Core Trust & Investment Ltd.

When you fill the form and duely submitted, it takes 3-5 days for CSCS to activate your account. Generally an SMS is sent to the phone number you specified, but in some cases, SMS is not sent.

But when you enquire, we shall get your CSCS detail for you. You can contact our account opening department to know the status of your CSCS opening. Email: accountopening@coretrustng.com

We answer various question that are commonly asked by Investors and Investor to be.

How much Charges do i pay when i buy or sell share?

Commission:  Purchase

SEC Fee: 0.6%
Stamp Duty: 0.075%
Broker Fee: 1.5%
VAT: 5% of Commision (Broker Fee)
CSCS Fee: 0.1%
CSCS VAT: 5% of CSCS Fee

Total: 2.4%

Sale

Stamp Duty: 0.075%

Broker Fee: 1.5%

Commission VAT: 5% of Broker Fee

NSE Fee: 0.5%

CSCS Fee: 0.45%

NSE VAT:  5% of NSE Fee

CSCS VAT: 5% of CSCS Fee

Total: 2.6%

If you ask some investors in the Nigerian stock market today, they will tell you that they got their inspiration from Warren Buffett, who is an American investor.
Buffett is not just an investor but his net worth was put around $62 billion and was ranked as the richest person in the World last February by Forbes.
Given the fact that he made his fortunes by investing in stocks, investors looking up to him as their role model may not be wrong. Buffet adopted an investment strategy for eight years that prevented him from realising higher returns.
It may sound unbelievable but the strategy is technical analysis, which is one of the tools financial experts always recommend for investors to use in their investment decisions. Technical analysis is the practice of predicting where stocks will trade based on charts of historical pricing and volume information. The strategy maintains that all information is reflected already in the stock price, so others such as fundamental analysis are a waste of time.
This is why Buffet tried to master that strategy for good eight years. But an American investment expert and writer, Richard Gibbons, disclosed in one of his articles that the popular investor discovered that the strategy was not working for him and decided to change it.
According to Gibbons, Buffett discovered technical analysis did not work.
“I realised that technical analysis didn’t work when I turned the chart upside down and didn’t get a different answer,” Buffet was quoted as saying.
After eight years of trying he concluded that it was the wrong way to invest. Then he focused on the teachings of Ben Graham, which stressed business fundamentals, finding a strategy that both made sense and, more importantly, worked. Graham is known as the father of value investing. Value investors quietly seek out bargains among under priced companies, buy into them, and then patiently wait for their fair value to be realised.
When Buffet was recently asked how to avoid the crowd mid-set, he said simply followed Graham’s important lessons.

Buy stocks with a margin of safety
The market is there to serve you, not instruct you. The first lesson usually makes the headlines. It means that you should buy stocks for less than they’re worth. The Nigerian stock market, with its current state, offers the opportunity to buy some of the stocks at their under priced value.

Buying a Business
Buffett explained that thinking about a stock as part of a business is the opposite of what technical analysis is all about. Technical analysis focuses on trading securities.
“It doesn’t matter whether the security is a share of General Electric, with its jet engines, turbines, national television network, nuclear imaging, and financial arm; or whether that security is a derivative promising the delivery of three tons of Italian meatballs. It’s all the same because technical analysis doesn’t care about the business or the fundamentals,” he said.
He added that stocks are far more than just pieces of paper or lines on graphs, and to understand them, you need to understand the business.
“If you are looking at Apple, ignore whether the stock has been up three days in a row, and focus on how many iPods, iPhones, iTunes songs, and iBackhoes the company will sell today and in the future.”

Taking Advantage
so, instead of listening to the market, Buffett seeks to take advantage of it. Sometimes, the market will offer to buy a stock for far more than it’s actually worth.
“Other times, it’ll offer you the chance to buy shares of a great company for far less than its fair value. An investor who understands the true value of a business will be able to profit when the market offers great companies on sale,” he said.
You can learn from Buffett’s error by not focusing on charts alone. Instead, understand businesses and seek excellent stocks the market offers at low prices. It is very common these days to understand the market. Some stocks that seem cheap will turn out to be very expensive. Others that have suffered price losses due to negative perception may post amazing returns.

