Economy
Nigerian Breweries Opens N8b Commercial Papers Issuance
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
One of the leading brewery firms in the country, Nigerian Breweries Plc, has commenced issuance of a N8 billion Series 15 Commercial Paper (CP) under its N100 billion CP programme launched in 2015.
The N8 billion notes have 91 days tenor and the offer started on Thursday, July 12, 2018, and will close on Tuesday, July 17, 2018.
The programme is expected to complement the company’s other sources of working capital, while diversifying funding sources to include non-bank investors.
Additionally, the programme will improve the company’s ability to periodically access funding at rates mirroring the money market.
“They are using this launch which is the 15th series for expansion to finance working capital. They have a big competitor in the likes of International Breweries who also are doing a lot of expansion,” said Dolapo Ashiru, a financial analyst.
According to Business Day, Nigerian Breweries, in its 2017 financial statement, reported a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.4 percent in revenue, driven by business acquisitions, introduction of new products, and more recently, price inflation.
In the same period, increase in the cost of raw materials and consumables as well as down trading, amongst others pressured NB’s margins. Nonetheless, the Company posted a good operating profit margin of 15.9 percent, return on assets of 13.3 percent and return on equity of 26.1 percent in 2017.
The Nigerian economy suffered a severe slowdown through 2016 and much of 2017, owing to sustained low global crude oil prices. This led to heightened economic uncertainty, which was worsened by the devaluation of the Naira.
However, the economy appears to have rebounded from recession, as the real Gross Domestic Products (GDP) growth rate registered at 0.8 percent in 2017, compared to a 1.5 percent decline in 2016.
The brewing industry is one of the major sectors within the Nigerian Food, Beverages and Tobacco division. The sector has witnessed various forms of transformation over the years, with the number of players spiking from less than five (5) in 1970 to over thirty (30) in 1980.
However, operational and economic challenges in the early 1980 led to the closure of some breweries. Currently, there are over ten brewery companies, of which five (NB, Guinness, Champion Breweries, International Breweries and Golden Guinea Breweries) are listed on the NSE. NB and Guinness dominate the industry, controlling over 60 percent and 19 percent market share respectively, based on industry sources.
In line with the capital intensive nature of NB’s business, fixed assets have historically accounted for over 70 percent of total assets. These assets have primarily been funded through equity, whilst the high working capital requirement has been covered through various debt instruments and payables.
Nigerian Breweries ‘principal activities involve the brewing, marketing and sale of lager, stout, non-alcoholic malt drinks and soft drinks, from which the Company derives its revenue. Nigerian Breweries’ primary geographical market is Nigeria, accounting for 99.9 percent of its sales in 2017.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has once again trimmed its 2024 and 2025 oil demand growth forecasts.
The bloc made this in its latest monthly oil market report for December 2024.
The 2024 world oil demand growth forecast is now put at 1.61 million barrels per day from the previous 1.82 million barrels per day.
For 2025, OPEC says the world oil demand growth forecast is now at 1.45 million barrels per day, which is 900,000 barrels per day lower than the 1.54 million barrels per day earlier quoted.
On the changes, the group said that the downgrade for this year owes to more bearish data received in the third quarter of 2024 while the projections for next year relate to the potential impact that will arise from US tariffs.
The oil cartel had kept the 2024 outlook unchanged until August, a view it had first taken in July 2023.
OPEC and its wider group of allies known as OPEC+ earlier this month delayed its plan to start raising output until April 2025 against a backdrop of falling prices.
Eight OPEC+ member countries – Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman – decided to extend additional crude oil production cuts adopted in April 2023 and November 2023, due to weak demand and booming production outside the group.
In April 2023, these OPEC+ countries decided to reduce their oil production by over 1.65 million barrels per day as of May 2023 until the end of 2023. These production cuts were later extended to the end of 2024 and will now be extended until the end of December 2026.
In addition, in November 2023, these producers had agreed to voluntary output cuts totalling about 2.2 million barrels per day for the first quarter of 2024, in order to support prices and stabilise the market.
These additional production cuts were extended to the end of 2024 and will now be extended to the end of March 2025; they will then be gradually phased out on a monthly basis until the end of September 2026.
Members have made a series of deep output cuts since late 2022.
They are currently cutting output by a total of 5.86 million barrels per day, or about 5.7 per cent of global demand. Russia also announced plans to reduce its production by an extra 471,000 barrels per day in June 2024.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
A minority equity stake in Chappal Energies Mauritius Limited has been acquired by a Nigerian energy firm, Aradel Holdings Plc.
This deal came a few days after Chappal Energies purchased a 53.85 per cent equity stake in Equinor Nigeria Energy Company Limited (ENEC).
Chappal Energies went into the deal with Equinor to take part in the oil and gas lease OML 128, including the unitised 20.21 per cent stake in the Agbami oil field, operated by Chevron.
Since production started in 2008, the Agbami field has produced more than one billion barrels of oil, creating value for Nigerian society and various stakeholders.
As part of the deal, Chappal will assume the operatorship of OML 129, which includes several significant prospects and undeveloped discoveries (Nnwa, Bilah and Sehki).
The Nnwa discovery is part of the giant Nnwa-Doro field, a major gas resource with significant potential to deliver value for Nigeria.
In a separate transaction, on July 17, 2024, Chappal and Total Energies sealed an SPA for the acquisition by Chappal of 10 per cent of the SPDC JV.
The relevant parties to this transaction are working towards closing out this transaction and Ministerial Approval and NNPC consent to accede to the Joint Operating Agreement have been obtained.
“This acquisition is in line with diversifying our asset base, deepening our gas competencies and gaining access to offshore basins using low-risk approaches.
“We recognise the strategic role of gas in Nigeria’s energy future and are happy to expand our equity holding in this critical resource.
“We are committed to the cause of developing the significant value inherent in the assets, which will be extremely beneficial to the country.
“Aradel hopes to bring its proven execution competencies to bear in supporting Chappal’s development of these opportunities,” the chief executive of Aradel Holdings, Mr Adegbite Falade, stated.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Afriland Properties Plc helped the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange record a 0.04 per cent gain on Tuesday, December 10 as the share price of the property investment rose by 34 Kobo to N16.94 per unit from the preceding day’s N16.60 per unit.
As a result of this, the market capitalisation of the bourse went up by N380 million to remain relatively unchanged at N1.056 trillion like the previous trading day.
But the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) closed higher at 3,014.36 points after it recorded an addition of 1.09 points to Monday’s closing value of 3,013.27 points.
The NASD OTC securities exchange recorded a price loser and it was Geo-Fluids Plc, which went down by 2 Kobo to close at N3.93 per share, in contrast to the preceding day’s N3.95 per share.
During the trading session, the volume of securities bought and sold by investors increased by 95.8 per cent to 2.4 million units from the 1.2 million securities traded in the preceding session.
However, the value of shares traded yesterday slumped by 3.7 per cent to N4.9 million from the N5.07 million recorded a day earlier, as the number of deals surged by 27.3 per cent to 14 deals from 11 deals.
Geo-Fluids Plc remained the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 1.7 billion units sold for N3.9 billion, trailed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.5 million units worth N5.3 million.
Also, Aradel Holdings Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 108.7 million units worth N89.2 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.5 million units sold for N5.3 billion.
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