The Nation Newspaper

Tag: sells

  • FirstBank sells its microfinance bank

    FBN Holdings Plc, the holding company for FirstBank of Nigeria (FBN) and its former subsidiaries, has concluded arrangements for the sale of the group’s microfinance subsidiary-FBN Microfinance Bank Limited, to Letshego Holdings Limited.

    Letshego, a Botswana company, is  a holding company with consumer and micro lending subsidiaries across nine countries in Southern and East Africa including Botswana,  Kenya,  Lesotho,  Mozambique,  Namibia,  Rwanda,  Swaziland,  Tanzania  and Uganda

    In a regulatory filing obtained at the weekend signed by FBN Holdings’ company secretary, Tijjani Borodo and head of finance, Oyewale Ariyibi, the group said it has obtained the requisite approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for its divestment from FBN Microfinance Bank.

    FBN Holdings has executed Sale Purchase Agreement (SPA) with Letshego Holdings Limited to sell its shares in FBN Microfinance Bank to Letshego Holdings.

    “We expect that the sale will be concluded before the end of the current financial year,” the group stated, referring to its business year ending December 31, 2015, within the next 24 days.

    FBN Holdings’ holding company structure allows it to own and operate the microfinance bank. Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s Scope of Banking Activities and Ancillary Matters No 3, 2010 requires banks to fully concentrate on core banking functions. The new model requires banks to either sell all non-core banking businesses or form a holding company to hold such non-core banking businesses including activities such as insurance, asset management and capital market operations.  Three banks including First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Plc, First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) Plc and Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc then opted for holding company structure while others opted to divest from non-core subsidiaries.

    FBN Holdings’ share price declined by 1.80 per cent to close at N4.90 per share at the weekend, playing the negative contrarian stock in a market with modest average gain of 0.26 per cent.

    Head, Media & External Relations, FBN Holdings Plc, Mr. Babatunde Lasaki, in a response to The Nation’s enquiry said the divestment was part of the a strategic intent to refocus the group.

    He said the board of FBN Holdings decided to divest its interest in FBN Microfinance Bank to a strategic investor on a going concern basis.

     

  • DMO sells N60b bonds, yields dip across all tenors

    DMO sells N60b bonds, yields dip across all tenors

    The Debt Management Office (DMO) sold bonds worth  N60 billion at lower yields on all tenors at an auction on Wednesday, the debt office said yesterday.

    In a statement, it said investors submitted total bids of N183.34 billion compared with N184.72 billion at the last auction.

    The lower yields reflected the trend in the secondary market, which remained at below 14 percent following a sharp rise immediately after the peaceful elections in March. The five-year, 10-year and 20-year tenors each received a total of N20 billion, DMO said.

    The five-year paper was sold at 13.84 per cent, lower than 14.44 per cent it during last month’s auction. The 10-year bond fetched a yield of 13.48 per cent against 14.22 per cent last month, while the 20-year debt attracted a yield of 13.88 per cent compared with 14.45 per cent last month.

    Meanwhile, the economy grew by 3.96 per cent in the first quarter of this year, a sharp slowdown from the same period last year due to the fall in oil prices, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said yesterday.

    NBS said oil production was 2.18 million barrels per day in the first quarter of the year, unchanged from the previous quarter but lower than 2.24 million barrels recorded in first quarter of last year.

    Expansion in gross domestic product (GDP) eased on an annual basis to four per cent compared with 5.9 per cent a quarter earlier, the NBS said.

    The oil sector shrunk 8.2 per cent after a contraction of 6.6 per cent in the fourth quarter even as production was almost unchanged at 2.18 million barrels per day, NBS said.

    “Rising inflation will put pressure on consumers’ purchasing power and could well prompt monetary tightening. Meanwhile, the cash-strapped government is not really in a position to attempt to boost economic growth,”  analyst Cobus de Hart at NKC Independent Economists in Paarl, South Africa, said in e-mailed comments.

    Early this month,  the government had borrowed more than half the amount it budgeted for the full year as it contends with “cash-flow crunch,” Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) left its key lending rate unchanged at 13 per cent in March.

    The oil industry represented 10.5 per cent of the country’s first-quarter GDP, rising from nine per cent in the three months through December, the statistics agency said. Non-oil growth was 5.6 per cent in the first quarter, compared with 6.4 percent in the fourth quarter of last year. The level of unemployment was at 25.1 per cent last year, according to revised data from the agency.

  • FCMB sells Fin Insurance to ACA

    FCMB sells Fin Insurance to ACA

    THE largest shareholder of Cornerstone Insurance Plc, African Capital Alliance (ACA), has bought the 96 per cent share of First City Monument Bank (FCMB) in Fin Insurance.

    African Capital Alliance is also a core investor in Union Bank of Nigeria Plc.

    The Nation learnt that the insurance firm was handed over by FCMB management at a ceremony in Abuja early in the week.

    The buy-over, it was learnt, would allow the combination of business with Cornerstone.

    The firm has been on sale since June last year following the announcement by FCMB to transit into a Holding Company.

