The Nation Newspaper

Tag: risks

  • Financial expert advises investors on how to mitigate risks

    A financial expert and the chief marketing officer of Flobal Trust Limited, Mr. Abayomi Adeyeri, has advised investors to develop the habit of continuous savings and investments, and to avail themselves of the services of professional investment managers in order to achieve sustainable living standards during and after their active career.

    Adeyeri, a former regional head and senior management member of Ecobank Nigeria Limited, cautioned that savings and investment should not be handled haphazardly, but should be managed through a planned programme of ideas, resources and actions based on individual peculiarities. Mr. Adeyeri was delivering a paper at the first Warri Business Seminar, held in Warri, Delta State.

    According to him, investments involve risks which are greatly reduced when investors seek advice from professional investment managers and also show commitment towards continuous savings and investments. He noted that investment risks can also be mitigated by diversifying one’s portfolio across several investment options including money market instruments such as treasury bills; capital market instruments such as shares and real estate investments, among others.

    While acknowledging that there are risks involved in non-fixed investments such as shares, Adeyeri opined that diversification and use of professional managers would ensure that investors reap the greatest benefit associated with such high-risk investments.

    He, however cautioned that investors should always carry out due diligence to confirm the status of any investment company they want to deal with, noting that they can directly verify the status of any investment company by making enquiry at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or check the website of the Commission. SEC is the apex regulator for the capital market.

    According to him, the status check on any professional manager or investment firm should include verification of whether the person or company has flouted any extant law guiding capital market operations.

    He advised income earners to develop the habit of paying themselves first by setting aside a pre-determined portion of their income, at least 20 per cent, for continuous savings and investments.

    He pointed out that everybody needs to have a financial plan that will specify savings and investment objectives and draw up specific action plan to achieve these objectives. In drawing up a financial plan, the objectives could include a home, a car, a comfortable retirement, children education, new business, periods of unemployment and caring for parents and extended family among others depending on individual priorities and stage in life.

    “If you do not know where you are going, you may end up where you do not plan, design your roadmap to your financial plan and know what you want to save for and when. You must also know your current financial situation by figuring out what you own and what you owe. By so doing, you will be creating a “net worth statement”, showing your assets and liabilities,” Adeyeri said.

    He outlined the steps to achieving effective savings and investment to include preparation of adequate financial plan, keeping track of monthly incomes and expenses, payment of any high interest debt and avoidance of impulse buying, observing the “pay yourself first” rule by putting a monthly standing order for direct deduction of income for investment and living below one’s income in order to create regular pool of funds for savings.

    Besides organized investments such as money and capital market investments,               Adeyeri said people can work their way to sustainable wealth and financial freedom by developing a nose for peculiar environmental challenges within their localities and converting these challenges to opportunities for income earning by providing solutions as an entrepreneur.

    He urged people not to be afraid of taking the big step forward to financial freedom, noting that idea is the most important capital needed for financial freedom. According to him, with a good idea backed by feasible plan, there are always many options of raising initial capital to start a business or investment including capital from personal savings, capital from family and friends, capital from cooperatives, partnership and sale of part of the company by issuing shares to prospective investors.

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

    Some of its advisory products include Flobal Plural Account, a money market product, Flobal Corporate Advances PLUS, an asset product structured for oil and gas affiliated establishments and Flobal Individual Advances PLUS, a premier-packaged product for Flobal Trust customers.

     

  • Insurers turn to big data to identify risks

    Insurance firms are turning to “big data” from satellites,social media and even cigarette sales at gas stations to help identify risks and build up customer profiles.

    According to Reuters, insurers and reinsurers hope that real-time analysis of data about personal behaviour will enable them to project damage claims and fine-tune prices to fit the risk being covered, and also help them spot fraud.

    Troves of data are being collected via the technology phenomenon known as the Internet of Things, where cheap, network-connected sensor devices are embedded in all manner of industrial equipment, transport vehicles, appliances in the home and even the health monitors and smartwatches that consumers have begun to wear on their wrists.

    Hamilton Re Limited, a new Bermuda-based reinsurer, hopes that heavy data-crunching technology will give it an advantage over rivals and boost its bottom line.

    “If we do it successfully, we ought to be able to deliver our products at lower cost with an improved loss ratio,” said Bob Deutsch, chief strategy officer for the group.

