The Nation Newspaper

Category: Equities

  • Flobal Trust promises bespoke financial services

    Flobal Trust promises bespoke financial services

    •Adeyeri becomes chief marketing officer

    ormer Regional Head, Public Sector, South-South and South-East for Ecobank Nigeria Limited, Mr. Abayomi Adeyeri, has assumed office as the chief marketing officer of Flobal Trust Limited with a promise to provide meaningful financial services and products that will help individuals and companies achieve their objectives.

    Flobal Trust Limited is licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a corporate investment and financial advisory firm. Incorporated in August 2007, the Effurun, Warri, Delta State-based firm has nearly a decade experience providing tailor-made financial services and products to a diversified client base that includes private clients, small and medium businesses, corporations and high net worth individuals.

    Adeyeri, who holds an MBA in marketing, voluntarily resigned last week from Ecobank Nigeria to settle into his new role as the chief marketing officer of Flobal Trust Limited. Until his retirement, he was in charge of the bank’s public sector business in the entire 11 states in South-South and South-East directorate. He was responsible for providing excellent leadership and strategies that ensured that the bank remained competitive in the business unit.

    To his credit, Adeyeri initiated and instituted a new public sector business model that broke down the directorate to 10 clusters with cluster heads responsible for business growth in their respective business areas, a strategy that helped to enhance overall performance.

    Adeyeri brings considerable experience, especially in strategies and marketing to his new job. He joined Ecobank Nigeria as head of marketing in 2004 in the course of an illustrious nearly two decades banking experience that spanned Ecobank, Diamond Bank and Prudent Bank. At every point, he had been credited with many milestones. He was the country head for the hugely successful Ecobank Nigeria’s Management Information System (MIS) Codification Project.

    Adeyeri said his focus at Flobal Trust would be to deepen the bouquet of bespoke products and services that could help to further unlock the immense potential of the Nigerian economy. According to him, by providing individual and institutional clients with amenable financial options, advisory services, planning and supportive capacity building, Flobal Trust will take more Nigerian companies and individuals to higher levels.

    He outlined that Flobal Trust is designed and well structured to serve as a one-stop financial service centre for capital and money market transactions, corporate finance, financial planning, general advisory services and capacity building.

    “We are a value-adding company. We are involved in the entire value chain of financial planning, execution and evaluation for individuals and companies. Our main purpose is to ensure customers are satisfied with our products and services. With the experience of our team, we provide supports across the line; helping individuals and companies to create wealth and manage this wealth,” Adeyeri said.

    He added that Flobal Trust has served as a role-modeling firm in the quest for a more productive and prosperous Nigeria by equipping individuals in both private and public sectors with the understanding, skills and access to information, knowledge and training that enables them to perform effectively on their job with the objective of improving productivity.

    Some of the tailor-made products include Flobal Plural Account, an individual-based money market product; Flobal Corporate Advances PLUS, an asset product structured for oil and gas affiliated establishments and Flobal Individual Advances PLUS, a premier-packaged product for Flobal Trust customers.

    Flobal Trust Limited recently collaborated with Klass and Korporate Consultant to train civil servants of board of internal revenue in Rivers State. It also organized training on investment planning for Delta Area Chevron Employee Multipurpose Cooperative Society as well as Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in Warri. Some of Flobal Trust high-end corporate clients include Wellmann Group, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Chevron Nigeria Limited.

  • Forte Oil declares N2.7b, 216m shares dividends

    The board of Forte Oil Plc yesterday said it has recommended distribution of about N2.7 billion in cash dividends and 216 million ordinary shares of 50 kobo as bonus shares for the 2014 business year. Forte Oil’s share price rose by 3.23 per cent to close yesterday at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) at N222 per share.

    Shareholders will receive a dividend per share of N2.50 and bonus shares of one share for every five ordinary shares currently held.

