Gains in Automobile, Banking Stocks Lift European Equities

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) has expressed its readiness to partner with the Lekki Deep Seaport by promoting the seamless movement of cargo and the efficiency of the nation’s ports. The NSC Executive Secretary, Mr Pius Akutah, gave the assurance when the Managing Director, Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise Limited (LPLEL) – promoters of Lekki Deep Seaport, Mr Du Ruogang, led the port’s management on a courtesy visit to the NSC in Lagos. Mr Akutah, who commended the Lekki Deep Seaport management for the visit, said the council would partner with the port in areas that would boost

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Business owners in Lagos have been assured of more incentives by the state governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who added that this is part of his administration’s commitment to reforms aimed at improving the ease of doing business and enhancing investment opportunities. Speaking at the commissioning of the newly-built wet hair production factory of Godrej Nigeria Limited, the Governor said his government would continue to pursue actions that would eliminate red tapes and regulatory impediments hindering the growth of businesses in the state, thereby demonstrating his willingness for continued collaboration with the private sector to improve the livelihood

By Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange appreciated by 0.41 per cent in Week 48, with the market capitalisation gaining N4.77 billion to settle at N1.166 trillion from the N1.162 trillion it ended in Week 47, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) rising by 3.52 points to 860.81 points from 857.29 points in the previous week. In the five-day trading week, the total volume of stocks traded slumped by 69.1 per cent to 4.22 million units from 13.6 million in the preceding week and equally, the value of shares dropped by 69.6 per cent to N41.4 million

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigerian Naira opened the week stronger on the American Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Monday, December 4 as pressure eased amid continued foreign exchange (FX) liquidity squeeze in the market. In the official market, the Naira appreciated against the greenback by 9.6 per cent or N89.42 to settle at N837.77/$1 compared with last Friday’s closing price of N927.19/$1. Also, the Naira gained N172.53 against the Pound Sterling in the NAFEM segment of the market during the session to close at N1,031.57/£1 versus last Friday’s rate of N1,204.10/£1 and against the Euro,

By Dipo Olowookere Nigeria-based rating agency, Agusto & Co has assigned a rating of ‘Bbb- to Anchor Insurance Limited, reflecting its good profitability, decent investment management, good liquidity, moderate exposure to underwriting risks as well as an experienced management team. In a statement announcing the development, Agusto & Co said it expects industry operators to continue to strengthen capabilities in risk management, minimize underwriting expenses, and strengthen investment management to support profitability while contending with muted investment returns due to limited asset allocation and low interest rates. The insurance industry’s performance has remained constrained by weak macroeconomic conditions, a reduction

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigerian gig economy fintech startup, ImaliPay, has raised a $3 million seed round to deepen its financial services infrastructure across Nigeria and its other Sub-Saharan present markets – Kenya and South Africa. The seed round includes participation from Leonnis Investments, a follow-on from Ten 13, as well Uncovered Fund, MyAsia VC, Sajid Rahman, KSK Angels, Jedar Capital, and Logos Ventures. Others include Plug N Play Ventures, Untapped Global, Latam Ventures, Cliff Angels, Chandaria Capital, Changecom, and other angels from Serbia, Kenya and Norway. Co-founded in 2020 by Mr Tatenda Furusa and Mr Sanmi Akinmusire, ImaliPay offers both

By Adedapo Adesanya Andela, the global network for remote engineering talent, has announced $200 million in Series E financing that takes the company’s valuation to $1.5 billion. The round was led by Softbank Vision Fund 2 with participation from new investor Whale Rock and existing investors, including Generation Investment Management, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and Spark Capital. With the new capital, the company will invest in developing products to simplify global hiring and make engineers’ lives easier just as it will continue to expand its talent offering beyond software development to include new verticals such as design and data after launching

By Bliss Okperan The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has disclosed that since it acquired the downstream business of Oando Plc in October 2022, its retail business has witnessed a surge in profitability. The chief executive of the NNPC, Mr Mele Kyari, disclosed this while addressing the ad hoc committee of the House of Representatives on the acquisition of OVH. At the gathering in Abuja on Friday, he informed the lawmakers that in the first quarter of 2023, NNPC Retail posted a profit of N18.4 billion compared with the N6.93 billion achieved in 2021. The acquisition of OVH has

By Dipo Olowookere The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) appreciated on Thursday by 0.10 per cent after the All-Share Index (ASI) was oiled for better performance by equities in the energy sector. This made the benchmark index of the market to increase by 34.00 points to close at 34,803.00 points as against the previous day’s 34,769.00 points. In the same vein, it expanded the market capitalisation by N18 billion to N18.185 trillion from N18.167 trillion. The day’s positive performance in a recession was buoyed by the energy index, which improved by 2.77 per cent. The insurance index gained 0.97 per cent,

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has teamed up with the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to improve the safety of oil pipelines in the country and rid the nation of the menace of pipeline vandalism. This approach, according to the corporation, will enable relevant security stakeholders to live up to their expectations on protecting oil infrastructure. Both federal government agencies will implement a new, performance-based pipeline protection system to cut down on vandalism and oil theft, which have plagued the local oil industry for decades and have been responsible in part for the excessive

By Adedapo Adesanya The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) has made amendments to include private research institutes, non-state entities and educational institutions in the N7.5 billion National Research Fund (NRF) Grant set aside for research purposes. This was disclosed by the Executive Secretary of the fund, Mr Elias Bogoro, in Abuja during the inauguration of the implementation committee on the collaboration between the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology and Tertiary Education Trust Fund. He said TETFund was going to continue collaborating with relevant agencies to make research a veritable instrument in national development. According to him, with the National

By Ahmed Rahma The advancement of technology and the introduction of new online payment platforms have helped the revenue generation of financial institutions in the country. In the first nine months of this year, 12 lenders increased their revenues from the system by 11 per cent year-on-year to N133.92 billion N120.36 billion in the same period of 2019, according to the latest study by Agusto & Co. This information was drawn from the unaudited financial reports of Access Bank Plc, First Bank of Nigeria Plc, First City Monument Bank Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, United Bank for