    “In underwriting, you have a better ability to plot whether you’ve got a concentration of risk in certain aspects of tornado alley,” Mr. Deutsch told Reuters on the sidelines of the annual conference of the reinsurance industry in Monte Carlo, Monaco, last week.

     

  • Nigeria risks another FIFA ban

    Nigeria risks another FIFA ban

    Nigerian football risks another international ban one  month after FIFA suspended the country following direct interference by government.

    This latest ban would mean Nigeria forfeiting their 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Congo and South Africa early next month.

    The world football governing body has approved for an NFF general assembly for Warri on Tuesday.

    But in yet another flagrant interference by government, the country’s Sports Minister, Tammy Danagogo, has instead ordered for elections into the executive committee of the football federation same day in Abuja.

    AfricanFootball.com specially gathered that FIFA are likely to further clarify their position on the latest crisis that has engulfed Nigerian football on Monday ahead of the congress in Warri.

    In a bid for a peaceful resolution to the latest conflict,the Secretary to the Federal Government (SGF), Pius Anyim,had “suggested” that the polls be conducted on Tuesday, but he could not readily come up with an acceptable venue for this.

    However,further consultations have now made Anyim,  a qualified lawyer,to know his suggestion would be in clear breach of NFF statutes as well as an open defiance to FIFA order.

    Former NFF vice-president Amanze Uchegbulam,who is also vice-chairman of the CAF appeals committee, told the SGF he will not be a party to the sham insisted on by the sports minister.

    “Even if I’m finally given a nomination form for the elections, I will not be part of any exercise in Abuja as it is an exercise in futility. It cannot stand the test of the time,” he argued.

    Chairman Committee on Sports of the House of Representatives,Godfrey Gaiya,said on Sunday in Kaduna that elections cannot take place in Abuja on Tuesday because it did not follow laid down rules and procedures.

    In a strongly-worded open letter to the minister, former Kano Pillars chairman Abba Yola warned litigations will follow any elections in Abuja on Tuesday.

    But on Saturday, controversial Electoral Committee Chairman Amoni Biambo raised the ante when he invited congress delegates via email to the Nicon Luxury Hotel in Abuja for the elections on Tuesday.

    Biambo clearly overstepped his bounds as only the president of the NFF, Aminu Maigari, is empowered to do so.

    The elections must also be observed by representatives of FIFA,CAF and FIFA have already announced their observer will only attend the polls as ordered by the congress in Warri on Tuesday.

  • Taking risks to enhance life, justice and human dignity; taking risks that waste human potential, create suffering and perpetuate insecurity

    Taking risks to enhance life, justice and human dignity; taking risks that waste human potential, create suffering and perpetuate insecurity

    [Being an expanded version of remarks at a banquet for Wole Soyinka, Government House, Port Harcourt, July 30, 2014]

    As we gather here tonight in celebration of Wole Soyinka’s 80th birthday, his first major play written when he was in his mid-twenties, A Dance of the Forests, is being rehearsed for performance in Tel Aviv in a Hebrew translation. About two weeks ago, the U.S.-based Nigerian theatre director who is in charge of the production, Segun Ojewuyi, sent an email to Soyinka and myself in which he gave a gripping account of life in Tel Aviv at the present moment and equally important, how this very early play of Soyinka had found a new and unbelievable relevance to the unfolding human tragedy in the struggle between the Palestinians in the Gaza strip and the state of Israel. A Dance of the Forests is a complex play whose theme or “message” cannot be rendered in one sentence, one paragraph even. But it is safe to say that at the heart of the drama of the play is a visionary projection of the tragedies and the suffering that a people – any people in the world – can expect that choose to ignore the lessons of their history. Soyinka wrote and staged this play over half a century ago and now in Gaza and Tel Aviv, in the West Bank and Jerusalem, it turns out that the play might have much to teach the Jewish and Palestinian peoples as they grapple with the disregarded lessons of their history. It is likely, tragically very likely, that another fifty years from now, in another part of the world, this same play will be performed under similar circumstances. Ladies and gentlemen, fellow Nigerians, that is the quality of the artistic vision in many of the works of the man whose 80th birthday anniversary we are marking at this state banquet tonight.

