The Nation Newspaper

Tag: loss

  • Emordi shocked at Warriors’ loss

    Emordi shocked at Warriors’ loss

    Abia Warriors head coach, Okey Emordi was shell-shocked after his side lost the top-flight clash against visiting side, El Kanemi Warriors.

    A goal by attacking winger, Hussaini Bata in the 8th minute proved adequate to hand the Maiduguri Warriors their first away win of the on-going top-flight.

    Emordi said he did not bargain for what befell his side in the encounter against El Kanemi Warriors.

    “It was a very unfortunate result losing on home ground to El Kanemi Warriors.

    “We never bargained for the poor result as this is a game we could have won comfortably.

    “I think everybody put his legs wrongly in the duration of the match, it’s truly a bad day for us.

    “Very unfortunate the encounter ended poorly for us after a good match practice.

    “Well, it has come to pass we cannot do anything on the outcome of the match, we have to put it behind us to forge ahead on reclaiming the points in other matches.

    “Definitely, today (Sunday) is a bad day that we got everything wrong,” said the former Enyimba and Enugu Rangers coach to supersport.com.

    The loss to El Kanemi Warriors leaves Abia Warriors’ total earning at 11 points from possible 27 in the nine-week old top-flight.

     

  • MTN expects loss after Nigeria’s $1b fine

    MTN Group expects to report a full-year loss due to a $1billion regulatory fine in Nigeria and for under-performance both in Nigeria and South Africa, the company said yesterday.

    MTN had agreed in June to pay a N330 billion ($1.05 billion at the time) fine for missing a deadline to cut off unregistered subscriber identity module (SIM) cards from its network.

    Shares in MTN, which fell more than 4 per cent at market open, were 3.82 per cent lower at 113.25 rand at 07:33 a.m., its lowest level since December.

    MTN is the largest mobile phone company in Nigeria, the continent’s biggest economy, and accounts for a third of MTN’s revenue.

    It said the net effect of the Nigerian fine for the year ended December was a negative impact of 474 cents per share.

    MTN will issue a further trading statement on the likely range within which its headline loss is expected.

    Underlying operational results for full-year 2016 were also affected by fees incurred for a planned listing in Nigeria.

    The result also showed MTN under-performance of its units both in Nigeria and in South Africa in the first half of last year.

    MTN said it aims to list its Nigerian operations on the local bourse this year, subject to market conditions.

  • Guinness Nigeria posts N4.7b loss in six months

    Guinness Nigeria posts N4.7b loss in six months

    Guinness Nigeria Plc recorded a net loss of N4.67 billion in the first half of its current business year but the brewing giant also remarkably grew sales by 19.4 per cent to N59.49 billion.

    Key extracts of the interim unaudited report and accounts of Guinness Nigeria for six-month period ended December 31, 2017 showed that turnover rose to N59.49 billion by December 2016 compared with N49.84 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2015. Cost of sales however rose by about 55 per cent from N28.44 billion to N43.94 billion. With this, the company suffered a pre-tax loss of N4.66 billion in 2016 as against a pre-tax profit of N1.65 billion in 2015. After taxes, net loss for the six-month period rose to N4.67 billion compared with net profit of N1.17 billion in comparable period of 2015.

    Investors at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) reacted negatively to the earnings report, dropping the share price of the company by 5.0 per cent to N66.55.

    Shareholders had on Tuesday approved the plan by the company to raise up to N40 billion in new equity funds through a rights issue as part of efforts to optimise the balance sheet and provide long-term funds to support business expansion. Net finance cost jumped by 166.3 per cent to N4.58 billion by December 2016 as against N1.72 billion recorded in the six-month ended December 2015.

    Commenting on the company’s performance, managing director, Guinness Nigeria, Mr. Peter Ndegwa, said there were many bright spots for the company but that the challenging economic environment and high finance charges impacted results.

    “We now have both International Premium Spirits (IPS) and locally manufactured mainstream spirits within our portfolio and these contributed to revenue growth for the half year. Our accessible beer brands also continue to grow strongly. Our productivity agenda continues to gain momentum enabling us to keep our administrative and distribution costs under control while optimizing our investments to support our brands,” Ndegwa said.

