Access, Oando, Conoil Among 2025’s Biggest Stock Laggards

Access Holdings, Oando and Conoil ranked among the worst-performing equities on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) during the 2025 trading year, as several stocks recorded steep declines in market value.

Other equities that completed the bottom ten list include VFD Group, Sunu Assurances, Africa Prudential, Lasaco Assurance, Haldane McCall, Industrial and Medical Gases Nigeria, and Transcorp Power.

VFD Group emerged as the hardest hit, losing more than three-quarters of its value over the year.

An analysis of sector performance shows that the other financial institutions segment—comprising insurance and investment firms—was heavily represented among the worst performers, while the oil and gas sector also featured prominently, accounting for about half of the bottom ten stocks.

Despite strong gains across several sectors of the market, these industries faced notable headwinds that weighed heavily on select equities.

A Pinnacle Daily review of full-year market activity highlights a sharp contrast between top gainers and a group of underperforming stocks that struggled to gain traction.

While several sectors posted triple-digit growth, the ten worst-performing stocks recorded Year-to-Date (YtD) losses ranging from about 12 per cent to over 75 per cent.

2025’s biggest stock laggards

VFD Group led the decliners with a YtD loss of 75.23 per cent, closing the year at ₦11.00 per share after shedding more than three-quarters of its value.

Conoil followed with a 51.65 per cent decline, ending the year at ₦187.20 per share, as over half of its market valuation was wiped out.

Sunu Assurances posted a 48.84 per cent loss to close at ₦5.50, while Oando declined by 39.09 per cent to ₦40.20, reflecting broader challenges within segments of the energy sector.

Africa Prudential fell by 27.98 per cent to ₦14.80, while Lasaco Assurance recorded a 20.71 per cent decline, closing at ₦2.45.

Haldane McCall lost 16.32 per cent to close at ₦4.00, and Industrial and Medical Gases Nigeria declined by 15.68 per cent, ending the year at ₦32.00.

Transcorp Power shed 14.70 per cent despite its high nominal price, closing at ₦307.00, as the utilities stock struggled to sustain positive momentum throughout the year.

Access Holdings declined by 11.95 per cent to ₦21.00 and was the only banking stock among the bottom ten performers.

Sectoral insights and observations

As noted earlier, the other financial institutions sector was the most affected, accounting for about 40 per cent of the bottom ten stocks. Also, the oil and gas sector showed sharp divergence in performance, with some companies thriving while others—particularly Conoil and Oando—posted steep double-digit losses.

Price versus performance

The inclusion of high-priced stocks such as Transcorp Power and Conoil underscores that premium share prices did not shield equities from significant percentage declines, challenging the assumption that losses were limited to low-priced stocks.

Liquidity trends

Despite price declines, market activity remained strong in some counters. Access Holdings, for instance, traded more than 57 million shares on the final trading day, indicating sustained investor participation and liquidity even amid downward price pressure.

Financial breakdown of the 3 spotted stocks

A Pinnacle Daily analysis of the three highlighted stocks shows clear links between financial performance and share price weakness as each company faced distinct operational and balance-sheet pressures during the period under review.

Oando Plc

Oando’s nine-month performance to September 30, 2025, reflected weaker operating fundamentals. Its revenue declined by about 20 per cent to ₦2.54 trillion.

Gross profit fell sharply to ₦113.0 billion from ₦194.4 billion in September 2024. Its bottom-line performance saw the company swing from an operating profit of ₦161.0 billion to an operating loss of ₦109.7 billion.

This reversal was driven mainly by a ₦311.6 billion fair value loss on modified financial assets. Despite this, Oando reported a net profit of ₦201.3 billion, up from ₦76.3 billion. The improvement came from ₦128.0 billion in net finance income and a ₦181.8 billion income tax credit.

Interest income alone stood at ₦321.1 billion, and earnings per share rose to ₦16 from ₦6.

However, the company remains in a negative equity position as its equity deficit narrowed to ₦209.4 billion from ₦361.0 billion at the end of 2024.

Although total assets increased slightly to ₦6.77 trillion, it remained below total liabilities of ₦6.98 trillion. A cursory look at the results shows that key liabilities include ₦2.81 trillion in trade payables and about ₦2.80 trillion in borrowings.

Conoil Plc

Conoil posted a sharp decline in performance for the nine months to September 30, 2025.

Its revenue fell by 18.2 per cent to ₦203.8 billion, even as profit for the period dropped by 87.9 per cent to about ₦1.46 billion, from ₦12.1 billion in the same period in 2024.

Rising finance costs played a major role, with finance expenses jumping to ₦6.89 billion from ₦2.47 billion. The increase was largely due to interest on bank overdrafts.

Its earnings per share fell sharply to 211 kobo from 1,747 kobo.

Conoil’s assets are heavily concentrated in current assets, which accounted for ₦113.4 billion of the ₦126.2 billion total asset base.

Also, trade and other receivables rose to ₦89.8 billion from ₦71.9 billion, indicating growing exposure to customer credit.

The company relies heavily on unsecured bank overdrafts, which rose to ₦39.7 billion and are repayable on demand.

Its equity increased marginally to ₦40.95 billion as cash and cash equivalents worsened to a negative ₦30.4 billion. The management attributed this to higher inventory levels and credit-driven sales.

Strategically, Conoil remains highly exposed to its white products segment, involved in the sale of premium motor spirit (PMS), aviation turbine kerosene (ATK), dual purpose kerosene (DPK), low-pour fuel oil (LPFO) and automotive gasoline/grease oil (AGO).

The segment contributes 96 per cent of total revenue, increasing its vulnerability to refined petroleum price swings.

Its gearing ratio, which shows how much debt it uses to finance its assets compared to shareholder equity, rose to 0.97 from 0.73, reflecting higher leverage and increased financial risk.

The company is also involved in a legal dispute valued at ₦4.3 billion in which full provision has been made for the claim. Despite these challenges, directors expressed confidence in Conoil’s going-concern status.

Access Holdings Plc

Access Holdings recorded strong growth in gross earnings, which rose to ₦3.9 trillion from ₦3.4 trillion in the review period in its nine months financial statement ending September 30, 2025.

Profit before tax increased by 10.4 per cent to ₦616.2 billion, but profit after tax, however, declined slightly to ₦447.5 billion from ₦457.7 billion in September 2024.

Its interest income remained strong at ₦2.9 trillion; however, impairment charges rose sharply, with net impairment losses increasing to ₦350 billion from ₦144.9 billion.

As a result, earnings per share fell to 800 kobo from 1,240 kobo, reflecting higher provisions and margin pressure.

The balance sheet expanded significantly as total assets grew by 25.8 per cent to ₦52.2 trillion. The growth was driven by investment securities of ₦15.3 trillion.

Loans and advances rose to ₦12.9 trillion even as customer deposits surged by nearly 47 per cent to ₦33.1 trillion, providing a strong funding base for lending activities.

Access Holdings maintained solid capital buffers, with its capital adequacy ratio standing at 20.03 per cent and its Tier 1 capital ratio at 15.02 per cent.

However, Access Holdings faces legal risks as the Group is involved in claims estimated at ₦1.05 trillion.

Share Tweet Share Send