    Key extracts of the audited report and accounts of the company for the year ended December 31, 2014 showed impressive growth in the top-line but burgeoning finance cost undermined the bottom-line. Turnover rose by 32.88 per cent while gross profit and operating profit increased by 50.6 per cent and 29.8 per cent respectively. However, finance cost jumped by 938.13 per cent, which depressed pre and post tax profits by 7.94 per cent and 10.95 per cent respectively.

    Turnover rose from N128.03 billion in 2013 to N170.13 billion in 2014. Gross profit also increased from N12.26 billion to N18.46 billion. Operating profit grew to N8.14 billion in 2014 as against N6.27 billion in 2013. However, as against net finance income of N254.49 million in 2013, finance cost jumped to N2.13 billion in 2014.

    With these, profit before tax dropped from N6.52 billion in 2013 to N6.01 billion in 2014. After taxes, net profit also slipped from N5 billion to N4.46 billion. Earnings per share declined to N2.20 in 2014 compared with N4.32 in 2013. Total assets meanwhile rose by 33.02 per cent from N104.6 billion to N139.24 billion.

    Meanwhile, Forte Oil recorded the third highest gain yesterday at the NSE as the stock market continued on its upswing. Forte Oil’s share price rose by N6.94 to close at N222. Nestle Nigeria topped the gainers’ list with a gain of N28.82 to close at N819.99. Seplat Petroleum Development Company followed with a gain of N20.80 to close at N436.80. Total Nigeria rose by N4.46 to close at N144.46 while Lafarge Africa added N3.90 to close at N84.

    With 25 gainers to 13 losers, total market value of all quoted equities rose from N9.770 trillion to N9.736 trillion. The All Share Index (ASI), the benchmark index at the NSE, also rose from 29,177.58 points to 29,282.04 points.

  • Investors to use voter’s card for capital market transactions

    Investors to use voter’s card for capital market transactions

    Investors in the Nigerian capital market can find greater need of the permanent voter’s card (PVC) issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as they will be able to use the PVC for all identity requirements in capital market transactions.

    An amendment to identity rule at the capital market currently under consideration by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seeks to include the PVC as equivalent to other recognized means of identifications.

    According to the draft of the amendment titled “proposed inclusion of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) voter’s registration card as a valid means of identification of individual clients in the capital market”, SEC will amend its identity rule under the Section 44, subsection 4 of SEC Regulations, 2013, which listed suitable documentary evidence as means of identification, to include the PVC.

    Accordingly, the subsection will be amended to include the INEC voter’s registration card alongside suitable documentary evidence for Nigerian resident private individuals, which included current international passport, residence permit issued by the immigration authorities,  current driver’s licence issued by the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), inland revenue tax clearance certificate, birth certificate or sworn declaration of age and national identity card.

    With this amendment, investors can use their PVC for validation and claim of sales and buy mandates, collection of sales proceeds, dividend warrant, change in personal details including name and addresses, estate management including next of kin, probate and power of attorney, confirmation of signature and confirmatory evidence for Know-Your-Customer (KYC)’s requirements of residence, age and nationality among other identity validation requirements.

    The INEC’s PVC included critical data of every holder including the bio-data, facial image, 10 finger prints and optional fields for those that possess national identity card and telephone numbers. The size of data captured for every holder is approximately one megabyte per voter. Besides, each holder has a unique identifier- voter identification number (VIN). The INEC had extended collection of the PVC till March 8.

  • Ecobank gets $50m Deutsche loan

     

    Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) Plc has signed a one-year senior unsecured loan facility of $50 million arranged by Deutsche Bank AG. The facility will be used for general corporate purposes.

    The new $50 million loan facility brings total funding arranged by Deutsche Bank to $250 million. ETI had successfully raised $200 million loan facility from Deutsche Bank in December 2014.

    Altogether, in the last six months, Ecobank has raised approximately $1 billion in combined equity and debt capital for its parent company and its businesses in Nigeria, the largest of the group’s affiliates.

