Economy
NLNG Revenue Declines to $4.7b in 2016

By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) has released its unaudited financial statement for the year ended December 31, 2016, declaring a decline in its earnings for the period under review.
In the statements, the firm said its revenue slumped by 30.98 percent from $6.84 billion recorded in 2015 to $4.72 billion in 2016.
The company said despite the sharp drop in its revenue, its capital investment appreciated slightly by 1.98 per cent to $881.84 million from $864.76 million recorded in the previous year.
However, the drop in revenue, negatively affected its dividends payout, as it paid $737.086 million in dividends to its shareholders — the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Shell, Total and Eni 2016.
The amount paid as dividends in 2016 represented a 65.89 percent decline when compared to total dividends of $2.161 billion paid to shareholders in 2015.
In addition, the report pointed out that $717.72 million was expended by the NLNG to purchase gas from the NNPC in 2016, compared to $1.18 billion in the previous year, while $593.16 million worth of gas was purchased by the NLNG from Shell, Total, Agip and Conoco Philip in 2016, compared to $961.97 million in 2015.
The NLNG, according to the report, also paid local contractors $565.64 million for goods and services, dropping by 7.4 percent from $610.82 million paid out to local contractors in 2015.
To this end, the report stated that the NLNG had from 1999 to December 31, 2016, recorded total revenue of $95.09 billion; total capital investment of $16.57 billion; total dividends paid to the NNPC stood at $15.7 billion; while Shell, Total and Eni received $16.45 billion as total dividends in the 18-year period.
Also, NLNG’s total gas purchases from the NNPC from 1999 to 2016 stood at $12.588 billion; gas purchases from Shell, Total, Agip and Conoco Philip stood at $10.29 billion over the same period; while total payments to local contractors for goods and services from 1999 to 2016 stood at $5.66 billion.
The NLNG disclosed that in a proactive bid to discover more Nigerian sources, Nigerian Content surveys and vendor forums were conducted at scheduled intervals to identify indigenous companies capable of providing the goods and services required by NLNG.
It also stated that through its initiative to empower local contractors via the Finnima Legacy Project, five host community-based contractors had made capital investments in their companies thereby expanding their operating capacity, while it had also strategic partnerships between the more established Nigerian vendors and the community vendors.
The NLNG further disclosed that about 54 vendors had been trained at the Bonny Vocational Centre to improve their skills in business development and project management, while its deliberate strategies implemented to increase spend in some communities had led to a significant increase in year-on-year spend with direct spend increasing by over 100 percent between 2011 and 2013 and even further in 2014.
It said, “Doing business with Nigeria LNG has engendered improvement in some of our vendors’ business processes, and led them to upgrade their facilities and capacity to meet very stringent requirements.
“In the past, for instance, NLNG worked with Dorman Long Nigeria Limited and Nigerdock Nigeria PLC to enhance their galvanisation capability, with Nexans Kabelmetal to increase manufacturing capacity and with Nigerian Foundries to improve their processes for the manufacture of trench gratings and manhole covers.”
Economy
Food Concepts Return NASD OTC Exchange to Danger Zone
By Adedapo Adesanya
Food Concepts Plc neutralized the gains recorded by three securities, returning the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange into the negative territory with a 0.27 per cent loss on Thursday, December 4.
Yesterday, the share price of the parent company of Chicken Republic and PieXpress declined by 34 Kobo to sell at N3.15 per unit compared with the previous day’s N3.49 per unit.
This shrank the market capitalisation of the OTC bourse by N5.72 billion to N2.136 billion from N2.142 trillion and weakened the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) by 9.57 points to 3,571.53 points from 3,581.10 points.
Business Post reports that Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc went down by 50 Kobo to N38.50 per share from N38.00 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc gained 29 Kobo to sell at N55.79 per unit versus N55.50 per unit, and Geo-Fluids Plc added 5 Kobo to close at N4.60 per share compared with Wednesday’s closing price of N4.55 per share.
Trading data indicated that the volume of securities recorded at the session surged by 6,885.3 per cent to 4.3 million units from the 61,570 units posted a day earlier, the value of securities increased by 10,301.7 per cent to N947.2 million from N3.3 million, and the number of deals went up by 146.7 per cent to 37 deals from the 15 deals achieved in the previous trading session.
At the close of business, Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc was the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with the sale of 5.8 billion units for N16.4 billion, trailed by Okitipupa Plc with 170.4 million units worth N8.0 billion, and Air Liquide Plc with 507.5 million units valued at N4.2 billion.
