The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Nigeria newspaper

  • Soyinka to Fed Govt: stop using force to silence Nigerians

    Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka has cautioned the Federal Government against the use of force to curtail the peoples right to freedom of association.

    Notable activists, including Soyinka and Femi Falana (SAN) were denied access into the symposium venue in Oregun, Lagos. They were billed to talk on the detention of the African Action Congress (AAC) candidate at the February 23 presidential election, Omoyele Sowore and #RevolutionNow.

    The literary icon, who also urged Nigerians against believing everything read online, said it was wrong for security operatives to apply force to reduce the people’s freedom.

    He spoke at the weekend in Badagry at the inauguration of a gallery in commemoration of his 85th birthday.

    Soyinka said: “It is important to send strong message to this government and to the security services to stop trying to muzzle people when they come together to exchange ideas.

    “You’re reducing them as human beings and you’re also reducing yourselves as human beings, because it means you’re afraid to listen,” said the Nobel Laureate.

    “One of the beauties of existence is the ability to express concern which we cannot compromise.” Creativity takes place in an atmosphere of absolute freedom,” adding that “the reduction of the rights of expression of any one of us is an infringement and assault on the rights of all of us”.

    Read Also: #RevolutionNow: 90-day detention must be challenged, says Falana

    Advising Nigerians not to belive everything they read on the social media but rather take such online publications “with a pinch of salt”.

    Soyinka said: “Be very, very careful what you believe even when you read such materials in social media or sometimes in newspapers because in this country, we have a most fertile multiplier effect.

    “When somebody hears something, he puts it on the Internet, it spreads and an industry begins as people start commenting on things which never existed.

    “Positive, negative or neutral, it doesn’t matter; what matters is that somebody’s identity has been stolen and some contemptable cowards are responsible for stealing that individual’s identity.

    “Putting words in his or her mouth and thereby generating totally non-existent irrelevant contestations.

    “So, when you read things on social media, take it with a pinch of salt, decide whether it makes sense because the person who posted it might have a private agenda.”

    According to him, the social media was supposed to be an “empowering media” which was being abused by some people.

    He said: “Sometimes on social media, you’ll even see trending quotes supposedly from me, with my name, my photograph, with statements which represents what those people want to say but lacked the courage to say it,” he said.

    He advised people to read books when in doubt in order to question the authenticity of what they see on social media.

    “Never turn your back on an opportunity or chance to reading a work or product of somebody’s mind; that way you enter the minds of others, you dispute with them, examine ideas, expand your horizons and make the entire universe a better place.”

  • Expert bemoans Nigeria’s exclusion from G7 Summit

    A foreign affairs expert, Prof. Bola Akinterinwa, is unhappy about Nigeria’s exclusion from the ongoing Group of Seven (G7) Heads of Government Summit in France.

    Akinterinwa, a former Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), said Nigeria might have been left out because of the country’s poor foreign policy focus.

    Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy and the country with the largest population, which should have qualified her for an invitation to the meeting of the top industrialised nations.

    Nigeria was not also invited to the last summit held in Canada. Only Senegal, South Africa and Egypt were invited.

    Speaking to an online publication, The Pledge, at the weekend, Akinterinwa said: “You would need to be agreeable to be invited to take a decision. So, who they believe should be invited are those countries that they have invited.

    Read Also: Buhari: Slavery still exists – we must take action

    “So, the truth of the matter is that Nigeria’s foreign policy is lacklustre; it doesn’t have any focus, and it is not ideologically driven; always very reactive.

    “More importantly, the President is the chief servant, but the entourage working with him are not allowing him to see clearly.

    “One major reason which explains why we couldn’t have been invited is that countries like Senegal, their foreign policies are always well-protected in France. They are very close to the European Union, but our own former colonial master is the one going out of the European Union. So, how will you want Britain to now come, advice and be pushing for Nigeria to be invited to an organisation itself is seeking to get out from? It’s not logically consistent.

