Economy
Entries Open for 2017 Africa Property Investment Awards
By Dipo Olowookere
Thursday, August 24, 2017, has been pencilled down for Africa’s premier real estate competition, the African Property Investment Awards (API Awards), to be launched at this year’s API Summit & Expo 2017 at the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa.
The awards will recognise innovation and outstanding achievement across the entire property industry whilst providing distinguished developers, suppliers and owners working in Sub-Saharan Africa (Excl South Africa) with a platform to showcase their best projects and services.
Entries for the API Awards opened today, Tuesday, May 30, 2017 and it is expected to close on July 15, 2017.
API Events have proven their commitment to the African property industry, hosting successful and insightful summits for the last 8 years. As an independent organisation offering broad coverage of the African real estate sector, API Events have a reputation for fostering education, discussion and knowledge sharing throughout the industry, making them the ideal hosts for these prestigious awards.
Looking back on the last decade, there have been notable achievements in the development of real estate on the continent. Growth in the sector has highlighted the important role both local and regional investors and developers play in the industry. With this in mind, API Events has moved to introduce an awards platform that is both reputable and widely respected in order to recognize these achievements, as well as the distinction and quality of these contributions.
“With these awards, API Events hopes to not only encourage industry players to continue to achieve these same levels in regard to both industry standards and expectations, but also to raise the development standards across the industry in future. As the market evolves we want to ensure that all stakeholders strive to achieve excellence, and at the same time recognise those who are delivering on pioneering developments in Africa’s often tough development environments,” says Kfir Rusin, API Events Managing Director.
“As the continent’s pre-eminent property investment summit, it is fitting that API Summit & Expo should recognise excellence by giving awards to the best of the best. The prestige of an API Award will undoubtedly bring an increase in quality in all fields in the property industry in Africa,” adds jury panellist and owner of the W Hospitality Group, Trevor Ward.
The panel of judges will bring together a number of distinguished industry leaders from across the continent, each member boasting a variety of expertise and experience.
Joining Trevor Ward on the jury panel will be Gerhard Zeelie, Head Real Estate Finance: Rest of Africa at Standard Bank, (RSA), Joao Terlica, Managing Director at Sagaci Research (Nigeria), David Kinyua, Director at Esham Park Group (Kenya), Elizabeth Wangeci Chege, Chief Executive Officer at WEB Limited & Chairperson of the Kenya Green Building Society (Kenya), Godfrey Tapela, Director at IFC (Kenya), Wafula Nabutola, Regional Director of RICS (East Africa), Jenny Luesby, Managing Director of African Laughter (Kenya), Kaisi Kalambo, President for the Architects Association of Tanzania (Tanzania) and Malcolm Horne, Group CEO of The Broll Property Group.
The judging panel will critically assess all entries in Best Retail Development, Best Mixed-Use Development, Best Commercial High-rise Development, Best Architectural Design, Best Green Building in Sub Saharan Africa, Best Hotel Development, and Best Housing Development categories.
Within these categories, jury members will base their final decision on a wide range of criteria with specific focus on project location; infrastructure and transport access; integration into the environment; originality of the concept; technical and architectural quality; services offered; sensitivity to the local community; innovation; sustainability; corporate staff involvement; response to market demands; financial performance; occupancy; and the impact of the project on economic convergence.
“There hasn’t been a greater opportunity in Africa to transform the construction industry than now. Sharing of information and best practice across the continent is prevalent therefore, the API Awards will provide a platform to honour projects that seek to lead on development standards. Ultimately, what we build today will form the Africa of tomorrow,” says jury member, Elizabeth Wangeci Chege.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The duo of MRS Oil and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 0.68 per cent on Friday, June 5.
MRS Plc lost N19.00 during the session to sell at N171.00 per share compared with Thursday’s value of N190.00 per share, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc depreciated by N8.70 to finish at N181.68 per unit compared with the preceding session’s N190.38 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation further lost N22.59 billion to close at N2.607 trillion versus the N2.630 trillion it ended a day earlier, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) dropped 37.76 points to settle at 4,358.32 points, in contrast to the previous day’s 4,396.08 points.
The alternative stock market closed the last trading day of this week with a price gainer, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, which gained 6 Kobo to quote at N78.40 per share compared with the preceding session’s N78.34 per share. However, it could not prevent the market from going down at the close of business.
