NGX Shareholders Adopt Equity-based Model For Employee Remuneration

AMONG the resolutions reached during the 60th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) plc, was shareholders’ approval of a proposal made by the group’s board of directors to introduce equity-based incentives to employees’ remuneration, including an Employee Share Ownership Plan and a Long-Term Incentive Plan.

This was disclosed in a statement released by the group about the AGM which was held on Thursday in Abuja. The meeting which was the first AGM of the Group as a demutualised entity was considered a historic moment by the group.

The group said in the statement that shareholders also approved the re-election of Non-Executive Directors who were retiring by rotation, the election of members of the Audit Committee, and a proposed remuneration for the Board and non-executive members of the erstwhile National Council of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

Commenting on the AGM, the Group Chairman, NGX Group Plc, Otunba Abimbola Ogunbanjo, explained that the proposed equity-based incentive scheme for employees aligns the interests of internal stakeholders with those of shareholders in long term value creation.

Ogunbanjo said, “We received approval of new equity-based incentive schemes for employees which are in line with the authority granted to Directors by then Members of NSE at an Extraordinary General Meeting conducted in March 2020 and adhere to global best practices allowing us to attract and retain the best talent. Today, I am more confident than ever that the Group is well-positioned to deliver value to shareholders as we move into a new growth phase.”

He acknowledged the role of stakeholders in the successful operation of the group.

“I am both thankful for the invaluable support of our stakeholders and proud of the resilience NGX Group continues to demonstrate after over six decades.

“Despite the global pandemic and other economic shocks, it is indeed noteworthy that we have already begun to actualise the benefits of demutualisation including the alignment of stakeholders’ interests in the value created by the new Group under a revised Corporate Governance framework.”

The Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, NGX Group Plc, Oscar Onyema thanked the shareholders for supporting the group’s resolutions, noting that despite challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the group through resilience, passed through the challenging period and ended the year in a positive financial position.

“We thank our shareholders for their support of the resolutions proposed at today’s meeting. Our 2020 results reflect the challenging macroeconomic and market conditions, as well as operational resilience of the Group with income and resulting surplus after tax valued at N6.02Bn and N1.84Bn respectively.

“In the context of COVID-19 pandemic, we maintained tight cost controls, which reduced expenses by 13% despite investments in technology that allowed us to operate remotely with zero downtime. The Group ended the Year 2020 in a sound financial position with net asset growth of over 10% to N31.28Bn,” Onyema stated.

Going forward, the group said, it aspires to be Africa’s leading integrated capital market infrastructure provider.