The Nation Newspaper

Category: Equities

  • Access Bank excites SMEs with digital cashflow lending

    Access Bank excites SMEs with digital cashflow lending

     Taofik Salako, Deputy Group Business Editor

     

    As part of its effort to provide access to finance for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to grow and expand their businesses, Access Bank Plc has launched a digital lending portal, “Cashflow Loans by Access”, which is a solution for business owners to access loans easily from the comfort of their homes via an online platform while staying safe.

    The new service is accessible to all SME customers who have established sufficient cashflow records with the bank.

    Speaking at the launch of the digital lending portal, Executive Director, Retail Banking, Access Bank Plc, Victor Etuokwu reiterated the bank’s commitment to impact SMEs positively.

    “In a period like this, when we need to be more present and relevant in the lives of our customers than ever, we have risen to the challenge to ensure business owners have easy access to funds to sustain and expand their businesses while keeping safe. We are committed to not only providing uninterrupted service but superior service to meet the needs of all our customer segments,” Etuokwu said.

    According to him, in order to deliver on its promise to continually give customers more, the bank developed the efficient digital lending platform which will make loan application more convenient with flexible collateral, favourable interest rates, application tracking, robust customer service and much more.

    “We have been focused on providing solutions targeted at boosting the economy because we believe it is our responsibility to contribute to the stimulation of economic growth. With the launch of Cashflow Loans by Access, we are renewing our commitment to providing the much needed financial support to SMEs,” Etuokwu said.

    He noted that Access Bank is recognized as one of the most innovative financial institutions in Africa with more than 40 million customers and 600 branches nationwide and a range of products and services tailored to suit needs and lifestyle of its customers across multiple segments.

    He added that in line with government’s COVID-19 prevention protocols, the bank has continued to encourage its customers to remain safe by washing their hands regularly with soap and water or use of alcohol-based sanitizers and to ensure they wear masks to protect themselves and those around. Wearing face masks is a mandatory requirement to access public places including the bank premises.

     

  • Shareholders approve Cadbury Nigeria’s N912m dividend

    Shareholders approve Cadbury Nigeria’s N912m dividend

     Taofik Salako, Deputy Group Business Editor

     

    SHAREHOLDERS of Cadbury Nigeria Plc yesterday approved the payment of N912 million as cash dividends for the 2019 business year amid commendations for continuing improvement in the performance of the food and beverages company. Shareholders will receive a dividend per share of 49 kobo.

    The company’s 55th annual general meeting (AGM) was conducted through virtual and streamed live on YouTube, in line with COVID-19 safety protocols, permitted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

    Chairman, Cadbury Nigeria Plc, Mr. Atedo Peterside explained that despite the challenging operating environment in the year under review occasioned by land border closure, dwindling consumer purchasing power, and inability to resolve the intractable congestion at the Apapa ports, the company showed resilience and ended 2019 on a positive note.

    He said the company’s brands continued to perform well in the market despite the difficult operating environment, and in the face of intense competition.

    “For instance, we started sea shipment of 3 in 1 Hot Chocolate cocoa beverage from Ghana to Nigeria, when it became apparent that government was not going to re-open the land borders soon. Our sales and marketing team were active and aggressive in ensuring that all our brands are available to consumers across the country. Our iconic Bournvita beverage, Clorets chewing gum as well as TomTom, the classic functional candy, all contributed towards our growth in 2019,” Peterside said.

    Shareholders at the AGM praised the company for sustaining its current dividend payment policy, expressing delight with the 49 kobo received in 2019, up from 25 kobo in 2018. The shareholders enjoined Cadbury Nigeria to continue to be innovative to remain competitive in the dynamic business environment.

    Key extracts of the audited report for the year ended December 31, 2019 showed that total turnover rose from N35.97 billion in 2018 to N39.33 billion in 2019. Profit before tax also increased from N1.22 billion to N1.54 billion while profit after tax jumped from N823 million in 2018 to N1.07 billion in 2019.

     

  • Berger Paints optimistic as profit grows by 40%

    Berger Paints optimistic as profit grows by 40%

     Taofik Salako, Deputy Group Business Editor

     

    BERGER Paints Nigeria Plc remains optimistic that it will sustain its growth trajectory in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic and other operating challenges as the paints-manufacturing company grew net profit by 40 per cent in 2019.

    At the annual general meeting (AGM) of the company, which was held by virtual attendance through proxy, yesterday in Lagos, the board and management of Berger Paints assured shareholders that ongoing strategic initiatives would drive further growths in sales and profitability.

    Chairman, Berger Paints Nigeria Plc, Mr Abi Ayida said the improved performance of the company was driven by a re-refocusing on production of primary products, corporate foresight and innovativeness and huge investment in automated factory among others.

