Food and beverage, ICT dominate GSE trading in July

By Ebenezer Chike Adjei NJOKU

The food and beverage as well as Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sectors accounted for nearly three-quarters of trading value on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) in the first seven months of 2025, with the former’s performance corresponding with increasing demand as the economy continues to recover from effects of the recent slowdown.

According to GSE’s July 2025 Fund Managers Report, the food and beverage sector led all categories with transactions worth GH¢1.29billion, representing 48.45 percent of total market value traded. This was supported by high volumes of shares exchanged – 251.2 million or 49.34 percent of total volume – driven largely by the performance of listed breweries, dairy companies and agricultural processors.

The segment’s star performer has been Benso Oil, which gained 35.6 percent in its share price between beginning of the year and end-July. This follows a one-year gain of 48.6 percent on the back of global palm oil prices which have risen sharply over the past year, peaking at about US$1,067 per tonne in February but dipping to US$934 in June and rebounding to US$1,303 in July.

Analysts have pointed to tight supply from Malaysia and Indonesia, weather disruptions and higher biodiesel demand under Indonesia’s B40 mandate, but expect prices to remain elevated through 2025.

Fan Milk, Guinness Ghana and Unilever saw YtD share price appreciations of 16.8 percent, 10 percent and 5.1 percent respectively. The Cocoa Processing Company and Samba Foods saw no price movements.

ICT stocks followed with GH¢666.62million traded, equivalent to 25.03 percent of value and 209.2 million shares or 41.09 percent of total market volume. The segment’s activity has been led solely by Scancom PLC (MTN Ghana), which has benefitted from strong earnings and investor appetite for high-dividend telecoms equities.

MTN recorded a post-tax profit of GH¢5billion in 2024 and is on course to surpass that figure with GH¢3.6billion already reached in June 2025.

Subsequently, MTN has declared an interim dividend of GH¢0.08 per share, an increase from GH¢0.065 per share in the same period last year. This dividend is scheduled for payment on September 11, 2025 to shareholders on the register as of August 22, 2025.

Exchange traded funds (ETFs), dominated by the NewGold ETF, were the third-largest category – recording GH¢540.08million in trades. While accounting for 20.28 percent of value traded, ETFs saw only 1.28 million units change hands — 0.25 percent of volume.

Financial sector equities ranked fourth, with trades totalling GH¢123.18million, representing 4.62 percent of value and 40.03 million shares or 7.86 percent of volume.

The distribution and insurance sectors were comparatively small contributors, recording GH¢31.74million (1.19 percent) and GH¢7.06million (0.27 percent) respectively.

Manufacturing shares accounted for just 0.11 percent of total value at GH¢2.99million, while agriculture – excluding the dominant plantation stocks listed under food and beverage – posted GH¢940,492, equivalent to 0.04 percent. Mining shares, despite Ghana’s role as a leading gold producer, made up only 0.02 percent of market value traded.

Two sectors, education and advertisement & production, saw negligible activity, with trades valued at GH¢1,000 and  GH¢18 respectively.

In total, GSE recorded GH¢2.66billion in value traded and 509.13 million shares exchanged between January and July.

Analysts say the concentration of market activity in a handful of sectors reinforces the domestic equity market’s structural composition , where a few large-cap continue to drive the majority of liquidity. 

GSE’s composite index rose 43.03 percent in the year to July, the highest performance among tracked African exchanges. The financial stock index gained 43.95 percent over the same period. Market capitalisation increased to GH¢146.12billion – up 31.22 percent since start of the year, with domestic capitalisation rising 42.4 percent to GH¢88.12billion.

At the middle of August, the GSE-CI has surpassed 50 percent (51.62 percent) with overall market capitalisation at GH¢151.14billion.

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