The Nation Newspaper

Category: Money

  • Skye Bank appoints four executive directors

    The board of directors of Skye Bank Plc has announced the appointment of four new executive directors for the bank as part of the efforts to uphold the high standards, which have become the bank’s driving force for service excellence.

    The new executive directors are Mr. Bayo Sanni, Executive Director, Lagos Commercial Banking; Mr. Idris Yakubu, Executive Director, Abuja and Northern Region; Mrs. Markie  Idowu, Executive Director, Technology and Service Delivery Channels; and Mrs. Abimbola Izu, Executive Director, Corporate services. The appointments will take effect as from next month.

    Announcing the new board appointment in a statement yesterday, group managing director, Skye Bank Plc, Mr. Timothy Oguntayo, expressed confidence that the new directors would further strengthen and reposition the bank for improved performance.

    Sanni, who holds both Bachelor and Master’s degrees in finance from the University of Lagos, was, until now, the chief risk officer at FCMB where he quickly effected the reduction of the non-performing loans and the cost of risk for the institution.

    He started his banking career with Zenith Bank, and had worked in other leading financial institutions, including Citibank and Sterling Bank. His experience in these banks covered various aspects of banking including banking operations, corporate banking, commercial banking, compliance and risk management.

    Yakubu who holds a B.Sc Accounting degree from the University of Jos, also bagged his M.sc degree in Banking and Finance from the same institution, and an MBA degree from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

    With over 25 years of banking experience spanning Fidelity Bank (where he spent 19 years), Yakubu was until his present appointment, the Regional Director, Abuja and Northern Business, Fidelity Bank, where he significantly grew the business both in size and profitability. His experience covers commercial, consumer, retail banking and public sector. He also has significant experience in corporate banking, financial control and tax planning services.

    Izu holds the LL.B and LL.M degree from the University of Ife and University of Warwick, Coventry, England and was admitted to the Nigerian Bar in 1987. A multiple award winner as an intellectual prodigy, she is also an alumnus of the Lagos Business School.

    A seasoned legal luminary with several years experience in law practice both in private legal practice and in the banking industry, she started her legal career with Bentley, Edu& Co, moving on to AfeBabalola& Co, and Olaniwun Ajayi & Co.

    She started her banking career in with the legacy Bond Bank as pioneer company secretary and legal adviser. She later became the company secretary and legal adviser  for Skye Bank, and was at various times, also anchored  the Corporate Communications department of the bank, during  which time she led the team in establishing Skye Bank as a household name and a foremost brand in the financials services industry, from a zero brand position.

    She currently oversees the Corporate Services directorate which includes Company Secretariat, Legal services, General Services Department, Corporate Communications, and Sustainability and Consumer Protection Department.

    Idowu holds a First Class degree in Computer Sciences from the University of Benin, and a Masters degree in Software Engineering from Aston University, Birmingham, and MBA degree from the Lagos Business School.

    She has over 26 years banking experience spanning Commercial Banking, Corporate Banking, Private Banking, and Strategic Planning. She had worked as Head, Corporate Banking Group where she positioned the Bank as a major player in the upstream oil and gas and telecoms sectors. Since assuming duty as Head, Technology and Service Delivery Channels, she has significantly improved the bank’s service delivery via electronic and IT platforms.

     

  • Foreign core investor sells Nigeria’s Beta Glass

    Foreign core investor sells Nigeria’s Beta Glass

    Frigoglass S.A.I.C, the Athens, Greece-based foreign core investor in Nigeria’s Beta Glass Plc has entered into an agreement to sell the Nigerian company and related business in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) to a new investor.

    Frigoglass S.A.I.C is the parent company of Frigoglass Nigeria Limited, which holds the majority shareholding in Beta Glass Plc. Beta Glass is the leading supplier of glass packaging in Nigeria and other West African markets and its customers included blue chips such as Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) and Seven-Up Bottling Company Plc.

    A regulatory filing at the weekend indicated that Frigoglass has agreed to sell its glass operations to GZI Mauritius Limited, the holding company for GZ Industries Limited. GZ Industries has manufacturing operations in Nigeria and it is reputed as the largest beverage can manufacturer in West Africa. The acquisition of Beta Glass is a major expansionary drive for GZ, which had earlier started expanding its operations into Kenya. Major shareholders of GZI included Standard Chartered Private Equity.

    According to the transaction details, Frigoglass would receive a net cash consideration of $225 million for the sale of the glass operations. The enterprise value was put at $403 million. Frigoglass will receive $200 million in cash immediately after the completion of the transaction and will subsequently receive $25 million in two tranches over the following two years.

