Economy
Nigerian Stocks Extend 2019 Loss to 14.70% Tuesday
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), as at the close of business on Tuesday, October 8, 2019, has lost 14.70 percent of its value since the beginning of this year, Business Post is reporting.
The local equity market has been facing very difficult challenges since the start of 2019 and predictions that things would get better after the general elections never came to pass.
At today’s session, the market depreciated by 0.21 percent as President Muhammadu Buhari presented the 2020 budget to a joint session of the National Assembly.
Business Post reports that the decline posted by the local bourse today was mainly influenced by the poor performance put up by MTN Nigeria and 13 other equities.
The leading telco topped the losers’ chart after going down by N1.50 to close at N128.50 per unit, while Guinness Nigeria followed with a decline of 40 kobo to settle at N32.50 per share.
Dangote Sugar fell by 30 kobo to end at N10.20 per unit, Dangote Flour depreciated by 15 kobo to finish at N22.30 per share, while Champion Breweries went down by 11 kobo to trade at N1.04 per unit.
At the other side, Mobil Oil Nigeria led the 12 price gainers after adding N7.90 to its share value to finish at N147.90 per share, while NASCON trailed with a price gain of N1.35 to settle at N14.85 per unit.
Forte Oil improved its value by 90 kobo to close at N15.70 per share, GTBank went up by 15 kobo to end at N26.70 per share, while Africa Prudential rose by 13 kobo to settle at N4 per unit.
Despite the loss posted by the NSE on Tuesday, the level of activity improved significantly as the volume and value of transactions increased by 22.56 percent and 68.69 percent respectively.
A total of 185.9 million shares worth N2.5 billion were traded by investors today compared with the 151.7 million equities N1.5 billion transacted in the previous session.
Zenith Bank was the most active with a turnover of 60.9 million units of the bank’s stocks sold for N1.1 billion, while FCMB followed with 37.3 million equities traded for N59.7 million.
GTBank exchanged 27.9 million shares worth N744.4 million, FBN Holdings traded 6.6 million equities valued at N34.7 million, while UBA transacted 5.3 million shares for N31.6 million.
A look at the major market indicators showed that the All-Share Index (ASI) depreciated by 56.49 points to finish at 26,809.92 points, while the market capitalisation went down by N27.5 billion to settle at N13.051 trillion.
An analysis of the sectoral performance indicated that only the consumer goods index closed in the red territory on Tuesday with a 0.09 percent decline.
The energy sector rose by 1.04 percent, the insurance sector appreciated by 0.06 percent, while the banking sector gained 0.05 percent, with the industrial goods sector closing flat at the session.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) says the rollout of electronic invoicing (e-invoicing) will strengthen tax compliance, curb revenue leakages and improve transparency in tax administration as it moves to fully digitise the country’s tax system.
The Project Lead for the NRS e-Invoicing Project, Mr Mohammed Bawa, stated this at the DigiTax E-Invoicing Compliance Breakfast Session held in Lagos on Wednesday.
The event, organised by DigiTax, an NRS-accredited e-invoicing platform, formed part of efforts to support the agency’s ongoing education and sensitisation campaign on the e-invoicing mandate.
Mr Bawa said the initiative aligns with global trends in tax digitisation and is expected to help improve Nigeria’s tax-to-GDP ratio, which remains one of the lowest in Africa.
According to him, the system will provide the NRS with greater visibility into transactions across sectors, formalise activities within the informal economy and standardise invoice formats nationwide using globally recognised invoice schemas.
He added that e-invoicing would improve operational efficiency for both businesses and tax authorities while supporting the NRS’ transition from manual and electronic tax administration processes to a fully automated system-to-system interaction model.
Mr Bawa noted that the legal framework for implementation is backed by the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, which prescribes penalties for non-compliance.
He disclosed that the NRS has completed onboarding large taxpayers and is preparing to enforce compliance with defaulting entities.
According to him, medium taxpayers are expected to begin compliance in the third quarter of 2026, while onboarding of emerging taxpayers will commence in 2027, with full adoption targeted for all taxpayers by the end of 2028.
Mr Bawa urged taxpayers yet to be onboarded onto the platform to begin the process and work with accredited service providers to ensure compliance.
On his part, Country Director of DigiTax Nigeria, Mr Olumide Akinsola, urged businesses to look beyond their internal systems and assess the compliance status of suppliers and counterparties.
He warned that businesses whose suppliers fail to transmit invoices through the MBS platform risk losing eligibility to claim Value Added Tax (VAT) input credits on such transactions, describing the resulting supply chain exposure as a significant commercial risk that many organisations have yet to quantify.
Mr Akinsola also announced the launch of DigiTax’s white paper, The State of E-Invoicing Readiness in Nigeria, which examines compliance adoption trends and the readiness gap across different taxpayer segments.
He added that DigiTax operates in Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), noting that experience from those markets shows businesses that integrate early are better positioned to avoid disruptions when enforcement begins.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The names of about 100,000 companies registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) are about to be deleted for inactivity, especially for failing to file their annual tax returns, Business Post reports.
This information was disclosed by the CAC via a notice signed by its management on Wednesday, July 15, 2026.
The list contains organisations like the Nigeria-Poland Chamber of Trade Invest Ltd, Alariwo of Afrika Ltd, Ovation Sports International, First Union Pension Fund Administrators, Investopedia Limited, Baptist High School Abuja Ltd, and Yobe Aluminium Manufacturing Industries Ltd, amongst others.
In the statement, the commission said its decision to strike off the names of the affected firms from the register aligns with the provisions of Section 692(3) (3) and (4) of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), 2020.
However, the affected companies can still salvage the situation by filing all outstanding annual returns and regularising their records within 90 days.
“Please note that companies that fail to comply within the stipulated timeline shall be struck off the register without further notice,” it declared, expressing its continued commitment to providing prompt and efficient registration and regulatory services to the satisfaction of its valued customers.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange gained 1.75 per cent on Wednesday, July 15, pushing the NASD Security Index (NSI) up by 74.20 points to 4,316.51 points from 4,242.31 points, as the market capitalisation added N44.54 billion to finish at N2.590 trillion compared with the preceding session’s N2.546 trillion.
During the session, there was an 11.5 per cent rise in the value of transactions at midweek to N72.7 million from the preceding session’s N65.2 million, as there was a 3.7 per cent growth in the number of deals to 28 deals from the previous session’s 27 deals, while the volume of securities slumped by 64.5 per cent to 4.9 million units from 13.7 million units.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc ended as the most active security by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, with the second spot occupied by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc after selling 2.3 billion units valued at N6.5 billion, and the third position was taken by Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, which exchanged 74.3 million units for N5.3 billion.
GNI Plc also finished the trading day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with a turnover of 3.4 billion units traded for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units transacted for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units sold for N415.7 million.
Business Post reports that the market breadth index was negative yesterday, as there were two price gainers and three price losers.
11 Plc added N22.36 to its value to close at N250.00 per share versus N227.64 per share, and CSCS Plc improved by N7.95 to N90.35 per unit from N82.40 per unit.
On the flip side, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc lost N1.37 to end at N150.00 per share versus N151.37 per share, UBN Property Plc depreciated by 6 Kobo to N1.75 per unit from N1.81 per unit, and Food Concepts Plc dropped 1 Kobo to close at N2.49 per share versus N2.50 per share.
