Economy
Japaul Oil Blames Media for Present Stock Market Woes
By Dipo Olowookere
The management of Japaul Oil Plc has blamed media reports for the recent downslide of its shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
Few weeks ago, there were reports that an American equity company, Milost Global Inc was investing billions of Dollar into the Nigerian firm.
This jerked up buying interests in the shares of Japaul Oil and caused a huge rise in its stocks at the market.
However, some days ago, a media platform, Business Day, questioned the authenticity of the deal, pointing out that what the US-based company was pumping into Japaul Oil was even more than the total value of the Nigerian firm.
Investors, who read the report, started offloading the shares, causing a sharp drop in the value of Japual Oil stocks at the equity market.
Not happy with this development, Chairman of Japaul Oil, Mr Jegede Paul, condemned the media report, describing it as “unfair.”
According to him, “We informed the Regulatory Authorities that we have signed Milost Equity Subscription Agreement (MESA 1) and Milost has not asked for any upfront fees from us until disbursement takes place, even the facilitation fees to Palewater who are advisers to the transaction were technically agreed to be paid when we start to drawdown on the facility despite agreement signed.
“An escrow account agreement is being worked upon to trigger the drawdown on the facility.
“We don’t really know where the dailies got their variables that do not add up mathematically about Milost math. They should have watched and see what happens about the issue of performance.
“This Newspaper Article against Milost has been wrongly perceived by the investing public and this is terribly affecting our share price on the Stock Market. This is simply sad.
“Milost currently holds no shares in Japaul as yet as we are awaiting regulatory approval, I just wonder how would it then be said that it is involved in a pumping and dump scheme in Japaul shares and the financing is provided in single tranches of between $1 to $5 million until our share price recovers.
“How will it reach high prices when we are receiving unfair reporting by one Nigerian media outlet that purports lies and in real fact is that we have opened our doors for the media to call us and verify facts before going to print.
The media needs us and we also need it and we can’t be seen fighting each other, after all, we are all Nigerians.
“It’s sad because since the BusinessDay publication, our share price has plummeted over 100 percent and the news was misconstrued opinions that remain false and unfounded.”
On his part, the Senior Partner & CIO of Milost, Mr Solly Asibey, stated that, “The ingenuity and financial engineering behind our Milost Equity Subscription Fund (MESA), as well as the Milost structure of engagement makes it easy for us to invest heavily in companies with high growth potential, whilst reducing our risk of investments through the checks and balances that are part and parcel of our framework of engagement.
“Our aim is to make investments in companies that will have a high impact within the vertical industry in which they operate, thus increasing the potential for the companies to be counted amongst the best in their industries globally.
“Our modus operandi has always been to invest in companies that will add value to the country and its citizens in terms of wealth and job creation, as well as the ability to contribute positively towards stepping up the economic transformation of the country.
“Our success is intertwined with the success of our investee companies; and from a corporate governance perspective, we subscribe to the rules and regulations of the Stock Exchange, Federal Reserve bank and the SEC in terms of all our engagements.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange closed flat on Wednesday, August 5, as the market witnessed weaker trading activity with only two deals executed.
In the midweek session, the volume of securities exchanged by investors dropped 99.9 per cent to 802 units from the 1.6 million units recorded on Tuesday. The value of securities further decreased by 99.6 per cent to N208,240 from the preceding session’s N47.6 million, and the number of deals significantly went down by 93.9 per cent to two deals from the 33 deals recorded a day earlier.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc with 76.9 million units transacted for N5.5 billion.
GNI Plc was also the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units exchanged for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million.
There were no price gainers or losers yesterday.
As a result, the market capitalisation stood unmoving at N2.739 trillion, while the NASD Security Index (NSI) remained unchanged at 4,563.96 points.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira slid against the US Dollar by N2.28 or 0.17 per cent in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Wednesday, August 5, to N1,363.85/$1 from N1,362.55/$1.
The local currency also declined against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session by N5.97 to close at N1,837.38/£1 compared with Tuesday’s closing rate of N1,831.41/£1, and against the Euro, it crashed by N6.54 to quote at N1,575.25/€1 versus the preceding session’s N1,568.71/€1.
