The Nation Newspaper

Category: Equities

  • Profit-taking halts equities’ rally, shaves off N119b

    Nigerian equities market reopened yesterday to a considerable sell pressure as most investors sought to monetise capital gains from the recent rally. With two losers for every gainer, quoted equities lost N119 billion within the five-hour trading session.

    Aggregate market value of all quoted equities at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) dropped from its opening value of N13.672 trillion to close at N13.553 trillion. The All Share Index (ASI)-the benchmark value index for the Nigerian equities market, declined by 0.88 per cent to close at 38,913.99 points as against its opening index of 39,257.53 points. With this, the average year-to-date return moderated to 44.80 per cent.

    Most sectoral indices also closed negative, underlining the widespread profit-taking transactions at the Exchange. The NSE Banking Index dropped by 2.0 per cent. The NSE Industrial Goods Index declined by 1.4 per cent while the NSE Insurance Index dipped by 1.1 per cent. On the upside, the NSE Oil & Gas Index  rose by 1.1 per cent while the NSE Consumer Goods Index appreciated by 0.7 per cent.

    The negative overall market position was driven partly by losses suffered by high-cap stocks. Dangote Cement-Nigeria’s most capitalised quoted company, led the losers with a drop of N4.10 to close at N240.90. Nigerian Breweries-the second most capitalised company, followed with a drop of N2 to close at N143. Unilever Nigeria dropped by N1.11 to close at N40.50. Stanbic IBTC Holdings declined by N1 to close at N42. Presco lost 89 kobo to close at N68.41. Zenith Bank dropped by 88 kobo to close at N26.03 while Flour Mills of Nigeria and UAC of Nigeria lost 81 kobo each to close at N34.19 and N16.70 respectively.

    The momentum of activities also slowed down with a turnover of 350.6 million shares valued at N4.9 billion; representing about 34 per cent day-on-day decline in turnover volume.FBN Holdings was the most active stock with a turnover of 61.27 million shares valued at N553.14 million. Zenith Bank followed with 35.32 million shares valued at N928.74 million while Diamond Bank placed third with 34.08 million shares valued at N47.58 million.

    On the positive side, Nestle Nigeria-the highest-priced quoted company, led the gainers with a gain of N49.92 to close at N1,460. Mobil Oil Nigeria followed with a gain of N15.14 to close at N174.96. Total Nigeria rose by N1.99 to close at N230. Nascon Allied Industries added 89 kobo to close at N18.74. Dangote Sugar Refinery chalked up 66 kobo to close at N20.69. Cadbury Nigeria rallied 45 kobo to close at N16.35 while Dangote Flour Mills added 26 kobo to close at N11.66 per share.

    “Profit taking is likely to be sustained till midweek. However, as year-end approaches, we expect market activity and investors’ sentiments to be positive driven by portfolio rebalancing by fund managers,” FSDH Securities stated.

    Analysts at Afrinvest Securities also noted that the decline was in line with expectation as investors booked profit in large-cap stocks which rallied in the previous week.

    “Nonetheless, we maintain a positive outlook in the near term as fund managers return to strategic weightings during year-end rebalancing cycle,” Afrinvest Securities stated.

     

  • Flour Mills to raise N39.9b new capital from shareholders

    Flour Mills to raise N39.9b new capital from shareholders

    Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc at the weekend submitted formal application to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), seeking to raise N39.9 billion in new equity funds from existing shareholders.

    A regulatory filing at the NSE at the weekend indicated that Flour Mills of Nigeria plans to raise N39.85 billion through a rights issue of 1.476 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at N27 per share. The rights will be pre-allotted to shareholders on the basis of nine new ordinary shares of 50 kobo each for every 16 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each held as at Friday December 8, 2017.

    Chairman, Flour Mills of Nigeria (FMN) Plc, Mr. John Coumantaros, had earlier confirmed the approval of the new fund raising by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

    Shareholders had at an extraordinary general meeting in 2015 authorised the directors to raise up to N40 billion of additional equity funds through a rights issue.

    Coumantaros said the board of directors will watch the capital market condition to determine the appropriate time to launch the first tranche of the new supplementary issue. The sustained rally at the stock market might have encouraged the board of Flour Mills of Nigeria to launch the rights issue.

