Asian Shares Recover from Early Weakness to Close Positive

By Adedapo Adesanya The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Mr Dele Alake, has assured foreign investors of low production costs as they consider investing in the country’s mining sector. Speaking at the Mines and Money Conference in London, Mr Alake said President Bola Tinubu has embarked on reforms to boost investment by streamlining procedures and reducing hurdles to attract foreign investors. “The country’s geological bounty encompasses over 44 distinct mineral types, found in exploitable quantities across more than 500 locations,” the Minister said, according to a statement by his aide, Mr Kehinde Bamigbetan. “Recently, recognizing the evolving global landscape and

By Adedapo Adesanya  President Bola Tinubu has written to the House of Representatives seeking the approval for an $8.6 billion and €100 million external borrowing plan for critical infrastructure in areas such as power, roads, water, railway, and health. The President also forwarded the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Supplementary Budget to the lower chamber for consideration. Meanwhile, the President will present the 2024 budget to the National Assembly on Wednesday. This was after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved a 2024 budget of N27.5 trillion. The approval followed the review of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) earlier passed by the

By Dipo Olowookere Local equities rebounded by 0.34 per cent on Wednesday on the back of buying pressure on a few energy stocks and others at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited. According to data from the bourse, the bullish stance was attained despite profit-taking activities in the banking space amid plans by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to recapitalise the industry, leaving the market breadth index negative. This was because the number of price losers was more than the price gainers at 39 and 19 apiece, indicating a weak investor sentiment. Business Post reports that the energy counter grew

By Aduragbemi Omiyale A workshop designed to educate investors, especially those in the retail end of the curve, on how they can improve corporate governance has been organised by the Nigerian Exchange Regulation (NGX RegCo) Limited. The two-day event, which took place on Thursday, November 23, and Friday, November 24, 2023, was themed Rights and Responsibilities of Shareholders in Driving Corporate Governance. According to the NGX RegCo, the seminar was designed to promote a transparent and fair market, with participants agreeing that all hands must be on deck to sanitize the market and bring the boards and management of listed

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira closed weaker against the greenback in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window of the foreign exchange market on Friday, July 28, as liquidity issues continued to affect supply. During the last trading day of the week, it lost 0.93 per cent or N7.16 against the United States currency to quote at N775.76/$1 versus the N768.60/$1 it was traded on Thursday. The local currency performed badly in the official market yesterday as a result of the inability of FX traders to meet the demand of their customers, affecting the turnover posted at the close of business.

By Dipo Olowookere The key performance indicators of Customs Street, where the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited is located, slightly improved by 0.07 per cent on Monday on the back of renewed bargain-hunting. It was observed that traders had confidence in the market, resulting in the exchange finishing with 18 price gainers and eight price losers. This means that the market breadth was positive, buoyed by strong investor sentiment. Conoil topped the gainers’ log with a 9.98 per cent price appreciation to settle at N35.25, MRS Oil jumped by 8.24 per cent to N23.00, Chams expanded by 8.00 per cent to

By Dipo Olowookere Nigeria’s upper parliament on Wednesday, July 19, 2017, passed the Whistleblower Protection Bill 2017, to encourage and facilitate the disclosures of improper conduct by public officers and public bodies. The bill was presented by the Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, chaired by Mr David Umaru, and was passed at the plenary today. Senate President, Mr Bukola Saraki, while speaking on the passage of the bill, stated that, “This is a promise kept. “Today, we have passed a landmark piece of legislation to fight corruption and protect patriotic Nigerians who are fighting corruption. “This Bill

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Parent company of one of Nigeria’s leading Global System of Mobile (GSM) telecommunications services providers, 9mobile, Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services Limited (EMTS), is marking its 10th year in operations in the country. EMTS, formerly trading as Etisalat Nigeria, in a statement, attributed its successes and achievements over the past 10 years to the “unalloyed support and continued patronage” of Nigerians and other stakeholders. The firm further said in just 10 years of operations as Nigeria’s innovative Mobile Network Operator (MNO), it has revolutionised the nation’s telecommunications industry with an array of ground-breaking products, services and solutions to

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The profit after tax posted by Transcorp Hotels Plc in the first half of this year dropped by about N1.1 billion, the company’s financial statements revealed. In the half year earnings released by the firm, the company disclosed that its profit in the first six months of the year stood at N757.63 million compared with N1.9 billion posted on June 30, 2016, forcing the firm not to declare interim dividend this period. Also, Transcorp Hotels said its revenue for the first six months of the year depreciated to N6.20 billion from N7.60 billion a year ago. Furthermore,

By Modupe Gbadeyanka This Wednesday and Thursday, shareholders of Dangote Cement and Greif Nigeria Plc will meet in Lagos to either approve or disapprove requests of their respective boards. On Wednesday, January 22, 2019 at the Eko Convention Centre, Lagos at 11am, investors of Dangote Cement will gather for an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) to decide on the share buy-back programme proposed by the board. The board said the company intends to repurchase a total of 1.704 billion ordinary shares of Dangote Cement from the stock market, representing 10 percent of the total issued shares of the cement giant; 17,040,507,405

By Sodeinde Temidayo David The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has warned Nigerians against the use of formalin for the preservation of frozen poultry products and other food items. NAFDAC’s spokesman, Mr Abubakar Jimoh, disclosed that crooked business people were in the habit of using formalin for preserving frozen foods, particularly chicken and turkey. The formalin is capable of preserving such products for weeks before they get to consumers, but the consumption of the chemical is dangerous to health. Formalin is a poisonous chemical popularly used to preserve corpses in mortuaries and according to the

**Assures Deployment of Robust Digital Platforms for Better Customer Experience By Modupe Gbadeyanka Asian Banker, at its Middle East and Africa Regional 2020 Awards last Thursday, announced Ecobank Nigeria as the Best Retail Bank in Nigeria. The organisers of the virtual event explained that Ecobank was selected for the honour because of its deployment of digital solutions to meet the needs of its customers even during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, adding that the bank also enhanced its customer experience through culture transformation across the various touchpoints. “Ecobank encouraged its customers to avoid non-essential contact in achieving their banking needs by