    Key extracts of the audited report and accounts of Berger Paints for the year ended December 31, 2019 showed that turnover rose from N3.3 billion in 2018 to N3.5 billion in 2019. As internal efficiency improved, operating profit increased by 196 per cent between 2017 and the end of 2019 while it recorded an upward movement in all its key performance indicators in the review period. Gross profit grew by 12 per cent from N1.48 billion to N1. 664 billion while net profit grew by 40 per cent from N320 million to N448.7 million

    Ayida said the moderate growth in revenue was intended as deferred scale achievement to maintain focus on operational efficiency noting that while the operating environment was challenging last year, the company was able to record upward movement across all its financial indices.

    He expressed gratitude to the shareholders and assured them of greater performance,  irrespective of the state of operating environment.

    “The lockdown has brought significant level of uncertainties to the global business environment. We have analyzed COVID-19 and determined to brace up. Our first approach is preservation of capital. This informed our decision to declare a modest dividend of 25 kobo per share for the review period. Our position is that it is better to err on the side of prudence. Our huge investment in automated factory is part of our growth strategy. Our efforts shall continue to pay off, the company’s future is bright,” Ayida said.

    He said the company will soon activate its subsidiary in Ghana, although the conditions imposed on foreign companies by Ghanaian government at the moment are not encouraging.

    Shareholders commended the company’s financial performance and its heavy investment in automated factory as an index of growth strategy. But they urged the board and management to increase the dividend of 25 kobo per share next year and also map out strategy to cope with the impacts of COVID-19 which has become inevitable.

    A shareholder, Comerade Lawrence Oguntoye, described the company’s performance as excellent against the backdrop of tough operating environment last year. He attributed the stellar performance to the company’s resilient, visionary and focused leadership.

    Another shareholder, Mr Egunde Moses who also commended the company’s performance urged the board and management to put strategies in place for optimal performance despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

     

     

  • Guinness Nigeria raises N5b CP

    Guinness Nigeria raises N5b CP

    By Taofik Salako, Deputy Group Business Editor

     

    Guinness Nigeria Plc at the weekend closed application list for its N5 billion commercial paper issuance.

    Guinness Nigeria, a member of the Diageo Group, offered to raise up to N5 billion in Series 1 and Series 2 Commercial Paper (CP) under its N10 billion Commercial Paper Programme in order to support its short-funding requirements.

    Guinness Nigeria offered 180-day CP with effective yield of 6.000 per cent and a discount rate of 5.8280 per cent under its Series 1 and 270-day CP with effective yield of 6.5000 per cent and a discount rate of 6.2024 per cent under its Series 2. Application list for the offers opened on June 16 and closed on June 19, 2020.

    Minimum subscription was N5 million and thereafter in multiples of N1,000. The CPs were allotted after closure at the weekend but the settlement date will be today, Monday, June 22, 2020.

    Guinness Nigeria is one of the leading alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage companies in Nigeria, with a dominant market share in the stout segment.

    Its three brewery plants strategically located in Nigeria has a combined production capacity of 10 million hectolitres yearly.

     

  • Angel investors to drive new funding for healthcare

    Angel investors to drive new funding for healthcare

    By Taofik Salako, Deputy Group Business Editor

     

    Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede and the Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria (PSHAN) have unveiled a new initiative geared towards significantly improving the healthcare at the grassroots.

    The innovative strategy, in furtherance of a vision from an earlier stakeholders’ roundtable, entails delivering one Primary Healthcare Centre (PHC) in each of Nigeria’s 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) at global standards.

    Under this private sector driven initiative, universal health access will be provided for low-income citizens residing in rural and urban areas through the Adopt-a-Health Facility Programme (ADHFP).

    Chief Executive Officer, Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria (PSHAN), Mr. Sonny Nwarisi said the ADHFP would be sponsored by a group of angel investors and other institutions, who will each take responsibility for one or more PHCs

    “They will build and operate the PHCs for the period of adoption under strict rules and guidelines. The ADHFP is a multi-impact initiative with several benefits including: saving lives, improvement in health outcomes, job creation, and gender empowerment,” Nwarisi stated.

    Aig-Imoukhuede and PSHAN recently initiated the ADHFP design phase which will be handled by Vesta Healthcare Partners, a global healthcare consultancy firm.

    This consultancy engagement is expected to deliver key programme components such as: legal and regulatory framework, private-public partnership (PPP) framework, PHC facility and management standards, financing arrangements, governance arrangements, supply chain management, and technology and systems.

    The design phase will involve active participation of notable development-focused organisations including: Global Citizen, ABCHealth, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, World Bank, International Finance Corporation (IFC), MTN Nigeria Plc, Dangote Group, Zenith Bank, Access Bank, Stanbic-IBTC Bank, PwC, Cisco, Ford Foundation, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and Flying Doctors Nigeria.