    “Our foreign policy objectives are at best ill-defined. We don’t have it. Look at what we call foreign policy focus. Donald Trump set one example. He said America first. What does that mean? America first simply means that the determination of the priority of interest whenever they are at stake; it means under no circumstance will there be any interest that is superior to that of the United States of America.

    “Donald Trump, after America first, moved to the level of saying Make America Great Again. That has been his propaganda, but now as he is contesting for re-election now, he is saying “Keep America Great’, he is not saying Make America Great, he is saying that America is already great, let us sustain it.

    “What are we doing about Nigeria? In South Africa, they are killing Nigerians on a daily basis and then the foreign minister will come and tell us that they have signed one agreement with South Africa or they are going to have bi-national Commission. We are not really serious in this country. We have people whether they are cabinet members or politicians, who only think in terms of the centre-plan as national interest.”

    The G7 is a bloc comprising industrialised democracies, namely Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

    They meet yearly to discuss issues such as global economic and political governance. Like the G20, the G7 does not have a permanent secretariat or legal status and features the participation of ministers, central bank governors and heads of states of major industrialised economies, with member states accounting for 10 per cent of the world’s population and 46 per cent of the global GDP.

  • Banality upon banality

    If you always dive into the sewers, how do you soar to the skies, to help raise public discourse, lift policy and ensure good governance?

    How do you rise to dizzying heights, in terms of winning ideas, if your thinking is fixated on Lilliput — remember Lilliput, the fictional place of the puny race, in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver Travels?

    A president announced a line of official reportage, via the chief of staff and the secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), and the media goes ga-ga with sterile controversy! Is the trite even beyond the ken of the most vocal in the public space?

    A new minister, in self-deprecatory banter to the top echelon of his ministry, jokes he knows little about his new posting, and a newspaper turns it to be hot news, followed by impassioned debates, about square pegs in round holes, as that cliche goes!

    Even if some members of the public can’t quite read between the lines, must the media also serve news outside its context, to drive banal controversies, and, for commerce, mislead their readers?

    What President Muhammadu Buhari said about ministers going through the chief of staff; and the SGF coordinating policy, cabinet, inter-ministry, agencies and departmental affairs is trite.  Yet it elicited thunderous debate, especially by the political opposition, which seems to have run out of gas, except when clutching to mischief, no matter how absurd.

    As to serving the comment by Rauf Aregbesola, new minister of the Interior, out of context, the media lobby that plagued his Osun governorship with deliberate bad press appears to have fired their first shot, to welcome him to his new beat.

    Still, doesn’t ethics in reportage hold anything for today’s media?  Is clear abuse of media space, by the deliberate skew of stories, which borders on media terrorism, now the norm?

    Clearly, such empty sensationalism is not sustainable.  It is the biblical wide and merry way that leads to perdition.  Any medium that travels that route only chisels away at its own credibility, until it becomes completely nude, with all the shame public nudity brings.  But beyond individual self-destruction by some media, it also chisels away at the believability of the industry, and a dip, in its collective confidence level, in the market.

    If sales and readership of newspapers are constricting by the day, at least you know one of the reasons.

    But beyond market suicide, how can the media raise the level of public discourse, if all its leading lights do is feed on empty and banal controversies?

    If the media yells and screams and hoots about low-quality governance, how can it be a solution and cure, if its own pastime is low-quality reportage, that fuels low quality controversies?

    For any society desiring progress and advancement, banality should be a no-no.  But that seems completely lost on all, in this season of banality and more banality.

  • A modest applause

    It is not often that a writer can see his words travel from the page onto the stage of action. Not the playwright’s stage, which is often in the province of fiction; but when a piece of suggestion or observation translates into government action.

    This essayist has enjoyed this rare gift within one month. Not long ago, in the essay, Eye in the Sky, I suggested that the drone as a stealth strategy could radicalise the war on bandits. Barely 10 days later, President Muhammadu Buhari weaponised it as a major policy. Drone in the air, death on earth to goons.

    Barely two weeks afterwards, I suggested that the lanky Timipre Sylva be made the minister of state for Petroleum, and in a short, compelling sway, this column homed in on the former governor’s hefty credentials and competence. Again, Buhari’s ears opened and he picked Sylva to assist him in that ministry of ministries.