    Reviewing the operations and outlook of the group recently, Coumantaros noted that though the operating environment has been tough and challenging, the group can look to the future with confidence that its prospects are promising and bright while the fundamentals are strong.

    According to him, the group sees opportunities in the challenges and it is determined to explore them in the most profitable but sustainable manner.

    “FMN is determined to continue to feed the nation every day. We shall keep maintaining our wide portfolio of high quality consumer food options and step up our input of locally sourced raw materials thereby supporting the livelihood of Nigerian farmers and Nigerian businesses,” Coumantaros said.

    He added that the group would continue to invest in growing portfolio of localised products in support of the nation’s economy.

    He outlined that as the group strives to further restructure its operations, streamline business operations to focus on core businesses, constantly monitor and manage costs optimally, improve and re-engineer existing product range, the group will focus on innovation and develop new strategies for the market by making its products more visible and available at points of sale.

    “We shall also continue to improve our sales, merchandising, redistribution personnel and activities,” Coumantaros said.

    He reiterated the support of the group for the Federal Government’s backward integration policy, assuring that the group is determined to ensure that its agro-allied strategy provides sustainable returns on capital invested by maximising local content in group products.

    He noted that in furtherance of the group’s vision to be involved at all stages of food value chain- from the farm to table, raw materials are being produced locally to ensure that good quality but fair value products are developed locally through the food supply chain to final consumer consumption.

    “By our policy of aggregating grains and local farm products, we are creating jobs and boosting rural economy. We are determined to continue to ensure that our investments and processes aside from ensuring value for shareholders and other stakeholders continue to enrich the lives of our consumers, farmers, suppliers and other relevant stakeholders,” Coumantaros said.

     

     

     

     

  • Sterling Bank honours Adesanya for meritorious service

    Sterling Bank Plc has celebrated its former Executive Director, Corporate and Institutional Banking, Lanre Adesanya, who recently retired from the bank after a 30 years meritorious service.

    The retirement dinner was graced by directors, senior executives, shareholders, business associates and the retiring executive director’s family members. The celebratory dinner tagged: Let’s Celebrate our Legend held in Lagos.

    Managing Director/CEO Sterling Bank Plc, Yemi Adeola, said it was a night to celebrate an icon who had worked non-stop for 30 years with the bank at both international and local levels and had traversed the length and breadth of the country in the course of his career. He enjoined families, shareholders and customers of the bank to celebrate the retiring executive director.

    Also, speaking on the occasion, Chairman of the bank, Asue Ighodalo, said the bank would miss Adesanya very much because of his immense wealth of experience, contacts and demeanor, which he used to bring to bear on issues during board meetings.

    He remarked that when the board met about two weeks ago, nobody could sit on Adesanya’s chair because of the enormous respect other directors had for him, adding that Lanre is truly a great guy who lightens up moods at meeting. “The bank will miss you terribly but we know you are just a phone call away. We are truly grateful to you and we will miss you in the board room. Lanre, I thank you for being Lanre, I thank you,” Ighodalo said in an emotion laden address.

    Ighodalo also praised his wife, Mrs. Olatundun Adesanya, for supporting her husband to excel in his official duties to the bank, adding, “all our thanks go to you.”

    In a citation on Adesanya, Executive Director, Corporate and Investment Banking, Kayode Lawal, said: “With faith, discipline and selfless devotion to duty, there is nothing worthwhile that you cannot achieve.” Lawal dwelt on the biography, education and contributions of Adesanya to Sterling Bank, remarking that he is a one of a kind gentleman who is soft-spoken, kind-hearted, and a pillar of hope to many people; his contributions to Sterling were immeasurable.

     

     

     

     

  • Stock Exchange expels 90 stockbrokers from capital market

    Stock Exchange expels 90 stockbrokers from capital market

    Authorities at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has revoked the operating licence and expelled Midland Capital Markets Limited from the capital market, bringing to 90 the number of stockbrokers so far expelled from the market this year.

    A regulatory document obtained by The Nation indicated that the decision to revoke the operating licence and expel Midland Capital Markets Limited was taken by the National Council of the Exchange, the highest administrative organ of the NSE.

    Midland Capital Markets Limited has also been deregistered as a capital market operator by the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC). While the regulatory document was silent on the reason for the revocation and expulsion of the stockbroking firm, capital market regulators traditionally apply the highest punishment of expulsion and revocation of licence to serious offences that could undermine investors’ confidence including fraud and inability to meet major operating requirements for the function.

