Oando Disagrees with SEC’s Decision to Cancel AGM

By Adedapo Adesanya Appreciation in the prices of three stocks saw the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange closed with a 1.36 per cent rise on Friday, November 24 despite efforts by two equities to bring down the market. Aradel Holdings Plc recorded a N79.20 appreciation to sell at N871.20 per share compared to the previous day’s N792.00 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc increased by N2.82 to close the day at N74.00 per unit versus Thursday’s closing price of N71.14 per unit, and UBN Property Plc jumped by 15 Kobo to finish at N1.65 per share, in contrast to the

By Adedapo Adesanya The federal government has set plans in motion to raise $200 million from philanthropic individuals and organisations as part of efforts to create jobs and support Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria. Nigeria is home to over 36.9 million MSMEs, comprising 96.7 per cent of all businesses in Nigeria. According to data, 67 per cent of these businesses are youth-owned. MSMEs contribute over 45 per cent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), with 98.8 per cent of them in the micro cadre. They account for nearly 90 per cent of the jobs in the

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira depreciated in the opening session of the week in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Monday, November 27 against the Dollar by N19.71 or 2.5 per cent as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Olayemi Cardoso, said the lender was committed to clearing a backlog of foreign exchange (forex). “We have initiated the payment of unsettled forward foreign exchange obligations, and these payments will continue until all obligations are cleared,” he told bankers last Friday during a dinner speech in Lagos. However, his assurance could not ease the pressure

By Adedapo Adesanya Brent crude benchmark dipped below $80 a barrel on Monday, precisely losing 60 cents of 0.7 per cent to trade at $79.98 a barrel as investors await this week’s meeting of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies (OPEC+). The group is anticipated to maintain its ceiling on crude oil production by member countries into 2024. This affected the oil market, with the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures declining yesterday by 68 cents or 0.9 per cent to trade at $74.86 per barrel. Last week, the 23-man OPEC+ postponed its Sunday ministerial meeting

By Dipo Olowookere Last month, the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc announced that its London subsidiary had been given the permission to operate wholesome banking activities in the United Kingdom. This made the Africa’s global bank the only Sub-Saharan African lender to conduct banking operations in New York and London, as well as 20 other African countries. For the Head of Investor Relations at UBA, Mr Abiola Rasaq, this development will boost earnings of the financial institution in 2018. Speaking with newsmen at a briefing in Lagos last week, Mr Rasaq noted that with the expansion to the UK

By Investors Hub Asian markets closed mostly lower on Monday after technology stocks led a slide in U.S. stocks on Friday. The dollar held steady against its peers, while oil traded mixed after the release of U.S. GDP data and amid renewed concerns around the U.S.-China trade war. Investor focus shifted to key central bank meetings this week. The Bank of Japan began a two-day policy meeting today, with analysts expecting the central bank to discuss reducing investments in ETFs tracking the Nikkei 225 Index. The Federal Open Market Committee is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged when it

By Adedapo Adesanya The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved $288.5 million loan to help Nigeria tackle the COVID-19 pandemic and mitigate its impact on the economy. The loan, according to the development finance institution, will bolster the government’s plans to improve response to COVID-19 emergencies, ease the impact on workers and businesses and strengthen the social protection system. The loan is the bank’s initial response to help mitigate the slump in oil prices and its impact on the national economy, which has affected revenue projects for the year. Nigeria had in April secured $3.4 billion from the International Monetary

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company Plc (NMRC) recorded a 7.1 per cent increase in profit in the first six months of the year to N1.67 billion from N1.56 billion achieved in the same period in 2019. This was contained in its unaudited half-year financial statements for the period ended June 30 sent to the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange. However, NMRC had a higher Profit Before Tax (PBT) in the first six months of the year compared to that in 2019. In the period under review, the pre-tax profit rose by 2.4 per cent to N1.69 billion

By Dipo Olowookere Preparations are already in top gear for the 2016 Nigerian Economic Summit (NEC), which holds from October 10-12, at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja. Addressing a news conference in Lagos, organiser of the programme, the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) said the 22nd edition of the summit, themed ‘Made in Nigeria’, would be explosive. It was explained that this theme was coming at a right time; especially when Nigeria is strategizing on how to revamp her economy. Minister of Budget and National Planning, Mr Udoma Udo Udoma, who was present at the briefing, pointed out that

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The need for the development of a robust strategy on cyber risks to protect the funds of investors and boost market confidence has again been emphasised by the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr Lamido Yuguda. While presenting a paper recently at the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc Cyber Securities conference, Mr Yuguda said stakeholders must urgently work on this policy because cyber risks pose a significant threat to market confidence, integrity and efficiency because people’s hard-earned income and other financial instruments are saved and invested in it. “In the Nigerian capital market, we

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Okechukwu Enelamah, has disclosed that in a bid to increase local production of fresh tomato fruit required for fresh fruit consumption and processing; increase local production of tomato concentrate and reduce post-harvest losses, the Federal Government has increased the tariff on importation of tomato concentrate to 50 percent. The Minister, speaking on Tuesday, said further that the government has also approved an additional levy of $1,500 per metric tonne on tomato concentrate from May 7. He pointed out that the Federal Government classified greenhouse equipment as agricultural equipment in order