GlaxoSmithKline Nigeria Heads for 22-Month Low on Dividends
GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria Plc (GLAXOSMI), the local unit of the U.K.’s biggest drugmaker, headed for its lowest level in 22 months after the company’s dividend announcement fell below investors’ expectations.
The stock dropped 5 percent to 20.90 naira at 14.31 p.m. in Lagos, the commercial capital, on course for its lowest since April 2010. The shares have declined 9 percent this year, compared with a 3 percent retreat in the Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
GlaxoSmithKline will pay a 1.20-naira per share dividend for the 2011 full-year, the company said in a statement published on the website of the Nigerian Stock Exchange today.
The dividend “is too small for a 21-naira stock,” Raheem Mohammed, chief operating officer of Lagos-based Kundila Finance, a brokerage, said by phone today. “Investors want stocks on which they can get both dividends and capital appreciation,” he said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Vincent Nwanma in Lagos at vnwanma@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dulue Mbachu at dmbachu@bloomberg.net
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