    Even the minister of Interior, the ebullient Rauf Aregbesola launched his service with a policy thrust on how to gather intelligence. As if under the spell of In Touch, he said the National Security and Civil Defence Corps would focus on intelligence gathering to complement government agencies, especially the military. In Eye In the Sky, this essayist also called on the government to domesticate intelligence agencies that could help as Nigeria’s private eye, stalkers and whispers in the fashion of Kashim Shettima’s Civilian JTF.  Aregbesola was also borrowing a leaf from himself as governor.  His Osun State stewardship refined the idea of youth mobilisation on many fronts, from agriculture to security. He is bringing that chorus to the centre.

    It is kudos to the President and Aregbesola that In Touch cruises into policy. It detracts from the view of some cynics, who see this essayist only in the light of a bulldozer. In Touch is a two-edged sword. This writer has, for polemical and patriotic standpoints, stirred some bubbles in the polity. And no apologies. In contrast, some can point to a tranquil record of official engagement as well, which has happened unadvertised several times over the years. I am not puffing and huffing like Norman Mailer who wrote, An Advertisement for My Style. As Yorubas say, Mi o sako. Warri people say, I no do yanga. Just stating the facts.

    On grander scales, writers have fuelled rebellions, revolutions, wars. William Randolph Hearst’s newspaper fomented the Spanish-American war. The writer of Uncle Tom’s cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe, met American president Lincoln. And the 16th U.S president quipped: “So, you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this war.”

    Just as I predicted Sylva, permutations perfumed the air. Intrigues flared beneath the public glare. Some names were thrown into speculative maelstrom and some writers positioned them as inevitable. Jeddy Agba was seen in some quarters as the minister of oil. But they may have overexposed the man. They did not have In Touch’s prose and polemics but the Agba narrative revealed a basic skein of the ministerial intrigues. Names on the burner became targets of incineration. That may have given Sylva the upper hand since the argument of technocracy and politics favoured the former Bayelsa governor.

    Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) was another factor of speculation. Part of it was the Ambode factor. How could Fashola, the pre-eminent minister, lose his slot to Ambode, a new arm? Many asked. Ambode, according to reports, had lobbied laboriously. Some even said Buhari would pick him to spite the Lagos bigwigs and repay him for going into the doldrums after only one term as governor. Here again, the man was overexposed.  Buhari did not only reappoint Fashola, he also picked another Lagos man and party loyalist, Olorunnimbe Mamora.

    Fashola has two ministries. When he was given three ministries in the first term, he was a cynosure of envy and praise. I designated him three-in-one minister which gained traction more than the bellwether nomenclature. Now, he is given two, some have argued why not one? His typifies the contradiction in the debate over whether we should reduce the cost of governance. With one minister in three, he saved cost. One cost has been added. But power is a unique ministry. The fundamental problem of how the DISCOs and GENCOs emerged has to be tackled. The minister, as Fashola pounded into our ears, has no powers other than policy. Most of it has not been ironed out in the deals with the GENCOs and DISCOs. In the words of Prophet Ezekiel, we have to overturn and overturn and overturn until who deserves to run the shows of the agencies and the rules of engagement. Other than that, nothing can happen in power. We will generate and not distribute.

    Fashola as the Trojan of Works has opportunity to work without let. Eleyinmi and co did not give him money to work for political reasons. The minister, too, would not yield to blandishments and coercion from the lawmakers who wanted him to veer from his constitutional mandate. I hope the new assembly knows what is at stake.

    I am curious about the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management. It is curious. Is it going to take over some of the Vice President’s work, especially the social security part? Or is it bringing in more imagination to welfare?

    Many predicted Godswill Akpabio as Niger Delta minister and Festus Keyamo – Government College Ughelli old boy. In spite of Keyamo’s law acumen, few expected him to be attorney general. Malami had it wrapped up for all his failures. So too for Lai Mohammed for Information and Amaechi for Transportation. Amaechi’s job is pruned, but his hands are full with the rail project, though.