    The glass operations being sold included Frigoglass’ glass container operations in Nigeria and Dubai as well as the complementary plastic crates and metal crown businesses in Nigeria. Frigoglass has also reached agreement to acquire the minority interest in its Frigoglass Jebel Ali business in Dubai, which will also be part of the transaction.

    As part of the deal, the glass operations management team in Nigeria and Dubai will also be transferred with the business. The business has 1,588 employees in Nigeria and Dubai.

    The transaction is expected to be completed in the second half of this year. Frigoglass is expected to use the gross proceeds from the transaction largely to reduce its debt. Greece had suffered enormous economic meltdown and still wriggling in the aftermath of the 2009 global economic recession.

    Chief executive officer, GZI Mauritius Limited, Motti Goldmintz, said the acquisition represents an important step in the long-term strategic ambition.

    According to him, together with the company’s strong aluminium can business, the acquisition of Frigoglass glass, plastic crates and bottle crowns businesses, allow it to provide its beverage customers with a complete range of packaging solutions.

    “We are excited about this landmark transaction, enabling us to capitalize on the strong long-term container glass opportunities, a critical building block for establishing a leading pan-African packaging materials platform,” Goldmintz said.

     

  • Dangote optimistic on local sugar production

    •Pays shareholders N4.8b dividend

    Dangote Sugar Refinery (DSR) Plc plans to grow its capacity to be able to produce about 1.5 million tonnes of locally refined from locally-grown sugarcane within the next 10 years.

    Chairman, Dangote Sugar Refinery (DSR) Plc, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, told shareholders at the annual general meeting of the company in Lagos that the company’s backward integration project would create immense opportunities for all stakeholders, including the Nigerian economy and the shareholders.

    According to him, the target of the company over the next 10 years is to produce 1.5 million tonnes of refined sugar from locally grown sugarcane that is processed at its own onsite facilities in locations close to key Nigerian markets.

    He said the company will maximise opportunities from the extended value chain in sugar production, including fuel ethanol and the generation of electricity from the factories.

    “We believe that our expansion project will generate more than 100,000 job opportunities in the coming decades,” Dangote said.

    He explained that the reduction in dividend payout for the 2014 business year was due to the significant investments required for the company’s backward integration projects.

    According to him, the company needs additional funding and the board took the prudent decision to reduce dividend payment for the year from 60 kobo per share to 40 kobo.

    “This is a transitional situation, requiring our short-term sacrifices in order to build for the future, and is necessary for us to maintain prudent capital and liquidity levels to sustain our operations, in tandem with our backward integration projects,” Dangote said.

    He pointed out that the company remains committed to its dividend policy of making returns to shareholders at the end of each business year but the actual dividend will depend on the company’s financial performance, investment decisions, liquidity levels and banks balances.

    The shareholders approved the distribution of N4.8 billion as dividends for the year ended December 31, 2014. This represented dividend per share of 40 kobo.

    Key extracts of the audited report for the year ended December 31, 2014 showed a turnover of N95 billion. Profit before tax and profit after tax stood at N15.3 billion and N11.6 billion in 2014 compared with N16.3 billion and N10.8 billion respectively in 2013.

    Dangote blamed the decline in performance partly on the heightened insecurity in the north eastern Nigeria as access to key markets was hampered while the company, like others, also had to grapple with reduced consumer purchasing power and periodic menace of low-priced unlicensed imported sugar.

    Group managing director, Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, Mr. Graham Clark, said the company has continued to implement efficiency and increased output as part of its operational focus.

    He said the company is in the process of upgrading  its quality systems towards achieving the Food Safety System Certificate(FSSC 2200), a Global Food Initiative (GFSI) recognised scheme, before the end of 2015.

    “This certification will further boost our food safety standards and position our product as the preferred brand to companies in the pharmaceutical and food and beverage industries in Nigeria,” Clark said.

     

  • ‘Why Graduate Internship Scheme contract was terminated’

    ‘Why Graduate Internship Scheme contract was terminated’

    Following the  directive by the Coordinating Minister for the Economy/Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for the termination of the partnership between the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) and Forecom Networks Limited (FNL) on the Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS), the GIS has clarified why the pact was terminated.

    In a briefing with reporters in Lagos, the GIS alleged that FNL did not keep to the terms of the contract. “We have decided to use one of the firms with large number of interns as an example to serve as a deterrent to other partners that do not keep to the terms of the contract,” the Head of Operations, GIS, Akubo Adegbe said.

    “The GIS will like to state that it will not hesitate to prosecute firms and/or interns that operate outside its guidelines,” he added. The GIS is one of the components of the Sure-P set up in 2012 by the Federal Government to reduce unemployment in the country.

