Transol lists on GSE

Story: Boahene Asamoah
TRANSACTION Solutions Limited (Transol), an information technology company, was formally listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange yesterday, incidentally the last trading session on the exchange for the year.
A total of 22, 662,442 shares valued at ¢1,000 per share was quoted.
Transol thus becomes the 32nd member on the Ghana bourse and also the fourth company to be listed on the market for the year, following on the heels of Aryton Drugs, Ecobank Ghana Limited and Ecobank Transnational Limited.
Transol offers transaction switching and processing systems, electronic funds transfer support services, electronic bill payment services, prepaid utility and telecommunications services, information technology consulting services as well as customer payment services.
The listing of the shares followed a successful initial public offer which was over-subscribed by over 12 per cent.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Managing Director of the Ghana Stock Exchange, Mr S.K. Yamoah, said the successful listing of the shares of Transol conformed to the GSE’s focus to attract more small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to the Ghanaian bourse.
He said “our focus is to attract SMEs to raise capital on the capital market”, adding that “we also welcome big companies to raise funds on the market”.
The Chairman of Transol, Mr Paul Tse Jacquaye, called on local brokerage firms to seek in-depth information from issuers of shares to enable them to advise their clients appropriately.
He commended the board, management and all who helped to ensure the successful listing of the company.
The Chairman of World-wide Investment Limited, one of the sponsoring brokers, Mr Rexford Adomako-Bonsu, said there was the need to encourage SMEs to take advantage of the capital market.
He urged the GSE to strengthen its promotional activities to attract more listings on the market.
The Managing Director of the State Insurance Company, Mr Peter Osei Duah, said the prospects of the information technology business was bright as the government had made it a policy to support that sector to drive growth and development in the country.
He said he was hopeful that transol would use the funds judiciously in order to expand its business and create shareholder value for its shareholders.
Transol operates the EZI shops which are points of sale centres for Areeba recharge vouchers and that of the other networks. The locations could also be used for Ecobank Visa Gift card and payment of Multichoice bills.
It was the first company to install stand alone Auto Teller Machines (ATMs) in the country using the Ecobank platform and has currently installed 16 ATMs at strategic locations.
The company is also in the process of installing 25 additional ATMs throughout the country.
The company has witnessed very significant improvement in its financials, registering rapid growth in its revenues since 2003.
It’s revenue went up by ¢8 billion in 2003 to ¢36.7 billion and ¢193 billion for 2004 and 2005 respectively.
Even though the company recorded a loss of ¢597.8 million in 2003, which was the first year of operations, it recovered in subsequent years, recording a net profit after tax of ¢556.8 million in 2004 and about ¢6 billion in 2005.
Fixed assets also improved from ¢1.1 billion in 2003 to ¢6.2 billion by the end of 2005, as against a total asset base of ¢2.5 billion in 2003 and ¢21.1 billion in 2005.
Shareholders funds also went up from about ¢2 billion in 2003 to ¢5.6 billion in 2005 due to improved profitability.