    ETI had in December 2014 signed a loan facility agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB). The dollar-denominated loan facility agreement involved $100 million and will have a tenor of seven year.

    Ecobank will use the loan to provide some of its subsidiaries with additional lending capacity as well as finance some of its group strategic capital expenditures.

    The loan deal, according to the group, also demonstrated its commitments to contribute positively to the African economy by increasing the levels of credit available to businesses while at the same time generating long-term value for its shareholders.

    Group Chief Executive Officer, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) Plc, Albert Essien, said the group would use the fund to consolidate its operations across Africa.

    “This funding continues our relationship with the European Investment Bank. It will allow us to continue to consolidate our expanded operations and translate our scale and geographical footprint into added value for our customers. We shall use the financing to maintain credit provision in key economies in Africa thus contributing to the development of the continent,” Essien said.

    Key extracts of the interim report and accounts of ETI for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2014 had shown that the financial holding company grew its top-line by 16 per cent to N207.75 billion in third quarter 2014 while interest income rose by about 11 per cent to N187.67 billion. Profit after tax rose to N52.49 billion in 2014 as against N39.96 billion in comparable period of 2013.

    Further analysis showed that the company’s cost to income ratio reduced to 66.56 per cent in 2014 from 71.20 per cent in 2013. Additionally, net margin moved to 19.51 per cent as against 17.23 per cent in previous year. Ecobank was aggressive about lending as its loans to deposit ratio jumped to 71.63 per cent from 66.80 per cent while loans and advances were up by 16.55 per cent to N1.97 trillion in third quarter 2014 as against N1.69 trillion by third quarter 2013.

    Deposit from customers also rose by 8.69 per cent to N2.75 trillion as against N2.53 trillion in comparable period of 2013. Total assets rose by 10.69 per cent to N3.83 trillion in 2014 compared with N3.46 trillion in 2013.

    Essien said the company’s strong results for the first nine months of 2014 showed solid revenue growth and a further reduction in our cost-income ratio.

    According to him, the sustained improvement in the company’s Nigeria business, the largest of its 36 countries in Africa, and another strong treasury performance, helped to increase earnings per share by 26 percent.

    Essien noted that the company’s capital position was significantly enhanced recently, with the conversion of $75 million of loans by IFC funds in the third quarter and Nedbank’s subsequent investment of $493 million to reach a 20 per cent shareholding in ETI.

    “The management team and board remain optimistic but vigilant going into the fourth quarter given the macroeconomic and other challenges in some of our countries where we have operations.  We pay particular tribute to the dedication and professionalism of our staff in countries affected by the current Ebola epidemic as they work to serve our clients in very difficult circumstances,” Essien said.

     

     

     

  • Investors’ losses climb to N2.27tr as equities lose N801b in 5 days

    Investors’ losses climb to N2.27tr as equities lose N801b in 5 days

    Nigerian equities lost N801 billion in five successive trading sessions last week, raising aggregate loss for investors so far this year to N2.27 trillion. It was a traumatic week for investors as a combination of negative reactions to postponement of the general elections and negative credit rating report worsened the tough macroeconomic outlook that had been orchestrated by the global decline in crude oil price and resultant depreciation in Nigerian currency.

    Assurances by the Presidency on peaceful political transition and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the readiness of monetary and fiscal authorities to do everything possible to support the economy failed to lift investors’ mood. The Nigerian stock market recorded average day-on-day loss of 1.25 per cent, representing a loss of about N117 billion, on Friday, immediately after the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, met with the capital market community at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

    All value-based indices at the NSE indicated widespread declines in share prices, which saw the market dropping below its two-year low and most equities trading below their lowest values. However, the market showed a little upbeat on Friday with more gainers, although there were still nearly two losers for every gainer and losses mostly outweighed gains.

    Aggregate market value of all quoted equities on the NSE closed weekend at N9.204 trillion as against its opening value of N10.005 trillion for the week. Market capitalization of quoted equities had opened this year at N11.477 trillion.

