Stock Market Woes Continue as Value Sinks into N19trn Territory

By Aduragbemi Omiyale One of the players in the personal healthcare and consumer goods sectors, PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc, has published a list of its shareholders with unclaimed dividends. Unclaimed dividends are cash rewards given to investors, mainly from the profits from the company’s operations, but are yet to be collected by the beneficiaries. This has been a major source of sleepless nights for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is working to bring down the number of unclaimed dividends. It has been reported that the value of unclaimed dividends in the nation’s stock market is over N185 billion.

By Dipo Olowookere The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited depreciated by 0.49 per cent on Thursday, driven by selling pressure on banking equities, especially those in the tier-1 category. The likes of GTCO, FBN Holdings, Access Holdings witnessed sell-offs during the trading session, contributing to the weak investor sentiment observed at the Nigerian stock market. According to data obtained by Business Post, the NGX ended with 29 price losers and 24 price gainers, indicating a negative market breadth index. FBN Holdings ended as the heaviest price decliner after it shed 9.86 per cent to settle at N26.50, Secure Electronic Technology fell

By Precious Olisa The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) have expressed their disappointment over the increasing exit of multinationals from the Nigerian market. The two organisations reacted to the planned exit of Procter & Gamble (P&G) from the country over economic headwinds. P&G announced its intention to close down its manufacturing operations in Nigeria and adopt an import-only business model due to the foreign exchange (FX) crisis in the country. This is coming some weeks after GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Sanofi, Unilever Nigeria, Equinor and others have also indicated their interest in quitting

By Adedapo Adesanya  The Nigerian Naira weakened by 17.9 per cent or N144.49 against the American Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Wednesday, December 6 as confidence waned in the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) ability to boost the market with enough foreign exchange (FX). Yesterday, the exchange rate of the Naira to the Dollar closed at N951.22/$1 in the official market compared with the preceding session’s rate of N806.73/$1. This happened as the forex turnover slightly went down by 4.9 per cent or $7.05 million to $135.58 million from the $142.63 million reported in the

By Adedapo Adesanya The Lagos State Government has signed two deals bordering on waste management at the ongoing 28th session of the Conference of Parties (COP28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. According to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, waste conversion initiatives, which the state pitched at the global climate summit, have attracted significant interest from investors. These are the Advanced Garbage Collection and Waste-to-Energy project and the building of a new sewage treatment plant. Mr Sanwo-Olu confirmed the deals on Sunday at an event held at Nigeria Pavilion, where he also presented Phase Two of the Lagos State Climate Adaptation and Resilience

By Adedapo Adesanya The exchange rate of the Naira to the US Dollar moved in different directions on Tuesday at the various segments of the foreign exchange (forex) market. This occurred as FX users battle to scale through the different hurdles on their path. In the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) window, the Nigerian currency lost N2 against the greenback yesterday to trade at N750/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N752/$1. But in the black market, the domestic currency appreciated against its United States counterpart by N1 to quote at N738/$1 compared with Monday’s rate of N739/$1. Similarly, in the Investors

By Dipo Olowookere Following the success of Merck Cancer Access Program to empower women in oncology field where they are underrepresented, comes another successful initiative for MERCK to empower African women in research to offer better health care to women. After receiving his ‘African Alliances HE for SHE’ award for women empowerment, Prof Frank Stangenberg-Haverkamp has successfully achieved another commitment to empower women in research in an effort to bridging the gap in gender inequality in STEM Africa. UNESCO and Merck celebrate outstanding African Women Researchers as a historical first. Kenya, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Uganda, Ethiopia ranked in the

By Dipo Olowookere The board of directors of UAC of Nigeria Plc has promised to look into the company’s historical declining performance this year. Chairman of UAC of Nigeria, Mr Dan Agbor, at the firm’s yearly general meeting in Lagos, explained that this move was to ensure shareholders continue to enjoy value for their investment and faith in the company. He said when the board unravels the root causes of the company’s historical declining performance, the next step would be to implement initiatives to drive future profitable growth. In the 2017 financial year, UAC of Nigeria increased its revenue by

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Every Thursday has been set aside by the Federal Government to create awareness for tax across the country. Acting President, Mr Yemi Osinbajo, while launching the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) in Abuja on Thursday, June 29, 2017, said Thursdays would now be known in Nigeria as ‘Tax Thursday’. “I declare that paying taxes is our duty to our nation, and I declare the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme open,” Mr Osinbajo declared. He said the new scheme called VAIDS would “be supported by an Executive Order” signed today and will “last from July

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Two directors have been appointed to the leadership team of Airtel Nigeria, with an expectation that the appointees will bring about a new era of innovation and growth within the business. The appointed persons are Ms Kemi Ariyo as the new Director of Information and Technology and Mr Harmanpreet Singh Dhillon as the Director of Network Transformation and Planning. The chief executive of Airtel Nigeria, Mr Carl Cruz, while commenting on the appointments, said the notably experienced Ms Ariyo would play a pivotal role in driving Airtel Nigeria’s digital transformation efforts and the company is pleased to

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The unaudited financial statements of Honeywell Flour Mills Plc released to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday showed an impressive performance. The financial results released by the flour miller today is for the third quarter ended December 31, 2017. A breakdown of the statements showed that the firm posted profit after tax of N2.8 billion compared with N1.3 billion achieved in the same period of 2016. Business Post reports that the company’s revenue grew to 54.7 billion from N38 billion, while the gross profit increased to N12.6 billion from N11 billion achieved in the corresponding period

By Dipo Olowookere A new report by Agusto & Co. Limited has shown that in the 2020 fiscal year, the banking industry in Nigeria recorded a decline in electronic banking income. In the report by the nation’s foremost research house and rating institution, it was stated that the drop was by 27.3 per cent despite a spike in digital transactions in the pandemic year. The flagship 2021 Banking Industry Report revealed that last year, some banks recorded as much as a 50 per cent increase in digital banking transaction volumes, but the gains were shortened by the reduction in bank