GIHOC eyes stock exchange next year

Alcoholic beverage producer GIHOC Distilleries Company Limited is to be listed on the local bourse and allow the public to buy into the company.

The listing of one of the oldest distilleries in the West African sub-region is expected to boost its capital base, so that it can increase its presence in the sub-region and remain profitable in the long run.

Dr. Camynta Baezie, Executive Chairman of the State Enterprises Commission told the B&FT that: “We are in discussion with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and it is an on-going discussion.

“We have been working to ensure that we list the State Owned Enterprises that are doing well on the Stock Exchange. It is not a new thing; we have done it before. We did the recommendation for listing Goil and it is going well.

“So there are a few of them that we are looking at. In particular, we are looking at the GIHOC Distilleries as one of the first to look at and list on the GSE; also allowing Ghanaians to own shares in the company.”

If successful in its bid to list, GIHOC will be joining state-owned enterprises like the Cocoa Processing Company, Goil, Produce Buying Company, SIC, and GCB that have successfully listed on the local bourse.

GIHOC Distilleries Company Limited was the first modern distillery to be established in West Africa. It was established by the pre-independence Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) in 1958 as the State Distilleries Corporation for the manufacture of alcoholic beverages.

In 1993, GIHOC Distilleries became and has since remained a Limited Liability Company, wholly-owned by the government of Ghana. The principal activity of the company is blending and bottling a variety of alcoholic beverages.

It is expected that the eventual listing of GIHOC shares on the stock exchange will enhance trading activities on the local bourse, which currently has a market capitalisation of more than GH¢57.18billion.

The Ghana Stock Exchange is one of the most well-managed bourses on the continent. Aside from the main bourse, which has listings of companies in various sectors, the GSE has created an alternative for small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs).

The Ghana Alternative Exchange (GAX) has relaxed rules to allow indigenous SMEs meet the requirements and be able to access long-term capital for the growth and expansion of their businesses.

It recently launched a new financial platform, Ghanastocks.net, designed to offer a large set of information on the stocks that are listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange and Ghana Alternative Exchange.

The platform dedicatedly provides near real-time quotes, historical charts, financial information and the financial ratios of the previous five years for each company, background information and news on the companies, a technical analysis tool that comes with more than 50 indicators, and the first webforum for investors to build a connection to each other and exchange ideas.

Traders are now more than ever updated with the hottest issues inside the industry with the help of Ghanastocks.net. Simon Kunz, head of Ghanastocks.net said: "This website is closing a long-existing gap, and finally gives investors on the Ghana Stock Exchange the tools and information to make best investment decisions".