    As excited as I am that A Dance of the Forests has found a new if poignant relevance in Tel Aviv and Gaza, that is not the primary reason why I use this fact to highlight the power of Soyinka’s artistic vision in this tribute. On the contrary, I cite the play and its current production experience in the Middle East for a completely different reason. Let me state this simply: almost more than any other literary work of Soyinka, A Dance of the Forests marks perhaps the most outstanding thing about WS as a dramatist, thinker and activist and this is the fact that he has a propensity for taking great risks, artistic and political. All his greatest works in drama, poetry and fictional prose are nothing if not works of considerable experimentation with form, ideas and modes of expression.

    With regard to political activism, we know that he was charged, tried and acquitted for the radio incident of 1965 and so we cannot try him all over again, but we know he was the gunman! Compared to other risks he has since taken, that was indeed, only the beginning and rather small compared with other risks he went on to take. Anyone who has read the last three out of his five books of memoires, The Man Died; Ibadan, the ‘Penklemes’ Years; and You Must Set Forth at Dawn, knows what I am talking about here. Indeed, if Soyinka is one of the greatest avant-garde writers of African and world literature in the second half of the 20th century, this is largely because of the artistic risks he was always willing to take. Similarly, the risks he took as one of our continent’s great political activists and human rights campaigners have been nothing short of legendary.

    But if WS was always naturally predisposed to taking artistic risks and making political gambles, the most important thing to note is that he took risks and made gambles for justice, equality of opportunity for all, and human dignity. This is the heart of my short tribute tonight. And so let me repeat it: the great artistic and political risks that Soyinka has taken in his 80 years have been in the cause of and for the advancement of justice, equality and human dignity. I say this, indeed I emphasize it deliberately and strongly, because human beings and communities take risks all the time. As a species, we are fundamentally predisposed to take risks all the time, small risks and huge risks. However, unfortunately, most of the risks that we take as individuals, groups and collectively as the human species are taken in the pursuit of selfish or petty interests that place us above others, siblings, relatives, friends, and co-workers.

    More grandiosely, within the nations of the world, the rich and the powerful take risks in order to secure and consolidate their domination or even enslavement of their fellow men and women. In all these myriad cases of taking risks to secure unfair and immoral advantage or power over others that is a big part of human individual and collective life, the risks always come back to haunt the risk-takers. That is the big irony between taking risks for human progress and taking risks to perpetuate human suffering. Very few countries in the world show ample and graphic illustration of this point as does Nigeria.

    It is not usual in the analysis of the terrible crises that bedevil our country at the present time to see these crises as the products of taking risks, not for justice, equality and human dignity but for entrenching suffering, insecurity and injustice. But we must start to see and fight these evils as the products of risk-taking of the most alarming and calamitous kind. Trillions of naira are looted with total impunity – what is that if not taking the risk of generating suffering for the generality of Nigerians? Billions of petrodollars are squandered – what is that if not taking the risk of a dire and bleak future for our youths and those yet unborn? In place of rational, enlightened and civilised discourse, what we get from both the official and unofficial megaphones of the powers that be is the tendency to rationalize and explain away the retrograde policies and actions of our rulers – what is that if not taking the risk of creating and maintaining bitter, self-destructive divisions between the ethnic and regional communities that make up this country?

    Nobody is safe, nobody is protected from the suffering, injustice and insecurity that such negative and foolish risk taking creates, not even the wealthy and the powerful themselves. The Boko Haram insurgency is perhaps the ultimate proof of this. But there are legions of other “proofs” confronting us in this country. Don’t we all, rich and poor, face the same hazards of roads that are death-traps? Don’t we all face the shame and disgrace before the international community and the world caused by what foreign visitors in our midst see of the quality of life for the vast majority of the people in our country? Who is protected from the belief that Nigeria is one of the most corrupt and unregenerate countries in the world in spite of its oil wealth, indeed because of its oil wealth?

    And yet this country has not been without women and men willing to take risks to make things better for their communities and all of us. In this very state where this banquet is being held tonight we have the supreme examples of Isaac Adaka Boro and Ken Saro Wiwa. In the colonial era, many radical politicians, labour leaders and intellectuals took risks to win our freedom from foreign rule. This tradition is even truer of the postindependence period. Gani Fawehinmi went to jail innumerable times in defense of the rights of the masses of ordinary Nigerians to a decent life and a secure future. I have mentioned the examples of Isaac Boro and Saro Wiwa. Bala Mohammed gave his life in the fight against the forces of reaction and misrule in our country, especially in the North. To the end, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti was unrelenting in his war against military autocracy and its civilian collaborators.

