Economy
Attention Shifts to Dividend-Paying Stocks as Earnings Season Nears
By Dipo Olowookere
In the first week, month, and quarter of 2024, dividend-paying stocks will be the toast of investors at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited as the earnings season approaches.
From next month, a few companies listed on the stock exchange, like United Capital and Secure Electronic Technology, will begin to release their financial statements for the 2023 fiscal year, though more are expected in March and April 2024, especially those in the banking sector.
The performance of the equity market and the sharp price appreciation posted by some equities last year will spur investors to quickly buy shares of companies they are sure will declare dividends. These include Dangote Cement, Zenith Bank, GTCO, UBA, and MTN Nigeria, among others.
As the market resumes trading activity today, Tuesday, January 2, 2024, after a break on Monday for the New Year’s Day celebration, Business Post analysts expect a mixture of bargain-hunting and profit-taking.
However, the core activity expected today is portfolio rebalancing, as traders will want to take another look into their investment strategies, deciding whether to raise their risk level or not. This will make them to decide if to remain in the stock market or concentrate on the fixed-income market.
With the NGX outpacing inflation last year, gaining 45.90 per cent, and Transcorp Hotels surging by 1,022.9 per cent in the year, and others rising above 500 per cent, one may not need a seer to project where the decision will tilt.
But one of the major factors that would shape their decision on this is another look at the economic reforms of President Bola Tinubu. Investors will chew on his nationwide broadcast yesterday and see if they can go to the bank with his words.
The Nigerian economy has been struggling since he assumed office on May 29, 2023, especially after he declared an end to the payment of petrol subsidies.
A few weeks later, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) unified the exchange rates, and since then, the Naira has suffered, hitting its worst level of N1,099/$1 last month at the official market and selling above N1,300/$1 at a time in the parallel market in 2023, making the cost of goods and services rise, with inflation reaching 28.20 per cent in November.
In his speech yesterday, Mr Tinubu admitted that these two policy decisions have brought hardships to Nigerians but maintained they were in the best interest of the country.
“Over the past seven months of our administration, I have taken some difficult and yet necessary decisions to save our country from fiscal catastrophe.
“One of those decisions was the removal of fuel subsidies, which had become an unsustainable financial burden on our country for more than four decades.
“Another was the removal of the chokehold of a few people on our foreign exchange system that benefited only the rich and the most powerful among us.
“Without a doubt, these two decisions brought some discomfort to individuals, families, and businesses,” he said.
“Dear Compatriots, take this from me: the time may be rough and tough; however, our spirit must remain unbowed because tough times never last,” he added.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira appreciated by 2.3 per cent month-on-month against the US Dollar, averaging N1,500.97 per Dollar in February compared to N1,535.95 per Dollar in January 2025.
This is according to recent data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which showed that the Nigerian currency strengthened against major currencies last month at the official market.
Similarly, the Naira strengthened by 1.8 per cent against the Euro, averaging N1,562.35/€1 versus N1,590.72/€ and by 0.65 per cent against the Pounds Sterling at N1,882.0/£1 in February 2025 compared with N1,894.2/£1 in January 2025.
This improvement in the value of the local currency came on the heels of a series of strategic policies implemented by the CBN to stabilize and strengthen the domestic currency.
These key measures included the introduction of the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (launched on December 2, 2024), the Nigeria Foreign Exchange Code (January 28, 2025) and selective intervention in the foreign exchange market.
The apex bank also helped quell Naira volatility by clearing a backlog of orders to sell Naira for foreign currency and boosting dollar supply to the Bureau de Change (BDC) operators by extending its access window.
However, Nigeria’s foreign reserves witnessed constant drops to a month low of $2.2 billion in February, since hitting a $40.92 billion high on January 6.
Market analysts noted that it would be imperative to sustain and build on this momentum with further efforts needed including support of local businesses to produce substitutes for imports, through improved access to credit and technology.
In addition to domestic support, critical investments in the health and education sectors are essential to reduce the demand for foreign services, such as medical and health tourism.
