Economy
Flutterwave Insists on IPO Despite Controversies
By Adedapo Adesanya
Flutterwave, Africa’s largest startup, is pressing ahead with plans for an initial public offering (IPO) despite controversies about the unicorn and its co-founder, Mr Olugbenga Agboola.
According to the firm’s CEO, who came under intense scrutiny following a series of allegations and his denial of his involvement in such, the company is forging ahead with its planned listings because it is very crucial to realise its targets.
Mr Agboola, in an interview with Bloomberg, said going public has become necessary for the company to attract large global clients.
According to the publication, Mr Agboola brushed aside accusations that it had refused to honour former employees’ stock rights and that staff were harassed and bullied.
According to him, these were “very, very isolated” cases, and they wouldn’t affect the planned share sale.
“There’s some kind of customers we’ll attract when we are public. The large global clients need you to have the same level of compliance and level of global view that they have,” Mr Agboola was quoted in the interview.
He added that the company, which was recently embroiled in controversies in Kenya, has won approval for the first step in securing the right to operate in the country.
Business Post understands that a time for the IPO was not announced by the Flutterwave CEO as the current market environment was not “great right now.”
The company had previously mulled a double listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.
Mr Agboola was the face of public scrutiny in 2022 when he faced allegations bothering on harassment and bullying. The company also took a hit in July last year, when the Kenyan High Court froze Flutterwave’s bank accounts under anti-money laundering rules, and the country’s central bank said it wasn’t licensed to operate payments services in the country.
Despite these, Flutterwave said that its payment processing business through its payments app, SendApp, increased 23-fold in the first half of this year compared with the same period in 2022.
Payments through point-of-sale devices rose more than fivefold, and revenue in its small and medium business units jumped almost fourfold.
Mr Agboola sees the company growing its presence in the markets it is currently in and possibly seeking acquisitions to further its reach.
“The goal is to make merchants across Africa, consumers across Africa use us more and know that we are the most reliable platform to use,” he said. “Africa is huge; the potential is huge,” he said.
Since its founding in 2016, Flutterwave has rapidly expanded and now has a presence in about 30 African countries. The company’s valuation is at $3 billion.
By Dipo Olowookere
Last week, investors bought and sold 2.645 billion stocks valued at N77.005 billion in 86,110 deals at Customs Street compared with the 2.200 billion stocks worth N75.409 billion transacted in 70,329 deals a week earlier.
Unlike the preceding week, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited opened its door to business for five days, with the financial services sector dominating the activity chart after transacting 1.638 billion shares for N45.825 billion in 37,843 deals, contributing 61.90 per cent and 59.51 per cent to the total trading volume and value, respectively.
The services industry posted a turnover of 364.653 million equities valued at N2.909 billion in 7,760 deals, and the consumer goods space transacted 190.221 million stocks worth N6.771 billion in 10,595 deals.
The three busiest stocks in the week were GTCO, Access Holdings, and Tantalizers with 839.689 million units sold for N27.737 billion in 8,898 deals, accounting for 31.74 per cent and 36.02 per cent of the total trading volume and value, respectively.
Business Post reports that 68 equities appreciated last week versus 52 equities in the previous week, 28 shares depreciated versus 37 shares a week earlier, and 52 stocks remained unchanged versus 59 stocks in the preceding week.
Multiverse was the biggest price gainer at 57.48 per cent to settle at N10.00, Academy Press expanded by 50.52 per cent to N4.32, Beta Glass appreciated by 46.31 per cent to N160.65, The Initiates rose by 34.95 perr cent to N6.68, and International Energy Insurance advanced by 31.88 per cent to N1.82.
The heaviest price decliner for the week was Abbey Mortgage Bank after it shed 15.66 per cent to N7.00, Meyer depreciated by 13.51 per cent to N8.00, Veritas Kapital lost 10.81 per cent to sell for 99 Kobo, VFD Group deflated by 10.61 per cent to N16.00, and Transcorp Power fell by 9.98 per cent to N328.50.
The performance indicators showed that the All-Share Index (ASI) and the market capitalisation appreciated in the week by 2.54 per cent to 108,733.40 points and N68.339 trillion, respectively.
Also, all other indices closed higher except the MERI Growth index, which went down by 0.15 per cent, while the ASeM index closed flat.
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited suffered its first loss this week with a 0.46 per cent decline on Friday, influenced by profit-taking.