    Sunday Dare was expected to go to Communications, having served as the poster face of the NCC for the past few years. But he takes on Sports, a virile assignment that he has grabbed with gusto. Thinking legacy, he is talking up the revival of the Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abuja.

    In all, the argument that it is a cabinet of politicians, not of technocrats is either ignorant or mischievous. To ignore those who worked for your victory is ingratitude. Yet we forget that many of the so-called politicians came into the fray as technocrats. Is it Amaechi, or Fashola, or Sylva, or Mamora? Or Keyamo or Akpabio? Technocrats became politicians and we forget because political flourish tends to overwhelm the life of a professional.

    Well, it’s time to work. Legacy beckons and there is no excuse.

  • Cornerstone recovers from loss, makes N2b profit

    Cornerstone Insurance Plc has returned to profitability. Its 2018 financial year end. Its Profit before Tax for  2018 stood at N2.66 billion. This is coming after a period of losses.

    The company’s Gross Premium Written (GPW) for the financial year ended December 31, 2018 stood at N11.5 billion, an increase of 25 per cent from the previous year.

    The largest contributor to this result is the Group Life portfolio, which contributed N2.01 billion, representing 17 per cent of GPW.

    The entire life insurance portfolio recorded a growth of 48 per cent from that of previous year.

    Read Also: FBN General Insurance settles N902m claims

    Its Chairman, Mr Segun Adebanji said at 27th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the company, that the financial performance of Cornerstone Insurance has continued to record growth in revenue, despite challenging market conditions.

    He said: “The growth was driven by regulatory changes to Group Life Insurance pricing limits and the introduction of a new product targeted at retail segments. The Individual Life Insurance portfolio grew by 370 per cent from the previous year, representing N621 million in 2018 from N132 million in 2017. The Engineering, Oil & Gas product segments continued to dominate our General Business portfolio with a combined contribution of 57 per cent of General Business Premiums (N4.13 billion), giving credence to the emergence of Cornerstone Insurance as a leading special risks underwriter.

    “A review of our overly prudent claims reserving methodology during the year saw our Gross Claims incurred for the year drop to N4.53 billion from N7.74 billion in the previous year, aligning more with the Industry average.

    ‘’In accordance with the provisions of IFR S 11, the completion of our Head Office building, which had been represented as a non-earning asset in our accounts, unlocked some value and contributed N2.31 billion to the Group’s profit.

    ‘’Nonetheless, the Board of Directors and Management did not relent on the cost control measures put in place in the previous year and our efforts reduced Operating and Personnel expenses by 13 per cent from N3.09 billion in 2017 to N2.69 billion in 2018.’’

  • ‘Fed Govt paid rent on its Osun land for 50 years’

    The Federal Government has paid rent on a piece of land that houses the National Control Centre, Osogbo, Osun State, for 50 years, it was learnt. The Centre belongs to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

    TCN Managing Director, Mr. Usman Gur Mohammed, who spoke in Abuja said the power firm has, however, stopped paying the rent.

    He said the Federal Government  paid rent on it for five decades, adding that at the point of planning to install a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) in the centre, it realised that it was inappropriate to install it in a rented property.

    Read Also: How we’re eliminating transmission losses, by TCN chief

    While deciding to relocate the centre, the TCN was told that the property on which it has paid rent for 50 years actually belonged to the Federal Government.

    On this discovery, he said the  government has stopped further rent payment on the property.

    He, however, did not say anything on whether the government will recover the fund from the private individuals that had fraudulently collected the rent for five decades.

     

  • FDI dips by 36.5% in seven months

    Total transactions by foreign portfolio investors in the stock market have declined by 36.53 per cent, about N305.3 billion, as foreign portfolio outflows continued to outpace inflows.

    Total transactions at the stock market also dropped by 31.2 per cent, equivalent to N542 billion.

    Official report on foreign and domestic portfolio transactions in the past seven months obtained at the weekend indicated that total foreign transactions dropped to N530.57 billion by last month,  compared with N835.89 billion recorded by last year.

