August 20, (THEWILL) – Transcorp Power Limited has consolidated its position in Nigeria’s power sector as it acquired a 60 percent stake in Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), raising hope of improved supply in the territory.
The group has made significant inroads in the sector towards improving Nigeria’s epileptic power supply which has been the bane of the nation’s poor economic development.
Following the acquisition, Christopher Ezeafulukwe, the Managing Director/CEO of Transcorp Power Limited, has been appointed as the new Managing Director/CEO of AEDC.
Transcorp Group, whose biggest shareholder is businessman Tony Elumelu, is one of Nigeria’s leading conglomerates with investments in the hospitality, power, and oil and gas sectors.
In a strategic move that further consolidates Transcorp’s position within the Nigerian power sector, Mr Ezeafulukwe’s appointment follows the acquisition of the stake in AEDC by a Transcorp-led consortium.
Prior to his appointment as the MD/CEO of AEDC, Mr Ezeafulukwe was the MD/CEO of Transcorp Power Ltd, Ughelli, a 972-MW thermal plant.
Under his leadership, the company said Transcorp Power Ltd consistently led the Nigerian power sector, being the first successor power company from the 2013 power privatisation programme, to be discharged from post-privatisation monitoring by the National Council on Privatisation, having surpassed the expectations of the Council.
The Ughelli Power plant, which Transcorp Group acquired during the privatisation of the power sector in 2013, demonstrates the group’s transformative prowess, the company said.
“The plant’s available capacity, which stood at 160MW on acquisition, increased by 227 per cent to 680.83MW in 4 years, surpassing the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) five-year target of 670MW.
“With Ezeafulukwe’s proven capabilities and extensive experience, he will play a pivotal role in rejuvenating AEDC, the supplier of power to the nation’s capital,” it added.
Transcorp Group said its commitment to improving lives and transforming societies remains resolute. The Group’s subsidiaries, including Transafam Power Limited and Transcorp Hotels Plc, owners of Transcorp Hilton Abuja, have demonstrated continued value creation and a dedication to creating both economic and social wealth.
With a combined market capitalisation exceeding N540 billion, the Group continues to demonstrate the Africapitalism philosophy of its Group Chair – Tony Elumelu.
This will impact positively on the stock of Transcorp which has been on the rise, contributing to the bullish trend of the equities market since the year.
The current share price of Transcorp Nigeria is N4.10. But it closed its last trading day (Thursday, August 17, 2023) at N4.01 per share on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), recording a 0.2% gain over its previous closing price of 4.00 NGN. Transcorp began the year with a share price of N1.13 and has since gained 255% on that price valuation, ranking it 10th on the NGX in terms of year-to-date performance.
Thus, Transcorp Nigeria ranks sixth most traded stock on the Nigerian Exchange over the past three months (May 17 – Aug 18, 2023). THEWILL findings show that it has traded a total volume of 2.26 billion shares—in 18,849 deals—valued at N8.29 billion over the period, with an average of 35.9 million traded shares per session. A volume high of 156 million was achieved on July 10th, and a low of 5.9 million on June 8th, for the same period.
“Their push into the power sector is a good move. That sector is a very critical one in Nigeria because it is the driver of economic production and determines the extent of industrialisation that would occur in the country. The Transcorp stock is rising and this reflects in the financials which have been impressive,” said Ken Uruwem, a financial analyst.
Transcorp grew its post-tax profit by 203 percent in three years from N2.38 billion in 2020 to N7.21 billion in 2022, while its revenue also recorded an upward trend to N8.43 billion in 2022 from N2.72 billion in 2020, an increase of 210 percent.
Uruwem said shareholders of Transcorp will enjoy an appreciable return on investment which has shown impressive performance in the past three years with earnings per share (EPS) rising to 18 kobo in 2022 from 6 kobo in 2020 a rise of 200 percent.
THEWILL recalls that AEDC was among the 11 electricity distribution companies that emerged from the 2013 privatisation of the sector following the unbundling of the state-owned Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).
Since coming on stream, the AEDC, like most other distribution companies, has struggled to improve power supply to its consumers and failed to break even.