    The All Share Index (ASI), a value-based index that tracks prices of all quoted companies and doubles as country index for Nigeria, slipped to 27,585.26 points at the weekend as against its opening index of 29,985.08 points for the week. It had started the year at 34,657.15 points.

    With average daily decline of 1.25 per cent on Friday and a week-on-week average loss of 8.0 per cent, average year-to-date return at the Nigerian stock market opens today at -20.41 per cent. This implies that an average investor has lost at least more than 20 per cent of the value of his investment so far this year. This relates to a well-balanced portfolio with the cross-sectoral cushions to absorb higher losses from some sectors.

    As investors were grappling with the increased anxiety generated by the postponement of the general elections, which were scheduled to start on February 14, to March 28, Standard & Poor’s Rating Services (S & P) exacerbated Nigeria’s risk profile by Nigeria’s sovereign credit rating on negative watch. It was the second damaging extraneous influence on the Nigerian financial markets after JP Morgan placed Nigeria on “index watch negative” due to what the global financial company described as lack of liquidity induced by regulatory policies of the CBN. Nigeria was admitted to the JPMorgan Government Bond Index-Emerging Markets Indices (JP Morgan GBI-EM Index) on October 1, 2012. Nigeria was the second African country after South Africa to be included in the widely followed index.

    The largely negative trading pattern at the stock market this year worsened the portfolio performance of investors in Nigerian market, who had been at the top-end of the global decline last year. Nigerian equities ranked among the worst-performing stocks globally in 2014 with average full-year decline of 16.14 per cent. Aggregate market value of all quoted equities closed 2014 at N11.477 trillion as against its opening value of N13.226 trillion for the year, indicating a loss of N1.75 trillion during the year.

    The performance of the Nigerian stock market last week contrasted sharply with the generally positive performance of the global equities markets. Key global indices showed growths across the emerging and advanced markets. Brazil’s average index, Bovespa, rose by 3.1 per cent. Russia’s RTS index climbed by 10.5 per cent. India’s Sensex index rose by 1.3 per cent China’s Shangai index and South Africa’s ASI rose by 4.2 per cent and 1.8 per cent respectively.

    In Europe, United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 index indicated average growth of 0.5 per cent. France’s CAC 40 index also rose by 1.9 per cent while Germany’s DAX index climbed by 1.3 per cent.

    Also, Japan’s average index, the Nikkei index, rose by 1.9 per cent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index inched up by 0.01 per cent. The United States’ benchmark S&P 500 recorded a gain of 1.6 per cent as investors responded positively to improving macro fundamentals.

    Afrinvest Securities Limited, a leading broker and dealer on the Nigerian stock market, noted that the decision of the INEC to shift the 2015 general elections by six weeks to March 28 and April 11 set off a domino effect in the Nigerian economy and the financial market, destabilizing macroeconomic variables.

    Afrinvest Securities stated that the placement of the Nigerian sovereign credit rating on negative watch might be a precursor to downgrade of the credit rating from its current BB-.

    According to analysts, yields on Federal Government bond had risen in response to the negative watch, with average yields closing at 16.5 per cent. All the three government instruments on auction by the Debt Management Office (DMO), Federal Government’s bond issuance agency, last Wednesday were not fully allotted as investors sought higher premiums to compensate for risk.

    “Our prognosis for the economy in the run-up to the election is of crystallizing risk as we expect further capital market volatility and sustained pressure on the Naira. We forecast a 50 basis points increase in inflation in January 2015 to 8.5 per cent whilst we note that a further re-adjustment of the mid-point of the Naira exchange rate to reflect a fairer value is inevitable. This would be necessary to calm uncertainties in the financial market regarding policy direction, reduce the incentive for round tripping and more importantly, stem the tide of the decline in foreign exchange reserves,” Afrinvest Securities stated on the outlook for the financial markets.