    Foreign inflows had declined by 39.24 per cent from N400.48 billion by July 2018 to N243.35 billion by July, this year, representing a drop of N157.13 billion. Foreign outflows, however, also dropped from N435.41 billion to N287.22 billion.

    The report showed a consecutive seven-month net portfolio deficit as foreign transactions tended more on sales than buys, leading to a net portfolio deficit of N43.87 billion for the seven-month period ended July 2019.

    The report, coordinated by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), included transactions from nearly all custodians and capital market operators and it is widely regarded as a credible measure of foreign portfolio investment (FPI) trend.

    The report uses two key indicators-inflow and outflow, to gauge foreign investors’ mood and participation in the stock market as a barometer for the economy.

    Foreign portfolio outflow includes sales transactions or liquidation of equity portfolio investments through the stock market while inflow includes purchase transactions on the NSE. Segmental analysis delineates the proportion of foreign to local participation, institutional to retail investors as well as the momentum of activities among others.

    Total transactions at the Nigerian equities market had also dropped 31.2 per cent or N542 billion to N1.20 trillion in July 2019 as against N1.74 trillion recorded in comparable period of 2018. Domestic transactions also followed the foreign portfolio flows, albeit at a slower pace, dropping by 26.12 per cent or N236.99 billion from N907.44 billion in July 2018 to N670.45 billion in July 2019.

    Retail domestic investors appeared to be filling the space as domestic institutional investors mused over the outlook. Retail domestic investors traded N355.15 billion as against N315.29 billion traded by institutional domestic investors in the year compared with the situation in 2018 when institutional domestic investors outpaced retail domestic investors with N528.18 billion against N3379.26 billion.

    The latest report highlighted the continuing decline in foreign transactions amid general slowdown in the stock market.

    Foreign transactions saw a steep decline in the immediate past month from N96.74 billion in June, this year to N57.78 billion in July 2019. Domestic transactions also dropped significantly from N200.51 billion in June, this year to N55.69 billion in July 2019.

    Total foreign transactions for the six-month period ended June 30, 2019 had stood at N472.78 billion, a decline of 40.9 per cent from N799.70 billion recorded in the comparable period of 2018. Alongside the steep decline in foreign transactions, foreign outflows had also continued to outpace inflows with net foreign portfolio investment (FPI) deficit rising from N38.41 billion in first half of 2018 to N42.84 billion in 2019.

    Foreign inflows dropped from N380.65 billion in first half 2018 to N214.97 billion in first half 2019 while foreign outflows also declined from N419.06 billion in first half 2018 to N257.81 billion in first half of the year.

    Total transactions at the equities market had dropped by N509.71 billion or 31.91 per cent from N1.597 trillion in first half 2018 to N1.088 trillion in first half 2019. Domestic transactions had increased consecutively from N54.02 billion in March 2019 to N71.99 billion, N143.87 billion and N200.51 billion in April, May and June 2019 respectively.

    Low appetite for equities had led to significant depreciation in share prices at the stock market. The Nation had reported that investors in Nigerian equities had lost N1.38 trillion in capital depreciation over the past seven months as the onset of the first half earnings season failed to sustain expected recovery at the stock market. Equities had suffered their worst price depreciation, so far, this year in July, dropping by an average of 7.50 per cent, valued at about N990.45 billion.

    The steep decline in July had worsened the average year-to-date return, which had closed first half at -4.66 per cent, to -11.81 per cent, equivalent to net capital depreciation of N1.38 trillion for the seven-month period.

    With a drop of 17.81 per cent last year, the continuing decline at the equities market implied average decline of 29.62 per cent over the past 19 months. This implied that average investors who had invested over the period had lost almost a third of their portfolios, altogether implying a loss of about N4 trillion for the entire market.

    Equities have traded mostly on the negative this year, declining in five out of the seven past months. The market also closed both the first and second quarters on the downside and most analysts remained cautious about the outlook for the third quarter.