    He explained that qualified graduates and companies register on the GIS website, which then deploy graduates to firms where they can gain valuable experience for 12 months. A monthly stipend is paid to each intern for the 12-month duration of the internship by the GIS, on the basis of how many days they work. So, companies can get free manpower in exchange for adequate mentoring of these graduates. There are about 22,000 interns currently on the scheme and up to 3,900 firms serving as valid employers.

    According to the FNL, problem started when the firm approached the GIS to recruit graduates for mobile money business. Apparently, after the required background check on the number of graduates the firm could engage was done, 2,000 interns were deployed to FNL.

    However, according to GIS, months after the graduates were deployed to the firm as interns, they were not deployed to work on mobile money business. Some interns were deployed to man the office of the FNL in Lagos and some of its state offices in Nigeria as officers that were to mentor other interns. This is not in line with the guidelines of the scheme, which demands that interns must be mentored by experienced staff of the partnering companies.

    Meanwhile, after terminating its partnership with FNL, GIS said it has taken steps to reintegrate the affected interns. “There would be internship opportunity fairs in the approved pilot states within the next three weeks to redeploy all interns that are still interested in the scheme to other organisations. The GIS will contact organisations that will take the interns located outside the pilot states.

  • We ‘ill drive growth with corporate governance, says ETI

    Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) Plc will continue to lay emphasis on best practices and good corporate governance as it seeks to consolidate its growth and deliver better returns to shareholders.

    Chairman, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), Mr. Emmanuel Ikazoboh, who gave this assurance at a reception for shareholders of the holding company, said the company has continued to implement the 51-point corporate governance action plan approved by shareholders last year.

    He said the company has implemented substantial part of the corporate governance while efforts are ongoing at resolving outstanding areas.

    He added that the governance structure at the board level was also being reviewed to produce an oversight architecture that would enable the board to be most effective in executing its oversight and reform agenda for ETI.

    He noted that the good corporate governance at the company has started to impact on its overall fundamentals and share price.

    According to him, between June 30, 2014 when the present board of directors was inaugurated and May 11, 2015, the company’s share price increased from N16.89 to N23.27 within the period, representing a 37.8 per cent increase.

    “Cost efficiency with cost income ratio has gone down from over 70 per cent a year ago to about 62.7 percent as at the first quarter of 2015 and is still going down. Our return on equity has improved markedly from 15 per cent in 2014 to 19 per cent in this first quarter and still increasing,” Ikazoboh said.

    He pointed out that the group’s non-performing loan ratio had dropped to less than four per cent, assuring that the company would build on this solid balance-sheet foundation to ensure strong performance in a sustainable manner.

    Ikazoboh reiterated that the Ecobank Group would continue to be an independent pan- African institution owned by Africans and other investors who subscribe to the pan African ideals of the company.

    “The ETI board of directors is strongly determined that your bank be the star performer you have always envisioned it to be. We shall take some difficult decisions in the short-term but we are confident that these decisions will reap benefits in the immediate future,” Ikazoboh said.

    He assured that the pan-African company has a bright future that will guarantee higher benefits for all stakeholders.

    The board of ETI Plc recommended a bonus issue of one share for every 15 shares already held by shareholders as return for the immediate past business year ended December 31, 2014.

    The bonus recommendation came as the financial services group announced that its net profit rose by 179 per cent in 2014. Key extracts of the audited report and accounts showed that net profit after tax jumped to N65.68 billion in 2014 as against N23.57 billion recorded in 2013. Pre-tax profit rose by 144 per cent from N35.37 billion to N86.44 billion. Gross earnings had grown by 19 per cent from N319.56 billion in 2013 to N379.32 billion in 2014.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Lafarge Africa promises better future as shareholders get N16b dividend

    •Osunkeye retires, Balogun becomes chairman 

    It was a bright weekend for shareholders of Lafarge Africa Plc as the company showcased the early benefits of its consolidation and distributed about N16 billion as cash dividends to shareholders.

    The annual general meeting at the weekend in Lagos also witnessed the retirement of the iconic chairman of the board, Chief Olusegun Osunkeye and the assumption of office by leading investment banker, Mr. Mobolaji Balogun.

    Addressing the shareholders, Osunkeye said the consolidation of the Lafarge businesses into Lafarge Africa has transformed the company into a group which is well equipped to continue its acceleration notwithstanding challenges in the market place.

