Economy
Currency Flotation to Benefit Morocco’s Real Estate Market—JLL
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A new report by JLL has thrown its weights behind the floatation of currency by the Moroccan Central Bank (Bank Al-Maghrib), saying it would benefit the nation’s real estate industry.
Recall that earlier this year, Bank Al-Maghrib introduced the gradual floatation of the Moroccan Dirham, providing more flexibility to real estate investors and paving the way for a more buoyant real estate market in the year ahead.
According to JLL’s Morocco 2018 report, the bank widened the official band within which the dirham may fluctuate to 5 per cent, with a maximum daily move of 2.5 per cent above or below the official rate.
As part of a broader monetary reform, this move is intended to bolster the competitiveness of Morocco’s economy and will potentially position the country as a regional economic hub, and the gateway to Africa.
The Moroccan economy is expected to record real growth of 4 per cent in 2018, primarily driven by increased domestic consumption and public investment, highlights the report. The economy has attracted increased levels of FDI yearly since 2005 (with the exception of 2015) with real estate attracting around half of the total FDI.
The significant increase in FDI aligns with the Moroccan government’s Vision 2020 outlining Morocco’s goals of becoming one of the world’s 20 leading tourist destinations by 2020.
Almost 40 per cent of foreign investment is from the GCC region, with a significant proportion of this total being invested in the real estate sector.
“The reforms introduced by the Moroccan government, will have a ripple effect on the real estate sector, as investors across all sectors now have the opportunity to be more flexible in their decision making,” said Craig Plumb, Head of Research, JLL MENA.
“If the currency softens against the Dollar and the Euro, this will effectively make Moroccan property cheaper for investors from markets denominated in these currencies and attract further FDI into the real estate sector across Morocco and most specifically into Casablanca,” he added.
Another factor likely to result in additional investment into the real estate sector is the launch of REIT’s that will reduce the level of investment required to own real estate and therefore expand the market to a wider range of investors.
Although there are no listed REITs on the Moroccan stock exchange as of yet, the merger of VLV and Petra in 2017 resulted in the creation of a new commercial real estate platform comprising of 27 assets (with a total GLA of more than 215,000 sq m) across 15 cities in Morocco.
Grit real estate income group (previously known as Mara Delta) has also announced plans to list its Moroccan assets separately as a REIT (with Anfa Place being a prime asset in its portfolio).
“REITs will boost the demand for investment in the office market. Casablanca is Morocco’s main commercial centre and has a significantly bigger office market than the capital Rabat. With many national and international companies located in the city there is a growing need for modern office space in Casablanca,” said Craig Plumb.
The retail market in Casablanca is largely dependent on street retail, however, organised retail malls are becoming increasingly preferred, reflected in the high footfall levels across major centres such as Morocco Mall and Anfa Place Shopping centre. “The continued move towards retail malls will create future opportunities for both developers and investors,” said Plumb.
Casablanca’s hospitality market is largely dependent on business travellers and has relatively limited hotels in the luxury segment. Occupancy rates recovered in 2017 from 62% in 2016 to 66% in 2017, owing to the performance of the 4-start hotel segment catering to conferences and exhibitions across the city.
“With the government’s vision 2020 of converting Morocco into one of the world’s hottest tourist destinations by 2020, occupancy rates seem to be growing positively. We look forward to seeing strong results in the hospitality market this year as performance shows an upward trajectory,” he added.
Being the gateway location between Europe and Africa, Morocco has attracted a number of major international manufacturers such as Renault Nissan investing in the key industrial areas. The government launched an industrial acceleration program in 2014, which is designed to generate half a million jobs in the industrial sector that will in turn significantly increase Morocco’s GDP as well as providing further opportunities for real estate developers and investors.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Seven price gainers flipped recent declines at the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange, raising the alternative stock market by 2.19 per cent on Friday.
According to data, the market capitalisation added N51.24 billion to end N2.389 trillion compared with the previous day’s N2.338 trillion, while the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) climbed 85.65 points to close at 3,994.32 points, in contrast to the 3,908.67 points it ended a day earlier.
Business Post reports that the advancers were led by MRS Oil Plc, which improved its value by N13.00 to N200.00 per share from N187.00 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc gained N7.40 to settle at N91.55 per unit versus the previous day’s N84.15 per unit, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc appreciated by N6.08 to N71.00 per share from N64.92 per share, Afriland Properties Plc added 66 Kobo to finish at N17.17 per unit versus N16.51 per unit, IPWA Plc rose 37 Kobo to N4.15 per share from N3.78 per share, First Trust Mortgage Bank Plc grew by 11 Kobo to N1.20 per unit from N1.09 per unit, and Food Concepts Plc went up by 10obo to N3.70 per share from N3.60 per share.