    This profile is consistent with what obtains in other parts of the world and throughout human social and political history. I state this fact in order to underscore the need not to isolate the extraordinary case of WS, the need not to idolize him. He is part of a great tradition in our country and our world. At the heart of his turbulent life and career is the fact that he has always taken risks, as an artist, thinker and activist, for justice, equality and human dignity. He has been extraordinarily lucky to have survived the dire possibilities of many of those risks, so much so that one colleague, Professor Itse Sagay, has said that death is afraid of him. Well, I hope so. And I hope that 10 years from now, death will still be afraid of him and when we gather to celebrate his 90th birthday, the risks that WS has taken in his life and career for human progress and human dignity will be far more evident in the lives of most Nigerians, Africans and human beings all over the world than the risks that our rulers continue to make in the perpetuation of suffering, injustice and insecurity.

     

    Biodun Jeyifo

    Port Harcourt, July 30, 2014

    bjeyifo@fas.harvard.edu

  • How firms can spread risks

    How firms can spread risks

    Businesses need to work harder to spread responsibility for risk management, according to a report from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).

    The survey of over 2,000 members found that accountants have vital role to play in successful risk management.

    The survey, it said in a statement, also found a statistical link between the use of accounting practices that contribute to managing risk and lower occurrences of fraud. It also found differences in the perception of a company’s exposure to risk between those at board level and those accountants working below board level.

    ‘Risk happens at all levels of business. Risk management needs to be something that is undertaken by everyone in an organisation so it is fully integrated. The survey shows that accountants have an excellent grasp of the risks faced by their organisation and the steps needed to manage those risks. The survey also shows clear support amongst accountants for ‘challenging senior people’ as being part of good business culture,” it said.

     

  • Market making: The gains, the risks

    Market making: The gains, the risks

    From optimism to scepticism, market making is at the heart of growing concerns about the prospects of the capital market, reports Taofik Salako

     

    Nigerian equities are setting new highs. With a full-year average return of 35.4 per cent implying accretion of about N2.44 trillion in capital gains to investors last year, a strong start this year has seen most equities rising.

    The stock market opened last week with a year-to-date return of about 19 per cent, indicating addition of almost N1.71 trillion in capital gains in the past two months.

    Beyond the fundamentals, one of the initiatives driving the market is the introduction of market making by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

    The NSE introduced the market making initiative on September 18, last year with an initial portfolio of 16 stocks. Market making refers to the system of providing liquidity to securities through provision of bid and offer prices in the trading system of a stock exchange. A member of the exchange that undertakes the function of market making, is called a market maker. Market makers can be categorised according to the level of liquidity support they provide.

    A primary market maker is regarded as the foremost liquidity provider of a particular security, while the supplemental market maker acts as a supplementary liquidity provider.

    In April last year, NSE appointed 10 stockbrokers as primary market makers. They include Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers, Renaissance Capital, Future View Securities, Vetiva Capital, ESS/DunnLoren Merrifield, WSTC Financial Services, Capital Bancorp, FBN Securities, Greenwich Securities and CSL Stockbrokers.

    Under the operating rules, stocks in the market making basket are allowed to witness maximum daily change of 10 per cent as against the maximum daily allowable percentage change of five per cent for the general market. From the initial 16 stocks that started the programme, NSE has continuously added new stocks in line with the overall intention to roll stocks trading above nominal value into the market making programme within six months.

    Forty-three stocks are in the market making basket. They are Flour Mills Nigeria Plc, Unilever Nigeria Plc, Royal Exchange Plc, Wema Bank Plc, Oando, Unity Bank Plc, Seven-Up Bottling Company Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc, Access Bank, PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc, Nigerian Bag Manufacturing Company Plc, Presco Plc and Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI).

    Others are International Breweries, Lafarge Wapco Cement Nigeria, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Dangote Flour Mills Plc, Academy Press, Fidson Healthcare Plc, Redstar Express Plc and Ashaka Cement Plc.

    Other market-making stocks are Skye Bank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, Dangote Cement Plc, UAC-Property Development Company, Custodian & Allied Insurance, Sterling Bank Plc, Prestige Assurance Company Plc and FBN Holdings.

    There are also DN Meyer, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Nestle Nigeria Plc, Diamond Bank, Dangote Sugar Refinery, Fidelity Bank Plc, Union Bank of Nigeria, National Salt Company of Nigeria (NASCON), Nigerian Breweries Plc, Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc, Airline Services & Logistics Plc, AIICO Insurance Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and UAC of Nigeria Plc.

