Economy
Real Estate Delivers 15.6% RoI for Risevest Investors
By Adedapo Adesanya
Real estate portfolio delivered the best return for investors on US stocks and investment platform, Risevest, in 2022, with a 15.6 per cent return on investment (RoI).
In its Investment Wrapped: A Look At Our Investment Journey in 2022 newsletter, seen by Business Post, the company said that the year’s investment was actively affected by inflation and the measures to tackle it.
The company, despite the tough year, paid out $23.2 million to users while 109,800 plans were created while its members in its investment club grew to 15,100.
“All the monetary easing that central banks worldwide did in response to COVID led to the worst inflation numbers in over 40 years. US inflation peaked at 9.1%, and the aggressive increase in interest rates by the US Federal Reserve and other major central banks led to the global increase in the cost of capital,” it explained.
It added that although inflation in the world’s largest economy dropped as rate hikes hit 5 per cent, the increased rates and higher cost of capital led to a massive drop in the valuations of stocks and other assets, leading to some of the worst stock markets drop in recent history.
This was coupled with the energy and wheat crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as the meltdown in the crypto industry.
The company revealed that real estate markets, including Myrtle Beach South Carolina homes for sale, were strong for most of the year until the final quarter, delivering double-digit returns for the Rise portfolio.
Also, energy commodities were up in the review year, and energy stocks like ExxonMobil defied the downturn and gained 70 per cent, adding that, “all of that was overshadowed by what has been the 7th worst performance of the stock markets ever in history.”
After the real estate market, fixed income delivered a 10 per cent return for the year, providing much-needed returns to users and balancing out the losses from stocks that fell 22 per cent in the year.
Speaking on moves it made, the company, in the newsletter, revealed that it introduced Airbnb to its portfolio based on its seasonal advantage and consumer-driven demand.
“For real estate, we introduced Airbnb rentals to our portfolio. While they are much more hands-on than our traditional rentals, their returns, even after expenses, are much higher, making it well worth the experience.
“However, we will continue to invest in Airbnb rentals as a smaller component of our real estate strategy due to their seasonality and the risk of changes in consumer behaviour,” parts of the article read.
For stocks, the company noted that it exited companies without either significant growth or cash-flow generation capabilities and, moving forward, will prioritise defensive companies with strong demand profiles and solid balance sheets.
“We held onto some tech companies like Facebook (Meta) and Google, who still present a lot of value despite deep sentiment against them, and we added new positions in both short and long-term bets that will pay off when stocks rebound.”
For the fixed-income portfolio, the overall fixed-income market saw relatively stable returns, with the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index returning 4.26 per cent and our portfolio delivering 10 per cent for the year.
“Our portfolio has a good representation of (third-party provided) consumer credit and mortgage-backed fixed-income assets and an increasingly smaller position in emerging market sovereign debt. Despite a tough market position, credit and debt profiles remain relatively stable.
“Also, with higher interest rates, it’s becoming increasingly possible to move up the risk ladder into even safer fixed-income assets without sacrificing returns, which is great news,” it said.
Presenting its outlook for the year, it said that looking at a possible recession, weakened demand, and a lean global supply chain, it expects a tougher first half and advised more people to “keep their budgets lean, emergency funds funded, and their investment plans disciplined.”
Product-wise, Risevest said “multi-year asset class plans are on the way, as well as varied account types. Multi-country support and a slew of new features, including dark mode, potential localised offerings, and more personalization, should also be expected to support our users’ financial journeys and unlock more wealth-creating opportunities for all Risers.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
The domestic supply of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, from the Dangote Refinery increased by 64.4 percent in December 2025, contributing to an enhancement in Nigeria’s overall petrol availability.
This is according to the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) in its December 2025 Factsheet Report released on Thursday.
The downstream regulatory agency revealed that the private refinery raised its domestic petrol supply from 19.47 million litres per day in November 2025 to an average of 32.012 million litres per day in December, as it quelled any probable fuel scarcity associated with the festive month.
The report attributed the improvement to more substantial capacity utilisation at the Lagos-based oil facility, which reached a peak of 71 per cent in December.
The increased output from Dangote Refinery contributed to a rise in Nigeria’s total daily domestic PMS supply to 74.2 million litres in December, up from 71.5 million litres per day recorded in November.
The authority also reported a sharp increase in petrol consumption, rising to 63.7 million litres per day in December 2025, up from 52.9 million litres per day in the previous month.
In contrast, the domestic supply of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) known as diesel declined to 17.9 million litres per day in December from 20.4 million litres per day in November, even as daily diesel consumption increased to 16.4 million litres per day from 15.4 million litres per day.
Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) supply recorded modest growth during the period, rising to 5.2 metric tonnes per day in December from 5.0 metric tonnes per day in November.
Despite the gains recorded by Dangote Refinery and modular refineries, the NMDPRA disclosed that Nigeria’s four state-owned refineries recorded zero production in December.
It said the Port Harcourt Refinery remained shut down, though evacuation of diesel produced before May 24, 2025, averaged 0.247 million litres per day. The Warri and Kaduna refineries also remained shut down throughout the period.
