Economy

UPDC to Offload Low-Yielding Assets, Start Paying Dividends

Published

4 years ago

27/09/2021

By Dipo Olowookere

The management of UPDC Plc has reaffirmed its commitment to putting smiles on the faces of its shareholders by giving them value for their investment in the company.

Speaking last Friday with some capital market stakeholders at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited via the Facts Behind the Figures platform, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of UPDC, Mrs Folakemi Fadahunsi, said the firm intends to start paying dividends to shareholders, though after improving the cash flow.

She explained that the decline in the revenue of the organisation in the first half of this year was due to the tough business environment as well as the impact of the business environment on consumers’ purchasing power.

“UPDC’s half-year performance reflects the anticipated impact of the company’s internal restructuring on performance.

“We were able to record a significant reduction in its finance cost for the first half of the year and the full effect of our management’s refinancing initiatives is expected to be fully reflected in the full-year result following the success of our bond repayment in April 2021.

“We will try to improve cash flow and ultimately start paying dividends to shareholders,” she disclosed at the event also attended by Business Post.

On his part, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of UPDC, Mr Odunayo Ojo, said following the conclusion of the company’s restructuring in the first half of the year, the management will focus on its key strategic initiatives which include; property development, development management and other real estate advisory services, disposal of low-yielding investment properties and existing inventory, sale of Festival Hotel at Festac and asset management.

Whilst explaining that UPDC has established a development track record commission of diverse asset mix in the retail, commercial residential and hospitality sectors, Mr Ojo said that the company distributed its stake in UPDC REIT to shareholders in 2020, giving UPDC shareholders direct stake in UPDC REIT Plc.

Earlier, the host of the virtual programme, Mr Olumide Bolumole, the Divisional Head of Listings Business at the NGX, applauded the organisation for using the platform to give vital information to the market.

He said the market is driven by timely, relevant, and accurate information as interactions with the market are vital for transparency, price discovery and overall performance of securities.

While further commending UPDC, Mr Bolumole expressed delight at the significant milestone UPDC achieved with the successful conclusion of the N16 billion rights issue last year, proceeds of which were used to strengthen the capital base and position the company for growth.

“At the exchange, we remain committed to helping issuers derive great value from their interaction with the market.

“By positioning ourselves as the African Exchange of choice, we continue to implement policies aimed at strengthening the corporate governance of our listed companies and providing products that are aligned to investors’ requirements in a fair and orderly market,” he stated.

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Dipo Olowookere

Dipo Olowookere is a journalist based in Nigeria that has passion for reporting business news stories. At his leisure time, he watches football and supports 3SC of Ibadan. Mr Olowookere can be reached via [email protected]

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Economy

Overdue FX Contracts: Manufacturers Accuse Banks of Incessant Harassment

Published

3 hours ago

23/05/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria (MAN) has claimed that banks were harassing its members over outstanding forward foreign exchange (FX) contracts with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

According to reports by Bloomberg, members have faced penalties, including frozen accounts over the impasse, while others are constantly being harassed.

The contracts were from the Nigeria’s previous controlled FX regime, which was liberalised in June 2023, when the CBN announced a set of reforms at the FX market.

The reforms were announced after President Bola Tinubu came to power two years ago, but the Dollar backlog has taken time to pay down, contributing to the volatility of the Naira which has lost about 70 per cent of its value against the American currency.

“Our members have reported significant unwarranted complexities and undue high-handedness by the banks,” the publication reported, citing a statement.

Nigerian companies bid for Dollars via forward contracts via these banks, who then received the US currency from the CBN in exchange for the Naira. Then when the contract ends, the process is reversed.

However, the CBN hasn’t supplied the Dollars and commercial lenders now want the companies to find the Dollars elsewhere.

This is causing strain as options to buy elsewhere will see them buy at higher rate and higher demand may weaken the value of the local currency, creating more problem for manufacturers already facing a hard time.

“We reiterate our call on the Central Bank of Nigeria to speed up the long overdue redemption of the unsettled forex forward, ” MAN said. “Our members should not be harassed.”

The CBN claimed it had settled the necessary backlogs which was around $2.4 billion, claiming that an independent audit saw a lot of unfounded and unverifiable claims.

Bloomberg added that the apex bank initially disputed the claims, but later said it would investigate and settle on merit.

