Economy
Odu’a Investment Company Shareholders to Share N320m Dividend
By Adedapo Adesanya
Shareholders of Odu’a Investment Company Limited will take their share of N320 million in dividends payable for the financial year ended December 31, 2019, after granting approval at the company’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Wednesday, October 7.
This happened at the 38th AGM of the company which took place at the company’s head office, Cocoa House, Ibadan under strict adherence to the COVID-19 protocols of the Nigerian government.
The shareholders also approved, among other resolutions, the group and holding company consolidated financial statements for the financial year ended December 31, 2019.
According to the group chairman, Odu’a Investment Company, Mr Segun Aina, the company’s profit before tax rose by 5 per cent to N889.71 million in the year under review from N849.34 million reported in 2018.
He explained that this came from the company’s budget monitoring processes, coupled with increased productivity and reduced operating costs.
“The prudence of management and its budget monitoring processes coupled with increased efficiency and productivity reduced operating costs and boosted profitability of the company in the year under review,” the chairman said.
He also said with substantial investment, it has paid N1.53 billion cumulative dividends since 2015 and also rolls out an ambitious five-year Strategic Plan 2021-2025.
The company, as part of its corporate governance reforms, also got shareholders’ approval for the appointment of two each Independent Directors and Group Executive Directors to strengthen the Board which now has 11 members.
Mr Aina added the board remained positive about the company’s future. He said, “the Board remains positive about the company’s future and will continue to work closely with the Management and provide the needed oversight, guidance and strategic direction.”
The company’s Group Managing Director/CEO, Mr Adewale Raji, backed up Mr Aina noting that despite the global and domestic economic challenges during the financial year that affected our revenue trajectory, the company managed to increase its PBT by 5 per cent compared to 2018.
He assured shareholders of better performance in ensuing years as the new board and the management team had at a recent strategy retreat mapped out a new course to deliver the audacious 5-year growth plan.
This entails consolidating on existing businesses and diversifying into high growth and profitable sectors of the economy to realize our strategic objectives of creating value for our shareholders and delivering social impact to the South West States.
The GMD spoke on some of the company’s new foray into the oil and gas upstream sector and agriculture with processing component. These include the group’s mechanized farm at Imeko, Ogun State, where 1,200 hectares of cassava is currently under cultivation with a technical partner that will feed into two 50 tonnes per day modular processing plants for the conversion of cassava tubers into High-Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF) and High-Quality Cassava Starch (HQCS).
He also added that there are also renewed organic growth efforts at our Wemabod Limited (Real Estate) and Glanvill Enthoven Insurance Brokers & Pensions Consultants Ltd (Insurance Brokerage).
He emphasized on the group’s commitment to agricultural transformation to address food security, export earnings, job creation, accelerating industrialization and lifting the rural economy.
He disclosed that the group had recently incorporated South West Agriculture Company Limited (SWAgCo) to mid-wife the agriculture transformation of the South West strictly on sound private-sector principles and strategic partnerships.
This agric investment company has already identified focused food crops, cash crops, livestock and agriculture processing that will guide its investment decisions. SWAgCo will spin-off SPVs that will bring about profitable economic growth and social impact of job creation and lifting the rural economy of their locations.
Mr Raji concluded in his outlook for the future that the group will focus its strategy in critical essential sectors of the economy like food and manufacturing, healthcare & pharmaceuticals, logistics, ICT/digital, etc which are all well covered in the new 2021-2025 strategic plan.
By Dipo Olowookere
A 0.17 per cent growth was recorded by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday, extending the stay of the local bourse in the positive territory.
This uptrend was maintained despite profit-taking in the banking sector, which left its index down by 0.23 per cent at the close of trading activities.
Business Post reports that the insurance industry expanded by 4.04 per cent during the session, the energy counter improved by 1.05 per cent, and the consumer goods space gained 0.58 per cent, while the industrial goods sector closed flat.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 170.62 points to 102,353.68 points from 102,183.06 points and the market capitalisation grew by N541 billion to N62.851 trillion from N62.310 trillion.
There were 34 price gainers and 22 price losers yesterday, indicating a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.
The trio of Caverton, Livestock Feeds and Sovereign Trust Insurance appreciated by 10.00 per cent each during the session to quote at N2.20, N5.94, and N1.10, respectively, as Neimeth jumped by 994 per cent to N3.43, and Royal Exchange increased by 9.88 per cent to 89 Kobo.