On modular refineries, the report said Waltersmith Refinery (Train 2 with 5,000 barrels per day) completed pre-commissioning in December, with hydrocarbon introduction expected in January 2026. The refinery recorded an average capacity utilisation of 63.24 per cent and an average AGO supply of 0.051 million litres per day
Edo Refinery posted an average capacity utilisation of 85.43 per cent with AGO supply of 0.052 million litres per day, while Aradel recorded 53.89 per cent utilisation and supplied an average of 0.289 million litres per day of AGO.
Total AGO supply from the three modular refineries averaged 0.392 million litres per day, with other products including naphtha, heavy hydrocarbon kerosene (HHK), fuel oil, and marine diesel oil (MDO).
The report listed Nigeria’s 2025 daily consumption benchmarks as 50 million litres per day for petrol, 14 million litres per day for diesel, 3 million litres per day for aviation fuel (ATK), and 3,900 metric tonnes per day for cooking gas.
Actual daily truck-out consumption in December stood at 63.7 million litres per day for petrol, 16.4 million litres per day for diesel, 2.7 million litres per day for ATK and 4,380 metric tonnes per day for cooking gas.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has introduced a comprehensive revision of minimum capital requirements for nearly all capital market operators, marking the most significant overhaul since 2015.
The changes, outlined in a circular issued on January 16, 2026, obtained from its website on Friday, replace the previous regime. Operators have been given until June 30, 2027, to comply.
The SEC stated that the reforms aim to strengthen market resilience, enhance investor protection, discourage undercapitalised operators, and align capital adequacy with the evolving risk profile of market activities.
According to the circular, “The revised framework applies to brokers, dealers, fund managers, issuing houses, fintech firms, digital asset operators, and market infrastructure providers.”
Some of the key highlights of the new reforms include increment of minimum capital for brokers from N200 million to N600 million while for dealers, it was raised to N1 billion from N100 million.
For broker-dealers, they are to get N2 billion instead of the previous N300 million, reflecting multi-role exposure across trading, execution, and margin lending.
The agency said fund and portfolio managers with assets above N20 billion must hold N5 billion, while mid-tier managers must maintain N2 billion with private equity and venture capital firms to have N500 million and N200 million, respectively.
There was also dynamic rule as firms managing assets above N100 billion must hold at least 10 per cent of assets under management as capital.
“Digital asset firms, previously in a regulatory grey area, are now fully covered: digital exchanges and custodians must maintain N2 billion each, while tokenisation platforms and intermediaries face thresholds of N500 million to N1 billion. Robo-advisers must hold N100 million.
“Other segments are also affected: issuing houses offering full underwriting services must hold N7 billion, advisory-only firms N2 billion, registrars N2.5 billion, trustees N2 billion, underwriters N5 billion, and individual investment advisers N10 million. Market infrastructure providers carry some of the highest obligations, with composite exchanges and central counterparties required to maintain N10 billion each, and clearinghouses N5 billion,” the SEC added.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The founder and chief executive of Austin Laz and Company Plc, Mr Asimonye Austin Lazarus Azubuike, has sold off about 52.24 million shares of the organisation.
The stocks were offloaded in 11 tranches at an average price of N4.36 per unit, amounting to about N227.8 million.
The transactions occurred between December 2025 and January 2026, according to a notice filed by the company to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday.
Business Post reports that Austin Laz is known for producing ice block machines, aluminium roofing, thermoplastics coolers, PVC windows and doors, ice cream machines, and disposable plates.
The firm evolved from refrigeration sales to diverse manufacturing since its incorporation in 1982 in Benin City, Edo State, though facing recent operational halts.
According to the statement signed by company secretary, Ifeanyi Offor & Associates, Mr Azubuike first sold 1.5 million units of the equities at N2.42, and then offloaded 2.4 million units at N2.65, and 2.0 million units at N2.65.
In another tranche, he sold another 2.0 million units at a unit price of N2.91, and then 5.0 million units at N3.52, as well as about 4.5 million at N3.87 per share.
It was further disclosed that the owner of the company also sold 9.0 million shares at N4.25, and offloaded another 368,411 units at N4.66, then in another transaction sold about 6.9 million units at N4.67.
In the last two transactions he carried out, Mr Azubuike first traded 10.0 million units equities at N5.13, with the last being 8.5 million stocks sold at N5.64 per unit.
-
Feature/OPED6 years agoDavos was Different this year
-
Travel/Tourism9 years ago
Lagos Seals Western Lodge Hotel In Ikorodu
-
Showbiz3 years agoEstranged Lover Releases Videos of Empress Njamah Bathing
-
Banking8 years agoSort Codes of GTBank Branches in Nigeria
-
Economy3 years agoSubsidy Removal: CNG at N130 Per Litre Cheaper Than Petrol—IPMAN
-
Banking3 years agoFirst Bank Announces Planned Downtime
-
Banking3 years agoSort Codes of UBA Branches in Nigeria
-
Sports3 years agoHighest Paid Nigerian Footballer – How Much Do Nigerian Footballers Earn