    He attributed the negative bottom-line to high input costs driven partly by foreign exchange and foreign exchange impact on financing costs noting that the unrealised foreign exchange losses during the half year were responsible for the 166 per cent growth in net finance cost.

    In his remarks, chairman, board of directors, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Mr. Babatunde Savage, said the company remained optimistic about its future despite the prevailing challenging operating environment.

    “We are confident that the steps we are taking to steer the business through these difficult times – including a comprehensive review of our capital structure, the expansion of our brand portfolio and our continued focus on reducing operating costs, will sustain the momentum we have in top-line growth and bottom line recovery,” Savage said.

    Analysts at FBN Capital said the performance of Guinness Nigeria was in line with the industry trend in the consumer goods sector, noting that “Guinness continues to suffer from the unfavourable macroeconomic conditions”.

    According to analysts, with estimated imports of 65 per cent of raw materials, the foreign exchange pressure the company faces is being reflected in the gross margin line.

  • Equities slip further with N11b loss

    The equities market posted a negative performance yesterday as the market continued to experience selling pressure especially on consumer goods and oil and gas stocks.

    The benchmark index, the All-Share Index (ASI) shed 32.86 absolute points, representing a dip of 0.13 per cent to close at 26,245.34 points. Similarly, the market capitalization declined by N11 billion, to close at N9.030 trillion.

    The dip was largely due to depreciation recorded in some medium and large capitalized stocks including Guinness, Unilever, Forte Oil, Nestle, Okomu Oil, Mobil, ETI and Zenith Bank.

    Analysts noted said that, “Given the current weak macro-economic fundamentals, market performance remains subdued in opening trades this year save for the rally in banking stocks. Hence, barring any news to stoke investors’ appetite and release of company earnings, we expect further losses for the rest of the week.”

    Also, performance across sectors was largely bearish. The Oil & Gas index led sector losers’ closing 0.44 per cent lower due to persistent sell-offs in Forte Oil and Oando. The Consumer Goods index went down by 0.2 per cent continued the bearish streak which has persisted since the start of the year as losses in Nestle, Guinness and Unilever dragged the index lower. Similarly, the Banking index shed 0.10 per cent due to profit taking in ETI and Zenith Bank, while the Industrial Goods and Insurance indices closed the day flat.

    Market breadth closed negative with 12 gainers and 20 losers. AG Leventis led the gainers table by 4.76 per cent to close at 88 kobo per share. Cutix followed with a gain of 2.11 per cent to close at N1.45, while Airline Services gained 1.92 per cent to close at N2.65 per share.

    Also, Wema Bank went up by 1.89 per cent to close at 54 kobo and Continental Reinsurance rose by 1.82 per cent to close at N1.12 per share.

    On the other hand, Guinness and Portland Paints led the laggards’ table by five per cent each, to close at N63.65 and N1.71 per share, respectively, while Diamond Bank trailed with a loss of 4.80 per cent to close at N1.19 per share.

    Also, Unilever declined by 4.29 per cent to close at N33.50, while Transcorp shed by 3.33 per cent to close at 87 kobo per share.

    Meanwhile, the total volume traded appreciated by 6.17 per cent to 394.82 million shares, valued at N1.37 billion, and traded in 3,015 deals. Transactions in the shares of Continental Reinsurance topped the activity chart with 149.57 million shares valued at N164.52 million. Fidelity Bank followed with 51.64 million shares worth N48.04 million, while United Capital traded 30.25 million shares valued at N105.46 million.

    Diamond Bank traded 26.13 million shares worth N31.36 and UBA transacted 21.56 million shares valued at N109.83 million.

  • Loss of reasoning and abuse of title

    SIR: To the “end time army” of religious rangers in my country of birth currently fighting for “the restoration of God back to the American society”, Donald Trump is the flawless chosen one to lead this war. For that reason, it is tolerable for him to constantly throw temper tantrums like a child deprived of his toy or candy.  Even more, it is okay if he grotesquely denies things he said and did from the day he started running for office till date. Boasting about his unwillingness to acknowledge error is another peculiarity the chosen one is allowed to enjoy.