    With the expulsion, the stockbroking firm will not be able to trade in the Nigerian stock market and other international markets that Nigeria has Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with. Nigerian capital market authorities have standing bilateral agreements with several other jurisdictions including Morocco, Angola, China, Ghana, Kenya, Malaysia, Mauritius, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.

    With the expulsion, investors who have their investment accounts with the expelled stockbrokers will be required to move their accounts to other functional stockbroking firms.

    Also, directors, executives, top management and other employees of Midland Capital Markets Limited will not be able to secure any employment in the capital market without prior clearance and written consent of the Exchange.

    “Dealing members are advised not to engage in any activity with the above mentioned firm. Also, all authorised clerks and employees of dealing member firms are strongly advised against allowing themselves to be used in carrying out activities that are capable of affecting the integrity of the market,” NSE stated.

    The Exchange stressed the need for dealing firms to always comply with extant rules and regulations.

    Under Rule 6.12 of the Rulebook of the Exchange, 2015, members of the Exchange are disallowed from employing any of directors, authorised clerks or other persons including principal officers such as the chief executive officer, chief finance officer, chief compliance officer and chief risk officer, who have been indicted by the Exchange or the Commission without prior regulatory approval.

    Also, the rule disallows other stockbroking firms from employing any person who was an officer or employee of a stockbroking firm or dealing member expelled from the Exchange; any person expelled, as an authorised clerk or its equivalent, from any other exchange; any person refused admission as a member of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers or any person expelled from its membership; any person expelled as a member of any professional association or institute and any person who is insolvent or has been convicted of theft, fraud, forgery, or any other crime involving dishonesty.

    The Rulebook of the Exchange 2015 provides that: where the Exchange revokes a dealing member’s licence, the Exchange shall immediately commence the process of expelling such dealing member.

    Besides, the rules empower the NSE to suspend any authorised clerk or revoke the registration of any authorised clerk who has breached any rules or regulations of the Exchange or is found to be complicit in any breach of such rules or regulations.

    Also, suspension of any stockbroking firm by SEC will lead to immediate suspension by the NSE while revocation of any broker’s registration will lead to expulsion of the firm by the NSE.

    “Without  prejudice  to  all  the  remedies  open  to  the  dealing  member, where  a  dealing member is suspended by the Commission, as soon as the Exchange is notified, it shall immediately  commence  the   process   of  suspension or  expulsion of   the   dealing member.

    “Where a Dealing Member’s registration is revoked by the Commission, as soon as the Exchange  is  notified,  it  shall  immediately  commence  the  process  of  expulsion  of  the dealing member,” the rules stated.

    The NSE had recently revoked the operating licence and imposed a fine of N582.37 million on a stockbroking firm-Bytofel Securities and Investment Limited, for allegedly engaging in fraudulent activities in the stock market.

    Bytofel Securities was expelled for engaging in “unauthorised sales of clients’ shares and misappropriation of clients’ funds”.

    The Nation had earlier reported the expulsion of 67 stockbrokers from the master list of dealers at the stock market. A regulatory report had indicated that the expulsion was the final phase of the delisting of the stockbroking firms, after their dealing licences had been revoked by the exchange.

    A source at the exchange said the expulsion followed recommendation of the disciplinary committee of the council of the exchange and the final approval of the National Council of the Exchange.

    That round of expulsion in May 2017 brought the number of stockbroking firms that had then been expelled from Exchange to 88 stockbroking firms. The Nation had earlier in April 2017 reported the expulsion of 21 stockbroking firms for various infractions ranging from poor capitalisation to unauthorised sales of investors’ shares.

    The group of 67 expelled stockbrokers included ATIF Securities Limited, Abacus Securities Limited, ABC Securities Limited, Akitorch Securities Limited, All Wealth Securities Limited, Apex Securities Limited, Asset Plus Securities Limited, Associated Securities Limited, Avon Finance and Securities Limited, Beachgroove Securities & Investments Limited, Broadedge Securities Limited, Bullion Securities Limited, Cardinal Securities Limited, City Investment Management Limited, Comment Finance & Securities Limited, Corporate Trust Limited, Crown Merchant Securities Limited, Dalgo Investment & Trust Limited, Devcom Securities Limited, Devserv Finance & Securities Limited, EBN Securities Limited, Equity securities Limited, Farida Investment and Finance Limited, Gilts and Hedge Finance Limited, Global Investment & Sec Limited, Goldworth Securities Limited, Haggai Investment & Trust Limited, Halsec Finance Limited, HP Securities Limited, Investicon Nigeria Limited, Investment Resources Limited, Island Securities Limited and Jenkins Investments Limited.

