The appeal of Socapalm and Safacam can be explained by their financial stability and "rather impressive" results. According to the Official Quotation Bulletin (BOC), there were requests for 344 Safacam shares and 920 Socapalm shares. The companies, which are leaders in Cameroon's palm oil and rubber markets, benefit from operational stability guaranteed by the persistent gap between the supply and demand for their products. In 2024, Safacam reported a net profit of 2.78 billion FCFA, which illustrates this resilience.

The lack of shares being sold, even in the face of sustained demand, reflects the current investors' desire to "remain on the shareholder table" of these two subsidiaries of the Luxembourg-based group Socfin. This comfort is due to their generous dividends. In 2024, Safacam paid 442.1 million FCFA in dividends, while Socapalm did better by distributing a total dividend of 1.7 billion FCFA. These performances justify the interest of investors, and the fact that shareholders prefer to hold their shares indicates they perceive the future value of these companies as greater than the current market prices.

The situation of these two companies' shares, which were among the first to be listed on the BVMAC, highlights a challenge for the market: low liquidity. While demand is a positive indicator of investor appetite, the lack of shares available for sale limits the market's ability to develop and fully reflect the companies' value. This phenomenon underscores the need to encourage more companies to go public to ensure a more dynamic market environment and better financing for the regional economy.

CK