Chams Raises Capital Base to 6.65bn After Private Placement

Chams Holding Company Plc has expanded its share capital after completing a major private placement that added 1,955,910,000 ordinary shares to the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX). With this new listing, the company’s market capitalization has risen to ₦21 billion.

In a filing submitted to the NGX, Chams explained that the newly listed shares were part of a private placement of nearly 2 billion ordinary shares priced at ₦1.87 each, with a nominal value of 50 kobo. The transaction increases the company’s issued and fully paid-up shares from 4.69 billion to 6.65 billion units, reinforcing its financial capacity for further investments in digital infrastructure, identity verification technologies, and growth across its subsidiaries.

The company’s stock has witnessed noticeable price swings in recent months. It climbed to a year-high of ₦4.67 on October 7 before dropping to ₦3.15 by November 21, after touching a low of ₦3.00 on November 11. As of November 21, the share price closed at ₦3.15, representing a 1.6 percent improvement from the previous day. While Chams remains one of the year’s standout performers with a 58.3 percent gain from its opening price of ₦1.99, analysts note that the stock has lost 20 percent of its value over the past four weeks, pointing to potential short-term risks.

Investor activity around Chams has remained strong. Over the last three months—between August 25 and November 21, 2025—about 889 million shares were traded in 27,956 deals, amounting to ₦3.25 billion in value. Average daily volume stood at 14.1 million shares, with the highest single-day trade recorded on October 13 at 44 million shares and the lowest on November 7 at 3.29 million shares.

The company’s financial performance for the nine months ended September 30, 2025, shows revenue of ₦13.45 billion, slightly above the ₦13.12 billion recorded a year earlier. Profit after tax declined to ₦500.7 million from ₦1.08 billion in the same period of 2024, a drop driven by increased operational costs and finance charges. Total assets amounted to ₦20.66 billion, while equity rose to ₦10.56 billion on the back of retained earnings and non-controlling interests. Earnings per share fell to 9.17 kobo in 2025 compared to 19.10 kobo the previous year, reflecting the impact of the expanded share base.

With its enlarged capital structure, analysts say Chams will need to drive faster earnings growth or deploy funds from the private placement into higher-yielding projects to counterbalance dilution and sustain long-term value creation for shareholders.