    Others included Kapital Securities Limited, Lozinger Securities Limited, M&M Securities Limited, M. J Securities & Investment Limited, Majestic Securities Limited, Matrix Capital Management Limited, MBA Securities Limited, MBCOM Securities Limited, Merchant Securities Limited, Metropolitan Trust Nigeria Limited, MMB Securities & Trust Limited, MMG Securities Limited, Nationwide Securities Limited, New Horizons Finance and Investment Limited, Nigbel Securities Limited, Omega Securities Limited, Omnisource International Limited, OpenGate Finance Company Limited, Pacific Securities Limited, Pamal Finance Limited, Peak Securities Limited, Prime Securities Limited, Prudent Stockbrokers Limited, Royal Securities Limited, Source Finance and Trust Company Limited, Supreme Finance & Investment Co. Limited, Synergy and Assets Trust Limited, Thomas Kinsley Securities Limited, Tradestamp Securities Limited, Trust Securities Limited, Unit Trust Securities Limited, Universal Securities Limited, Viva Securities Limited and Wintrust Limited.

    Capital market authorities had earlier in the year expelled 21 stockbroking firms including Allbond Investment Limited, Consolidated Investment Limited, Dakal Services Limited, Emi Capital Resources Limited, First Equity Securities Ltd, Ideal Securities Limited, Maninvest Asset Management Plc, Metropolitan Trust Nigeria Limited, Omas Investment & Trust Company Limited, Pennisula Asset Management & Investment Company Limited, Prudential Securities Limited, Securities Trading & Investments Limited, Transglobe Investment & Finance Company Limited, Tropics Securities Limited, Wizetrade Capital & Asset Management Limited, WT Securities Limited, Zuma Securities Limited, Bosson Capital Assets Limited, KFF Worldwide Solutions Limited, Silver & Gold Securities Limited and First Alstate Securities Limited.

  • Operator lists gains of digital currency

    Paxful Chief Technology Officer, Artur Schaback has listed the gains of digital curency to the economy.

    Speaking at the Lagos Blocknight 2017 edition of the Nigerian Blockchain Alliance Conference , he explained how the coming of the company has helped to ensure that bitcoin technology is used to help people that cannot carry out online transactions.

    He disclosed that 35 per cent traffic on his company platform comes from Nigeria. He described Africa as its biggest market with the highest numbers coming from Nigeria and Ethopia.

    “We are proud to say one-third of Paxful community is from Nigeria which is our number one country by volume, which is why we would be opening a technology space here soon,” he said.

    Schaback spoke on the theme: Building Successful Blockchain and Fintech Product. He educated the audience on how to develop a Fintech application from the scratch. He also noted that building a successful Blockchain and Fintech Product is not for the weak as there would be challenges and only those willing to take the challenges can build a successful Fintech product.

    He attributed the success of Paxful to a safe and secure platform where people can trade for the value of their work without fear or panic. He added that “if you are a buyer, you are 100 per cent protected. We verify and check all our sellers for safety, you can pay with confidence with 2-factor authentication, escrow, highest level encryption and professional audited security.”

    He said Paxful is not an exchange company, but is in a marketplace for cryptocurrencies where there are sellers and buyers on the platform. “Paxful was able to build a global peer to peer payment platform of the future by simply unlocking the power of people”. He further took the attendees on how to find problems that need to be solved in Nigeria through the use of Blockchain and Fintech applications.

    Schaback gave various insights on building a successful peer2peer bitcoin marketplace.  He mentioned some successful and failed peer-to-peer (P2P) bitcoin marketplace and advised attendees to pick important lessons from the stories they have heard at the conference. He further advised the attendees to challenge themselves, take risks and start building.

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability, Joseph Nnanna said the theme of the conference offers a unique opportunity to reflect once again on the impact of financial technologies and digital currency on financial system stability and economic development”

    CBN Chief Information Security Officer, Mrs.Rakiya Mohammed said the apex bank would generate useful and implementable policies and strategies that would form the bases for regulating bitcoin market in Nigeria.

