Seplat Plc: Upbeat Outlook in 2018 But Risk Persists

By Adedapo Adesanya Oil slumped by more than 2 per cent on Friday as traders showed scepticism about the depth of supply cuts by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) as well as concerns about sluggish global manufacturing activity. Brent crude went down by $1.98 or 2.45 per cent to close at $78.88 a barrel as the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude dropped $1.89 or 2.49 per cent to sell for $74.07 a barrel. For the week, Brent posted a decline of about 2.1 per cent, while WTI lost more than 1.9 per cent.

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The online stock trading platform of one of the leading brokerage firms in Nigeria, Morgan Capital Securities Limited, i-Trade, has experienced a technical glitch. This technical issue has made it difficult for its clients to carry out transactions on the popular platform. Morgan Capital’s i-Trade platform is popular among retail investors in the Nigerian capital market, especially those trading equities on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited, because of its lower fees. The company has already assured its customers that it was working to restore services, providing an alternative to them. “This is to inform

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira started the first trading session in the last month of 2023 on a negative note after it depreciated against the Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), which is the official FX window, by 11.4 per cent or N94.87 on Friday, December 1, closing at N927.19/$1, in contrast to Thursday’s exchange rate of N832.32/$1. The December rush for forex contributed to the weakening of the domestic currency in the spot market yesterday, as the supply of foreign currency could not meet what customers needed. Data showed that the value of FX transactions recorded

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has released the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the month of January 2017. In its report released on Tuesday, the apex bank revealed that the PMI for the manufacturing industry slumped by 3.8 percent in the period under review. According to the CBN, the manufacturing PMI, which stood at 52 index points in December 2016, depreciated to 48.2 index points in January 2017, indicating a decline in the sector. “The index averaged 45.2 in the last twelve months, and had grown in December 2016 after recording declines for eleven consecutive months,”

By Adedapo Adesanya Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, has disclosed that the institution would open for further collaborations to corporate organisations in the country following a successful innovative partnership between the school and top Nigerian financial institution, Ecobank, during the Investment Society, Unilag Colloquium held on September 2, 2019. Welcoming such partnership between operators in the financial sector and the academia in raising budding entrepreneurs, the Vice Chancellor noted that this would bring the much-needed development to the nation’s economy. He disclosed this while receiving management staff of Ecobank Nigeria in his office and extolled

By Dipo Olowookere The incessant devaluation of the Naira by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has not been too helpful to the nation’s insurance sector, a pan-African credit rating agency, Agusto & Co. Limited, has said. In a report, the foremost business information provider disclosed that since the industry was last recapitalised in 2007, the capital base has reduced in Dollar terms to $1 billion as at December 2020 from $2.2 billion as a result of the devaluation. In its 2021 insurance industry report, the agency said it expects “the on-going recapitalisation exercise to change the structure of the

By Kester Kenn Klomegah On December 4, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation with the South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. According to the official Kremlin transcript, which hardly gives detailed information, “the presidents agreed to join efforts in fighting the coronavirus pandemic, in particular in view of the newly identified Omicron strain, and further discussed interaction within BRICS and trade and economic cooperation”. The conversation took place against the backdrop of the current entry restrictions on travellers from southern African countries, due to the spread of a new COVID-19 variant (new B.1.1.529 variant) to the United States, Europe

By Adedapo Adesanya The 19th trading week of the year 2021 on the floor of the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange ended bearish on Friday, May 14 as a result of the 1.24 per cent loss recorded last week. This shortened the NASD Security Index (ASI) by 9.61 points to 768.42 points from 778.03 points and reduced the market capitalisation by N6.83 billion to N546.2 billion from N553.03 billion. Business Post reports that the bearish outcome at the market followed the losses recorded by three market bellwethers led by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Group Plc, which depreciated by 15.9 per

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Mrs Chioma Ejikeme has been appointed as the new Executive Secretary of Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD). Mrs Ejikeme was appointed for the position by President Muhammadu Buhari to replace Mrs Sharon Ikeazor, who has been chosen by the President to become a Minister. A statement issued yesterday by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu, disclosed that the appointment was with immediate effect. Also appointed on Tuesday by Mr Buhari was Mr Basheer Garba Mohammed, who is now a Federal Commissioner at the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Former Nigeria’s Military President, Mr Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), has condoled with the family of former Governor of Niger State, Mr Abdulkadir Abdullahi Kure. Mr Kure was said to have died on Sunday at a hospital in Germany after a brief illness. In a statement issued by the media office of IBB on Sunday night, he said described the death of Mr Kure as shocking. “The sudden death of former Governor of Niger State, Engineer Abdulkadir Abdullahi Kure, this (Sunday) afternoon in Germany comes to me in a great Shock but as a believer, ‘all souls must

By Dipo Olowookere The amount left in Nigeria’s external reserves has continued to rise and at the moment, the Africa’s largest economy has about $33.6 billion in its reserves, Business Post has learnt. Data obtained by Business Post on the website of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that the $33.6 billion is what the country has left in its foreign reserves as at Tuesday, October 24, 2017. The amount increased from $33.55 billion on Monday, October 23, 2017 to $33.58 billion the next day, according to the apex bank. The latest figure is the highest in nearly three