     

    Advancing market

    development

    Chief Executive Officer, NSE, Mr Oscar Onyema, said the introduction of market making was a major landmark aimed at bringing back liquidity and depth into the market. He pointed out that all necessary structures and processes have been put in place to ensure the success of the initiative and reduce likelihood of infractions.

    He explained that stockbroking firms that were selected as market makers went through a rigorous process and met the minimum net capital requirement of N570 million, while the NSE also examined their compliance history and their operational capabilities.

    To further safeguard the efficiency of the market’s price discovery system, the basket of stocks for each market maker was enacted through a blind draw. Besides, operational guidelines for market making require market makers to disclose any corporate involvement, such as directorships or substantial shareholding above five per cent in companies in whose securities they engage in market making activities.

    “Market makers are required to establish, maintain and enforce written policies and procedures reasonably designed, taking into consideration the nature of market making business, to prevent the misuse of material non-public information. Market makers must not exercise voting rights in the companies in whose securities they make markets, nor intervene in the management of the company concerned, or exert any influence on the company to buy back such shares or back the share price,” the guidelines stated.

    But there are also privileges for market makers. Although all market participants are allowed to sell short, only market makers are allowed in the meantime to execute a short sale transaction, provided that they have borrowed the securities or have entered into a bona-fide arrangement to borrow the securities which will be available on the date of delivery. All other dealing members must have borrowed the securities before executing a short sale transaction.

    “No dealing member other than a market maker may execute a short sale transaction on the basis of a bona- fide arrangement to borrow the securities,” the guidelines indicated. Short selling or short sale is the sale of a security that the seller does not own, or any sale that is completed by the delivery of a security borrowed by the seller.

    “On the extreme, naked short selling refers to the practice of seeking to profit from an expected fall in the price of an asset by selling shares one does not own without borrowing, or making arrangements to borrow them. Naked short-selling is prohibited on the NSE.”

    Head, Broker-Dealer Regulation, NSE, Olufemi Shobanjo, said the operational guidelines are meant to provide market participants with a guide on acceptable conduct in relation to the new initiatives, adding that operators are still required to conduct their transactions in line with all relevant rules and guidelines of the Exchange and SEC.

    He warned that any contravention of the subsisting rules and regulations, as well as the new guidelines, would be sanctioned.

     

    Improving liquidity

    Many operators and investment experts said market making has impacted considerably well on the market situation. Chairman of Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, Atedo Peterside, said the introduction of market-making initiative has helped to boost liquidity in the equities market. He pointed out that daily trading band has doubled at the capital market.

    Managing Director, GTI Securities, Tunde Oyekunle, said the market makers will assist the market, as they could provide additional liquidity to ensure that stocks are priced appropriately.

    According to him, the stock market needs all efforts to jumpstart its recovery to win both domestic and foreign investor confidence.

    Similarly, investment advisor and economist, Sterling Capital Markets, Mr Sewa Wusu, described the introduction of market makers as commendable. He pointed out that they would increase competitiveness and efficiency of the stock market.

     

    Building up another bubble?

    But there appears to be growing concerns about the operation of market makers. Investors, especially minority shareholders who are still struggling in the aftermath of the recent meltdown and market pundits, are worried that the pricing trends for market-making stocks could be laying the foundation for another steep decline.

    General Secretary, Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN), Mr Adebayo Adeleke, is worried that the operations of market makers could lead to another bubble and undermine the long-term recovery and stability of the capital market.

    According to him, the operations of the market making appeared to be unduly influencing the market values of selected stocks.

    Adeleke, who sits on the board of many quoted companies and serves on several statutory corporate committees, noted that market-making operations could lead to another burst due to what he described as lack of consideration for fundamental strengths of some companies.

    He said by allowing some select stockbrokers to be “pushing share prices” of selected companies, the market making function could undermine the price efficiency function of the market forces.

    “It’s more of a manipulative process; they should allow market forces to dictate the share prices, not market makers. They are inflating the balloon again, and we must sound the alarm before any burst,” Adeleke said.

    Another shareholders’ group leader, Alhaji Gbadebo Olatokunbo, expressed concerns that some stockbrokers might be hiding under the guise of market making to arbitrarily increase prices of stocks without any visible fundamental changes.

