Custodian Investment Plc has announced that a director on its Board, Mr. Olakunle Ade-Ojo, bought 150,000,000 shares of the company, worth N2.98 billion.
The transaction was disclosed in a share dealing notice posted on the Nigerian Exchange on May 26, 2025, and signed by the Company Secretary, Adeyinka Jafojo.
According to the notice, the shares were purchased between 19th and 26th May 2025, split across five tranches at an average price of N19.84 per share.
- The first tranche was 10,000,000 shares at N19.45, followed by 35,000,000 shares at N19.60.
- The third, fourth, and fifth tranches were 35,000,000 shares each, executed at N19.70, N20.65, and N19.80.
Mr. Olakunle Ade-Ojo, who is also the Managing Director of Toyota Nigeria Ltd, already had 926,136,506 shares in Custodian—both directly and indirectly—as of 31st December 2024, which gave him a 15.7% stake.
With this purchase, he now owns 1,076,136,506 shares, boosting his holding to 18.3% of the company’s total shares and voting rights.
- After the first purchase on 19th May, trading activity took off, with daily volumes jumping to over 10 million shares.
Market trend
Custodian Investment Plc has been on a steady upward climb in the Nigerian stock market, delivering a year-to-date return of 90.00% in 2024.
- The stock opened January 2025 at N17.10 per share and moved with solid momentum, trading 34.1 billion shares during the month and closing at N18.90.
- In February, the stock stayed positive, though buying activity began to ease.
- By the end of March, it closed at N19.50, with a trading volume of 82.5 million shares.
- April saw a slight pullback, with the share price dipping to N18.00.
In early to mid-May, Custodian’s shares hovered between N17.00 and N18.00 until the share purchase on 19th May sparked renewed interest. A few days later, on 22nd May, the stock climbed above N21.00.
As of the close of trading on 26th May, the company’s shares were priced at N19.70, bringing the month-to-date gain in May to 11.11%.
Q1 performance highlights
Custodian Investments kicked off 2025 with a strong first quarter, reporting a pre-tax profit of N12.3 billion—marking a 3% growth.
This profitability was largely fueled by the company’s investment division, which delivered a robust N11.8 billion for the quarter, a jump from N7.04 billion in Q1 2024.
Despite direct operating expenses totaling N1.37 billion, Custodian posted net income of N16.1 billion.
- On the balance sheet, total assets climbed to N432 billion, reflecting a healthy 6% increase.
- Retained earnings also showed strong growth, rising 11.28% year-over-year to reach N100.1 billion.