    For the records, I like to swiftly state that this piece is not meant to ridicule, pastors, Christians or Christianity. I am a Christian who has had the privilege to work in the Orthodox and Pentecostal religious circle in South West and Northern Nigeria, and currently in the Diaspora.

    Be that as it may, religious values seem to have, as a matter of fact, taken a twist these days. It seems as if we Christians are no longer raised to think. Rather, we are told what to think and, in most cases, intimidated into allowing one man or woman of God to further do the thinking for us. As a consequence, many non-Christians now see Christians as a collection of myrmidons who misrepresent what they preach or believe in. To many, church is now synonymous with money, materialism, and glamour.

    The consequence of this mistaken impression which we have, unconsciously, painted to non-Christians is creating more harm than good. The carrot and stick approach employed by mainstream Evangelical/Pentecostal leadership, and followership in Nigeria, towards growing false tales about the church is even making things worse. Their act of shushing people who voice out any opinion on issues they consider cultural, embellished or artificial also raises questions about the rectitude of our faith.

    Is the Church not supposed to be a place for educating devotees about truth, love, humility, forgiveness, godliness, faith, and encouraging them to grow in these tenets?

    Sadly, leaders in some Churches now teach rancor. They also help in spreading conspiracy theories, and encourage worshippers to be hostile to values that are actually personal and not biblical. As if that is not bad enough, we have graduated to interpreting series of local and global events on the pulpit in a way that violates basic intellectual, biblical and ecclesiastical decency.  For example, I read from a pastor’s Facebook feed that “ISIS was created by Hilary Clinton and President Obama to wipe out Jews and Christians from the surface of the earth”.  I personally think it is wrong for any cleric to fructify such rumours especially from a supposed place of spiritual authority. This is an abuse of title is escalating in our society.

    Well, there is no record in the Bible where we are commanded to blindly follow anyone. Instead, we are encouraged by Act of the Apostles chapter 17 verse 11 to be like the people of Berea who listened eagerly to Paul’s message. Afterwards, they examine the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth. The word of God is the only source of truth. We should subject all that is taught or written to the authority of God’s holy word.

    As leaders in churches and teachers of the word of God, we should keep our personal views to ourselves. Our job is to help and encourage Christians to be Christ-like. Also, it is expected that we inspire them to double-check utterances from the pulpits whether the principles preached and taught are biblical or personal.

    We are not called to be bigots and policemen of the world.

     

    • David Dimas,

    Laurel, Maryland, U.S.A

  • Uwua stunned at NPFL loss

    Uwua stunned at NPFL loss

    Lobi Stars head coach, Godwin Uwua has expressed deep shock at his side top-flight loss to Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC).

    The Pride of Benue were pegged 0-2 by the Oluyole Warriors in yesterday’s Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) matchday 1 clash at the Lekan Salami Stadium in Ibadan.

    One goal in each half by the duo, Waheed Afolabi and Sunday Faleke in the 22nd and 66th minutes respectively saw the Makurdi outfit go down without a point after matchday 1 clash.

    Uwua said his side may have underrated the will power of their counterparts from Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC).

    “Well the league just started though if I must lose I was not expecting two unreplied goals. This very encounter has been won and lost, we have pushed it behind us to focus and plan for the next match.

    “Sometimes you learn from your mistakes. I believe my players underrated their opposite, 3SC by allowing the first goal and another cheeky one. I’m not blaming anyone for the loss to 3SC I believe the players gave their best in the clash.

    “We will work hard to win the next match against Kano Pillars to get ourselves back to the contest,” said the former Niger Tornadoes coach to supersport.com.

  • Bala satisfied despite loss to Sanders

    Bala satisfied despite loss to Sanders

    Niger Tornadoes head coach, Abubakar Bala has expressed satisfaction with his side’s performance against non-league side, Sanders FC.