    He outlined that with the consolidation, Lafarge Africa’s cement production capacity has grown from 4.5 million tonnes to about 12 million tonnes while 3.5 million cubic meters of ReadyMix concretes and over 5.0 million tons of Aggregates have been added to the portfolio.

    He noted that the company has doubled its turnover from N100 billion to N200 billion while the earnings before interest, tax depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) has grown from N36 billion to N55 billion. He added that N99 billion of cash was generated from operations in 2014.

    “All of this is building on the foundation which was laid over the last few years, and the transformation into Lafarge Africa Plc is a natural progression to take our company to the next level,” Osunkeye said.

    He assured that while the company’s Nigerian businesses have shown strong growths, the medium to long term outlook remains positive for the company’s South African business noting that the recent strengthening of Rand against Naira will increase the value of the South African profits to the group.

    Osunkeye, who received standing ovation from the shareholders, said he was leaving Lafarge Africa in a capable hand that could take it into the next level.

    “Balogun is a seasoned and committed director with breadth of experience across finance, strategy and management. He is very familiar with Lafarge’s business in Nigeria and Africa and I am sure he is the right person to chair the Board going forward,” Osunkeye said.

    He expressed his gratitude to all stakeholders and urged them to extend the same level of support to his successor, noting that it was a privilege and honour to have served on the board of the company for 14 years and as chairman for five years from October 2009.

    Shareholders approved the distribution of N15.86 billion dividend, representing a dividend per share of N3.60, 9.1 per cent above N3.30 distributed for the 2013 business year.

    In his remarks, group managing director, Lafarge Africa Plc,  Mr. Guillaume Roux  said the good performance of the company was due to management’s commitment to corporate governance, innovation, customer service and cost efficiency.

    He assured shareholders that the company would continue to enhance their investment’ value by creating better returns in the years ahead.

     

  • Ecobank secures $15m facility from U.S. export scheme

    Ecobank Nigeria said it has utilised a credit line under the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Export Credit Guarantee Programme. The GSM 102 programme, the bank said in a statement, provides credit guarantee to encourage commercial financing of U.S. agricultural commodity exports, thereby assisting U.S. exporters in making sales that might not otherwise occur.

    The Credit Line Under the US Government Export Guarantee Programme is reserved exclusively for the export of agricultural products from the U.S. It has facilitated increased trade of agricultural products between U.S. exporters and Nigerian importers and provided an avenue for competitively priced financing for longer tenors to both exporters and importers.

    It further provides the exporter guaranteed payment; enables exporters to agree credit terms with importers even as there is no minimum transaction size.

    Executive Director, Corporate Bank at Ecobank Nigeria, Ms. Foluke Aboderin, said the GSM 102 Facility which has the ability to be up-sized, has been used for Structured Trade Finance transactions with Cargill Financial Services International, one of the subsidiaries of the leading international commodities trading house, CARGILL Inc. Deutsche Bank played the role of confirming and partner bank.

    She said the recognition of Ecobank, a member of the Ecobank Group  by the U.S .government further highlights the unique advantages of partnering with a counterpart who has widespread foot print across the African continent.

    With presence in 36 countries in Africa, Ecobank is well positioned to provide easy access to international counterparties that have transactions across Africa, the emerging frontier market with significant untapped opportunities and strong demographics.

     

  • Local debt yield up on new cash reserves rule

    Local debt yield up on new cash reserves rule

    Nigeria’s bonds yields rose slightly yesterday after Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN’s) harmonisation of the Cash Reserves Requirement (CRR) on public and private sector deposits triggered a sell-off by some investors.

    At it’s rate-setting meeting on Tuesday, the (CRR), the amount the CBN requires banks to set aside, was revised to 31 per cent for both public and private sector deposits. Previously the CRR on private sector deposits was 20 per cent and 75 per cent for public sector deposits.

    Some banks that held more of the private sector deposits in CRR would be required to make an additional provision of 11 per cent due by today, triggering the selling down of their investment in bonds to raise additional money.

    “Some banks that have their deposits skewed to private sector are selling down their bond holdings in order to make provision for the increase in the CRR on the deposit, driving up yields at the market,” one dealer said.

    The yield on the benchmark bond maturing in 2024 inched up to 13.63 per cent from 13.60 per cent the previous day, while that on the 2022 paper rose to 13.59 per cent from 13.51 per cent. Interest rates on short borrowing among banks eased, following the injection of portion of the budgetary allocations to states and local government in the banking system.

    “Market liquidity increased to around N235 billion ($1 billion) on from deficit level the previous day,” a currency dealer said.

    Secured Open Buy Back (OBB) eased to seven per cent, while overnight placement fell to 8 percent from 15 per cent the previous day, traders said.