    The All Share Index (ASI) – the main value-based index that tracks share prices at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), closed July at 27,718.26 points as against its month’s opening index of 29,966.87 points, June’s closing index. The ASI had opened 2019 at 31,430.50 points, 17.81 per cent down from its 2018’s opening index of 38,243.19 points. It had however rallied a world-leading gain of 42.30 per cent in 2017.

     

  • SEC regularises 3.4b fictitious shares

    Apex capital market regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has regularized 3.4 billion ordinary shares which hitherto were fictitious.

    The Capital Market Committee (CMC) – a consultative assembly of stakeholders in the Nigerian capital market – last November, extended the deadline for investors that used fictitious names and other surreptitious means to buy shares to claim their shares from December 31, 2018 to December 31, 2019.

    At the weekend, the CMC announced that 3.4 billion ordinary shares had been regularised under the “Multiple Subscription Initiative (MSI)”.

    The MSI is aimed at the regularisation of shares purchased with multiple identities, by investors-otherwise known as ghost shareholders that conjured up many identities to secure large allocation of shares, especially during public offerings.

    The 2005-2008 boom period of the capital market had witnessed significant increase in public offerings as several banks, insurance companies and other non-financial quoted and unquoted companies jostle to raise funds through the capital market.

    Read Also: FAAC shares N769.523b JULY 2019 revenue to Fed Govt, States and LGAs

    Acting Director-General, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mary Uduk, said that after extensive discussions with the CMC, the Commission intends to partner with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the issue of charges on the e-Dividend Mandate Management System (E-DMMS) transactions.

    According to her, the CBN has published charges for the banks, this means that any transactions carried out by any bank, there is an established charge. The e-dividend charge is not part of the charges from the CBN and so because of that investors are having issues with banks where for instance they are charged for some transactions that are not listed as bank charges which they do not know.

    She said: “They complained to us and so we decided that we will engage CBN to actually make this part of their charges and so any e-dividend carried out will be charged by the CBN. This came up as a result of us stopping the payment of the e-dividend mandate as we were underwriting the initiative before we mandated investors to pay a token of N150 per mandate.”

    The director-general further noted that brokers and registrars are required to make available to the Committee on multiple subscription account, on a periodic basis, the number of regularised accounts and added that the commission will continue to engage with relevant stakeholders on e-Dividend and multiple subscription accounts.

    Also speaking, Acting Executive Commissioner, SEC’s Corporate Services, Henry Rowland, said more than 3.4 billion shares have been effectively regularised and 2.7 million accounts have been mandated on e-Dividend.

    “As we all know the unclaimed dividend issue is a dynamic one, while we were solving the issue, new ones come in. we can confirm that about 2.7 million accounts have been mandated and when you look at that, you go back to think that if each mandated account will attract a number of dividends unclaimed, then it is of essence,” Rowland said.

  • NSIA shareholders get N1.45 dividend

    Shareholders of NSIA Insurance have approved a dividend payment of 1.45k per share for the 2018 financial year.

    The underwriting firm’s Total Revenue from operations increased by 27 per cent from N5.46 billion in 2017 to N6.91 billion in 2018 while Total Assets for the year ended 2018 increased by 15 per cent to N17.92 billion compared to N15.57 billion reported for the year ended December 31, 2017.

    On the other hand, Profit Before Tax (PBT) improved significantly by 39 per cent to N892.29 million in 2018 from N640.75 million reported in 2017, while Profit After Tax (PAT) improved significantly by 67 per cent to N670.45 million in 2018 from N402.35 million reported in 2017.

    Read Also: Zenith Bank declares N9.42b interim dividend

    The Gross Premium Income for the company increased by 16 per cent to N6.3 billion in 2018 from N5.48 billion reported in 2017, while the Net Premium Income improved by 25 per cent to N3.16 billion in 2018 from N2.54 billion reported for the year ended December 31, 2017.

    There was also an improvement in the earnings per share with a 75 per cent jump to 7k in 2018 from 4k in 2017.

    Addressing shareholders at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the company, its Chairman, Ituah Ighodalo said NSIA Insurance had made good its promise of maximising the returns of its shareholders’ investments in the business, lending credence to the company’s values of integrity, care, innovation and professionalism.

