Impending Earnings News May Lead to Choppy Trading

By Adedapo Adesanya Equinor and Chappal Energies have entered into an agreement for the sale of Equinor Nigeria Energy Company (ENEC), which holds a 53.85 per cent ownership in oil and gas lease OML 128, including the unitized 20.21 per cent stake in the Agbami oil field, operated by Chevron. Speaking on the deal, Equinor’s senior vice president for Africa Operations, Ms Nina Koch, said Nigeria has been an important part of Equinor’s international portfolio over the past 30 years, noting that, “This transaction realizes value and is in line with Equinor’s strategy to optimize its international oil and gas

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Strong inflationary pressures in November further negatively impacted companies in Nigeria, with new orders and output both falling as customers were either reluctant or unable to pay higher charges. Purchase prices rose at the fastest pace in almost two years amid exchange rate weakness and higher costs for fuel and materials. According to the latest Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) from Stanbic IBTC, business conditions remained under pressure, scoring 48.0 points last month compared with the 49.1 points it garnered in October 2023. Readings above 50.0 signal an improvement in business conditions, while readings below 50.0 show deterioration.

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira started the first trading session in the last month of 2023 on a negative note after it depreciated against the Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), which is the official FX window, by 11.4 per cent or N94.87 on Friday, December 1, closing at N927.19/$1, in contrast to Thursday’s exchange rate of N832.32/$1. The December rush for forex contributed to the weakening of the domestic currency in the spot market yesterday, as the supply of foreign currency could not meet what customers needed. Data showed that the value of FX transactions recorded

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The online stock trading platform of one of the leading brokerage firms in Nigeria, Morgan Capital Securities Limited, i-Trade, has experienced a technical glitch. This technical issue has made it difficult for its clients to carry out transactions on the popular platform. Morgan Capital’s i-Trade platform is popular among retail investors in the Nigerian capital market, especially those trading equities on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited, because of its lower fees. The company has already assured its customers that it was working to restore services, providing an alternative to them. “This is to inform

By Dipo Olowookere Group Chief Executive Officer of Ecobank Group, Mr Ade Adeyemi, has expressed his excitement towards the rate at which the financial institution was growing after a turbulent period caused by economic crisis in Nigeria. Reacting to the financial statements of the company for the year ended December 31, 2018, released on Thursday, the Ecobank chief said he was also happy with the value the bank has delivered to shareholders. While describing the 2018 performance as “remarkable in many ways,” Mr Adeyemi said efforts would be made to continue to achieve more successes. “Our financial performance in 2018

By Adedapo Adesanya After appreciating by as much as N20 to N430/$1 this week, the Naira fell by N7 against the American currency at the black market segment of the foreign exchange market on Wednesday, May 6 to trade at N437/$1.   At the same segment, the local currency appreciated by N5 against the British pound sterling to close at N520/£1 in contrast to N525/£1. In the same vein, the Naira depreciated by N15 against the Euro to close at N450/£1 compared with N435/£1 it was sold at the previous session. At the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigeria’s economy has been projected to grow this year by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) despite cutting its global growth forecasts because of the war in Ukraine. In its latest World Economic Outlook (WEO) titled War Sets Back the Global Recovery which was released on the sidelines of the ongoing IMF/World Bank hybrid spring meetings in Washington DC, the global lender said Africa’s largest economy will rise by 3.4 per cent this year. The IMF produces the outlook in April and October, with updates in January and July. Six months ago, it was expecting the easing of

By Dipo Olowookere The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) conducted the first sale of treasury bills of the new decade on Thursday, January 2, 2020 via the primary market auction (PMA). During the exercise, the central bank offered for sale to investors the debt instruments worth N74.8 billion, but the demand pressures continued, though lower than what were achieved in the previous exercise held on December 18, 2019. Subscription worth N174.7 billion were received from market participants yesterday, indicating a subscription rate of 233.6 percent, lower that the 1428.6 percent rate at the last auction. This must have informed the

By Investors Hub Most Asian stocks rose on Friday after U.S. government debt yields fell from multi-year highs reached on Wednesday, helping ease worries about inflation and higher interest rates. The dollar edged up against the yen on improved risk appetite and oil held onto overnight gains after an unexpected drawdown in U.S. crude inventories, while gold prices dipped on dollar strength and remained on track for their sharpest weekly drop in two-and-a-half months. Japanese shares eked out modest gains as bond markets regained stability. The Nikkei 225 Index rose 156.34 points or 0.7 percent to 21,892.78, while the broader

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has issued an amended Determination of Mobile (Voice) International Termination Rate (ITR) for implementation in the Nigerian Telecommunications Industry effective from September 1, 2022. The ITR for voice services paid for terminating international calls on local networks in Nigeria is now set at $0.10, from the old rate of $0.045. In a statement, NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Mr Reuben Muoka, noted that under the amended determination, the international carrier market has been classified into Mobile Network Operators (MNOs)/International Carriers and Small/Nigerian Transit Carriers/International Data Access (IDA) Operators to ensure a level

By Dipo Olowookere Leading American company, 21st Century Fox, has confirmed reaching an agreement in principle with Sky Plc in relation to a possible offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares in the company. It however said certain material offer terms remain under discussion and the Possible Offer may or may not lead to an offer being made by 21st Century Fox. The Independent Directors of Sky have indicated to 21st Century Fox that they are willing to recommend the Possible Offer, subject to reaching agreement on the other terms and conditions of any offer. In the past several

By Modupe Gbadeyanka A final ‘B’ rating has been assigned by Fitch Ratings to the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc $500 million 7.75 percent senior unsecured notes maturing on June 8, 2022. A statement issued by the reputable rating firm said the final rating assigned to the Nigerian lender was in line with the expected rating it assigned to the notes on May 23, 2017. Based on Fitch’s assessment on expected recoveries in a liquidation scenario, a final Recovery Rating (RR) of ‘RR4 (EXP)’ is also assigned to the notes, implying average recovery prospects. The final RR is also