    Others include Africa Practice, Cedar Advisory Partners, GBCHealth, Health Federation of Nigeria, Health Law, Eti-Osa Local Government, JNC International Ltd, Johnson & Johnson, Justice in Healthcare, Lagos State Government, MSD for Mothers, Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG), ONE Campaign, PharmAccess Foundation, Women-At-Risk International Foundation as well as the Lagos State Government and the Senior Special Adviser (SSA) to the President on Sustainable Development Goals among others.

  • Japaul mulls N27b new capital in massive restructuring

    Japaul mulls N27b new capital in massive restructuring

    By Taofik Salako, Deputy Group Business Editor

     

    Japaul Oil & Maritime Services Plc plans to raise additional equity capital of some N27 billion, change its name and business and restructure its balance sheet in a massive corporate restructuring that seeks to combine internal growth and acquisitions.

    In a regulatory filing at the weekend, Japaul indicated that it will be seeking shareholders’ approval to raise increase its authorised share capital from 6.0 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each to 60 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each. The company will subsequently raise up to N27 billion in new additional equity capital through rights issue, private placement and public offer among other means.

    The company will also be seeking shareholders’ approval to change its name to Japaul Gold & Ventures as well as approval to engage in mining and technology business activities through partnership and acquisitions.

    Shareholders are also expected to consider a resolution authorising the directors of the company to undertake share reconstruction, in a move that may significantly reduced the issued share capital of the troubled company.

    Japaul has struggled for many years with declining operations and worsening losses, making its external auditors to raise caveat on the going concern status of the company.

    Japaul  had in 2018 entered into a binding commitment with Milost Global Inc for injection of $350 million or N10.7 billion into its operations.

    Under the agreement, Milost Global Inc, an American private equity firm, would invest $250 million as new equity and $100 million as convertible notes. Convertible notes can also be converted to equities, subject to the terms of the issuance.

  • Neimeth rewards customers

    Neimeth rewards customers

    Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc has hosted its key and outstanding customers to a grand event in Lagos during which the company gave various incentives to distributors, wholesalers and other customers who showed outstanding loyalty through their patronage of its products in 2019.

    Managing Director, Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals, Matthew Azoji  said the yearly national customers forum was not only to reward outstanding customers but also to discuss company plans, policies and direction together so as to get feedbacks.

    “This annual gathering has remained our way of involving key stakeholders in our distribution chain in determining how we deliver superior products and services. This way, we shall receive and discuss your feedbacks and therefore make better informed plans for the new business year, “Azoji said.

    He thanked the customers for doing business with Neimeth in 2019 and for their contributions to the milestones accomplished.

    He assured them that the company would introduce new products before the year runs out, hoping on their support to make the products market success.

    Azoji said Neimeth has a new strategic direction for 2020-2024, which include bold and gradual expansion initiatives that would see the company playing more in the broader healthcare space.

    “Our five-year strategic plan would guide the company’s vigorous expansion programme, which include the upgrade of the company’s factory at Oregun, Lagos state; development of new manufacturing facilities and expansion of the company’s marketing drive to Sub-Saharan Africa,” Azoji said.

    The company also used the occasion to interact closely, with her customers, share thoughts and experiences with them and find ways of improving on the services rendered to the customers as well as discuss sales plans for 2020.

    Executive Director, Pharma Sales & Marketing, Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc, Pharm. Roseline Oputa, who spoke on efforts to improve the partnership with the distributors said Neimeth has recently commenced aggressive marketing campaigns of its key brands to improve the offtake of such products from the sales outlets.

    She added that the company will soon launch a hand sanitizer into the Nigerian market in response to the Coronavirus pandemic.

  • Large-cap food stocks halt equities’ slide

    Large-cap food stocks halt equities’ slide

    By Taofik Salako, Deputy Group Business Editor

    Nigerian equities recorded their first gain in recent days on Wednesday after bargain-hunting transactions in large-cap stocks overshadowed underlying sell pressure to lift equities’ capitalisation by N22 billion.

    With more than two decliners to every advancer, most deals were still closing at discounts but gains recorded by large-cap stocks in the food manufacturing sector coloured the overall market position. Benchmark indices yesterday at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) indicated average gain of 0.17 per cent, moderating the negative average year-to-date return to -7.0 per cent.

    The All Share Index (ASI)- the common value-based index that tracks all share prices at the Exchange, rose from its opening index of 24,930.88 points to close at 24,972.89 points. Aggregate market value of all quoted equities also improved from N13.005 trillion to close at N13.027 trillion.

    With 24 decliners to 10 advancers, most sectoral indices closed negative, underlining the widespread profit-taking transactions that had characterised transactions in recent days. The NSE Consumer Goods Index was the only gainers with a gain of 4.2 per cent. The NSE Oil & Gas Index dropped by 4.4 per cent. The NSE Insurance Index declined by 3.0 per cent. The NSE Banking Index dipped by 0.8 per cent while the NSE Industrial Goods Index closed flat.