  • Reps repeal outdated Audit Law

    • Okay Federal Audit Service Commission

    Members of the House of Representatives yesterday passed a bill to repeal the Audit Act of 1958 through third reading and approved the establishment of the Federal Audit Service Commission Act.

    A Conference Committee chaired by Solomon Adeola, that will harmonise the bill passed by the Senate was set up by the Deputy Speaker, Hon Emeka Ihedioha who presided after the passage of the bill.

    The passage of the bill was sequel to a presentation of the Report of the joint Committee of Public Accounts and Justice by Hon. Adeola and the consideration of the report by a committee of the whole House.

    The new Audit bill, with the title  “An Act for the establishment of the Office of the Auditor For the Federation, Audit Service Commission, Additional Powers and Functions of Auditor General and For Matters Connected Therewith”

    Chairman of the House Committee on Public Accounts, Solomon Olamilekan- Adeola  while speaking on the merits of the bill noted  that the Bill would ensure effective oversight and strengthen the anti-corruption functions of the Auditor General.

    His words: “The passed bill will give more powers to the Auditor General as well as established an Audit Service Commission to take care of recruitment, training and other welfare issues of auditing staff of Auditor General’s Office.”

    The lawmaker said the new bill will give the Office of the Auditor- General autonomy and release it from the shackles and apron stings of the executive.

    According to Clause 1(4) of the bill, the Auditor General shall be assisted by two deputy Auditors-General who shall be of the same rank in public service with a permanent secretary and such other staff as may be appointed by the Federal Audit Service Commission on the recommendation of the Auditor General.

    Clause 4 which provides that the AGF shall take an oath administered by the Chief Justice of Nigeria before assuming office, as specified in Part A of the schedule 1 of the bill was deleted during the consideration.

     

  • SEC suspends BGL’s firms, Okumagba, others from capital market

    SEC suspends BGL’s firms, Okumagba, others from capital market

    Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), yesterday came down heavily on one of Nigeria’s leading investment banking groups with the suspension of the BGL Group and its subsidiaries from all capital market activities.

    In a statement,  SEC said its decisions were based on the “report of a detailed investigation into the various complaints received from investors against subsidiaries of BGL Group”. The decisions were taken by the executive management committee at its meeting on Tuesday.

    SEC had late April intervened in the operations of BGL Group Plc, suspended its board and set up an interim management board for the group. The interim management board, headed by a former president of Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS), Mr Oladipo Aina, was mandated to conduct full investigation into the operations of BGL Group. Other members of the interim board were Mr. Abubakar Ambursa, Mrs. Hafsat Rufai, Ms. Temitayo Siyanbola and Ms. Tonne Ladipo-Ajayi.

    On the basis of the investigation report, SEC yesterday announced the suspension of BGL Asset Management Limited, BGL Capital Limited and BGL Securities Limited from all capital market activities.

    The Commission also directed that all major officials and sponsored individuals of BGL Asset Management Limited, BGL Capital Limited and BGL Securities Limited whose particulars are contained in the Commission’s record as at December last year  be suspended from performing any capital market activity.

    SEC particularly cited Mr. Albert Okumagba, the group managing director of BGL Group and directed that Okumagba, who was the president of CIS before the April sack of the board, should cease to be a registered sponsored individual with the Commission following the withdrawal of the registration of BGL Plc as a capital market operator.  With this directive, Okumagba, one of the most influential capital market operators, will therefore no longer be entitled to carry out capital market activities.

    Besides, the apex capital market regulator stated that it has referred what it described as “suspicious transactions” observed in the course of the investigation to the appropriate law enforcement agencies for further investigation.

    According to the statement, BGL Asset Management Limited, BGL Capital Limited and BGL Securities Limited and all individuals involved in the management of the companies have also been referred to the Administrative Proceedings Committee (APC) of SEC for further trial.

    BGL Plc is quoted on the NASD Plc, the over-the-counter (OTC) market for the trading of shares and securities of unlisted public limited liability companies. Founded in 1993 and formerly known as Banc Garanti Limited, BGL Plc commenced business as a bank holding company with the aim of acquiring distressed or underperforming institutions in the banking sector.

    It quickly built up a large portfolio of assets and earned reputation as one of the most influential investment banking firms in Nigeria. BGL Securities is the stockbroking arm of the group and it is a major dealing member of the Nigerian Stock Exchange. It is ranked variously as one of the top 20 stockbroking firms at the stock market. BGL Asset Management, a wholly owned subsidiary of BGL Plc, was incorporated in April 2007 and it deals primarily as the asset management arm of the group.