The Bottom-line
Most investors lose in the stock market because of their greed and the fear of incurring loss. Some of them keep waiting for the highest price and refuse to sell if even they have witnessed significant appreciation in their investments.
In a similar vein, investors are afraid to book losses that they have already suffered and in process are forced to sell at still higher losses. This often happens when after enduring a bear run, you decide to sell a stock only for the stock to begin to appreciate immediately after. Using the two basic analyses to decide your investment pattern would be of great help.
However, before you choose any strategy, be it technical or fundamental analysis, try and understand them well.
Technical analysis is the practice of predicting where stocks will trade based on charts of historical pricing and volume information, while fundamental analysis of a business involves analysing its financial statements and health, its management and competitive advantages, and its competitors and markets.
Fundamental analysis maintains that markets may misprice a security in the short run but that the “correct” price will eventually be reached. Profits can be made by trading the mispriced security and then waiting for the market to recognise its “mistake” and re-price the security.
On the other hand, technical analysis maintains that all information is reflected already in the stock price, so fundamental analysis is a waste of time. However, investors can use both differently but somewhat complementary methods for stock picking. Many fundamental investors use technicals for deciding entry and exit points just as many technical investors use fundamentals to limit their select of ’good’ companies.

*Culled from Thisday.

Chukwuma Soludo, governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), affirmed (as quoted on the pages of businessday newspapers of July 10) that Nigerian stock market is one for the leading five globally. Also, recent analysts report from two globally acclaimed offshore investment banking firms, Renaissance capital and JPMorgan also supports the view that the market is healthy and there is no cause for panic in view of present bearish trend and price volatility.

It is worthy to note that volatility in stock market is a usual phenomenon in all other jurisdictions all over the world hence there is a need for the Nigerian investors to understand and learn to adjust to global patterns. It is expected that after the on-going market driven regulatory corrections, the Nigerian stock market would have easily recognizable global benchmarks and ROIs that are easily correlated with financial statements or forecasted based on published financial statement of public companies (and its thorough analysis).

Definitions of investment gestations would also need to be adjusted as investors must accept the fact that short–term or current investments are for a minimum period of one year and medium-term investments are required to mature within two to three years while long-term investments may take three to five years. This is a sharp contrast to the liquidity propelled situation of Q1, 2008 that herald the market correction in Q3, 2008 2008. Then, short term investments could be as short as one month with ROI of 100% from a stock whose financials have not be updated in the last four years!

In view of the above, and in recognition of the fact that timing is very essential in equity trading; it is expected that the months in which we expect the greatest number of financial statements to be published would retain their status as profit taking months in the years ahead. The major reason why stock prices rally in those months are expectation of corporate actions (that may include declaration of bonuses and/or dividend) and increased sectoral band wagon effect. Although the market is not responding positively to good corporate actions in Q3 and the situation may persist till Q4, 2008, however, it is expected that both ROI and market momentum would be driven by corporate actions and their expectations in Q1 to Q2, 2009 in line with previously established patterns.

Also, it is expected that the uniform year ends for banks would strengthen March as a corporate declaration month as 21 other banks would adjust their year end to December 2008 bringing the number of companies with December as their year end to atleast 145. It is expected that most newly listed companies, (especially Microfiance Banks/non-banking financial institutions) on the exchange are expected to also adopt December for the year end.

A survey of 200 actively traded stocks on the exchange reflects that 63% of listed stocks have their year end in December, 19% March while the others months have 18%.

Idleness
A business on it’s own
Nothing is being done
A thousand things in thought
Yet the brain is not dumb.

Ideas trip in one after one
But none is deemed fit
Till considerable time is gone
Before the brain will tilt
And something next is done
In the hurry-hurry way.

Since the time meant for it
Was used to bow the head,
Chin placed on palm
While the brain travels far beyond
To get the next job on plan.

Even this poem you read,
Idleness made it to be.