  • CCNN: Bigger, more profitable

    Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN) Plc triples its top-line and bottom-line as the gains of recent strategic initiatives and business combination strengthen the outlook of the company. In this report, Capital Market Editor, Taofik Salako, looks at the underlying performance and outlook for the cement producer

    Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN) Plc is one of the highpoints of this earnings season. With three-digit growth in all key performance indices, CCNN recorded well-rounded performance in the first half of 2019. The six-month report for the period ended June 30, 2019 showed that total turnover rose by 166.14 per cent to N32.15 billion in first half 2019 as against N12.08 billion in comparable period of 2018. Gross profit grew by 163.07 per cent from N5.47 billion to N14.39 billion. Profit before tax jumped by 165.3 per cent from N3.66 billion to N9.71 billion. After taxes, net profit leapt by 180 per cent from N2.60 billion in first half 2018 to N7.28 billion in first half 2019. Underlying performance ratios showed a generally stable outlook. Gross profit margin stood at 44.76 per cent. Pre-tax profit margin was steadied at 30.21 per cent while net profit margin improved to 22.64 per cent.

    The balance sheet also showed a stronger and better-positioned company with reduced leverage and increased working capital. Total assets rose to N356.75 billion in June 2019 compared with N347.75 billion recorded for the year ended December 31, 2018. Total equity increased from N333.49 billion in December 2018 to N340.77 billion in June 2019. Current assets had risen from N17.28 billion to N23.13 billion while non-current assets had increased from N330.46 billion to N333.6 billion.

    The first half 2019 performance places CCNN in good stead to sustain its impressive year-on-year growth and cement its leading position as the fastest growing  cement company. The company had increased total dividend payout for the 2018 business year by 235 per cent to N5.26 billion after turnover and net profit jumped by 62 per cent and 77 per cent respectively. In the audited report and accounts for the year ended December 31, 2018, CCNN’s turnover rose to N31.7 billion in 2018 as against N19.58 billion in 2017. The top-line growth was due largely to increased domestic sales and exports.  CCNN produced 0.76 million metric tonnes of cement and sold over 0.74 million metric tonnes, an increase of about 59 per cent. Sale of cement in Nigeria rose by 49 per cent to N28.9 billion while exports jumped from N0.2 billion in 2017 to N2.9 billion in 2018. Earnings before interest and taxes rose by 86 per cent to N7.9 billion profit before tax increased by 81 per cent to N7.6 billion. Profit after tax rose to N5.86 billion in 2018 as against N2.91 billion in 2017.

    New Growth Momentum

    CCNN had in December 2018 strengthened its competitiveness and laid out new strategic growth plan with the business combination with Kalambaina Cement Company, a larger and newer Sokoto-based cement company. With CCNN’s pre-merger 500,000 metric tonnes per annum capacity and Kalambaina Cement Company-‘s 1.5 million metric tonnes per annum capacity, the emergent CCNN boasts of 2.0 million metric tonnes capacity, strengthening CCNN’s dominance as North-West Nigeria’s largest cement company and giving the company the volume for aggressive expansion in Nigeria and beyond. Kalambaina Cement plant uses primary fuels such as coal, heavy oils and AGO and it is expected to help solve the power problem with limited downtime and further opportunities for growth and expansion. These competitive advantages are visible in the emerging results. CCNN and Kalambaina Cement Company had related core investor. Damnaz Cement Company Limited held 50.7 per cent majority equity stake in CCNN. Alhaji Abdul Samad Rabiu, who chairs the board of CCNN, held the majority equity stake in Damnaz while his company-BUA International Limited held the 100% stake in Kalambaina. The business combination not only made CCNN a stronger competition in the cement market, it pivoted its ranking at the Nigerian stock market, scaling up to become Nigeria’s 12th largest quoted company.

    Most analysts believe the business combination would further boost efficiency, productivity, output and better returns for CCNN.

