Avoid Being Drawn into Social Media-Fuelled Stock Hysteria: deVere CEO

Investors need to exercise the utmost caution before joining social media-led stock frenzies, warned the CEO of one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory and fintech organisations.

The warning from Nigel Green, chief executive and founder of deVere Group, comes as a group of at-home retail investors on Reddit have been promoting a number of stocks, with the aim of squeezing short sellers that have been betting against them.

GameStop, AMC, Pearson, Blackberry, Nokia and Cineworld are amongst the targets.

GameStop’s stock has surged nearly 700% in the past two weeks, while Blackberry is up 185% and on track for its best month ever.

The Reddit community r/wallstreetbees, which has 2.8 million members, is full of users urging each other to keep pushing the stocks higher.

Mr Green says: “I would urge investors to exercise the utmost caution before joining social media-led stock frenzies of this nature.  The valuations can be expected to be extremely wild – in both directions – and there’s a legitimate risk that investors could get burned.”

He continues: “This is being pitched as a battle-play of Wall Street or The Square Mile versus The Little Guy.  However, this is not typically the way reasoned, savvy investors should strategise to create and build their portfolios in order to reach their financial goals.

“This is a dangerous game to play for retail investors.”

Earlier this week, the deVere CEO noted: “In today’s landscape, it is not the macro-bubble of which investors should be wary.

“Any potential bursting of bubbles is likely to be within specific stocks, so unlikely to rock the global financial markets as has happened previously – but individual investors could still be caught off-guard.

“Micro-bubble spotting, and diversification across asset class, sector, region and even currency, should become a priority for investors right now.”

Nigel Green concludes: “As ever, investors should work alongside a good fund manager to seek out those stocks most likely to generate and top-up their wealth over the long-term.

“I would avoid being drawn into the hysteria driven by social media.”

Cadbury Nigeria Profit Plunges by 84 Percent in 2020

Cadbury Nigeria Plc profit after tax plunged by 84 percent in the 2020 financial year to N172.665 million, down from N1.071 billion in 2019, according to the unaudited financial statements of the company.

The company revenue declined by 10 percent from N39.327 billion filed in 2019 to N35.407 billion in 2020.

Cost of sales improved by 4 percent from N31 billion in 2019 to N29.640 billion in 2020.

Cadbury’s results from operating activities declined by 91 percent from N1.354 billion in 2019 to N119.223 million in 2020.

Cadbury Nigeria Key Financial Highlights for 2020

• Profit before tax decreased by 84 percent from N1.539 billion achieved in 2019 to N246.665 million 2020.
• Profit for the year also contracted by 84 percent from N1.071 billion in 2019 to N172.665 million.
• Share capital remained unchanged at N939.101 million.
• Total equity declined by 5 percent to N12.877 billion in 2020 from N13.566 billion in 2019 year-on-year.
• Basic earnings per share also plunged by 84 percent from 57.01 to 9.19 per share.

DF Holdings Limited Buys 27.2 Million AIICO Shares Valued at N29.9 Million

DF Holdings Limited, a majority shareholder in AIICO Insurance Plc, purchased 27,174,309 shares of AIICO at N1.10 per share.

The company disclosed in a statement signed by Donald Kanu, Company Secretary, AIICO Insurance Plc.

DF Holdings Limited purchased the shares on December 9th, 2020 at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) trading floor.

The shares valued at N29.892 million. See the details below.