    Exotix Partners LLP, a global finance and investment firm with offices in major global financial centres and significant imprints in Africa, last week downgraded its positive view on Nigerian sovereign Eurobond. Exotix coordinates its global operations through five major offices in London, New York, Lagos, Dubai and Nairobi.

    In a report signed by Stuart Culverhouse, Exotix’s global head of research, said the downgrade was due to the uncertainties around Nigeria’s general elections and the decline in macroeconomic outlook.

    “What has changed? Oil prices have been lower than expected-and could remain low for longer, which in our view is creating a hole in the balance of payments which needs addressing. Yet crucially the postponement of the presidential election to 28 March announced at the weekend (February 7) is only going to create policy-and political uncertainty and delay the necessary policy response for much longer than we had anticipated. We could be waiting until May/June. Nigeria cannot afford to wait that long,” Exotix stated.

    According to the firm, the Naira outlook remains negative with expectation that there could be further devaluation, the scale of which is mounting by the day.

    It noted that the prospects for the widely-anticipated, post-election devaluation become more complicated with the postponed election and this may not happen now until the May Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting rather than the March meeting at which it had expected to see further moves.

    “A first-stage devaluation of the official parity to N190-195 looks likely to us, and more could follow later in the year subject to external and domestic conditions. We expect a year-end Naira rate of N220-230, by which time the (expected) policy response should help to stabilise the position. But a lot can happen in the meantime and risks to the naira look skewed to the downside,” Exotix stated.

  • Nigerian Breweries assures investors of higher returns

    Shareholders of Nigerian Breweries can look forward to better returns in the period ahead as it begins to optimize synergistic values from the recently concluded acquisition of Consolidated Breweries.

    This assurance was given yesterday by the board of the Nigerian Breweries during a courtesy visit to the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

    Chairman, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Chief Kola Jamodu, said with the conclusion of the business consolidation, the company has started the process of integrating the new business, which would lead to enhanced operational efficiencies and maximised value for all investors.

    According to him, the enlarged Nigerian Breweries would add values to all stakeholders including increased trading activities on the NSE and opportunity for former shareholders of Consolidated Breweries, which was not quoted, to trade their shares on the floor of the exchange.

    He noted that the business consolidation would lead to improvement in the company performance pointing out that the new Nigerian Breweries has 11 breweries that are strategically located across the country as against five breweries the company had before the merger.

    He listed other major benefits from the merger also include cost saving from the consolidation of supply and distribution networks of both companies as a result of improved operational efficiencies arising from integrated operations while the products of both companies will be manufactured more efficiently through their combined operational capabilities.

    “Significant cost saving is targeted by distributing products and selling the enlarged product portfolio of the new company across the entire combined sales and distribution network of the enlarged company. The enlarged company is expected to extend market leadership, accelerate revenue growth and expand profit capacity,” Jamodu said.

    He added that the Nigerian Breweries has maintained stable growth in sales revenue and profitability in the past five years and assured that the company would continue to increase wealth for shareholders and other stakeholders.

    Meanwhile, it was a full run for the bears yesterday at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) as investors responded to the weekend postponement of general elections. With nearly five losers for every gainer, the market was overwhelmed by widespread sell pressure.

    Aggregate market value of all quoted companies dropped to N9.797 trillion as against its opening value of N10.005 trillion. The All Share Index (ASI), the value-based index that tracks prices of all quoted equities, declined by 2.08 per cent from 29,985.08 points to 29,360.55 points. With this, average year-to-date return mounted to -15.3 per cent.

    Nestle Nigeria topped the 36-stock losers’ list with a loss of N40.25 to close at N764.75. Nigerian Breweries followed with a drop of N7.09 to close at N134.72. Guinness Nigeria dropped by N3.99 to close at N125. Lafarge Africa lost N2.99 to close at N85 while Dangote Cement dropped by N2.69 to close at N157.11.