In another set of data, currency outside banks surged by 44.5 per cent in January 2025 to N4.7 trillion by January 2025 up from N3.3 trillion in January 2024, according to the latest data from the Money and Credit statistics of the apex bank.
Meanwhile, currency outside the bank represents 12.8 per cent of narrow money in January 2025, an increase from 10.4 per cent in January 2024.
Also, currency outside banks as a percentage of total money supply (M3) increased in January 2025 to 4.3 per cent from 3.5 per cent during the same period last year. Thus indicates a growing preference for cash-based payments and an expansion of the informal economy.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange suffered a 0.26 per cent decline on Wednesday March 19 after the two securities closed lower and one appreciated.
Afriland Properties Plc depleted by N1.67 to trade at N19.52 per unit compared with the preceding day’s N21.19 per unit and Food Concepts Plc dropped 12 Kobo to close at N1.55 per share versus Tuesday’s value of N1.67 per share, while Geo Fluids Plc added 10 Kobo to trade at N2.85 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N2.75 per unit.
At the close of transactions, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) went down by 8.74 points to 3,377.98 points from the previous trading day’s 3,386.72 points, and the market capitalisation contracted by N5.05 billion to settle at N1.951 trillion compared with the preceding day’s N1.956 trillion.
During the trading day, the volume of securities bought and sold at the bourse fell by 55.8 per cent to 31.3 million units from the 195,796 units recorded on Tuesday, the value of securities traded shrank by 551.4 per cent to N33.3 million from the N5.1 million quoted at the preceding session, and the number of deals executed declined by 20.7 per cent to 23 deals from 29 deals.
Impresit Bakolori Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 533.9 million units worth N520.9 million, followed by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 13.0 million units valued at N505.1 million, and Afriland Properties Plc with 17.5 million units valued at N359.0 million.
Also, Impresit Bakolori Plc was the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 533.9 million units worth N520.9 million, trailed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 69.9 million units worth N23.7 million and Geo-Fluids Plc traded 44.0 million units sold for N88.9 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
It was still a bad day for the Naira in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Wednesday, March 19 as its value further depreciated by a 0.74 per cent or N11.40 on the US Dollar to close at N1,547.52/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,536.12/$1.
It was the third straight trading day the exchange rate of the Nigerian currency was going under against its American counterpart in the official market as a result of sustained FX pressure despite efforts of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to stabilise the ecosystem.
The currency market is already reacting to the explosion that affected the Trans-Niger Pipeline in Rivers State on Monday night. The facility feeds crude oil to the Bonny export terminal. There are reports that operations have again resumed but the political tension in the state is fueling worries about FX earnings.
Business Post reports that the domestic currency stumbled against the Pound Sterling yesterday in the spot market by N35.50 to sell at N1,985.39/£1 versus N1,949.89/£1 but gained N5.39 on the Euro to settle at N1,668.11/€1 versus the preceding session’s rate of N1,673.50/€1.
As for the parallel market, the value of the Nigerian Naira against the US Dollar remained unchanged during the session as N1,585/$1.
In the digital currency market, most of the tokens appreciated after the US Federal Reserve left rates steady, as expected, but sharply cut its growth outlook while upping its inflation forecast.
The US Federal Reserve left its benchmark fed funds rate range steady at 4.25 per cent -4.50 per cent on Wednesday, the second consecutive pause since three straight rate cuts to end 2024.
The US central bank quarterly economic projections, though, showed a sharp decline in expectations for economic growth, with the GDP increase in 2025 now seen at just 1.7 per cent versus 2.1 per cent at the December forecast. The growth outlooks for 2026 and 2027 were trimmed as well.
Ripple (XRP) grew by 7.3 per cent to $2.45, Solana (SOL) increased by 6.7 per cent to $134.56, Dogecoin (DOGE) increased by 4.2 per cent to $0.1746, Ethereum (ETH) jumped by 3.9 per cent to $2,013.42, Bitcoin (BTC) rose by 3.3 per cent to $85,916.02, Cardano (ADA) also soared by 3.3 per cent to $0.7310, Litecoin (LTC) gained 2.9 per cent to sell at $92.61, and Binance Coin (BNB) chalked up 1.9 per cent to settle at $628.49, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
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