    But the plan to sell it to FBN Life and other foreign investors fell through. The delay, sources said, had affected its clientele such that it lost over 80 per cent of its customers.

    It was also gathered that some workers of the company have not been paid since December last year while official cars are faulty and capital projects were unattended to for over a year.

    The company has Mr Sallau Hamman as its Managing Director, three senior managers and about five managers.

    According to sources, the new buyers have agreed to allow Fin Insurance run as Cornerstone’s subsidiary while it also remains in Abuja.

    When The Nation called Hamman on phone to speak on the development, he declined comment.

    He, however, directed our correspondent to FCMB.

    Spokesman for the insurance regulatory body, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) could not also confirm the report.

    On Monday, June 24, last year, FCMB announced its transition into a holding firm structure having completed all the legwork.

    In a statement, the Marketing & Communications department of the bank confirmed that under the new structure, four out of its seven subsidiaries – City Securities (Registrars) Ltd, FinBankCapital Ltd, FinBank Homes Ltd and FinBank Securities & Asset Management Ltd – were sold.

    The sale of FinBank Insurance Brokers Ltd, FinBank Insurance Company Ltd and Arab-Gambia Islamic Bank Ltd is ongoing, while Fin Registrars Limited had been liquidated, it added.

  • Dangote sells cement for N1, 500

    Dangote sells cement for N1, 500

    Dangote Cement is setting aside two days during the on-going trade fair in Lagos, for direct sales of 100 bags of its product to customers

    The sales, which will begin at 10am, will end tomorrow.

    In a statement, Dangote said Access Bank, being the official partner for the promo will be present at its pavilion during the promo period and will process all the sales transactions.

    The collection of the product will take a week as customers will be supplied their products at Dangote’s Isolo depot next week Friday.

    The reduction in price, according to the company will afford many Nigerians the opportunity to buy a minimum of 100 bags of cement to quickly meet their construction needs.

    Dangote Group is already spicing this year’s trade fair with a special introduction of new products and packs from the stable of its subsidiaries to its customers and other visitors to the fair at a highly discounted rate.

    Its Group’s Head, Corporate Communication, Anthony Chiejina indicated that the company is offering a huge discount on its products during the fair to appreciate its teeming customers and visitors to the fair.

  • Mother ‘sells’ baby for N60,000

    A 27-year-old woman, Joy Uzochukwa and three others have been charged before an Ebute Metta Magistrates’ Court in Lagos, with allegedly selling a one-month-old baby for N60, 000.

    The other defendants include an auxiliary nurse, Margaret Obinwa, 49; a pastor who has been childless for 28 years, Rev. Simon Dike, 69, and Chibuzor Ogbonna, 50, who allegedly impregnated the woman. All the defendants are resident in Ikorodu, a Lagos suburb.

    The matter first came up on Wednesday, but Magistrate S.O. Solebo adjourned it till yesterday to allow the prosecution produce the exhibit (the baby) in court.

    Uzochukwa is facing a two-count charge of conspiracy to traffic her baby and sale of a new born baby; Ogbonna was charged with impregnating and abandoning Uzochukwa. The nurse was arraigned on a one-count charge of buying the baby.

    Dike was charged on a two-count charge of human trafficking and aiding the commission of the offence.

    Prosecuting Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Henry Obiazi told the court that the offence was committed on January 4, at De-Ifes Medical Centre, Odogunyan, Ikorodu.

    He alleged that Uzochukwa, who was impregnated and abandoned by Ogbonna ran to Obinwa for assistance to abort the pregnancy.

    Obiazi said: “The lady went to the nurse for assistance to abort her pregnancy since she did not have money to cater for herself and the then unborn baby. But the nurse, Obinwa, urged her not to commit abortion and encouraged her to rather have the baby and sell it off to those in need of a child.

    “So, having agreed to the nurse’s advice, the first defendant was introduced to Dike, who claimed he was a reverend father and had been married for 28 years without a child. Then, the lady, having met the pastor, was made to sign an undertaking that she would never come back for the baby and she was paid N60, 000, which she agreed to.”

    Obiazi added: “As luck would have it, the first defendant got married to one Kingsley who got wind of the entire deal and had to report the matter to men of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) in the area. So, the OPC involved the police for further investigation and that was how the defendants were arrested.”

    He added that the offences contravened Sections 409,274,408 and 277 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos, 2011. The defendants pleaded not guilty.

    Magistrate Solebo granted Uzochukwa and Dike N100,000 bail each with a surety in the like sum.

    She granted Obinwa and Ogbonna N200,000 bail each with two sureties in the like sum.

    The Magistrate ordered that the baby should be taken to the Lagos State Motherless Baby’s Home, Victoria Island, adding that the centre’s matron should allow the biological mother to see the child.

    The matter was adjourned till March 13 for trial.

     

  • Toyota sells 9.75m vehicles

    Toyota Motor Corporation has released its tally for global vehicle sales for last year at a record of 9.748 million vehicles — a bigger number than the estimate it gave last month of about 9.7 million vehicles.