On its part, Academy Press lost 9.74 per cent to close at N3.15, PZ Cussons declined by 9.09 per cent to N25.00, DAAR Communications weakened by 8.64 per cent to 74 Kobo, Transcorp Power shed 5.91 per cent to settle at N46.95, and Dangote Sugar fell by 4.94 per cent to N38.50.
A total of 327.8 million shares valued at N11.8 billion were traded in 11,905 deals on Friday versus the 472.2 million shares worth N16.7 billion transacted in 12,336 deals on Thursday, representing a decline in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 30.58 per cent, 29.34 per cent and 3.49 per cent apiece.
Access Holdings recorded the highest sales with 49.1 million stocks sold for N1.2 billion, Fidelity Bank exchanged 20.4 million shares valued at N359.0 million, UBA traded 20.1 million equities worth N681.0 million, Oando transacted 14.8 million shares for N998.1 million, and Universal Insurance traded 13.8 million stocks worth N8.7 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange extended its upward movement with a 0.26 per cent gain on Friday, January 17 amid renewed interest in unlisted stocks.
This raised the market capitalisation of the trading platform by N2.79 billion at the close of business to N1.075 trillion from the N1.072 trillion it closed in the preceding session.
In the same vein, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) went up by 8.08 points at the close of transactions to 3,111.91 points from the 3,103.83 points recorded at the previous session.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors went down by 606 per cent to 486,215 units from 1.2 million units, the value of shares shrank by 84.7 per cent to N2.8 million from N18.0 million, and the number of deals decreased by 65 per cent to 14 deals from the 33 deals carried out a day earlier.
In the final trading day of the week, there were three price gainers and one price loser, Geo-Fluids Plc, which lost 9 Kobo to finish at N4.70 per unit versus the preceding session’s price of N4.79 per unit.
On the flip side, Okitipupa Plc gained N3.60 to settle at N39.59 per share compared with the previous day’s N35.99 per share, Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc added 3 Kobo to wrap at 36 Kobo per unit compared with the preceding session’s 33 Kobo per share, as FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc improved its value by 49 Kobo to N39.65 per unit from N39.16 per unit.
At the close of business, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 3.4 million units worth N134.9 million, trailed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 8.9 million units valued at N43.0 million, and Afriland Properties Plc with 690,825 sold for N11.1 million.
The most active stock by volume (year-to-date) remained IGI Plc with 23.5 million units worth N5.3 million, followed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 8.9 million units valued at N43.0 million, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 3.4 million units sold for N134.9 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira extended its appreciation against the US Dollar by 0.06 per cent or N89 Kobo on the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, January 17, trading at N1,547.58/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,548.47/$1.
Market analysts expect that the Naira will appreciate in the first quarter of the year, backed by continued policy support by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Vestance Nigeria, an agribusiness advisory firm, projects that the exchange rate will trade between N1,650/$1 and N1,750/$1 this year in its Resilience and Recovery for Agribusiness in 2025 outlook report.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will continue implementing reforms to enhance exchange rate market transparency while maintaining higher interest rates to curb inflationary pressures and attract foreign portfolio management,” it said.
Also, the Nigerian currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling by N20.84 to wrap the session at N1,883.59/£1 versus the preceding day’s N1,904.43/£1 and against the Euro, the Nigerian currency gained N10.45 to settle at N1,590.34/€1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price of N1,600.79/€1.
In the parallel market, the domestic currency appreciated against the greenback by N5 yesterday to sell for N1,675/$1 compared with the N1,675/$1 it was traded a day earlier.
As for the cryptocurrency market, there was profit-taking amid excitement for a new era of crypto-friendly US government mounts ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration next week.
Crypto investors expect a change from Mr Trump who promised on the campaign trail to position the US as a leader in the crypto space including creating a national stockpile of Bitcoin, in stark contrast to past years’ regulatory crackdowns and enforcements.
Litecoin (LTC) fell by 9.9 per cent to trade at $124.56, Ripple (XRP) slumped by 6.2 per cent to $3.10, Cardano (ADA) dipped by 4.9 per cent to $1.06, Ethereum (ETH) dropped 3.1 per cent to finish at $3,270.61, Binance Coin (BNB) went down by 2.3 per cent to $698.57 and Dogecoin (DOGE) depreciated by 2.2 per cent to $0.3927.
However, Solana (SOL) rose by 8.8 per cent to end at $235.12, Bitcoin (BTC) expanded by 0.8 per cent to $102,494.03, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) sold flat at $1.00 each.
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