Absent- Minded Man 
An absent-minded man went to see a psychiatrist.
‘My trouble is,’ he said, ‘that I keep forgetting things.’
‘How long has this been going on?’ asked the psychiatrist.
‘ How long has what been going on?’ said the man.
~~~~~~~~~~

Undying Love

Girl    :  Do you love me?
Boy   :  Yes Dear.
Girl    : Would you die for me?
Boy   :  No, mine is undying love.

   
 ”Fish can turn to meat with patience and processing depending on the stock!”

Stockfish …

The patient woman’s fish
Buy … hold… then sell as meat.

Don’t mind those scary jargons:
Verification, suspension cum IPO
Dematerialization, mandate or PO
They all mean “food processing”
Better still “stockbroker’s headache”.

Buy low … sell high …
That alone would break you even.
Always remember …
Every kobo counts every casual second
In stockfish business!

August 2007

Good day dear reader, i have been contemplating on what to give you to sharpen investment knowledge, here are some terms we think will be of benefit to you.

• NSE Nigerian Stock Exchange
• SEC Security and Exchange Commission is the regulating body of the NSE
• Annual General Meeting (AGM) As the name implies it’s the once-yearly shareholder meeting. It’s the time investors - big and small - get to question the board and vote on pay and changes to the company’s constitution.
• Alpha Objective measure of the stock price that filters out the effects of stock market fluctuations.
• AIM The Alternative Investment Market is the thriving junior stock market for smaller companies run by the LSE.
• Analysts Employed by investment banks and brokers to study companies and markets and make investment recommendations.
• Annual Report & Accounts Thick glossy booklet that contains the results, all the key financial stats and rundown of the company’s performance over the year.
• Annuity A form of pension bought from an insurance company.
• Arbitrageur Person, or organisation that makes a profit from identifying where the market has got its pricing of currencies and stocks wrong.
• Audit Once yearly examination of the company’s accounts.
• Audit Committee Independent wing of a company’s board that signs off the company’s accounts.
• Backwardation In the stock market it is a phenomena whereby the bid price is higher than the offer price.
• Balance Sheet Logs the company’s assets and liabilities and can be used to help value the firm.
• Bank of England Sets interest rates, keeps inflation low, issues banknotes and maintains a stable financial system.
• Base Rate Interest rate set by the Bank of England.
• Bear No, not the big fury variety. An investor, dealer, or bank that is negative on shares.
• Bear Raider An investor who sells shares. It’s often stock he doesn’t own (see short selling).
• Beta Measure of volatility of a share.
• Bid Price How much a market maker - a professional share dealer - will pay for your shares.
• Big Board New York Stock Exchange
• Book Value Very rough valuation of a company based on its assets and liabilities.
• Book Building The process of pricing a new share issue.
• Broker Stockbroker
• Blue Chip Usually used to refer to FTSE 100 firms, or large well-regarded private companies.
• Bull An investor who is positive, or ‘bullish’ on a share.
• Bull Market A steadily rising share market.
• Buyback Share repurchase designed to boost earnings per share and reward investors.
• Capital Gains Tax Paid on the profits of made from investments.
• Cash Flow Statement In any business cash is king. Look at the annual, or interim accounts and there will be a cash flow statement setting out the sources and uses of the company’s hard earned spondooliks.
• CFD Contract for Difference (see our section on CFDs).
• Charts Graphs plotting share price and market movements used to determine what might happen in the future.
• Chief Executive Boss boss of a company
• Chapter 11 US system of bankruptcy protection.
• Chinese Walls Imaginary barrier constructed to ensure information from part of investment bank doesn’t permeate to another. For instance a bank’s reputation would be ruined if its dealers got wind of a big takeover organised by its M&A team.
• Commercial Paper Form of short term IOU
• Commission The cash you hand over for share dealing services.
• Consideration The price paid for something.
• Contract Note Terms of your contract with a stock broker other intermediary.
• Corporate Governance Refers to the way a company is run. In the wake of disasters such as Enron and WorldCom, the market is keen to see companies have the right checks and balances in place to avoid wholesale fraud or abuse of office.
• Coupon Rate of interest paid on a security.
• Cum Means including. Those good old public schoolboys that used to run the City dropped in the odd latin phrase just to confuse people. For instance cum dividend simply means the shares you buy entitle you to a dividend payment.
• Current Assets Cash and the like that can be liquidated in one year.
• Current Liabilities Debts that need to be paid in the next year.
• Debtors People who owe cash to a company.
• Derivatives Futures and options.
• Dividend Regular cash payout to investors made on a per share basis.
• Dividend cover An indication of a company’s ability to pay a dividend.
• Dow Jones Industrial Average American Share Index. US equivalent of the Footsie.
• Earnings Per Share, or EPS This key financial ratio measures the company’s profitability. Major component in the price earnings ratio, which is used to value a company on the stock market.
• EGM Extraordinary General Meeting. Called to vote on a major company issue. For instance to ratify a takeover, or perhaps to sack the board.
• Equity Another name for shares.
