NSE Index Sheds 0.34% as Trading Activities Wane

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The value of unsold finished products in the inventory of Nigerian manufacturers in the first half of 2023 increased by 44/9 per cent on a year-to-date basis to N272 billion from N187 billion in the same period of 2022. This information was contained in the report released by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) on Tuesday. According to Punch, the document also revealed that in the period under review, the manufacturing sector laid off 3,567 workers due to the harsh business environment triggered by high inflation, the foreign exchange (FX) crisis, and fuel subsidy removal. “This increase

By Adedapo Adesanya Foreign trading and investment firm, Risevest, has acquired Chaka, a digital trading platform. According to Techcabal, which first broke the news, the deal, which was for an undisclosed sum, will see both entities operate as different products, though the capitalisation table of the acquiree will be updated in due course. Speaking on this, Mr Tosin Osinbodu, Chaka’s founder, said, “I’m excited about how Chaka’s product will evolve and how we’re going to learn from the Risevest team.” “With booming growth in many nations around the world, investors can now own a stake in the growth of other

By Dipo Olowookere The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) kicked off the first trading session in the last week of the third quarter of the year on a negative note, with the key performance indices going down by 0.66 per cent on Monday. This was partly caused by the reaction of investors to the 30 Kobo interim dividend declaration of the board of Access Holdings Plc. A few days ago, its peer, UBA Plc, raised its interim dividend payment by 150 per cent to 50 Kobo and it was expected that Access Holdings would follow the same path. However, the company disappointed

By Adedapo Adesanya The new Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Yemi Cardoso, has said he would adopt an evidence-based monetary policy as he assumed office upon confirmation by the Nigerian Senate on Tuesday. He said the new leadership of CBN would “adopt an evidence-based monetary policy and shall not be making decisions based on a whim.” The Godswill Akpabio-led Senate confirmed the nomination of Mr Cardoso’s nomination as well as that of the four Deputy Governors of CBN nominated by President Bola Tinubu. The four deputy governors whose appointments were confirmed by the Senate are Mrs

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The invasion of the premises of Pan Ocean Oil (Nigeria) Limited on Thursday by those believed to be representatives of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has been condemned by the management. In a statement by the organisation’s media representatives, Caritas PR, the energy firm described the attempted takeover as “illegal.” In the statement signed by the Senior Media and Communications Executive at Caritas PR, Mr Mutiu Yekeen, it was stressed that AMCON carried out the act yesterday despite a pending lawsuit marked FHC/L/CS/552/2020 before the Court of Appeal in Lagos. “On July 2, 2020, a

By Adedapo Adesanya The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the China Development Bank (CDB) have signed a development-focused agreement that will support the financing of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Africa with a $400-million term loan facility. The agreement was signed by Mr Tan Jiong, President of CDB, and Mr Benedict Oramah, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank, at the Afreximbank headquarters in Cairo. In a statement seen by Business Post, this agreement allows Afreximbank to deploy the facility to support African SMEs involved in extra- and intra-African trade and those engaged in the productive

By Dipo Olowookere The demand for value stocks led the local market to a marginal 0.11 per cent growth on Wednesday, with a positive sentiment. This was because at the close of transactions at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) yesterday, there were 32 price gainers as against the 16 price losers. Mobil Oil was the best-performing equity, rising by N21.50 to settle at N249.50 per share, while Flour Mills gained N1.90 to end at N29.30 per unit. BOC Gases rose by N1.13 to sell at N12.52 per share, Seplat grew by 40 kobo to trade at N496.50 per unit, while

By Adedapo Adesanya President Bola Tinubu has assured Nigerians that he is “working day and night” to resolve the challenges facing the country as he commemorated with Muslim faithful celebrating the Eid-el-Kabir festivities. Mr Tinubu, in a statement he personally signed on Tuesday, upon the absence of his aides, said that the decisions taken so far by his administration would “reform our economy and remove all impediments to growth,” referring to the removal of fuel subsidy, harmonisation of the foreign exchange market, as well as the replacement of top government and military officials. “At the moment, our country is going

By Adedapo Adesanya The Akwa Ibom State Government is set to boost economic activities and manpower of the state as it takes over the ultra-modern Woodwork and Carpentry workshops it renovated and upgraded at the Government Technical College (GTC) Abak by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB). The commissioning was performed by the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr Udom Gabriel Emmanuel, represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr Emmanuel Ekuwem and the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Mr Simbi Kesiye Wabote. In his address, the Executive Secretary of NCDMB disclosed that the agency invests in the

By Adedapo Adesanya The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has announced the approval of a new Gender Equality Trust Fund (GETF), aimed at pushing forward gender equality and women’s empowerment across the continent. The fund is worth $7 billion and will see a first tranche of up to $2 billion given to the beneficiaries in credit, with a further $5 billion. The fund is purely to support women-empowered businesses in Africa. The AfDB, in a statement over the weekend, explained that the GETF, which was funded by donors, would support the delivery and scale-up of the Bank’s Affirmative Finance Action

By Dipo Olowookere A closed period has been declared by the board of Union Bank of Nigeria Plc ahead of the release of its earnings for the third quarter of the year ended September 30, 2019. The lender announced the closed period on Monday, making its impossible for its insiders, who include directors, top management staff and others, from trading shares of the company at the stock exchange. In a notice signed by the Company Secretary, Somuyiwa Sonubi, and sent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Union Bank said this restriction in the buying and selling of its equities by