic activities. On NSE’s outlook for 2019, he stated that the the Nigerian bourse’s future revenues and net income streams would continue to be influenced by key domestic and international market forces like pricing, product features and regulatory changes.