    It was already clear Toyota had dethroned General Motors Co. as the Detroit-based automaker fell short, selling 9.29 million vehicles.

    GM had been the top-selling automaker for more than seven decades before losing the title to Toyota in 2008.

    GM retook the sales crown in 2011, when Toyota’s production was hurt by the quake and tsunami in northeastern Japan.

    The latest results show Toyota’s powerful comeback.

    Global vehicle sales for the maker of the Camry sedan, Prius hybrid and Lexus luxury model surged nearly 23 percent from the previous year. Overseas sales jumped 19 percent, while sales in Japan, where the economy has been troubled, recovered a whopping 35 percent.

    Volkswagen AG of Germany, the world’s number three automaker, sold a record 9.1 million vehicles around the world.

    All three automakers play down the significance of the sales ranking and say they are focused on making attractive products.

    “Rather than going after numbers, we hope to make fine products, one by one, to keep out customers satisfied. The numbers are just a result of our policy. And our policy will continue unchanged,” said Toyota spokeswoman Shino Yamada.

    Still, the recovery for Toyota is impressive. Like other Japanese automakers, Toyota’s production was devastated by the March 2011 disasters, which disrupted supplies of crucial components. Flooding in Thailand, where Toyota has factories, also hurt car production.

    Before that, it struggled against a crisis of massive recalls in the U.S. over defective floor mats, gas pedals and brakes, involving millions of vehicles, some recalled over and over, that hurt its reputation for quality.

    Toyota officials have vowed to scrutinize quality, and have held back product development to minimize recalls.

    From the middle of last year, it was hit by another kind of problem — a widespread boycott of Japanese products, including Toyota cars, in China over a territorial dispute.

    But sales growth in other parts of the world, including the U.S. and Asian nations such as Indonesia and India, was more than enough to offset such losses.

    Toyota is planning to sell 9.91 million vehicles globally this year, putting it back on track toward its earlier goal of 10 million vehicles — a target that it had made a special effort to play down after its recall crisis.

    Meanwhile, the company will recall nearly 1.3 million cars globally for two separate defects, including 752,000 Corolla and Corolla Matrix vehicles in the United States to fix airbags that could be deployed inadvertently, the automaker said last week.

    It is the third Toyota recall since October to involve more than a million cars, and it comes as the company tries to recover from a damaged reputation following a series of recalls between 2009 and 2011 that were related to unintended acceleration problems.

    An IC chip in the airbag control unit can malfunction when it receives electrical interference from other parts in the car, causing the airbags to deploy when it is not necessary, Toyota spokesman Naoto Fuse said.

     

    Toyota is also recalling certain Corolla and Corolla Matrix vehicles in Japan, Canada, and Mexico.

    “The problem has caused minor injuries such as abrasions in 18 cases that have been reported. Two accidents have been reported by customers outside Japan, although Toyota has not been able to confirm them,” he said.

    Fuse said Toyota will add an electrical signal filter to the airbag control module to the recalled vehicles – repairs expected to take an hour to hour-and-a-half.

    The spokesman declined to disclose the costs involved.

  • Fuel sells for N120 per litre as scarcity persists in Lagos

    A litre of petrol sold for N120 per litre in Lagos yesterday as many filling stations closed shop for lack of product, an indication that fuel scarcity in the state is far from over.

    The Nation’s investigation showed that most of the filling stations along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, from Lagos toll gate, Ojota, Ogudu Expressway Way, including outlets owned by the majors such as Total, Conoil and MRS were out of stock. The few that sold such as Amo Oil adjusted their pump price to N120 for a litre as against N97.

    Although some filling stations such as Total Association Avenue in Ilupeju and Mobil along Agidingbi and Oregun Road were dispensing at N97 per litre, The Nation gathered that in many parts of Lagos, most filling stations were dry.

    The refusal of marketers to import fuel as a result of the government’s reluctance to pay their over N200 billion subsidy reimbursement for the products imported, and the vandalisation of a major product distribution pipeline, Line 2B, at Arepo in Ogun State, have been blame for the scarcity of fuel in Lagos in the past two weeks.

    The oil marketing groups including the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA), Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), and Jetties and Petroleum Tank Farms Owners of Nigeria (JEPTFON), said they will have a meeting this week to deliberate on their next action toward recovering their money from the government.

    The Director, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mr. Osten Olurnsola, at an a meeting, appealed to them (marketers) to step up product supply especially as the festive periods approach.

    He said: “We are approaching the end of year with the expected usual surge in social and festive activities. The attendant elevated quest for consumption of petroleum products cannot be over-emphasised. We wish to encourage marketers to ensure product availability to the public at this critical period. Marketers are strongly advised not to engage in acts that may lead to creation of products scarcity, and other associated ills such as hoarding and product diversion for profiteering.”

    Spokesman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Fidel Pepple, said the corporation is collaborating with the security agencies to fix the Arepo pipeline seriously damaged by oil thieves who also shot dead three employees of the Pipeline and Products Management Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of NNPC.