Honeywell Flour Not in Financial Distress—Board

By Adedapo Adesanya The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has postponed the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting scheduled to hold next week. In a statement, the apex bank noted that the MPC meeting, which was supposed to take place on Monday, September 25 and Tuesday, September 26, 2023, has been postponed until further notice. This is coming less than a week after President Bola Tinubu nominated Mr Olayemi Michael Cardoso to take over the role from Mr Folashodun Shonubi, who is filling the role following the ousting of Mr Godwin Emefiele, who is currently held in the custody of the

By Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange suspended trading in the shares of VFD Group Plc months after the proprietary investment company revealed its intention to list its stocks on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited to allow it gain access to public equity markets, increase its visibility, and strengthen its financial position. The group joined the NASD trading platform in 2020. In a notice, the NASD OTC Exchange said investors would not be able to trade securities of VFD Group Plc with effect from Friday, September 22, 2023 (today). This is per the company’s request to delist from

By Dipo Olowookere The leadership uncertainty in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which some observers have said led to the indefinite postponement of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, further put investors off at the local equity market on Friday. Yesterday, the central bank said the person chosen by President Bola Tinubu to head the organisation, Mr Yemi Cardoso, has resumed in an acting capacity replacing the former acting CBN chief, Mr Folashodun Shonubi. Mr Shonubi was appointed by Mr Tinubu to take over from Mr Godwin Emefiele, who was suspended from office and was said to have resigned

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Mr Wale Edun, has said the country is unable to clear up to $6.8 billion of overdue forward payments in the foreign exchange market, noting that this is preventing the Naira from gaining stability. Speaking in an interview on Thursday, Mr Edun lamented that the country’s FX market is facing a serious liquidity crisis due to low flows. “The issue we have now is that the market is not liquid enough,” he said in an interview in New York, per Bloomberg. The Minister said that resolving the overdue contracts would allow the Naira

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Ministers and Heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) have been ordered to immediately head to the National Assembly to defend their 2018 budget proposals. This directive was given by President Muhammadu Buhari after a meeting with principal officers of the parliament yesterday. The lawmakers were led to the President at Aso Rock by the Senate President, Mr Bukola Saraki, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara. They complained that passage of the 2018 budget was delayed because the parastatals have failed to come forward to defend their budgets. The meeting which started at

By Adedapo Adesanya Oil prices surged by 7 per cent on Monday as news that there could be a coronavirus vaccine soon instilled hopes on the markets that life could soon return to normal. As a result, the Brent crude soared by 7.05 per cent or $2.78 to $42.23 per barrel while the United States’ futures, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude jumped 7.81 per cent or $2.90 to $40.02 a barrel. The oil market reacted positively to news that a vaccine being developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE prevented more than 90 per cent of symptomatic infections in a

By Dipo Olowookere The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) rebounded on Friday by 0.45 percent after recording three successive losses from Tuesday to Thursday. The gains achieved at the market yesterday was buoyed by the positive performance achieved by Nestle Nigeria, which appreciated by N27 to close at N1,527 per share. It was followed by Seplat, which grew by N15 to close at N650 per share, and Lafarge Africa, which rose by N3 to end at N37.50k per share. CAP went up by N2 to close at N37 per share, while Dangote Sugar increased by 50 kobo to settle at N17.50k

By Adedapo Adesanya Twelve countries across different regions of Africa, excluding Nigeria, are set to receive 18 million doses of the first-ever malaria vaccine over the next two years. The rollout of the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine will be piloted in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi under the Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme countries. Allocations were also made for new introductions in Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Niger, Sierra Leone and Uganda. This will see the introduction of the vaccine into their routine immunization programmes for the first time. This is a critical step forward in the

By Investors Hub Asian stocks turned in a mixed performance on Monday, with Chinese and Hong Kong shares rallying on hopes for more stimulus, while caution prevailed elsewhere across Asia on geopolitical concerns over Saudi Arabia, Italy and Brexit. Chinese stocks surged for a second session. After last week’s coordinated pronouncements from three top Chinese financial regulators, Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed “unwavering” support for the country’s private sector. In an open letter published in state media, Xi said Beijing would continue to value and protect the country’s private business owners to ensure a ?better tomorrow.? China’s Shanghai Composite Index

By Investors Hub European stocks have drifted lower on Friday, with financial, mining and energy stocks coming under selling pressure as investors fretted about trade fiction, rising interest rates and political risks. Amid lack of any positive triggers, investors looked ahead to the Group of Seven summit as well as next week’s ECB and Fed meetings for direction. The high-profile U.S.-North Korea summit was also on investors’ radar. While the German DAX Index has fallen by 0.4 percent, the U.K.?s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index are both down by 0.1 percent. Deutsche Bank shares have dropped.

By Investors Hub The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a higher opening on Monday, with stocks poised to extend the rebound seen last Friday. Stocks saw some strength during trading on Friday, regaining ground following the sell-off seen in the previous session. With the upward move, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 rebounded after ending Thursday’s trading at their lowest closing levels in a month. The major averages all closed in positive territory, although the tech-heavy Nasdaq outperformed its counterparts. While the Nasdaq climbed 39.68 points or 0.6 percent to 6,256.56, the Dow inched up 14.31 points or

By Investors Hub European stocks have declined on Thursday as a slew of negative catalysts have sapped investors’ appetite for risk. A summit between President Donald Trump and the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ended with no agreement after North Korea reportedly wanted all sanctions lifted, something the U.S. was not prepared to do. The British pound has hit fresh multi-month highs against both the dollar and euro on reports that Brexit could be delayed by up to two years. Spain’s Amadeus IT Group SA has fallen sharply after reporting a 1 percent increase in its adjusted profit for fiscal