FY 2017: Vitafoam Nigeria Posts N128m Loss Despite 30% Rise in Revenue

By Adedapo Adesanya  Oil prices rose by more than $1 a barrel on Wednesday as investors focused their attention on an upcoming OPEC+ output policy meeting and looked past a jump in crude stockpiles in the United States. Brent crude futures were up by $1.01 or 1.2 per cent to $82.69 per barrel, and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained $1.16 or 1.5 per cent to close at $77.57 a barrel. Prices were lifted by a media report that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies such as Russia, known collectively as OPEC+, was considering

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira appreciated against the US Dollar in the Nigeria Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) and the unregulated Peer-to-Peer (P2P) and the parallel market segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Wednesday, November 29 as President Bola Tinubu reiterated his administration’s promise to meet its obligations. Speaking during the presentation of his administration’s N27.50 trillion 2024 budget proposal to the joint session of the 10th National Assembly on Wednesday, Mr Tinubu said, “Despite the challenges, we continue to meet our obligations.” In the official NAFEM segment of the market, the value of the local currency went

By Adedapo Adesanya A milk-producing company, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria, helped the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange return to the green territory by 0.54 per cent on Wednesday, November 29. The firm improved its value by N3.50 in the midweek session to settle at N73.50 per share compared with the previous day’s closing price of N70.00 per share. It suppressed the 10 Kobo decline posted by Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, which ended lower at N17.00 per unit versus Tuesday’s value of N17.10 per unit. Consequently, the market capitalisation of the alternative stock exchange went up by N6.28 billion to

By Adedapo Adesanya  Angola, one of Africa’s top crude oil producers and a key member of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), has officially rejected the proposed production quota for the year 2024 and may even exit the group. This was signalled by Mr Diamantino Pedro Azevedo, Angola’s Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, confirming the nation’s decision and indicating a divergence from OPEC’s suggested allocations for both member and non-member countries. The announcement was made during the 26th OPEC+ Meeting on Thursday, where the organisation proposed 1.11 million barrels of crude oil per day production quota for

By Modupe Gbadeyanka An indigenous Naira trading platform called ‘CloudTrade’ has been launched by the Eagle Global Markets (EGM). ‘CloudTrade’ aims to eradicate bureaucratic bottleneck in trading the global market and gives investors a better way to trade with the Naira. Addressing business correspondents at a press conference in Lagos on Friday, the Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr Gbite Oduneye, explained that all global markets trades through the online trading platform are done in Naira. According to him, this does not “put pressure on the foreign exchange because all global markets trades through its platform are done in

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira depreciated by 0.17 per cent or 67 kobo against the US Dollar at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window of the foreign exchange market on Tuesday, December 22. During the trading session, the value of the weakened to N394.67/$1 from the N394.67/$1 it traded on Monday and this was caused by a significant increase in the demand for forex by customers. Business Post reports that yesterday, the Naira traded as high as N407.25/$1 and as low as N385.00/$1 before closing at N394.67/$1. At the close of transactions, trades worth $236.91 million were recorded, 183.7 per

By Dipo Olowookere Nigerians can now perform financial transactions without having to bother about charges that normally come with such from banks. This is because Standard Chartered Bank, which officially launched its Digital Bank in Nigeria on Monday, is offering zero charge on all interbank transfers, SMS notification and ATM withdrawals. In addition, account holders with the lender would be able to perform funds transfer without adding beneficiaries, generate a soft token for all transactions, enjoy free bank card delivered to their doorsteps nationwide as well as enjoy account management and service request. At the launch held at the Civic

By Adedapo Adesanya The value of the Naira to the United States Dollar remained stable at the interbank segment of the foreign exchange (forex) market on Monday. During the trading session, the local currency was exchanged at N361/$1, the same rate it was traded in the previous session at the market window. At the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window created by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for non-resident investors, the domestic currency appreciated by 50 kobo or 0.13 percent against the greenback to trade at N386/$1 in contrast to the previous session’s N386.50/$1. The appreciation came amidst a huge

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigerian startup, Helium Health, an electronic medical records (EMR) and hospital management information (HMI) systems provider, has announced the launch of its full suite of products and services in Kenya. This is coming more than a year after the startup closed a $10 million Series A funding round in May 2020 to expand its services in both new and existing markets, launching operations in East, North, and Francophone West Africa. Now, moving into East Africa with a Kenyan launch, the company has entered into a partnership with three local providers, including Philips Healthcare Technologies. Speaking on the

By Adedapo Adesanya The United States Government has issued an order on Friday that will bar residents of the country from downloading Chinese-owned video-sharing app, TikTok, starting on September 20. Users in the country will be stopped from downloading the video app as well as a Chinese-owned messaging app, WeChat from Sunday. President Donald Trump and the US government had threatened to ban the app amid accusations that their Chinese owners mean that American data could be put at risk. People who already have the app installed will still be able to use it as normal but they will not

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Secretary of the International Development, Ms Priti Patel, has disclosed that the United Kingdom (UK) government is cracking down on the barbaric crime of modern slavery. Ms Patel made this disclosure in Nigeria when she visited a safe house, home to child victims as young as seven, where she met survivors of modern slavery. She called for a world free from this abhorrent trade, announcing increased support to provide alternative jobs and livelihoods for potential victims of trafficking and modern slavery, including support for those who become victims to help them reintegrate into society and to protect

By Investors Hub European stocks have held steady near four-week highs on Monday, with U.K. markets outperforming, as the pound held weaker and investors turned their focus on a plethora of central bank meetings scheduled this week. The FOMC is widely expected to raise policy rates by 25 basis points, while the Bank of England, which hiked rates last month, is hardly in a position to raise rates again when it reviews its monetary policy on Thursday. Similarly, no change in policy is expected from the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank. The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index