    “The opportunities within CCNN’s key markets and its export potential are almost endless. Situated just about 100km from Niger Republic and as the nearest cement plant to key markets in Northern Nigeria, the enlarged CCNN is now poised to compete effectively and serve those markets better at a lower cost with more energy efficiency through our use of coal,” Rabiu said. Rabiu also hinted of plan to increase the company’s production capacity, while pointing out that the merger has led to introduction of new technology, reduction in operational costs and increase in the number of transport fleet.

    “The company recorded its highest domestic exports sale during the year (2018). This was facilitated by the additional output from the enlarged entity. In 2019, we hope to have the full combined capacity of the two entities. With the new capacity, CCNN is now the dominant player in its home market of North West Africa,” Rabiu said.

    The Founder and Chief Executive Officer of BUA Group said CCNN is taking advantage of its proximity to the neighbouring West African borders, which has opened a new window for the export operations and revenue generation in foreign exchange.

    Managing Director, Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN) Plc, Engineer Yusuf Binji said the company will sustain its positive growth trajectory as it is now in better and more competitive position to drive growth in its home market and exports.

    He said the more benefits of the 2018 business combination and ongoing strategic initiatives will become more pronounced in the period ahead as the company continues to growth with economies of scale, enhanced operations and administrative efficiencies.

    Analysts’ opinions

    Most analysts are positive about CCNN’s outlook. On the back of the first half 2019 performance, analysts at Cordros Securities flagged CCNN as a high-return stock with potential total return of 124 per cent over the next 12 months. Analysts noted that CCNN’s half-year earnings per share of 55 kobo is tracking well ahead of Bloomberg consensus full-year 2019 estimate of 86 kobo and Cordros’ estimate of N1.01. Analysts described CCNN’s top-line performance as impressive.

    According to analysts, CCNN is an attractive buy and its three-digit operational growth could translate into similar three-digit returns. Analysts pointed out that CCNN is trading at significantly below its peers in the Middle East and Africa, making it a more attractive stock.

    In its review of the Nigerian cement industry outlook, Cordros noted that irrespective of the constraints in the overall economy, there are still strong triggers for cement producers in Nigeria, especially in the light of government’s aggressive infrastructure development and growing private sector demand.

    According to analysts, although there could be competition for cement demand growth from infrastructure development in Nigeria and neigbouring countries, CCNN tops scale of preference because of its proximity to fast growing markets.

    “From the perspective of users, CCNN’s new cement plant in Sokoto is the best cement plant in Nigeria, due to the high level of technological configurations which makes end products cure and dry faster. Beyond that, we are encouraged by the company’s potential for margin expansion over the next few years – which should drive earnings per share growth – as the company is able to optimise energy costs, increase capacity utilisation rate, and slightly increase prices,” Cordros stated.

    Analysts at Investment One Financial Services Limited also remained positive about the outlook for CCNN, citing the synergies from its recent business combination and market advantage. Analysts said the top-line growth in first half 2019 suggested the company may be recording success in its plan to expand market share to other northern regions of Nigeria, as the North-west region may not have the capacity to absorb new volumes.

    According to analysts, while the third quarter may be a tepid quarter due to the rainy season, which slows construction, the company’s top-line performance may see support from potential increase in Federal Government capital expenditure spending following the appointment of executive cabinet and implementation of 2019 budget.

    While noting the decline in margin due to increased costs, Investment One said CCNN has potential to deliver improved sales and profitability. “In addition, the cement producer should continue to reap benefits of its merger with Kalambaina Cement if its plans to enter new market and expand market share continues to be successful. We also draw attention to a potential drop in cost in the medium term as its new factory is designed to run on multiple energy sources (such as gas and coal); this is unlike its old factory which is run predominantly with Low Pour Fuel oil (LPFO) which is the most expensive of all energy sources. If a switch in energy sources is effectively implemented, we see potential improvements in margin performance of CCNN as we have previously seen in other players operating in the sector,” Investment One stated.

    With almost a consensus on the positive outlook for CCNN, the company appears to be on the right track to further consolidate its impressive growths over the years and increase returns to shareholders.