But at the black market, the Nigerian Naira traded flat against the greenback yesterday at N1,400/$1, and also remained unchanged at the GTBank FX desk at N1,373/$1.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says rates have narrowed to below two per cent, while the country’s external reserves have risen above $52.5 billion, reflecting the impact of its ongoing monetary and foreign exchange reforms.
CBN Governor Yemi Cardoso, represented by the Acting Director of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations, Mrs Hakama Sidi-Ali, disclosed this on Tuesday during the CBN Fair in Gombe. He noted that reforms introduced since 2023 had significantly reduced the disparity between the official FX market and the parallel market.
“The Naira continues to strengthen, with the spread between official and Bureau de Change rates now below two per cent,” he said, adding that reserves at $52.5 billion were supported by sustained inflows and renewed investor confidence in the economy.
Interbank FX transactions slid as weaker market activities dropped total Dollar volume exchanged to $75.35 million, a 51.8 per cent decline from $156.23 million in turnover quoted at the previous close.
The deals at the NFEM window also fell as data from the central bank put Wednesday’s quote at 82 from 139.
In the cryptocurrency market, major were down as global risk sentiment softened as a key world equity index slipped and chipmakers fell.
The MSCI All Country World Index snapped a five-day run to fall 0.2 per cent as chipmakers retreated on both sides of the Pacific. South Korea’s Kospi, a bellwether for the AI trade, dropped 4.4 per cent.
Ripple (XRP) depleted by 1.7 per cent to $1.05, Binance Coin (BNB) decreased by 1.0 per cent to $594.87, Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 0.9 per cent to $0.1884, TRON (TRX) shrank by 0.2 per cent to $0.3261, Solana (SOL) crumbled by 0.1 per cent to $74.00, and Dogecoin (DOGE) went down by 0.1 per cent to $0.0697.
On the flip side, Ethereum (ETH) gained 2.3 per cent to trade at $1,911.41, and Bitcoin (BTC) rose by 0.8 per cent to $64,759.28, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.
By Dipo Olowookere
The domestic stock exchange rebounded by 0.05 per cent on Wednesday on the back of renewed bargain-hunting by investors, though the level of activity waned.
After bleeding for a few days, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited heaved a sigh of relief yesterday, as the All-Share Index (ASI) gained 109.41 points to close at 244,912.24 points compared with the previous day’s 244,802.83 points, and the market capitalisation garnered N71 billion to settle at N158.087 trillion versus Tuesday’s N158.016 trillion.
Business Post reports that despite the rebound recorded by Customs Street at midweek, the market breadth index remained negative, as there were 20 price advancers and 29 price decliners, implying bearish investor sentiment.
Linkage Assurance appreciated by 9.94 per cent to N1.77, AVA Capital rose by 9.55 per cent to N10.90, Fortis Global Insurance advanced by 7.69 per cent to N2.80, McNichols gained 7.34 per cent to finish at N5.85, and Coronation Insurance surged by 5.51 per cent to N2.49.
Conversely, Honeywell Flour depreciated by 9.94 per cent to N16.30, PZ Cussons gave up 9.94 per cent to trade at N74.75, Zichis crashed by 9.74 per cent to N20.76, Learn Africa slipped by 9.62 per cent to N9.40, and Neimeth tumbled by 8.33 per cent to N8.25.
The busiest equity was FCMB, with a turnover of 369.2 million units valued at N4.1 billion. Chams transacted 46.7 million units worth N201.8 million, First Holdco transacted 43.5 million units for N5.7 billion, Access Holdings sold 29.8 million units worth N778.0 million, and Linkage Assurance exchanged 19.6 million units valued at N33.5 million.
At the close of transactions, market participants bought and sold 824.1 million units worth N25.5 billion in 48,114 deals, in contrast to the 1.6 billion units sold for N28.7 billion in 54,160 deals a day earlier, showing a shortfall in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 48.49 per cent, 11.15 per cent, and 11.16 per cent, respectively.