Yesterday, the volume of securities bought and sold by investors went down by 50.0 per cent to 140,345 units from the preceding day’s 280,714 units, the value of stocks decreased by 16.5 per cent to N17.9 million from the previous session’s N21.5 million, and the number of deals carried out by market participants fell by 35.7 per cent to 27 deals from the 42 deals recorded on Thursday.
When trading activities closed for the day, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units exchanged for N8.4 billion, trailed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 64.7 million units traded for N4.4 billion.
GNI Plc also ended the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth 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 valued at N415.7 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
Renewed interest in financial stocks and others lifted the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited by 0.15 per cent on Friday.
Customs Street closed higher yesterday despite the 1.37 per cent loss recorded by the consumer goods sector as a result of profit-taking.
This was offset by gains in the other key sectors of the local bourse, as the insurance counter chalked up 1,14 per cent. The banking space appreciated by 0.90 per cent, the industrial goods segment grew by 0.46 per cent, and the energy sector expanded by 0.01 per cent.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 366.00 points to 242,593.31 points from 242,227.31 points, and the market capitalisation gained N235 billion to close at N155.594 trillion compared with the previous day’s N155.359 trillion.
The trio of International Energy Insurance, Abbey Mortgage Bank, and DAAR Communications improved by 10.00 per cent each yesterday to N7.26, N9.35, and N1.98, respectively, while Zichis advanced by 9.39 per cent to N32.38, with Sovereign Trust Insurance up by 8.70 per cent to N2.50.
On the flip side, Academy Press lost 9.84 per cent to quote at N8.25, University Press depreciated by 9.73 per cent to N5.10, Africa Prudential dipped by 2.63 per cent to N12.95, Chams crumbled by 2.44 per cent to N4.00, and International Breweries slipped by 1.59 per cent to N12.35.
Business Post reports that the market breadth index was positive during the session after recording 37 appreciating equities and 14 depreciating equities, implying strong investor sentiment.
Abbey Mortgage Bank led the activity chart with a turnover of 164.1 million units worth N1.5 billion, Ellah Lakes sold 76.7 million units for N767.2 million, Access Holdings transacted 44.8 million units valued at N1.1 billion, Linkage Assurance exchanged 23.0 million units worth N41.2 million, and The Initiates traded 20.2 million units for N562.1 million.
At the close of trades, market participants transacted 608.5 million units worth N32.0 billion in 53,826 deals versus the 588.5 million units valued at N27.9 billion executed in 57,352 deals in the previous session. This showed that the number of deals eased by 6.15 per cent, the volume of transactions rose by 3.40 per cent, and the value of transactions soared by 14.70 per cent.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira further depreciated against the United States Dollar by N3.46 or 0.25 per cent to N1,362.21/$1 from N1,358.75/$1 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, June 5.
However, it appreciated against the Pound Sterling in the same market window during the session by N4.47 to trade at N1,823.59/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,828.06/£1, and gained N7.00 against the Euro to sell at N1,574.58/€1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price of N1,581.58/€1.
For another trading session, the Nigerian Naira maintained stability against the Dollar in the parallel market and the GTBank forex counter on Friday at N1,375/$1 and N1,372/$1, respectively.
The Naira is expected to remain strong in the near term, backed by a rise in external reserves, which are nearing $50 billion, enhancing analysts’ confidence about its outlook in the second half of 2026.
Heightened global uncertainty has reduced the incentive for importers and corporates to demand FX, as cautious trade weighs on import needs. Analysts estimate a $40 billion net FX position for the year, a projection anchored in oil windfall gains.
As for the cryptocurrency market, prices remained depressed following a strong US jobs report that spurred markets to price in higher-for-longer interest rates, sending Treasury yields and the dollar up while hammering stocks, especially AI-related names. Crypto markets saw heavy leverage washouts with about $1.6 billion in positions liquidated over 24 hours.
Ethereum (ETH) gave up 4.9 per cent to trade at $1,584.68, Solana (SOL) fell by 3.3 per cent to $63.22, Bitcoin (BTC) crashed by 1.9 per cent to $61,333.23, Dogecoin (DOGE) slipped by 1.8 per cent to $0.0821, and Ripple (XRP) moderated by 1.8 per cent to $1.09.
Further, TRON (TRX) dropped 1.6 per cent to sell at $0.3197, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 1.0 per cent to $581.18, and Cardano (ADA) declined by 0.4 per cent to $0.1589, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) gained 0.07 to sell at $0.9997, and US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $0.9998.
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