    Nestle Nigeria, NSE’s highest-priced stock, led the gainers with a gain of N99.50 to close at N1,094.50. Flour Mills of Nigeria, Nigeria’s largest flour miller, followed with a gain of 85 kobo to close at N20.40. Cadbury Nigeria rose by 50 kobo to close at N8 while Access Bank rallied 10 kobo to close at N6.85 per share.

    On the negative side, Seplat Petroleum Development Company led the losers with a drop off N47.60 to close at N428.80. Guaranty Trust Bank followed with a loss of 60 kobo to close at N23. Dangote Sugar Refinery dropped by 30 kobo to close at N14.50. Fidson Healthcare lost 23 kobo to close at N3.40 while Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals and Red Star Express declined by 20 kobo each to close at N1.89 and N3.60 respectively.

    Afrinvest Securities stated.

    Meanwhile, the Naira was flat at the Investors and Exporters (I & E) Window of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the parallel market at N386 per Dollar and N452 per Dollar respectively.

  • CWG partners Clari5 to curb financial crime

    CWG partners Clari5 to curb financial crime

    CWG Plc has entered into strategic partnership with Clari5 to help African banks combat enterprise fraud and money laundering.

    Quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), CWG is a leading Nigerian information and communication technology (ICT) company. Clari5 is a global leader in financial crime risk management systems. With 200 million accounts at a single site, Clari5 has the world’s largest implementation of a fraud management solution.

    Through the strategic partnership, CWG and Clari5 will provide solutions to African banks to counter enterprise-wide fraud and money laundering risk. Banks across Africa will now benefit from the unparalleled advantages of Clari5’s extreme real-time, cross channel, enterprise-wide fraud risk management capability.

    Group Chief Executive Officer, CWG Plc, Mr Adewale Adeyipo, at the weekend said the pan-African fraud and money laundering landscape has become alarmingly sophisticated over the last few years and clearly banks are seeking more efficient solutions to combat the scourge.

    He however noted that dealing with the new reality is beyond the league of conventional, siloed anti-fraud solutions noting that with Clari5, banks now have the power of a world-class enterprise-wide real-time financial crime management solution that has been changing the way banks fight financial crime.

    Chief Executive Officer, Clari5, Rivi Varghese, explained that the best way to combat fraud and money laundering is with a solution that can behave like the human central nervous system to synthesise intelligence from across all channels of the bank in that very moment when it matters most.

    According to him, Clari5’s proven real-time product capability in thwarting financial crime, coupled with CWG’s unparalleled market reach and rich legacy of engagement successes makes it a compelling value proposition for innovative African banks to prevent bottom-line losses to financial crime.

    “We are both proud and delighted to partner with CWG – the legendary African technology leader,” Varghese said.

    Clari5 uses a ‘human brain like’ approach to fraud that synthesises intelligence enterprise-wide and delivers contextual insights in real time to stop fraudulent transactions. Clari5 is a bolt-on system, requires no replacement and features a compact implementation cycle with extremely quick ROI.

    Harnessing the combined power of automation, artificial intelligence, decision sciences and real-time decisions among others, Clari5 processes over 10 billion transactions, manages over 500 million accounts and reliably secures four per cent of the global population’s banking transactions.

  • Stock Exchange downgrades BOC Gases to low-priced stock

    Stock Exchange downgrades BOC Gases to low-priced stock

    By Taofik Salako, Deputy Group Business Editor

    The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has downgraded BOC Gases Plc from medium-priced stock to low-priced stock after steep depreciation brought the industrial gases company to its lowest price in recent period.

    Regulatory report at the NSE obtained at the weekend showed that BOC Gases’ share price had dropped below the N5 mark for medium-priced stock since January 16, 2020, necessitating the reclassification of the company in line with the extant rules on categorisation of quoted companies.

    With the reclassification, the tick size for the company will change from five kobo to one kobo, implying that the share price will move slowly going forward.

    The NSE classifies quoted companies into three categories-high-priced, medium-priced and low-priced stocks, based on their market price. A company must have traded for at least four out of the most recent six month period within a stock price group’s specified price band to be classified into the category.

    The high-priced stocks consist of large-cap equities that are priced at N100 per share or above for at least four of the last six trading months, or new security listings that are priced at N100 or above at the time of listing on the Exchange.

    The medium-priced stocks  consist of medium-priced equities that are priced at N5 per share or above but less than N100 per share for at least four of the last six months, or new security listings that are priced at N5 per share or above but less than N100 per share at the time of listing on the Exchange.

    The low-priced stocks, where majority of listed companies fall, consist of equities that are priced at one kobo per share or above but below N5 per share for at least four of the last six months, or new security listings that are priced at one kobo per share or above but below N5 per share at the time of listing on the Exchange.