    On the upside, Seplat Petroleum Development Company led the eight-stock gainers’ list with a gain of N34.21 to close at N333.90. Dangote Flour Mills placed a distant second with a gain of 38 kobo to close at N4.38 while Vitafoam Nigeria rose by 16 kobo to N3.41 per share.

    Aggregate turnover stood at 364.47 million shares valued at N6.03 billion in 3,788 deals.

     

  • UBA extends rights issue, reduces offer price

    UBA extends rights issue, reduces offer price

    United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc at the weekend extended the offer period and gave additional discount of 12.5 per cent as part of incentives to woo shareholders to its ongoing rights issue.

    UBA had launched a rights issue of 3.3 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at N4 per share. The offer had opened on December 29, 2014 and was scheduled to close on February 5, 2015.

    The bank at the weekend indicated that it has reduced the offer price by 12.5 per cent to N3.50 while extending the offer period by one week to February 12, 2015. The bank however retained the pre-allotment ratio of one for 10 shares and shares on offer of 3.298 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each. This implies that the gross proceeds target will reduce from N13.2 billion to N11.5 billion.

    The extension and reduction in offer price had been approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). UBA is the second issuer to reduce offer price in line with the downtrend at the stock market. Oando had earlier in January reduced the offer price of its rights issue.

    UBA would use the net proceeds of its ongoing rights issue to finance its business development plan aimed at further entrenching the bank as the leading bank in Africa.

    Regulatory filing on the rights issue indicated that the bank would use the net proceeds of the N13b rights issue to strengthen its business units across Africa.

    UBA had in 2013 launched a new business development plan aimed at consolidating the bank’s position as a leading pan-African global financial services group. The three-year business development plan codenamed Project Alpha was designed as the group’s next focus of strategic transformation and it contained key transformation initiatives.

    Group managing director, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Mr. Phillips Oduoza, said the new business plan was designed to consolidate the group’s strategic positioning and fully capture the opportunities from Africa’s economic renaissance.

    According to him, Project Alpha is focused on leveraging all aspects of the group’s footprint, product offerings and operational capability, allowing a commitment to customer service transformation, market share growth, the implementation of key e-banking initiatives across all segments, the growth of corporate and trade finance capabilities.

    He outlined that a critical aspect of the Project Alpha initiative is the focus on UBA Africa, which is projected to contribute about 50 per cent to the group by 2016.

    He pointed out that Project Alpha will allow the bank to build on the existing strengths of its franchise as well as continue to reinvent ourselves, ensuring it captures and delivers the maximum of value for all stakeholders.

  • Skye Bank highlights benefits of Mainstreet Bank acquisition

    Skye Bank highlights benefits of Mainstreet Bank acquisition

    The acquisition of Mainstreet Bank Limited and the attendant synergies between the two institutions had given Skye Bank the competitive edge, which it would leverage to deliver quality customer service and high returns to shareholders.

    Group managing director, Skye Bank Plc, Mr. Timothy Oguntayo, disclosed this at the weekend at a forum with stockbrokers in Lagos.

    He said the acquisition has provided the bank the opportunity to optimize cost, assuring that the bank would leverage its superior information technology to block leakage as well as pursuing aggressive expense control.

    According to him, as the bank assumes the status of a mega bank following the acquisition, it will place strong emphasis and focus on retail and commercial banking as a way of bringing about a healthy deposit mix to bring down its cost of funding.

    He highlighted that the new business strategy will also allow the bank to reduce the volume of public sector deposit and term deposit at its disposal for enhanced profitability and business sustainability.

    He outlined that the bank would continue to upgrade its information technology continually, while also promoting the usage of point of sales terminals and automatic teller machines to serve its teeming customers.

    Assuring of seamless integration, Oguntayo said the bank has put in place measures to grow its balance sheet as well as create value for its shareholders.

    Similarly, the bank’s branch network is now 450 compared to 260 branches before the business combination with Mainstreet Bank.

