Profit-Taking in Geregu, Lafarge, 22 Others Weakens NGX Index by 0.04%

By Bliss Okperan The exchange rate instability in the country is already giving small business owners sleepless nights and it threatens their investments. This concern was raised recently by the National Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Association of Small-Scale Industrialists, Mr Segun Kuti-George. He emphasised that business owners would have to increase their prices because of the unavoidable consequence of the current exchange rate crisis in Nigeria. According to him, if consumers are unable to meet up with the increase in the cost of goods and services, businesses would be forced to shut down their operations, which would, in turn,

By Adedapo Adesanya The confirmation of the new Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Yemi Cardoso, and four deputies, generated mixed reactions in the foreign exchange (forex) market on Tuesday. Business Post reports that while it did magic in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window, it could not replicate this in the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) and the black market segments. After his confirmation on Tuesday, the new CBN governor said the immediate plan to stabilise the Naira would be for the apex bank to settle some financial obligations and make “transparent rules”. “Number one is what I will term an operational

By Adedapo Adesanya Ultrasonic sensing technology company, Fluenta, has completed work on the Dangote Refinery in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil refinery, installing 18 ultrasonic flare gas meters on large pipelines around the plant. This company is using its technology to aid Nigeria’s flare gas reduction efforts and with Dangote Refinery set to begin operations soon, according to its management recently, this could be a step to fix inaccurate measurements of gas flaring. Nigeria currently imports refined petroleum products for its use, even though it is Africa’s biggest oil producer and with Dangote Refinery, the world’s largest single-train refinery capable of

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 Modupe Gbadeyanka As Lagos State is set to host the maiden edition of the Nigeria Beer Festival from September 25 to October 1, 2017, organizers of the event have promised to crown the week-long event with an Independence Day mega concert. Speaking at a press conference to announce the event in Lagos on Tuesday, Mr Akinola Oluwaleimu, General Manager of On and One Events Limited, the organizers of the event, noted that the festival, which will promote responsible drinking among drinking-age (which is 18 years and above) consumers at all its touch points, would be held at the Lagos

By Investors Hub Asian stocks ended mixed on Thursday as investors kept an eye on political developments in Italy and looked ahead to the beginning of trade talks between China and the U.S. later in the day. China?s Shanghai Composite Index dropped 15.33 points or 0.5 percent to 3,154.24, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 168.05 points or 0.5 percent to 30,942.15. Meanwhile, Japanese shares closed higher as a rally by technology and financial stocks helped investors shrug off weak machinery orders data. The total value of core machine orders in Japan dropped 3.9 percent in March, the Cabinet

By Adedapo Adesanya In order to boost agricultural productivity in Nigeria in line with the President Muhammadu Buhari 9-point agenda, the National Varieties Release Committee (NVRC) has released 18 high-yielding crop varieties. The unveiling of these new crop varieties is expected to favour farmers in the country, who will now experience bountiful harvest going forward and in turn, make food cheaper. During the announcement, the Chairman of NVRC, Mr Oladosu Awoyemi, said the 18 crops were taken from the 25 submitted by researchers. While speaking during the 29th meeting at the National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (NACGRAB) in

By Dipo Olowookere The largest financial institution in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region, QNB Group, has announced its results for the six months period ended June 30, 2018. During the period under review, the lender recorded a Net Profit of QAR7.1 billion ($1.9 billion), up by 7 percent compared with last year. In addition, the total assets increased by 10 percent from June 2017 to reach QAR846 billion ($232 billion), the highest ever achieved by the Group. The key driver of total assets growth was from loans and advances which grew by 9 percent to reach QAR604 billion

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Intending participants of the 2018 edition of African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM) Conference now have the rare opportunity to register for the programme at the venue, organisers have said. This means that even though registration closed on the company’s website last week, participants who were not able to meet the online registration deadline now have the chance to register physically at the venue of the conference. The ASLM Conference, scheduled to hold from December 10 to 13, 2018, at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, Nigeria, will play host to hundreds of delegates from across Africa. The conference

**We’ll Continue to Support Nigerian Economy—CEO By Dipo Olowookere Chief Executive Officer of Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, Dr Demola Sogunle, has promised that the lender will continue to provide support to all sectors of the economy in moving individuals and businesses forward in further demonstration of the financial institution’s commitment to help the country’s economic recovery and development. Mr Sogunle made this disclosure while commenting on the huge impact the bank had in the capital inflows into Nigeria in the second quarter of this year. Recently, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in its Capital Importation Q2 2017 Report, stated

By Adedapo Adesanya  Oil prices continued to post losses into the second day on Tuesday as a result of lower economic growth forecast from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and a recent round of weak data out of China led to worries over energy demand. Business Post had reported that oil prices fell on Monday over the trade agreement by the United States and China at the end of last week due to a lack of detail. Brent crude fell $0.51 or 0.86 percent to $58.84 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude settled down 70 cents or

By Investors Hub European stocks are mostly higher on Wednesday, with traders indulging in some bargain hunting after recent losses. A fairly steady Chinese currency and higher U.S. futures appeared to be supporting the uptick in European markets. Investors were also reacting to economic data from the region in addition to tracking quarterly earnings reports and other corporate news. While the U.K.?s FTSE 100 Index has risen by 0.4 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index are up by 0.7 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively. On the economic front, data released by Destatis showed Germany industrial