• Ex Means excluding. The opposite to cum. Therefore shares that are ex-dividend, come with no payout.
• Execution Only Stockbrokers Stockbroking lite. They offer a bare bones buy and sell facility, but don’t give investment advice. Think e*trade, Barclays Stockbrokers, or Hargreaves Lansdown.
• Exit PE The price earnings ratio at which a company is sold.
• Face Value The nominal rather than real value of a share, or other security.
• Finance Director Head bean counter, chief company accountant.
• Financial Times Newspaper of record for the Square Mile. Referred to as the Pink’un.
• Firm/Firmer When a market is on the rise.
• Fixed Assets Fixtures, fittings, plant and machinery. In other words the physical assets of the company.
• Fixed investments Held for long term. Taken in conjunction with fixed assets, they provide the tangible asset backing for the company’s liabilities and debt.
• FTSE 100, or Footsie Financial Times Stock Exchange index. FTSE 100 (top 100 companies), FTSE 250 (midcaps), FTSE All Share (whole market)
• Fundamental Analysis Way of spotting undervalued shares based on the company’s fundamentals such as earnings, dividends and future prospects.
• Fund Manager Person Paid to invest cash for a pension fund, or insurer.
• Gearing Shows how heavily indebted a company is.
• Gilt-Edged Securities Government bonds or loan stocks. One of the safest forms of investment and hence the name gilt-edged.
• Grey Market Trading in new shares before they are actually issued.
• Growth Companies As the name suggests a firm that is expected to grow earnings quickly.
• Hedge Funds Investment vehicles that attempt make above-average returns. Often bet on currency markets or mergers and takeovers. They borrow heavily sometimes to double up their bets.
• Index FTSE, Dow Jones, Hang Seng Nikkei.
• Institutions Big City funds and insurers.
• Investment Bank American equivalent of a merchant bank. Issues and underwrites shares, buys and sells shares and bonds and other financial instruments.
• Interims Half year results.
• Investment Club Collective name for hobby investors.
• Investment Trust Investment fund that is quoted on the stock exchange.
• IPO Initial Public Offering of shares. Refers to a company floating on the stock market.
• LIBOR London Inter-bank Offered Rate is the rate at which banks borrow funds from each other.
• Limit Up/Down Continental European markets will suspend shares if the rise too high (go limit up), or fall too far (limit down).
• Liquidity Proportion of an investment fund held in cash.
• London Stock Exchange UK Share market.
• Long Holder of a particularly large line of stock, usually convinced the price will go up.
• M & A Mergers and acquisitions.
• Management Buy-outs/Buy-ins Buyout is where existing management raises finances to take the company private. Buy-in is where outside management buys the company and takes control
• Market capitalisation, Market Cap Stock market value of a firm.
• Market Maker Buys and sells shares.
• Merchant Bank Issues and underwrites shares, buys and sells shares and bonds and other financial instruments.
• Merger When two companies come together.
• Mid Price - The mid point between what a market maker will pay for a share (bid) and what he will sell shares for (known as the offer).
• Moody’s Credit rating agency.
• Names Individual Members of the Lloyd’s of London market who have unlimited liabilities (see Equitas).
• NASDAQ The US high-tech market.
• Net Asset Value (NAV) Value of a funds’ investments or a property company’s assets. Normally expressed on a per share basis.
• New York Stock Exchange America’s leading bourse.
• Non-executive Director Independent members of the board.
• OFEX Unregulated share market for unlisted companies. Normally smaller, riskier investments.
• Offer Price Price at which you can buy shares.
• Ordinary Shares Most common form of equity, distinct from preference shares that carry different rights and rewards.
• Par Value Original, or nominal value of a share and bears no relation to the actual value of the share.
• PEG Investing ratio designed to uncover growth stock. Measures relationship between price earnings ratio and earnings growth.
• Penny Share Refers to small-cap shares of a very low price - but definitely not valued at a penny.
• PEP/Personal Equity Plans Tax shelter for private investors, with limits on how much can be ploughed in every year.
• Portfolio An investor, bank or fund manager’s total holding of shares, bonds and other investments.
• Preference Shares Classed as debt, they carry a fixed dividend, but unlike ordinary shares, bring with them no voting rights.
• Preliminary Results Also referred to as final, or annual results, they are the unaudited annual figures for the company.
• Pre-tax Profit Main performance indicator for most companies.
• Proshare Advocate of investment clubs, it is backed by the government to promote private investment.
• Prospectus Official brochure issued by a company that wants to join the stock market.
• Provisions Funds set aside to meet future, sometimes unknown, liabilities.
• Relative Strength Share performance compared with a specified index.
• Rights Issue A means of raising more cash by issuing extra shares. Usually the new equity is offered at a discount to ensure investors subscribe.
• ROCE Stands for return on capital employed. Shows how well the directors are sweating the company’s assets.
• Scrip Issue, or Bonus Issue New free shares, usually used to dilute the share price with no diminution in the value of the total investment.
• Securities Name for shares, prefs and bonds of a company.
• Shareholders’ Funds Original value of the company’s share capital plus the additional reserves since the company came to market.