    The top-flight side was beaten 3-2 by the non-league team in a friendly match on Saturday at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital ground in Zaria.

    “We lost 2-3 to Sanders FC, though we out-played the side in every department of the game. People have called from home to express their worries over the loss to the non-league side. We quite understand their feelings but again defeat is equally part of the game of football.

    “The result did not go on our way but in terms of the purpose of the game, which is mainly a test as well as assessment match I’m satisfied with what I saw. The key concentration for me is how the players are able to create chances, fight for ball, recovery rate as well as finishing.

    “It’s a good match and good performance too, and I’m happy we are inching closer to perfection before the kick-off of the league. We will continue the assessment and test work in the remaining four matches on our hands before the first NPFL match.

    “We will play against Nasara FC today (Sunday), then from Monday to Wednesday engage Demba Academy, Gombe United and Kaduna Professionals in Kaduna. We will work very hard to win the matches to instil confidence in the players heading into NPFL matchday 1 clash at Mountain of Fire Miracles Ministries (MFM) FC,” said the former FC Lokoja coach to supersport.com.

    Tornadoes’ first league season’s match will be at MFM FC on Sunday at the Agege Township Stadium in Lagos.

  • Dangote Cement pushes equities to N97b loss

    Dangote Cement pushes equities to N97b loss

    A significant depreciation in the share price of Nigeria’s most capitalised quoted company, Dangote Cement Plc, dampened the market situation at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) yesterday as the loss suffered by the cement company reversed hitherto positive market position to a net capital loss of N97 billion.

    With its first widespread rally this year and more advancers than decliners, the Nigerian stock market was on course for a modest gain but a 4.01 per cent decline in share price of Dangote Cement overwhelmed other gains and left the overall market position with its third consecutive decline.

    Dangote Cement accounts for nearly one-third of total market capitalisation at the Exchange. Dangote Cement recorded the highest loss, in value terms, of N6.97 to close at N167.02.

    The benchmark index at the NSE, the All Share Index (ASI), declined by 1.07 per cent from its opening index of 26,495.04 points to close at 26,212.09 points. Aggregate market value of all quoted equities also dropped from N9.116 trillion to close at N9.019 trillion.

    With the third consecutive decline, the average year-to-date return at the stock market so far this year built up to -2.47 per cent.

    Other top losers yesterday included Guinness Nigeria, which dropped by N4.15 to close at N78.90; Forte Oil, which lost N2.85 to close at N80.75; Stanbic IBTC Holdings, which dropped by 63 kobo to N15; Nigerian Aviation Handling Company, which lost 30 kobo to close at N2.86 and Dangote Flour Mills, which declined by 21 kobo to close at N4.04 per share.

    Sectoral analysis also showed the negative influence of the highly capitalised stocks on their sectors. The NSE Industrial Goods Index, where Dangote Cement is listed, recorded above-average decline of 1.8 per cent. The NSE Consumer Goods Index dropped by 0.29 per cent while the NSE Oil & Gas Index slipped by 0.14 per cent. On the upside, the NSE Banking Index rose by 1.7 per cent while the NSE Insurance Index appreciated by 0.7 per cent.

    There were 17 gainers against 16 losers. Beta Glass and CAP led the gainers with a gain of N1 each to close at N30 and N33 respectively. Guaranty Trust Bank followed with a gain of 57 kobo to close at N23.47. Access Bank rose by 29 kobo to N6.14. Oando rallied 24 kobo to close at N4.54. Cadbury Nigeria rose by 22 kobo to N10 while UACN Property Development Company chalked up 21 kobo to close at N3.09 per share.

    Total turnover stood at 137.69 million shares valued at N898.71 million in 2,488 deals. Fidelity Bank was the most active stock with a turnover of 25.06 million shares worth N20.98 million. Diamond Bank followed with 16.95 million shares worth N15.26 million while United Capital placed third with 11.04 million shares valued at N31.84 million.

