The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) has assured the management of the Graphic Communications Group Ltd (GCGL) of its commitment to help the company to complete its process of listing on the local bourse.

The Managing Director (MD) of the GSE, Abena Amoah, during a courtesy call on the MD of GCGL in Accra on Tuesday [August 13, 2024], said: “We want to see this national heritage brand continue to excel.”

She said the GSE was excited when it came to its notice that Graphic was planning to list on the market and had since been following up on the process.

“We have been following up and our aim is to support you. We are ready to work with you to get it done, let’s hold hands and make this happen,” Ms,Amoah, an investor banker who has led some of the country’s complex mergers, acquisitions and initial public offerings (IPOs), said engaging with the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA) and the Ministry of Public Enterprises to get some of the State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) listed on the stock market.

Ms Amoah said it identified about 30 SOEs which could raise capital on the stock market and was excited that GCGL had made a step to list on the market.

The GSE MD was at the GCGL offices to familiarise herself with the operations of the company and to encourage the management about the prospects of raising capital from the exchange.

She was accompanies by the Head of Listing, Joyce Esi Boakye and the Head of Marketing and Public Relations, Jerry Boachie-Danquah.

The MD of GCGL, Ato Afful, received the three-member team from the GSE. Other managers making up the GCGL team included the Director, Finance, Samuel Essel; Director, Marketing and Sales, Franklin Sowa; Director, Audit, Richard Osei Owusu Afriyie, the Editor of Graphic Business, Boahene Asamoah, and the acting General Manager, G-PAK, Kingsley Mate-Kole.

Market performance

Commenting on the performance of the local bourse, Ms Amoah said the market was beginning to see an uptick this year.

She said the GSE Composite Index which measured the performance of the equities market had so far gone up by 40 per cent this year, making it one of the best performing in Africa.

The MD of the GSE added that value of securities had also gone up, with market capitalisation, which represented the value of all the shares listed on the market, exceeding GH¢90 billion in the first half of the year.

“These, for us, are important signs that there's some recovery compared to last year. It's over 80 per cent growth compared to the same period last year, but it's far from what we did pre-Domestic Debt Exchange,” she said.

Ms Amoah said a lot of companies were also coming to the market to raise short-to long-term capitals.

“We have developed additional products for companies to raise capital, the main one being our commercial paper markets,” she noted.

The serial independent corporate director and advisor said the exchange had also added the corporate bond markets, where companies raised long-term debt capital, as well as sustainability bonds.

“We are very focused on diversifying the market so the person who needs capital can raise capital across the gamut of platforms, and the person who is looking for investments can have access to a wide range of products and industries,” she said.

Economic challenges

Ms Amoah pointed out that the current economic challenges were eroding the ability of individuals to save and put those funds into investments that protected the value of their savings.

She said the economic environment, marked by high interest rates and high inflation, was eroding also companies’ profit-making abilities in real terms.

“That’s why we're very excited to see that interest rates are falling. And as interest rates fall, it means that companies can access cheaper capital and it's our hope that this process continues, so that we come to really low and sustainable interest rates that will make us competitive,” she added.

Ms Amoah also called for deliberate policies to grow the capital market.

“When we talk about policies, we should have a clear policy direction and a policy that says state-owned enterprises should list on the market”.

“You can also have policies around significant sectors of the economy such as banking. We can have policies like every bank that's listed in its own country also lists on the Ghana Stock Exchange,” she stated.

Staying relevant

For his part, the MD of the GCGL said the company sought to stay relevant in the changing times by continuing to deliver value to its stakeholders.

Mr Afful said listing the company’s shares on the local bourse would help it raise the additional capital needed to make that happen.

“We need additional capital to enable us to deliver on our brand promise of truth and accuracy served every day,” Mr Afful said.

He added that the listing on the GSE was, therefore, very high on the agenda of the company with the hope to get it done before the end of the year.

“Patient capital is required to power the operations of the company to the next level,” Mr Afful stated.