NASD Exchange Assures Stakeholders Uninterrupted Service

By Aduragbemi Omiyale An application and proprietary solution for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria, known as Aleph Express, has been launched by Aleph Group. A statement from the firm explained that Aleph Express provides a platform for MSMEs to create and maintain a free e-commerce website, create a product catalogue, set local delivery options, manage, record and process orders while gaining meaningful insights to drive growth. The platform also provides one unified inbox that integrates WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram, to enable businesses to efficiently engage and sell – all in one place. In addition, Aleph Express provides

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 Dipo Olowookere Profit-taking activities brought back the bears to the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Monday as investors rebalanced their portfolios. It was observed that traders at Customs Street booked profits in shares mostly in the industrial goods sectors like BUA Cement and Lafarge Africa. This resultantly brought down the local stock market by 0.66 per cent at the close of transactions, with the industrial goods space losing 4.21 per cent, the insurance counter declining by 0.28 per cent, and the energy sector falling by 0.01 per cent. However, the consumer goods index improved yesterday by

By Dipo Olowookere In one week, investors bought and sold 2.543 billion shares worth N38.644 billion in 36,138 deals on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited. In the preceding trading week, a total of 2.425 billion shares valued at N22.665 billion were transacted by investors in 33,230 deals. It was observed that financial stocks led the activity chart as usual with 1.721 billion units worth N18.281 billion in 17,151 deals, contributing 67.68 per cent and 47.30 per cent to the total trading volume and value, respectively. Conglomerates equities trailed with 200.584 million units valued at N1.546 billion in

By Dipo Olowookere The value of the Naira to the United States Dollar depreciated last week at both the parallel and Bureau De Change (BDC) segments of the foreign exchange market. While the local currency lost 55 kobo to the Dollar to trade at N364 at the black market, it went down by 56 kobo at the BDC to settle at N362. However, at the Investors & Exporters (I&E) window, the local currency further appreciated by 0.09 percent to close at N362.46. At the interbank segment, the Naira remained unchanged in the week at N357.97/$ amid weekly injections of $210

By Dipo Olowookere In order to improve their performances, the managements of Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc and UACN Property Development Company Plc have sold commercial papers worth N20.5 billion to investors. Flour Mills issued N5.18 billion Series 5 and N1.74 billion Series 6 commercial papers under a N100 billion CP Issuance Programme, while UACN Property offered N5.62 billion Series 32 and N7.96 billion Series 33 CP under a N24 billion CP Issuance Programme. Business Post reports that last month, after the commercial papers were issued, the two companies approached the FMDQ OTC Securities for listing. Not too long ago,

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has quieted rumours making the rounds about the use of the fifth generation (5G) technology in some parts of the country. The telecommunications regulation agency in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Mr Henry Nkemmadu, on Monday, May 11, said false information has been over the internet about the telecom industry switching to 5G by May 12, 2020. Following this, the commission clearly assured Nigerians that there was no deployment of 5G in Nigeria at the moment. “The attention of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has been drawn to a mischievous statement

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Vice President, Mr Yemi Osinbajo, has disclosed that the Federal Government was constantly in talks with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on how to reduce interest rates, which is presently at 14 percent. On Tuesday, the CBN, after its two-day Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, retained the rates at 14 percent. Addressing members of the House of Representatives Tactical Committee on Recession on Thursday, the Vice President also assured that the federal government was actively exploring options on how best to liquidate the debts owed contractors across the country, including the option of using bonds. The

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The House of Representatives has taken a step to investigate the alleged trillions of Naira trapped in commercial banks because owners of the funds have failed to link their bank accounts with the Bank Verification Number (BVN). In February 2014, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) introduced the BVN and gave bank customers till June 2015 to link their accounts with the BVN. The scheme was introduced to check and combat money laundering, illicit financing and duplications in the ownership of bank accounts used for fraud. But almost eight years after the policy was introduced by the

By Dipo Olowookere Minister of Communication, Mr Adebayo Shittu, has hinted that the country’s first Information and Communication Technology (ICT) university would be established possibly within the next three months. Mr Shittu gave the name of the new school as Digital Bridge Institute and said it will have campuses in Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Owerri, Yola and Benue State. Speaking last Tuesday on a Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Ibadan Zonal Office programme, the Minister said the new ICT university will be an upgrade of the existing ICT-based institution. He said already, the Ministry of Education and the National University

By FBNQuest Research The DMO’s medium-term strategy for 2016-19 has a target for a 60/40 mix for the FGN’s domestic and external debt obligations. Over the four years through to December 2016, the ratio has moved ten percentage points towards the target, to 76/24. This move is due more to naira exchange-rate depreciation than changes in the currency of issuance. Our chart does not capture the DMO’s latest data release for end-June 2017, which is partial and includes the naira debt of state governments in the domestic total.  H1 2017 saw the return of the FGN to the Eurobond market

By Investors Hub The major US index futures are pointing to a slightly lower opening on Tuesday following the modest strength seen in the previous session. Profit taking may lead to initial weakness on Wall Street after two days of gains, although trading activity may be somewhat subdued. Traders may stick to the sidelines ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s semiannual testimony before Congress in the coming days. Stocks moved modestly higher over the course of the trading session on Monday after initially showing a lack of direction. While the Dow ended the day roughly flat, the broader Nasdaq