    Oguntayo  also expalined that the increased branch network would make  access to the bank’s services easier as branches are now  easily accessed. He added that the bank’s combined automatic teller machines network is now 815 from 600 prior to the acquisition.

    Oguntayo said the bank has strongly established its presence in the South South , South East and the North through the acquisition and promised the customers of better days ahead.

    Currently, he said the customer base of the bigger bank stands at five million, while efforts are still on to increase the figure.

    The doyen of the stockbrokers, Mr. Sam Ndata, commended Skye Bank over the acquisition of Mainstreet Bank and for informing the brokers of the developments in the bank. He also lauded the transparency and openness of the bank which he said would help the market to take informed investment decisions.

  • Experts chart way for economy at Ecobank Capital’s forum

    Economic and financial experts last week underscored the need for Nigeria to further diversify its economy and sustain ongoing reforms.

    They spoke at the maiden Investors’ Conference of Ecobank Capital, the investment banking subsidiary of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) Plc. The conference themed “Nigerian Economy -Navigating the headwinds of Oil prices” brought together business and industry thought leaders to discuss the Nigerian Economy and how to navigate through the current headwinds.

    The event was attended by domestic and international investors, with the panel speakers including representatives from Helios Capital, Dangote Cement, Nedbank, Qatar National Bank and First-EPDC.

    Experts from Ecobank Research reinforced the need for the Nigerian economy to diversify. The noted the agriculture transformation agenda and emphasised the need for Nigeria to continue in its value capture in key soft commodities value chain. Experts also stressed the need for Nigeria to recalibrate local crude oil funding dynamics.

    In his remarks, group executive, corporate and investment bank, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) Plc, Charles Kie noted that the Nigerian economy remains strong in spite of the headwinds.

    He said Ecobank is strategically positioned to provide the required support for industry players given the bank’s scale and industry experience.

    Managing director, Ecobank Capital, Moyo Kamgaing,  pointed out that the investment bank recently closed a $1.5 billion landmark deal for Societe Nationale Des Petroles Du Congo (SNPC) for the company’s five-year capital expenditure programme

    Kamgaing reiterated that Ecobank Capital is committed to providing innovative solutions for its clients.

     

  • Investment One makes world’s top 100 list

    Investment One Financial Services Limited has been ranked among the world’s top 100 companies. Investment One was listed in the World Finance 100 for 2014, an exclusive list that celebrates companies which have reached the pinnacle of achievement across a wide variety of expertise.

    Investment One was recognized as an organisation that leads the way in advancing the investment management industry. Each year, World Finance compiles the list of 100 individuals and companies purely on excellence in their field. The WF100 research fellowship appraises the invaluable nominations, explores and analyses new trends to unearth the best and the brightest pioneers in business today.

    Investment One Financial Services stated that the listing was a confirmation of its efforts to be a one-stop shop for comprehensive investment service and the first point of call for insightful and innovative financial solutions.

    Investment One stated that it has continued to position itself to be the preferred choice for companies seeking a partner in Africa to help them achieve their investment objectives while assuring that it will continue to focus on maximizing returns on clients’ investments.

    The listing rounded off an active year for the investment group. Investment One’s stockbroking subsidiary, Investment One Stockbrokers International Limited had secured high-profile additional professional appointments at the Nigerian Stock Exchange as a fixed income market maker and a supplementary equity market maker. Investment One Financial Services also received three licenses from the Financial Market Dealers Quotation (FMDQ) as registration member (quotation), registration member (listing) and associate broker to the Exchange.

    Its funds management subsidiary, Investment One Funds Management Limited also took giant strides in 2014 to provide investment products and services for the emerging middle class retail customer whilst providing investment education through its free seminars for members of the public. The funds management company secured the rights to manage the Abacus Unit Trust Scheme which is the oldest mutual fund in Nigeria. This addition complements its existing mutual fund products; Kakawa Guaranteed Income Fund (KGIF) and Nigeria International Growth Fund (NIGFUND) and increases the customer’s choice of products.