InfraCredit Plc also finished the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units transacted for N16.4 billion, followed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 1.2 billion units sold for N420.2 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 536.9 million units traded for N524.9 million.
Economy
Investors Gain N97bn from Local Equity Market
By Dipo Olowookere
The upward trend witnessed at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited in recent sessions continued on Thursday as it further improved by 0.10 per cent.
This was despite investor sentiment turning bearish after the local equity market ended with 23 price gainers and 28 price gainers, indicating a negative market breadth index.
UAC Nigeria gained 10.00 per cent to finish at N88.00, Morison Industries appreciated by 9.94 per cent to N3.54, Ecobank rose by 8.53 per cent to N36.90, and Coronation Insurance grew by 8.47 per cent to N2.56.
On the flip side, Ellah Lakes depreciated by 10.00 per cent to N13.14, Eunisell Nigeria also shed 10.00 per cent to finish at N72.90, Transcorp Hotels slipped by 9.95 per cent to N157.50, Omatek shrank by 9.23 per cent to N1.18, and Guinea Insurance dipped by 8.46 per cent to N1.19.
Yesterday, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 152.28 points to 145,476.15 points from 145,323.87 points and the market capitalisation chalked up N97 billion to finish at N92.726 trillion compared with the previous day’s N92.629 trillion.
Customs Street was bubbling with activities on Thursday, though the trading volume and value slightly went down, according to data.
A total of 1.9 billion stocks worth N19.2 billion exchanged hands in 23,369 deals during the session versus the N2.3 billion valued at N21.0 billion traded in 21,513 deals a day earlier.
This showed that the number of deals increased by 8.63 per cent, the volume of transactions depleted by 17.39 per cent, and the value of trades decreased by 8.57 per cent.
For another trading day, eTranzact led the activity chart with 1.6 billion units sold for N6.4 billion, Fidelity Bank traded 31.0 million units worth N589.3 million, GTCO exchanged 28.3 million units valued at N2.5 billion, Zenith Bank transacted 27.1 million units for N1.6 billion, and Ecobank traded 21.9 million units worth N744.3 million.
Economy
Naira Loses 18 Kobo Against Dollar at Official Market, N5 at Black Market
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira marginally depreciated against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Thursday, December 4 amid renewed forex pressure associated with December.
At the official market yesterday, the Nigerian currency lost 0.01 per cent or 18 Kobo against the Dollar to close at N1,447.83/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,447.65/$1.
It was not a different scenario with the local currency in the same market segment against the Pound Sterling as it further shed N15.43 to sell for N1,930.97/£1 versus Wednesday’s closing price of N1,925.08/£1 and declined against the Euro by 20 Kobo to finish at N1,688.74/€1 compared with the preceding session’s N1,688.54/€1.
Similarly, the Nigerian Naira lost N5 against the greenback in the black market to quote at N1,465/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,460/$1 but closed flat against the Dollar at the GTBank FX counter at N1,453/$1.
Fluctuations in trading range is expected to continue during the festive season as traders expect the Nigerian currency to be stable, supported by intervention s by to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)in the face of steady dollar demand.
Support is also expected in coming weeks as seasonal activities, particularly the stylised “Detty December” festivities, will see inflows that will give the Naira a boost after it depreciated mildly last month, according to a new report.
“As the festive Detty December season intensifies, inbound travel, tourism spending, and diaspora inflows are expected to provide moderate support for FX liquidity,” analysts at the research unit of FMDA said in its latest monthly report for November.
Traders cited by Reuters expect that the Naira will trade within a band of N1,443-N1,450 next week, buoyed by improved FX interventions by the apex bank.
Meanwhile, the crypto market was down as the US Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, core PCE, likely rose in September—moving in the wrong direction. However, volatility indices show no signs of major turbulence.
If the actual figure matches estimates, it would mark 55 straight months of inflation above the US central bank’s 2 per cent target. The sticky inflation would strengthen the hawkish policymakers, who are in favour of slower rate cuts.
Ripple (XRP) depreciated by 4.5 per cent to $2.08, Solana (SOL) went down by 3.8 per cent to $138.11, Litecoin (LTC) shrank by 3.1 per cent to $83.23, Dogecoin (DOGE) slid by 2.5 per cent to $0.1463, Cardano (ADA) declined by 2.1 per cent to $0.4368, Bitcoin (BTC) fell by 0.9 per cent to $91,975.45, Binance Coin (BNB) crumbled by 0.9 per cent to $899.41, and Ethereum (ETH) dropped by 0.7 per cent to $3,156.44, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 apiece.
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