Markets Explained: Dividend Season Is Here, What You Need To Know

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:16]Hello investor, welcome to markets explained by IC where we do just that. I am Alan and I'm joined by my colleague Courage who will be checking the pulse of the markets, also discussing the interesting stories that have happened.

[00:00:29]Uh we have a bustling new IPO on the market. We have seen the stock market rewarding a few tickets. We'll be talking about that. Um and also Courage will give us his surprises, what he's looking at the outlooks, and I might also jump into market metrics and see what's been happening in the market. I am sure you guys are excited for this next session. Uh thank you for joining us. Courage, how are you? Um great and happy to be here. Great. Um the first I want to dive in is we have seen two tickets. I'm particularly I'm excited about these two tickets, FML and GCB.

[00:01:02]We've seen a rally and my take is markets is rewarding cash. I think um we are seeing rallies on the back of dividend announcements. GCB reported their financials. Um there was little to no effect on the market. As soon as the dividend announcement came out, we saw a rally. Um same with FML. Can we confidently say that we're back into uh dividend motivated uh rally market or a market that is rewarding dividend stocks?

[00:01:35]Well, yes. I mean, we we entered this zone since the start of the year when interest rates fell to ultra low levels.

[00:01:43]>> Sure. So that you have your 91-day below 5% and for the investor who is used to income or cash flow, that is no longer enough compensation for for investment decisions or risk.

[00:01:57]And so, you look at where else can I get the the needed cash flow income on my portfolio. And the stock market then presents the next opportunity. Now, when you come to the stock market, I believe investors will be looking at those particular stocks or tickets that can give them that constant cash flow. And your GCBs, your MTNs, and the other companies in the consumer sector. FanMilk also mentioned.

[00:02:24]And then if you are Sabah now starts.

[00:02:26]And that has strengthened the sentiments on the market. But that's essentially what investors are looking for right now.

[00:02:32]>> True. Actually, if you see how the market has rallied in terms of capital gains, a number of investors are looking at the up move for for capital gains and probably taking that we've exhausted, at least in the interim, the upside on some of the prices and capital gains potential. So, the next thing is to look at which stocks I can select that will give me those income flows. And so, we are in that zone, investors are excited when they hear companies looking to pay dividend on their financial performance in the just-ended period. Correct. Uh so, there's one thing that I'm very excited about. Market has been begging for new blood. We have seen Zen, now we have Casa Preko. I know a lot of investors are very excited about this.

[00:03:16]Can you in a nutshell maybe just summarize what the IPO's about, what the investors should be looking out for, maybe any details that sticks out for you?

[00:03:25]Right, right. And I I I believe we are happy to have Casa Preko also come on to the market.

[00:03:30]Basically, they're trying to raise money, capital, about 700 million cedis.

[00:03:35]The use of fund will be to for expansion, actually, in one of their factory expansion projects. Now, they are looking to to come into the market at an IPO price of 1 cedi 20 pesewas per share. So, if you are purchasing at IPO, that's the price for each share that you are acquiring.

[00:03:56]And there's a minimum that you need to acquire. And as a prospective investor, you need to look at acquiring a minimum of 2,000 shares and multiples of 1,000 shares thereafter. So, what it means is that if you have to first of all buy 2,000 units of the shares, from that point, you can buy >> [snorts] >> 3,000, 4,000, any more in that multiples of 1,000 units. You cannot buy 2,000 and top up 400 shares, 300 shares.

[00:04:26]>> Interesting. After buying your minimum of 2,000 shares, the next must be added by 1,000 at least, right? In that multiples. So, that's how the the acquisition look looks like. Now, the the the offer is open and will close on the 1st of June. And allocation will be a couple of days thereafter.

[00:04:49]I think I'll I need to also add that it doesn't also mean that when you purchase, you already have it allocated to you. We need to wait for the day of allocation for the company together with its advisers to decide how they do the allocation, right? And so, that is one important thing. It's possible that you get your full amount allocated to you. It's possible that you get part of the amount you you demanded or bid for [clears throat] allocated to you. So, we also need to look out for those particular um structures or mechanisms in the allocation. Um thank you, Courage. I'm particularly excited to see a shakeup in the consumer group. I'll be very interesting to see um how this plays out in comparison to Takoradi and Accra.

[00:05:37]Um next thing I want to discuss is the banking sector. Are we seeing another rally? We've seen FML, we've We've sorry, we've seen GCB. um, Eco Bank just reported. What do you think? I think the main driver of the exchange has been the financial basket.

[00:05:57]We saw GCB and some of these counters losing ground. They seem to be covering ground again. Are we going back into a financial basket led market?

[00:06:09]For no, I I I think we are entering the terrain of a broader base market momentum. So, we we came from a recent history of a telecoms led market because of the issues with the economy and the financial sector and the DDEP.

[00:06:29]Then, when recovery began, we saw the financial sector adding to those pushing the market to the telecoms whilst macro stability was still being worked on. Now that we have macro macro stability regained, we've seen the telecoms driving the market as well. We've seen financials also continue to drive the market. Now, consumer stocks are adding.

[00:06:51]So, bit by bit, the momentum is broadening.

[00:06:55]We're having a more diverse market now.

[00:06:57]>> Exactly. And I think that's good, right?

[00:06:59]That's good because it helps you see and it signals what's happening in the aggregate economy. It helps you also diversify your portfolio, reduce your concentration in one sector, and allows you to also scoop potential gains across the sectors that are listed on the market. So, going forward, our our expectation is that we sustain macro economic stability, which will carry on some of the companies listed. We should start to see some uh momentum across the various sectors market.

[00:07:29]Right. Lastly, calendar-wise, is there anything that you are excited about? IMF visits, um, inflation reports, anything that we should be keeping an eye out for?

[00:07:40]On the macro front, you mentioned the IMF, I would think that the the big one to look out for because the IMF is in town. They they've been in town since 29th of April. They are reviewing the performance of the program, and this is the sixth and final review of the ongoing program. The program officially ends in August this year, and we'll be looking out for what the IMF would have to say one relation to our performance at the end point of the program, two relation to the outlook for the program.

[00:08:11]And we also will be keeping on a close tab on what the authorities will want to do, whether they are thinking about a successor program, will it be financing, will it be non-financing, or they want to go with the reforms they've they've implemented so far under the program and believing that commitment to those reforms would anchor or sustain the stability. Those are key things we'll be looking out for. And see if there are any risk to the post-IMF outlook. So, that's on the macro front. And on the markets, we see a number of dividend proposals from companies. We've seen MTN declaring now shifting to quarterly dividend in a proposal, which is good, and you know, and like I said earlier, investors like the income flow that they get. And so, when you shift from annual, semi-annual to to make it more frequent, quarterly, this is good for investors. And so, MTN gets us excited. We also have seen FanMilk announcing 11 pesewas per share dividend. There's also Republic Bank that has announced five pesewas per share. And then there's a number of other companies as well. So, Societe Generale is also looking forward to to propose at their next AGM, and a couple of other firms as well. So, it seems like the market is realizing that dividend is going to be the play, and that is what will sustain the upside for for the market as we as we've seen right now. So, we are excited about the dividend outlook and we'll be keeping a close eye. Great. Great. I'm also very interested to see what the posture is on the cash that is coming into the market.

[00:09:48]Is it going back into the markets? It's going to see going to trickle into other baskets and have clients looking at the exchange holistically. Now, we have a more diverse interest entry points for for for investors. Uh thank you so much, Courage.

[00:10:03]Uh dear investor, thank you so much for joining us. This has been Markets Explained by IC where we do just that.

[00:10:10]Have a lovely day.