On the flip side, there were two price losers led by Geo-Fluids Plc, which depreciated by 28 Kobo to N3.32 per unit from N3.60 per unit, and Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc dropped 5 Kobo to sell at 45 Kobo per share from 50 Kobo per share.
Yesterday, the volume of trades went down by 92.0 per cent to 3.7 million units from 45.8 million units, the value of transactions fell by 59.4 per cent to N84.5 million from N208.2 million, while the number of deals went up by 7.7 per cent to 42 deals from 39 deals.
CSCS Plc remained the most traded stock by value (year-to-date) with 32.6 million units exchanged for N1.9 billion, trailed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 119.6 million units valued at N470.3 million, and Resourcery Plc with 1.05 billion units traded at N408.6 million.
Resourcery Plc closed the day as the most traded stock by volume (year-to-date) with 1.05 billion units sold for N408.7 million, followed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 119.6 million units worth N470.3 million, and CSCS Plc with 32.6 million units worth N1.9 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira weakened further against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, February 20, by N4.97 or 0.37 per cent to N1,346.32/$1 from the N1,341.35/$1 it was transacted on Thursday.
Heightened FX demand tilted the market toward the downside yesterday, exerting upward pressure on rates despite efforts by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to stabilise the foreign exchange market.
Also in the official market, the domestic currency depreciated against the Pound Sterling during the session by N9.39 to sell for N1,815.25/£1 versus the previous day’s N1,805.86/£1, and lost N7.33 against the Euro to close at N1,584.62/€1 compared with the preceding session’s N1,577.29/€1.
The story was not different for the Nigerian Naira at the GTBank FX desk, where it depleted against the Dollar by N7 on Friday to quote at N1,356/$1 versus the N1,349/$1 it was sold a day earlier, but remained unchanged in the black market at N1,370/$1.
It was observed that risky sentiment among Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) contributed to the FX market, amid fears of hot money flight due to capital gains tax and other factors.
As for the cryptocurrency market, it was mostly green yesterday in reaction to a Supreme Court verdict dismissing a fresh 10 per cent global levy by President Donald Trump.
The apex court on Friday described Mr Trump’s global tariff rollout as illegal. The decision did not clarify what should happen to tariff revenue already collected, and it doesn’t necessarily spell the end of the trade agenda, with multiple legal and executive avenues still available.
Litecoin (LTC) grew 2.7 per cent to $55.00, Cardano (ADA) appreciated 2.6 per cent to trade at $0.2815, Binance Coin (BNB) expanded by 2.6 per cent to $627.19, Dogecoin (DOGE) recouped 1.3 per cent to quote at $0.1, Ripple (XRP) jumped 0.7 per cent to $1.43, Solana (SOL) improved by 0.5 per cent to $84.15, and Ethereum (ETH) soared 0.1 per cent to $1,962.78.
However, Bitcoin (BTC) lost 0.2 per cent to sell for $67,850.49, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
By Dipo Olowookere
A further 0.99 per cent was gained by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday after a positive market breadth index supported by 53 price gainers, which outweighed 23 price losers, representing bullish investor sentiment.
During the trading day, the trio of Jaiz Bank, Fidson, and NPF Microfinance Bank chalked up 10.00 per cent each to sell for N11.00, N86.90, and N6.27, respectively, while Deap Capital appreciated by 9.96 per cent to N7.62, and Mutual Benefits increased by 9.94 per cent to N5.42.
Conversely, Secure Electronic Technology shed 10.00 per cent to trade at N1.62, Sovereign Trust Insurance slipped by 9.73 per cent to N2.32, Ellah Lakes declined by 7.91 per cent to N12.80, International Energy Insurance retreated by 5.56 per cent to N3.40, and ABC Transport moderated by 5.26 per cent to N9.00.
Data from Customs Street revealed that the insurance counter was up by 2.52 per cent, the industrial goods sector grew by 2.28 per cent, the banking space expanded by 1.43 per cent, the consumer goods index gained 1.23 per cent, and the energy industry rose by 0.05 per cent.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 1,916.20 points to 194,989.77 points from 193,073.57 points, and the market capitalisation moved up by N1.230 trillion to N125.164 trillion from Thursday’s N123.934 trillion.
Yesterday, investors traded 820.5 million stocks valued at N28.3 billion in 63,507 deals compared with the 898.5 million stocks worth N38.5 billion executed in 61,953 deals, showing a jump in the number of deals by 2.51 per cent, and a shortfall in the trading volume and value by 8.68 per cent and 26.49 per cent apiece.
Closing the session as the most active equity was Mutual Benefits with 79.0 million units worth N427.1 million, Zenith Bank traded 44.0 million units valued at N3.8 billion, Chams exchanged 43.9 million units for N182.0 million, AIICO Insurance transacted 42.4 million units valued at N179.8 million, and Veritas Kapital sold 36.0 million units worth N90.6 million.
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