• Short Selling more shares than you physically own in the belief the shares will fall and craftily buying the shares at a lower level to cover that short position.
• Spread Difference between the bid and offfer price.
• Stamp Duty Tax levied when you buys shares.
• Standard & Poor’s Credit rating agency.
• Subsidiary Company Where a larger company owns more than 50pc of a smaller company.
• Technical Analysis Focuses on the ups and downs of the share price and its relative performance, rather than the company’s key performance indicators such as profits and EPS.
• Tipsheet The likes of T1PS and Red Hot Penny Shares carry out analysis of the lower reaches of the market and tip the commpanies/shares they believe will be winners.
• Tracker Funds Investment funds that simply track a stock market index.
• Turnover The sales of a company. May also be referred to as revenues.
• UK GAAP UK’s General Accepted Accounting Practices.
• Unit Trust Investment fund in which you buy units, which are similar to shares.
• Warrant A tradable security providing the holder with the right to buy shares at a set price on a future date.

Yield The annual dividend expressed in percentage terms.

In recent times, the majority of those exploring the Nigerian Stock Exchange as a means of wealth creation and preservation have been those who seek to make the best of their resources in the medium and short term in particular. It would not be far from the truth to state that the greater part of this group goes about their mission with little or no research nor information and hearsay. But by and large, profiting from the stock market in Nigeria involves much more than an uninformed and casual approach, whether the objectives are in the short, medium or long term.
Using some of the basic information in the Stock Exchange Daily Official List, an investor could put one and one together for credible inputs in the decision-making process. The short-term perspective for investing requires the ability to utilize basic indices to track temporary developments that offer edge opportunities that could be quickly taken advantage of. Some figures like the number of deals, volume traded, price appreciation, and could offer a mix capable giving a hint on the days ahead for a stock listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Number of deals connotes the number of times a particular stock was traded (bought and sold) in a day of trading, or the period of reference. Volume traded means the quantity of the shares of a company traded within the period of reference. Between these two figures there are various scenarios that could play out the best measure for determining the most active stocks should primarily be the number of deals and secondly, the volume if at all. High deals with high price appreciation indicate availability. This scenario shows that there are more sellers than buyers, a trend that portends a declining motion despite the obvious price appreciation. This trend should be avoided particularly if it has played out for some time, as a possibility of that stock gradually diminishing looms, such that losses become very likely. Meanwhile the state of the Nigerian stock market brings to fore the strong reign of bearish mood and the general perception of a falling market. Investors who are scared by the current stock market situation and subsequently got fascinated by upward movement in money market rates due to a sudden change in monetary policies, amongst others; sell down their stocks portfolio, causing further dips in equities prices. This has heightened the fears of portfolio diminution, and has led to panic selling in the market causing many investors to worry about losing their entire investments. This bandwagon scenario largely captures the prevalent situation in the Nigerian capital market. Falling stock prices are sometimes a hard pill to swallow but long-term value investors should not be perturbed. Many investors have a hard time dealing with falling stock prices most especially margin traders who are caught in the web of bearish run. No matter how often you preach the virtues of the buy-and-hold method, the true test of courage comes when investors watch their holdings nosedive 5 percent consecutively for weeks without any end in sight. Anyone who has experienced a bear market knows that it takes tremendous discipline and dedication to stick to one’s guns while everyone else liquidates their holdings. Since the market is in the dumps, everyone is heading for the exits. This is in line with a general convention in every market world-wide. When stock market is down and the mood is pessimistic, people tend to sell even if there is no specific reason to let go of an individual stock. This common trading mistake costs investors dearly. Recent developments in the Nigerian stock market point in a direction where perfectly good blue chip companies would begin to sell for fractions of their true value, despite a lack of change in the long-term economics of their businesses/strategies and very impressive performance valuation metrics.  Investors should not be frightened off a stock just because the overall market is sour. If the fundamentals of a company are solid, a down market like this may suggest a great time to go on a shopping spree for discounted stocks. However, it is very pertinent that investors give more preference to the potential of a company relative to its current share price. This investing approach takes some courage and confidence in one’s ability to distinguish between a stock price depressed by a down market and a stock that is fundamentally flawed.

please feel free to express your opinion on this page. We will gladly reply you.