    She said there was need to educate regulators and Nigerians on bitcoin in order to avail them with relevant knowledge about what they do. The two-day conference themed: National Development in the Era of Distributed Ledger Technology & Digital Currency, was attended by industry experts, regulators, national institutions, professionals and private establishments.

     

  • Forex restriction on 41 items good for economy, says CBN

    Forex restriction on 41 items good for economy, says CBN

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that restriction of access to foreign exchange (forex) on the 41 items has had a positive impact on the economy.

    CBN Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, Isaac Okorafor stated this on at the CBN Fair, a sensitisation programme, held at the Cultural Centre in Calabar, Cross-River State at the weekend.

    He said the implementation of the policy has created employment and helped to conserve the hitherto depleting nation’s foreign reserve, and that has led to positive impact on the economy.

    Okorafor, who was represented by Chukwudum Nzelu said the restriction of access to foreign exchange placed on the 41 items made Nigerians to start looking inward for the production of goods and products that the country has comparative advantage to be produced locally.

    The CBN spokesman said the successful implementation of the 41 items policy gave birth to the other initiatives such as the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) which has led to a revolution in the production of rice across the country.

    Continuing, he said the production of rice under the ABP was not only to ensure food security, but to create jobs along the value chain of rice production.  He added that with improved seedlings and farming techniques under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, rice production which stood at 3.5 tonnes per hectares has jumped to seven tonnes per hectare.

    Okorafor urged the participants to also key-in into the Accelerated Agricultural Development Scheme (AADS) which was targeted at youths between the ages of 18 to 35 years. The AADS when fully operational, is expected to employ at least 10 thousand jobs per state, across the 36 states of the federation including the FCT. The essence of this initiative, according to him, was to reduce drastically youth unemployment.

    Branch Controller, CBN Calabar Branch, Graham Kalio said the CBN fair was an interactive forum aimed at bridging the information gap that might exist concerning the policies, programmes and activities of the apex bank.

    The fair was attended by farmers, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), persons from Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and others who were genuinely interested in taking advantage of the CBN policies and programmes.

  • Access Bank backs Project LEAD

    Access Bank backs Project LEAD

    Access Bank Plc has supported the Project LEAD initiative in line with its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) plans.

    Speaking at the weekend, the Access Bank Group Managing Director/CEO, Herbert Wigwe, said the L.E.A.D Project by the Personal Banking Division of Access Bank has chosen to foster development in areas of academic and moral excellence, financial literacy, reading culture and personal leadership amongst secondary school students across the nation.

    He said the lender recognises the importance of the society around it, which forms the bedrock of its activities both as an organisation and as individuals. “This is very evident in our corporate philosophy and fully expressed in our passion for customers as a core value. We have taken this passion beyond the walls of the banking hall, expressed it with our deepening roots in sustainability and it is not surprising the amount of accolades we receive for our efforts at Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability,” he said.

    Wigwe, who was represented by the bank’s Executive Director, Personal Banking, Victor Etuokwu, said CSR is very important to the lender.

    He said: “At Access Bank, sustainability is at the core of our business. With Project LEAD, we want to raise 1,000 leaders that will be role models. We will also be boosting financial literacy among the youth,” he said.

    “As individuals, we are well aware of the state of our environment and that is why we have, through various initiatives executed either as groups within the bank or as a corporate entity, provided solutions to the identified challenges within our environment. Providing innovative solutions for the markets and communities we serve is truly a culture that we have imbibed within the organisation,” he said.

    The LEAD Project  represents Leadership, Enterprise and Academic Development. It is targeted at driving improvement in secondary school students in academic and moral excellence, financial literacy, reading culture and personal leadership.

    “We believe that these are four critical areas every young student requires as a foundation to excel. Given the dearth of mentoring and guidance amongst the youth today, we are keen on impacting the younger generation because we believe every young person deserves an opportunity to excel. To enable us achieve this, we have carefully selected Project Revamp Africa as our technical partners,” he said.

    Project Revamp Africa, led by Kelechi Anyalechi,  is an initiative poised to revive educational values, maximise potentials and develop young leaders.

