I Squared Capital Secures Fresh $7b Funding Package

By Aduragbemi Omiyale One of the players in the personal healthcare and consumer goods sectors, PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc, has published a list of its shareholders with unclaimed dividends. Unclaimed dividends are cash rewards given to investors, mainly from the profits from the company’s operations, but are yet to be collected by the beneficiaries. This has been a major source of sleepless nights for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is working to bring down the number of unclaimed dividends. It has been reported that the value of unclaimed dividends in the nation’s stock market is over N185 billion.

By Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a 1.6 per cent appreciation on Friday, December 8, as investors gained about N19.12 billion to push the valuation of the unlisted bourse to N1.202 trillion from the N1.182 trillion it closed in the preceding session. This achievement was influenced by the gains recorded by the trio of Aradel Holdings Plc, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc. Data showed that Aradel Holdings Plc improved its value by N30 to settle at N900.00 per unit compared with the previous day’s N870.00 per unit, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria

By Dipo Olowookere The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said Nigeria’s revenue–to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio of about 9 per cent was too low to trigger the economic growth projected by President Bola Tinubu in his Renewed Hope Agenda. Addressing journalists at its last press briefing for 2023 on Thursday, the global lender said the administration of Mr Tinubu must boost the government’s revenue to have funds to achieve his goals. On May 29, 2023, Mr Tinubu took over from Mr Muhammadu Buhari, promising to jump-start the economy and work tirelessly to address food security, end hunger, eradicate poverty, create

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Largest bank in the Middle East and African (MEA) region, QNB Group, has announced its results for the nine months ended September 30, 2016. For the nine months ended September 30, 2016, Net Profit reached QAR9.7 billion ($2.7 billion), up by 11% compared to last year. Total assets reached QAR713 billion (USD196 billion), up by 37% from September 2015, the highest ever achieved by the Group. QNB Group completed the acquisition of 99.88% stake in Finansbank A.Ş. – Turkey, during the year. The growth in assets was driven by loans and advances which grew by 38% to

By Modupe Gbadeyanka As part of its determination to bring the best sport content to its subscribers, leading pay-TV operator in Nigeria, StarTimes, has obtained exclusive broadcasting rights to air UEFA Europa League matches in Sub-Saharan Africa until 2021. With this, StarTimes will broadcast UEFA Europa League games in all Sub-Saharan Africa except South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. The firm has also been awarded exclusive rights for English, Portuguese and local languages in English and Portuguese speaking areas. A statement issued by the company disclosed that the broadcast, which will begin on September 20, 2018, will see football fans enjoy

By Emmanuel Otori The emergence of e-commerce in Africa has seen online shoppers take advantage of the convenience it offers, as goods can now be delivered directly to their doorsteps while they also have the flexibility of selecting the payment channel either using their debit cards or payment upon delivery option. However, as e-commerce continues to evolve and shape how business is done, there are numerous challenges that have been associated with making orders online. These challenges, if unresolved over a long period of time, would make the trust the customer has completely diminished as the reputation of the businesses

By Modupe Gbadeyanka A N10 billion financial scheme to assist farmers and agro-based companies in the country have access to funds to grow their businesses has been launched by Union Bank of Nigeria and the Nigeria Incentive Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL). At the launch of the scheme last Friday, Group Managing Director of Union Bank Plc, Mr Emeka Emuwa, explained that the participation of NIRSAL in the agriculture business was a soothing development because, in the past, lending to the sector was a tortuous experience since banks could not effectively monitor farmers’ investments and gauge the

By Investors Hub Asian stocks closed broadly lower on Tuesday after oil prices fell over 1 percent overnight and Brexit talks did not yield a breakthrough on the withdrawal issues. Encouraging services sector data from China helped to limit regional losses to some extent. Chinese shares ended lower even as survey results from IHS Markit revealed the country’s private sector growth momentum improved marginally in November. The Caixin composite output index rose to 51.6 from October’s 16-month low of 51.0, suggesting the economy has maintained stability and there was no imminent risk of a significant decline in its growth rate.

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Data released on Wednesday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed that a total of N250.56 billion was generated by Nigeria in the third quarter of 2017. This, according to the NBS, was against N246.30 billion generated in the second quarter of this year, and N196.70 billion in the third quarter of last year. The stats office further disclosed that the figure showed a 1.73 percent increase Quarter-on-Quarter and 27.39 percent increase year-on-year. NBS further stated that other manufacturing generated the highest amount of VAT with N28.98 billion generated and closely followed by Professional Services and

By Aduragbemi Omiyale A former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Kingsley Moghalu, has said oil has been a curse to Nigeria. He said this in reaction to the discovery of oil in the northern part of the country. On Tuesday, President Muhammadu Buhari flagged off the Kolmani Integrated Development Project in Bauchi, and he said the country attracted $3 billion investment in fossil energy from the project at a time when the oil and gas sector was becoming less attractive. “It is, therefore, to the credit of this administration that at a time when there

By Bliss Okperan The presidential candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general election, Mr Atiku Abubakar, has said the decision of the Supreme Court to affirm the victory of President Bola Tinubu was not good for the electoral system and the country’s democracy. At a press conference in Abuja on Monday, the former Vice President said the action of the apex court could spell doom for the nation, noting that it would discourage the citizens from participating in future elections. However, the veteran presidential candidate noted that he would not leave the political scene as predicted,