C&I Leasing to Probe Financial Error Detected in Audited Accounts

By Adedapo Adesanya The duo of NASD Plc and Aradel Holdings Plc weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 0.04 per cent on Thursday, September 21. The two price losers overpowered the sole price gainer, Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc, to drag down the NASD Unlisted Securities Index (NSI) by 0.34 points to 805.95 points from the 806.29 points it ended in the previous day, while the total value of the unlisted stock market was relatively flat at N1.139 trillion. At the trading day, NASD Plc shed N1.15 to end the session at N11.50 per unit versus the

By Adedapo Adesanya Oil prices settled lower on Thursday even after Russia announced a ban on fuel exports, with Brent crude down by 23 cents to $93.30 a barrel while the US West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) lost 3 cents to sell at $89.63 per barrel. Russia temporarily banned gasoline and diesel exports to all countries outside a circle of four ex-Soviet states with immediate effect to stabilize the domestic fuel market, the government said on Thursday. It said the ban did not apply to fuel supplied under inter-governmental agreements to Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union members, including Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia

By Adedapo Adesanya Though the supply of foreign exchange (FX) in Nigeria has remained low, the Naira closed stronger against the United States Dollar in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) and the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) segments on Wednesday, September 20, and maintained stability in the parallel market. According to data obtained from FMDQ Securities Exchange, the local currency appreciated against the Dollar in the midweek session by 0.76 per cent or N5.89 to sell for N770.71/$1 versus the previous rate of N776.60/$1 amid a decline in the value of forex transactions by 9.4 per cent or $6.65 million to $64.36 million

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Mr Wale Edun, has said the country is unable to clear up to $6.8 billion of overdue forward payments in the foreign exchange market, noting that this is preventing the Naira from gaining stability. Speaking in an interview on Thursday, Mr Edun lamented that the country’s FX market is facing a serious liquidity crisis due to low flows. “The issue we have now is that the market is not liquid enough,” he said in an interview in New York, per Bloomberg. The Minister said that resolving the overdue contracts would allow the Naira

By Dipo Olowookere The second phase of afforestation programme of Globus Resources Limited, a subsidiary of Triton Group, in Oyo State has received the backing of Heritage Bank Plc, one of Nigeria’s most innovative banking services providers. The bank as the first financier had earlier financed the first phase of the project and offered N2 billion long-term facility to enable Triton Aqua Africa Limited (TAAL) expand its aquaculture businesses- nursery/hatchery for the production of fingerlings and brood stock in Ikeja; and earthen ponds for catfish and tilapia in Asejire, Iwo and Gambari towns in Oyo. Under the programme, Globus Resources

By Dipo Olowookere Persistent profit-taking further chopped off 0.24 per cent from the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Tuesday as investors sold off shares that have appreciated in price during the recovery period. Yesterday, traders offloaded some equities in the banking and consumer goods sectors, resulting in the bearish outcome reported by the market at the close of transactions. The All-Share Index (ASI) shrank by 113.48 points during the session to close at 47,322.97 points compared with the previous day’s 47,436.45 points, while the market capitalisation decreased by N61 billion to settle at N25.776 trillion as against Monday’s N25.837 trillion.

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Analysts at FBNQuest have said commented on the recent sale of Nigeria’s first diaspora bond on the international capital market by the Debt Management Office (DMO). It was learnt that the $300m issue, has a tenor of five years and pays a coupon of 5.625 percent, was oversubscribed by 130 percent. The bond was approved both by the SEC in the US and the UK Listing Authority, though it has been on the drawing board for a few years. However, the marketing channels have now been opened and the debt office has a formula that can be

By Aduragbemi Omiyale A student of Aladumo International School, Rivers State, Ariella Anwana, has won the fourth edition of the Bookville Reading Competition, organized by one of the foremost bookstores in Nigeria, Bookville World and sponsored by leading consumer finance company, Zedvance Finance Limited. The Book Reading Competition, initiated to encourage reading for pleasure as an avenue to spice up literature as well as give children an incentive to open a book, was held from May 8 to June 19, 2021, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State and had over 100 entries. The first runner-up of the contest was Onyeka-Daniel Ivana

By Adedapo Adesanya Fitch Ratings has assigned African Risk Capacity Limited (ARC Ltd), the commercial subsidiary of the African Risk Capacity Group (ARC Group), an ‘Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) Rating of ‘BBB+’ and a ‘Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of ‘BBB’ with a stable outlook. Announcing the rating on its official website, Fitch indicated that “the ratings reflect the commitment and credit quality of ARC’s sponsors, as well as the company’s good business profile, very strong capitalisation and leverage.” Continuing, Fitch stated that, ARC Ltd.’s capital position is very strong, and a key strength for the rating level, adding that

By Adedapo Adesanya The local currency depreciated against the Dollar at the Investors and Exchange (I&E) segment for the second consecutive day this week on Thursday as a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) monthly report showed that it has injected over $25 billion to stabilize the currency between January and August 2019. The value of the domestic currency went down by 27 Kobo or 0.07 percent yesterday to close at N362.79/$1 compared with the N362.52/$1 it was sold at the market window the previous session. The daily market turnover increased on Thursday as investors exchanged a total of $273.93 million

By Dipo Olowookere The Nigeria Customs Service has again warned smugglers to desist from carrying out their nefarious activities in and around Ogun State. The Ogun Area Controller of the Service, Mr Michael Agbara, handed down the warning at Idiroko shortly after conducting the Assistant Controller General in charge of Zone ‘A’ Aminu Dahiru, round some of the creeks in the state. Mr Agbara insisted that the command will not rest on its hoarse towards ridding the state of smugglers. He reiterated that his officers and men would continue to seize foreign rice at any part of the state. The

By Modupe Gbadeyanka A new report by McKinsey Africa has disclosed that more than 10,000 Chinese firms operating in Africa, which it said is four times the previous estimate. This study, according to McKinsey Africa, was conducted across eight countries making up about two-thirds of Sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP. After the study, it was also discovered about 90 percent of these were private firms, of all sizes and operating in diverse sectors, with about a third in manufacturing. In a statement made available to Business Post on Thursday, McKinsey Africa noted that these firms are bringing capital investment, management know-how and