The market was under selling pressure yesterday, with all the key sectors of the bourse closing in red when the gong was struck by 2:30 pm.
The commodity index was down by 1.94 per cent, the insurance sector depreciated by 0.22 per cent, the industrial goods space lost 0.18 per cent, the consumer goods counter went down by 0.05 per cent, the energy industry tumbled by 0.02 per cent, and the banking sector fell by 0.01 per cent.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) contracted by 498.56 points to 108,733.40 points from 109,231.96 points and the market capitalisation retreated by N314 billion to N68.339 trillion from N68.653 trillion.
The market participants traded 459.2 million equities valued at N11.2 billion in 15,723 deals on Friday versus the 554.1 million equities worth N14.4 billion traded 16,704 deals in the preceding session, implying a decrease in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 17.13 per cent, 22.22 per cent, and 5.87 per cent apiece.
Tantalizers traded 101.4 million shares for N237.3 million, GTCO exchanged 51.3 million equities worth N3.5 billion, Access Holdings transacted 45.2 million stocks valued at N975.3 million, Zenith Bank sold 21.8 million shares worth N1.1 billion, and Sterling Holdings transacted 15.5 million equities valued at N91.8 million.
The heaviest price loser was Transcorp Power with a decline of 9.98 per cent to settle at N328.50, Haldane McCall fell by 9.57 per cent to N4.25, Meyer lost 9.09 per cent to trade at N8.00, Regency Alliance dropped 6.78 per cent to finish at 55 Kobo, and Sunu Assurances crumbled by 6.73 per cent to N4.99.
On the flip side, ABC Transport chalked up 10.00 per cent to quote at N2.86, Sterling Holdings also expanded by 10.00 per cent to close at N6.05, Chellarams improved by 9.94 per cent to N10.40, Academy Press gained 9.92 per cent to finish at N4.32, and Red Star Express appreciated by 9.90 per cent to N5.55.
Business Post reports that a total of 34 stocks appreciated, while 32 stocks depreciated, indicating a positive market breadth index and bullish investor sentiment despite the loss recorded by Customs Street during the session.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Four stocks weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 0.46 per cent on Friday, May 9, bringing down the market capitalisation by N9.02 billion to N1.935 trillion from N1.944 trillion quoted at the preceding session, as the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) dropped 15.42 points to settle at 3,304.74 points, in contrast to the 3,320.16 points recorded a day earlier.
Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) went down by N1.28 during the trading session to finish at N22.60 per share versus Thursday’s value of N23.88 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc lost N1.00 to close at N40.03 per unit compared with previous closing value of N41.03 per unit, Geo-Fluids Plc depreciated by 11 Kobo to end at N1.81 per share versus the previous session’s N1.92 per share, and UBN Property Plc shrank by 4 Kobo to trade at N1.96 per unit, in contrast to the N2.00 per unit it was sold in the preceding day.
However, the price of Impresit Bakolori Plc went up by 11 Kobo yesterday to close at N1.27 per share versus the previous day’s price of N1.16 per share.
The volume of transactions went down on Friday by 33.1 per cent to 231.6 million units from the 346.3 million units recorded a day earlier, the value of trades decreased by 31.3 per cent to N606.4 million from N882.8 million, while the number of deals increased by 256.3 per cent to 57 deals from 16 deals.
At the close of trading activities, Impresit Bakolori Plc remained the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 533.9 million units worth N520.9 million, followed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 265.8 million units valued at N469.5 million, and Okitipupa Plc with 153.6 million units sold for N4.9 billion.
Similarly, Okitipupa Plc was the most traded stock by value (year-to-date) with 153.6 million units worth N4.9 billion, trailed by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 19.9 million units valued at N765.5 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 533.9 million units sold for N520.9 million.
-
Feature/OPED5 years agoDavos was Different this year
-
Travel/Tourism9 years ago
Lagos Seals Western Lodge Hotel In Ikorodu
-
Showbiz2 years agoEstranged Lover Releases Videos of Empress Njamah Bathing
-
Banking7 years agoSort Codes of GTBank Branches in Nigeria
-
Economy2 years agoSubsidy Removal: CNG at N130 Per Litre Cheaper Than Petrol—IPMAN
-
Banking2 years agoFirst Bank Announces Planned Downtime
-
Sports2 years agoHighest Paid Nigerian Footballer – How Much Do Nigerian Footballers Earn
-
Technology4 years agoHow To Link Your MTN, Airtel, Glo, 9mobile Lines to NIN