  • Ihenacho still upset by his 2015 election loss, says Okorocha

    Ihenacho still upset by his 2015 election loss, says Okorocha

    Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha yesterday said former Minister of Interior and governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the 2015 election, Captain Emmanuel Ihenacho, is still brooding over his failure in the election.

    The governor, who was reacting to Ihenacho’s newspaper interview where he referred to him (Okorocha) as a dictator, described the former minister as a “briefcase politician” who saw politics as a personal business.

    In a statement in Owerri, the state capital, by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, the governor said: “The truth is that Captain Iheanacho is still nursing the wound of his abysmal outing in the governorship election of 2015 in the state. He lost his deposit in that election and he is yet to keep that frightening experience behind him.

    “Again, Captain Iheanacho, with due respect, is a briefcase politician who sees politics as part of his personal business. The expectation at the end of the day is the huge profit. That was the reason he could not win, at least, in his Owerri North Local Government Area in the 2015 governorship election in which he was the candidate of a party like APGA, which Owelle Okorocha used to win the 2011 governorship election and won majority seats in the House of Assembly and a House of Representatives seat without help from any quarter.”

    The statement added: “It was not surprising, therefore, that Captain Iheanacho could only have 393 votes in the 2015 governorship election in his Owerri North Local Government Area, while Okorocha had 13,493 votes.

    “Even his agents and coordinators

    allegedly voted against him because he was not forthcoming in appreciating that they were working for him.

    “We had taken time to go through the interview to see whether Captain Iheanacho said anything to justify the accusations against the governor; we could not find any. He only talked about the governor demolishing houses in his urban renewal programme. He could not also explain how the state is in trouble under Okorocha.

    “For the umpteenth time, we have told those who care much about the truth that no building has been demolished since the dualisation of some major roads in Owerri began. What have been demolished were fences, shanties and kiosks erected on the roads. We have challenged anybody, including Captain Iheanacho, to mention or publish the location of any building that has been demolished, including his own. But all to no avail.

    “In the interview, he never accused Governor Okorocha of non-performance and he never said the list of Okorocha’s monumental achievements published in some newspapers were false. We take the floor to celebrate that. Then, if Okorocha is working as governor, how then is Imo in trouble under him?”

    The statement added: “He was minister, and it is up to him to tell his audience why he does not talk about his outing as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    “Finally, we want to sincerely appeal to Captain Iheanacho to face his business where he is doing exceptionally well and leave politics for those who know that you can invest in the venture without expecting anything in turn at the end of the day.”

  • Baraje calls MFM tough in NPFL loss

    Baraje calls MFM tough in NPFL loss

    Plateau United head coach,  Zachary Baraje has spoken glowingly of Nigerian top-flight newcomers, Mountain of Fire Miracles Ministries (MFM) FC.

    The Tin City side piped the Olukoya Boys 1-0 in Sunday’s Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) match day 29 clash at the Agege Township Stadium in Lagos.

    Former Heartland and Kano Pillars hitman, Kabiru Umar scored the match winner to hand his side a vital away three points.

    Baraje said tactical discipline proved decisive to hand his side the winner in the clash against difficult and great side, MFM FC.

    “It’s a difficult match playing a quality side like Mountain of Fire Miracles Ministries (MFM) FC at their fortress in Agege, Lagos.

    “MFM FC are not walkovers they put every pressure to even scores but did not yield the desired result because I told my wards to calm down, absorb the pressure and chance a counter.

    “I used two weeks to prepare for the match at MFM FC because I know the quality in the side and the uphill task in the matchup.

    “My wards are quite exciting and good and were tactically disciplined in the game.

    “They played strictly to instruction so I can say that tactical discipline contributed greatly to the hard fought victory.

    “Of course, we are gradually climbing out from the uncomfortable zone though not yet completely out of it.

    “There is still work to be done as we have quality opposition in the remaining matches on the calendar.

    “We just have to work even harder to consolidate on our recent successes and hopefully we will escape the drop,” said the former Akwa United and Enyimba coach to supersport.com.

    The away win at MFM FC has upped the Jos landlords total earnings to 36 points, 12 adrift league leaders, Enugu Rangers.