Accra — Activity on the GSE during the past week picked up after the preceding week's marginal drop in the market indicator.

The GSE All-Share Index for the week under review increased by 20.60 points to close the week at 5,374.60 points bringing the year-to-date gain to 7.36%. A total volume of 2,591,236 shares worth GH¢1,130,918 changed hands. Market capitalization increased by GH¢13.68mn to GH¢11,597.18mn on the back of ten gainers.

Unilever Ghana Ltd., a giant conglomerate in Ghana advanced by GH¢0.0950 (4.99%) to close the week at GH¢2.0000 with 7,500 shares trading. For the half-year ended June 30, 2007 UNIL recorded a turnover of ¢676,270 mn representing an increase of 21.34% with a corresponding increase of 23.53% in Cost of Sales to ¢503,787 mn over the same period the previous year.

While Selling, General and Administrative costs went down by 4.67% to ¢73,055 mn. UNIL's financial charges fell by 94.58% to ¢69 mn contributing to the 54.56% increase in net profit to ¢65,742 mn over the same period last year. The company's wide range of products contributes to the growth in turnover.

Unilever currently has a P/E ratio of 10 and a dividend yield of 5.3%. UNIL has made a year-to-date gain of 33.33%. UNIL is the manufacturer of OMO, Key soap, Pepsodent, Close-Up, Frytol, Lipton, Sunsilk etc.

Enterprise Insurance Company, appreciated by GH¢0.0500(4.35%) to close the week at GH¢1.2000 per share with 80,500 shares trading. EIC recorded an underwriting profit of ¢23,241 mn for the second quarter 2007 which was 48.15% higher than the previous year's figure of ¢7,337mn. EIC has been one of investors' favourite stocks on the market for the past two years. This could be attributed to the company's continuous impressive performance resulting in the sustained growth in the stock price.

Fan Milk Ghana Ltd., the dairy producer was up by 3.98% to close the week at an all time high of GH¢2.0500 per share with a total of 5,700 shares trading. During the past week, there was a strong demand for the non-existing shares of the dairy products company. Anticipated exciting performance fueled investors desire to pick the stock at a premium.

The company recorded a 29.87% increase in turnover to GH¢20.71 mn for the half year ended June 30 2007 over the same period last year. Cost of sales was up by 27.62% to GH¢13.15 mn resulting in a gross profit of GH¢7.56 mn. For the half year, FML recorded a net profit of GH¢2.43 mn representing a 49.48% increase over the same period last year.

FML however stated that price increases for raw materials and packaging materials particularly milk powder may impact sales volumes in the forthcoming months and subsequently the financial results for the year. The P/E ratio of the ice cream manufacturer currently stands at 8.

BAT recorded the highest volume of shares traded. These were shares being tendered in by shareholders to the majority shareholder at GH¢0.4266 per share. The company has up to 31st September 2007 to close the tender offer. The money market was quite liquid during the past week.

The yield on the 91-day T-bill was up by 2 basis points to 9.79%p.a whiles that of the 182-day dropped by 7 basis points to 10.28%p.a. The yield on the 1-year note however stayed flat at 12.3%p.a. Similarly, the 2-year Government note remained at 12.8%p.a.