    Project L.E.A.D will be executed in secondary schools across the six geo-political zones in Nigeria and our objective is to reach more than 30,000 secondary school students, over a three-year period, who would have been impacted positively and positioned for excellence in their academics, leadership skills and financial literacy.

    The project which would be in phases will during the first phase reach at least 10,000 students in different states of Nigeria. Through a follow up process, we plan to raise 1,000 leaders, who will become young role models to their peers and contribute their quota towards the growth and development of their community and indeed the nation at large.

     

  • DisCos lament delay of N100b subsidy, others payment

    DisCos lament delay of N100b subsidy, others payment

    •Call for cost effective tariffs

    The power distribution companies (DisCos) are seeking the payment of N100 billion subsidy owed them  by the Federal Government to improve their infrastructure.

    The firms said the government, during the privatisation in 2013,  promised them N100 billion to cushion the effects of increased tarrifs on their operations, adding that four years later the government was yet to fulfill its promise.

    They also seeking the payment of debts owed by the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

    The Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED) Executive Director, Research and Development, Mr Sunday Oduntan, said the development became necessary to change obsolete infrastructure.

    He said the DisCos inherited  old facilities from  defunct  Power Holding Company of Nigeria(PHCN), adding that the problem was affecting the distribution of electricity in the country.

    He said the payment of  the subsidy and debts  would help the firms in strengthening their operations.

    He accused the government of breaching some of the agreements it reached with the investors during privatisation, urging it to fullfill its promises to move the sector forward.

    Oduntan said: “By not paying the N100 billion subsidy, MDAs debts among fulfilling other things, it promised, the government has breached the terms of the agreement binding the investors and the Bureau of Public Enterprises(BPE)/Federal Government.’’

    ANED, Oduntan said, has pleaded with the government to assist in building infrastructure for operators in the sector, adding that the government was yet to attend to salient issues that affecting the industry.

    He said the DisCos are facing problems, such as poor collection, illiquidity, shortage of meters and other equipment, adding that the development has resulted in low optimal performance for energy distributors.

    Shortfall, Oduntan said, has become a permanent feature in the industry, as operators across the value chain are experiencing one losess or the other.

    The ANED’s director said power firms are either experiencing technical or operation loss, stressing the problem has reached a level, which they (power firms) cannot continue to bear.

    He said the DisCos are unable to recoup their investments as their customers (individual and government) were not ready to pay for the energy consumed.

    He explained that despite that the DisCos charge customers N30.80 per kilowatts of electricity instead of N80, customers do not pay their bills promptly, adding that this was frustrating the companies’ efforts to  invest.

    He said any increase in the generation of electricity would lead to a corresponding increase in the DisCos’revenue.

    He said DisCos were better off when there is an increase in power generation, pleading that the government  fulfill its promise, by fashioning modalities for the power generation companies (GenCos) to increase their output.

    He said when GenCos increased their output, electricity supply would increase.

    Oduntan also lamented the shortage of gas which, according to him,  has crippled operations in the sector. He blamed attacks on gas  pipelines for this problem.

    Another area, which Oduntan said, is a source of concern to the power firms is energy theft.

    He said the rate, at which consumers steal electricity, was becoming alarming, stressing that  those who engage in this were yet to stop, despite power fines to impose fine on them, among other penalities.

    He said the DisCos has over  five million customers, when they took over the assets of PHCN in 2013 and that if the 11 utilities’firms were metering, about 100,000 customers yearly, they would have served them in five years.

    He said estimated billing was introduced as an interim measure to assist consumers to use electricty and pay for it.

    On the complaints against estimated billings, Oduntan said it was not introduced by the DisCos to make money, but to assist customers to pay.

    Efforts to get the Nigerian Electricity             Regulatory Commi-ssion (NERC) to comment on the issue proved abortive, as a text message sent to its Public Relations Officer, Mike Faloseyi, was not replied.

  • Equities rally to new high with N203b gain

    Nigerian equities yesterday rallied to their highest point so far this year and their best performance in the past three years. With average day-on-day gain of 1.51 per cent and net capital appreciation of N203 billion, the average year-to-date return now stands at 45.40 per cent.

    The All Share Index (ASI) gained 580.87 absolute points, representing a growth of 1.51 per cent to close at 39,075.30 points. Similarly, the market capitalisation rose by N20s billion to close at N13.609 trillion.