This development comes as manufacturers face a series of headwinds in their operations including transport and logistics, infrastructure, particularly around major ports and industrial corridors, which make the operating environment unconducive for manufacturing.

According to the Director-General of the association, Mr Segun Ajayi-Kadir, the manufacturing sector’s growth was as low as 1.40 per cent in 2023 and declined further to 1.38 per cent in 2024.

He also these challenges are evident in the sector’s capacity utilisation and its contribution to the nation’s economy, which have hovered around 5.5 per cent and 10 per cent respectively, over the past 12 months.

Economy

Renaissance Targets $15bn Investment in Nigerian Oil Fields by 2029

Published

6 hours ago

23/05/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited is looking to inject $15 billion in its oil fields located onshore and shallow waters of the Niger Delta region in the next five years.

Renaissance Africa, a consortium of indigenous oil firms, recently acquired oil assets earlier held by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), following divestment by Shell UK from onshore operations in Niger Delta.

Mr Tony Attah, the Managing Director, Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited said at the 2025 Nigeria Oil and Gas Opportunities Fair (NOGOF) on Thursday in Yenagoa, that the investment would be targeted predominantly to improve the participation of indigenous oil firms in the onshore and shallow waters oil blocks operation.

Represented by Mr Greg Akhibi, General Manager, Supply Chain he said the money would be spent on 32 projects in development of domestic gas, export gas and more crude oil production to balance the predominantly gas portfolio template hitherto operated by SPDC.

“We acquired a total of 112,000 square kilometers acreage of assets and we intend to pursue projects that will balance the assets which were tilted more to gas.

“We are focusing on four project areas to increase oil production and there are upcoming activities in drilling, rigs, pipelines and fabrication businesses.

“We are also looking at 22 projects to increase export in gas production.

“Currently our gas production is at 150 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (MMSCF/D) and we project to hit 300 MMSCF/D with the anticipated increased off-take from the AKK gas pipeline expected to further increase domestic gas utilisation,” Akhibi said.

He noted that the Renaissance Africa remains committed to partnerships with the NCDMB and Nigerian companies in the oil and gas sector to produce energy for Nigeria and the rest of African continent.

This comes as the company exceeded crude oil production targets by 40 per cent in its first month of operating the former Shell assets.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited hailed the performance in April 2025 as a strong signal of renewed momentum in Nigeria’s upstream sector and a promising step toward boosting national oil output and economic growth.

“This is to commend Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited, your esteemed leadership team and staff for exceeding the production target in your JV assets for April 2025,” said NNPC in an official letter signed by its Executive Vice President, Upstream, Mr Udobong Ntia.

The state oil company expressed hope that the April milestone would inspire Renaissance “towards accelerating the realisation of the initiatives for incremental production volumes while protecting the base.”

Economy

OTC Exchange Increases Value by N2.38bn

Published

10 hours ago

23/05/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose by 0.13 per cent on Thursday, May 22, pushing the market capitalisation of the bourse higher by N2.38 billion to N1.849 trillion from N1.847 trillion quoted at the preceding session, with the Unlisted Security Index (NSI) jumping by 4.08 points to 3,158.24 points from the previous session’s 3,154.16 points.

The expansion was influenced by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc and Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc despite the loss posted by Food Concepts Plc.

FrieslandCampina gained N1.49 to close at N41.50 per share compared with the previous closing value of N40.01 per share and CSCS increased by 16 Kobo to to end at N24.03 per unit, in contrast to Wednesday’s closing price of N23.87 per unit.

However, Food Concepts Plc went down by 5 Kobo during the trading session to close at N1.50 per share compared with midweek’s price of N1.55 per unit.

The volume of securities bought and sold yesterday went up by 13.7 per cent to 452,466 units from the 398,093 units traded in the previous trading day, the value of shares transacted by the market participants declined by 63.7 per cent to N1.5 million from N4.1 million, and the number of deals carried out by investors went down by 10.5 per cent to 17 deals from 19 deals.

When trading activities ended for the day, Impresit Bakolori Plc remained the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with the sale of 536.9 million units worth N524.7 million, followed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 267.1 million units valued at N472.3 million, and Okitipupa Plc with 153.6 million units sold for N4.9 billion.

In the same vein, Okitipupa Plc remained the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date with a turnover of 153.6 million units valued at N4.9 billion, trailed by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 21.9 million units worth N844.3 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 536.9 million units sold for N524.7 million.