    Citing a particular stock that recorded nearly 350 per cent gain within a short period of being designated as a market-making stock, Olatokunbo said the steep price movements were not justifiable and called on market regulators to take closer look at the market making programme.

    “Now is the time to review the operations of market making so far and apply some cautions. Some share price movements are questionable and both SEC and NSE should investigate how ethical and fundamentally sound were some price gains,” Olatokunbo said.

    Managing Director, Financial Derivatives Company (FDC) Limited, Mr Bismarck Rewane, weighed in with introspective caution of an analyst and market insider.

    He cautioned that traces of pumping and dumping are raising doubts about the true impact of market making, reiterating concerns that had been expressed by several stakeholders.

    “Market making activity must be closely watched to ensure an asset bubble is not built up again,” Rewane said.

    He, however, ruled out any immediate threat of assets bubble due to share pricing mechanism so far. According to him, though there were echoes of asset bubble, Nigerian equities are still far from any such depression given the earnings outlooks of companies.

     

    Forestalling the risks

    The NSE appears also not to be unmindful of the inherent risks in unbridled market-making. Few days to the expiration of the stated six-month period for rolling al stocks trading above nominal value unto the market-making basket, NSE has only included some one third of eligible stocks. For a market that had been bedeviled with share price manipulations and criminal collusions, market making exposes the market to subtle maneuvering unless there is adequate and efficient regulatory framework to forestall possible abuses.

    The management of the NSE said it was ready to apply the maximum sanction as deterrent to erring market maker. Onyema has warned that the NSE may withdraw the operating license of any erring market maker. Besides, the NSE would deduct 10 per cent of total value of transaction engaged in by a defaulting market maker in the case of a less-impact breach.The Exchange has also expressed willingness to learn from the process and review the modus operandi as the dynamics dictate. “We are going to roll out over a six months period. During that period, we are going to learn a lot,” Onyema said.

    But the investment profile of the market and the market makers also portend higher risk of externally-induced meltdown. While the large stake of foreign investors, averaging some 60 per cent of turnover, indicates attractiveness of the market to foreign investors, this could also exacerbate decline in case of negative counterbalance effect from global economic challenges especially from the United States of America and Greece-induced Eurozone.

    Rewane cautioned that there might be little headroom for the market to manoeuvre if United States debt ceiling is not avoided this month and Eurozone crisis comes flooding back. With foreign investors accounting for nearly two-thirds of turnover on the NSE, slight or massive sales orders from foreign portfolio managers and investors-either due to profit-taking or deficit financing and rebalancing, would have corresponding effect on the market.

    “However, a strong dominance by foreign investors will make the local market susceptible to volatility from the global financial market space. Our bond and equity markets direction may then be strongly influenced by global events,” Managing Director, Investment One Financial Services Limited, Mr Mr Nicholas Nyamali said.

    Some of the most active brokers and market makers have foreign affiliation or ownership. In the event of a downtrend, market making, which has orchestrated the uptrend with its 10 per cent headroom, could also exacerbate the downtrend. Market authorities need to show greater sensitivity to these subtle undertones and take necessary steps to reassured nervous investors.

  • Rabiu Ibrahim’s boss risks SFA’s axe

    Rabiu Ibrahim’s boss risks SFA’s axe

    Kilmarnock manager Kenny Shiels was sent off from the dugout during his side’s 1-1 draw with Inverness on Wednesday night risks being banned by the Scottish FA.

    Shiels was dismissed after displaying his anger when he thought his side should have been awarded a late penalty but he believes he would not be receiving a new touchline ban despite making his return from a four-match suspension.

    The coach was sent off just after Borja Perez had earned Killie an unlikely Clydesdale Bank Premier League point with their first shot on target.

    Referee Bobby Madden sent Shiels off but the Killie boss was reassured by the referee after the game that the resulting action will not spark a third ban in recent months – although he may have to go through a Scottish Football Association hearing first, and has a suspended ban hanging over him.

    “I was frustrated he didn’t give the penalty and I turned round and kicked fresh air and there was a bottle lying on its belly and it touched the bottle. I didn’t mean to kick the bottle.

    “But the rule has been changed because Neil Lennon and Steve Lomas had theirs rescinded. Neil Lennon kicked a bottle here and didn’t get anything done against him.

    “But then I’m not Neil Lennon so we’ll see what happens though the referee said it was just protocol because there was someone watching me up in the stands.”

    Shiels was proud of his players for hanging on long enough to snatch a point.