    With 40 gainers to 13 losers, the sustained rally was spurred by widespread rally across the sectors, especially gains recorded by medium and large capitalised stocks including Okomu Oil, Nigerian Breweries, Flourmill Nigeria, Unilever Nigeria and Nascon Allied Industries.

    FBN Holdings recorded the highest price gain of 10.12 per cent to close at N8.49 per share. Transcorp followed with a gain of 9.42 per cent to close at N1.51, while Diamond Bank appreciated by 9.29 per cent, to close at N1.53 per share.  FCMB Groups went up by 9.09 percent, to close at N1.32, while Nascon rose by 8.77 per cent to close at N17.12 per share.

    On the downside, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria led the losers’ chart by five per cent, to close at N21.66 per share. Studio Press followed with a decline of 4.78 per cent to close at N1.99, while Learn Africa depreciated by 4.76 per cent to close at N1 per share. Linkage Assurance declined by 4.62 percent, to close at 62 kobo and Caverton Offshore Support Group declined by 4.61 per cent to close at N1.45 per share.

    Total turnover increased by 34.7 per cent to 703.68 million units valued at N7.3 billion in 6,125 deals. Transactions in the shares of Custodian and Allied Insurance topped the activity chart with 131.82 million shares valued at N494.4 million. UBA followed with 92.46 million shares worth N986.68 million. FBN Holdings transacted 86.45 million shares worth N732.1 million. Zenith Bank traded 71.18 million shares valued at N1.84 billion while Transcorp traded 46.53 million shares worth N69.58 million.

    Analysts at Cordros Capital noted that “notwithstanding the possibility of profit taking after six consecutive days of gain, we think market fundamentals remain strong, providing legroom for further gains”.

    Analysts at Afrinvest Securities Limited said the market might witness a pullback following the spate of gains recorded through the week.

     

     

  • Reps direct reinstatement of SEC DG, Gwarzo

    •SEC gives new notification of Oando’s forensic audit

    The House of Representatives yesterday directed the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun to reinstate the suspended Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mounir Gwarzo.

    In a unanimous vote, the House directed that status quo be maintained until the outcome of the investigation to be carried out by the House of Representatives Committee on Capital Market & Institutions within two weeks. The motion was unanimously adopted after it was put to a voice vote by the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara.

    SEC also yesterday reiterated its decision to conduct a forensic exercise into the activities of Oando. In a letter to Oando, the Commission stated that it remains committed to the thorough investigation of the allegations against the indigenous oil and gas company.

    In a statement by Head of Corporate Communications, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Bagudu Waziri, the apex capital market regulator assured the general public of its zero tolerance to infractions in the Nigerian capital market.

    Oando has repeatedly denied allegations that formed the basis of the two petitions that triggered SEC’s investigation and the leading oil and gas company had insisted that where infractions had been committed, they did not warrant the call for forensic audit in line with extant rules and guidelines at the capital market.

    The decision of the House followed the adoption of a motion of urgent national importance by Diri Duoye (PDP, Bayelsa), who alleged that the conflict between Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun and the suspended DG, Mounir Gwarzo over Oando forensic audit and corruption allegation were major factors in the events that led to the suspension.

    “The conflict has led to the suspension of the DG, SEC alongside Head Legal Department and Head Media on the 29th November, 2017. It has also led to the set up of an Administrative Panel of Inquiry and appointment of Ag DG by the Minister of Finance. It worthy of note that the conflict has allegedly lingered for several months between Ministry of Finance and Securities and Exchange Commission but the matter of disagreement brought it into the public domain,” Diri stated.

    According to him, there were allegations of interference by the Ministry of Finance in the discharge of SEC’s responsibilities, with the Oando forensic audit matter being largely responsible for the DG’s suspension.

    He noted that the intervention by the House will put the matter into proper perspective and contribute to amicable resolution of the conflict in order to protect the image of the Securities and Exchanges Commission in the interest of both local and foreign investors.

     

    In his contribution, Toby Okechukwu  (PDP, Enugu) said a thorough investigation is necessary in order to forestall the ugly past experience that led to the stock market crisis in the past.

    “Nigerians should know why the DG was sacked. A total panel of inquiry is needed in SEC,” Okechukwu said.

    In his remarks, Sani Kaita (APC, Katsina) pointed out that SEC is a very sensitive and very important organisation to Nigeria and the international community and the House should be involved in the investigation of the issues.