Enact law to compel big companies to list on GSE - GM of iFS Capital Management Limited

The General Manager of iFS Capital Management Limited, Manfred K. Bressey has called for a law to make it obligatory for big companies in the country to list on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE).

That, he said, would make the Accra bourse very liquid and bring some vibrancy to the market.

Mr. Bressey, who made the suggestion in an interview with the Times Business after iFS Capital Management Limited’s third Annual General Meeting in Accra yesterday said, although there were more than 300 large corporate bodies in the country, less than 40 were listed on the GSE.

IFS Capital Management Limited manages three open-ended investment products namely Mywealth Unit Trust, Richie Rich Unit Trust and Legacy Unit Trust.

Mr Bressey said the listing of more companies on the GSE would provide more alternative investment for investors.

“We want the market to be liquid, and trade more to erase the impression held by some investors that African or Ghanaian stock market is not liquid,” he said.

The General Manager of iFS opined that although GAX, the alternative market recently introduced by the GSE for the small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) to list on the stock market, had attracted some SMES, it had not generated the necessary interest expected by players in the stock market.

Highlighting on the 2016 performance of the investment products of iFS, he said the company last year recorded an impressive performance in spite of the difficult economic challenges.

For instance, he said, the assets of the Mywealth Unit Trust Fund grew by 22.66 per cent from GH?841, 319 to GH?1, 040,840, adding that “the fund returned a positive and impressive yield of 25.43 per cent over the 2015 return of 14.69 per cent”.

Mr Bressey said the Richie Rich Trust demonstrated a healthy performance for the period under the review recording a robust yield of 26.05 per cent, saying “the fund therefore outperformed both the 91-day treasury bills, which were at 16.43 and 17.63 respectively by the end of year”.

He said the net investment income of the Richie Rich Trust in 2016 grew significantly ending the year at GH?80, 069 representing a 40 per cent increase over 2015’s performance of GH?47, 818.

For the Legacy Unit Trust, Mr Bressey said the net assets for the Trust grew by 30.33 per cent to GH?692, 848 from GH?531, 588, indicating that “this is a marked improvement over the last year’s growth rate of 1.6 per cent”.

The General Manager said the positive performance of the three investment instruments was influenced by the huge investment the company made in government money instruments and other high yielding stocks.

Mr Bressey pledged that the company this year would invest in high yielding stocks and government money instruments to help customers of the company get good returns on their investment.

He said the good first quarter results of the companies listed on the GSE indicated that market would do well this year and therefore encouraged Ghanaians to invest more in the Ghanaian stock market.