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Stock market appreciates by N417bn

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The capitalisation of the Nigerian bourse grew further by N417 billion on Wednesday as investors took position in Airtel Africa’s stock.

Specifically, the market capitalisation, which opened at N24.059 trillion rose by N417 billion or 1.73 per cent to close at N24.476 trillion.

Also, the All-Share Index grew by 774.25 points or 1.73 per cent to close at 45,430.14 from 44,655.89 posted on Tuesday.

The market gain was driven by price appreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst which are: Airtel Africa, Seplat Energy, Union Bank of Nigeria, Zenith Bank and Nem Insurance.

However, the market closed negative with 17 laggards in contrast with 16 gainers.

Airtel Africa topped the gainers’ chart in percentage terms by 10 per cent to close at N1,155.50 per share.

Cornerstone Insurance followed with six per cent to close at 53k, while Courteville Business Solutions up by 5.26 per cent to close at 40k per share.

UBN rose by 4.46 per cent to close at N5.85, while Seplat Energy appreciated by 4.36 per cent to close at N720.10 per share.

On the other hand, FTN Cocoa processors led the losers’ chart in percentage terms by 7.69 per cent to close at 36k per share.

Consolidated Hallmark Insurance followed with 7.25 per cent to close at 64k, while Regency Alliance Insurance declined by 6.67 per cent to close at 42k per share.

Japaul Gold and Ventures lost 4.76 per cent to close at 40k, while Jaiz Bank depreciated by 4.55 per cent to close at 63k per share.

Transactions in the shares of Guaranty Trust Holding Company topped the activity chart with 25.46 million shares valued at N649.36 million.

Dangote Cement followed with 24.453 million shares worth N6.481 billion, while FBN Holdings traded 23.09 million shares valued at N277.15 million.

Fidelity Bank traded 21.14 million shares valued at N57.16 million, while FCMB Group transacted 12.93 million shares worth N38.79 million.

In all, the total volume of trades increased by 7.5 per cent to 252.94 million units valued at N8.93 billion exchanged in 4,218 deals.

This was against a total of 235.23 million shares worth N1.92 billion traded in 4,151 deals on Tuesday.

enterpreneur

Nigerian tech entrepreneur heads panel to improve Africa, UK trade  

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Mr Joel Popoola, a Nigerian tech entrepreneur, has been appointed to head the task force to improve trading ties between Africa and the United Kingdom.  

Popoola, a digital democracy campaigner and the creator of the Rate Your Leader app, is to lead a Special Interest Group for Africa established by the UK Institute of Directors (IoD)-one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious business leader groups  

According to him, the IoD Africa SIG will stimulate business opportunities, increase networking, and grow awareness of British businesses in Africa and African businesses in Britain.  

The IoD Africa SIG will be launched in London on May 19, 2022, with all African diplomatic missions and some heads of state expected to attend.  

In a statement, he stated that prior to the launch, serious bi-monthly online roundtables would be held to discuss post-COVID-19 and Brexit business opportunities for UK and African businesses.  

The UK Government has already negotiated eight free trade agreements with African countries and trading blocs since Brexit, creating tariff and duty-free trade between Britain and 30 African nations-this means significant opportunities for African consumers and companies, not least in 24 English speaking countries.  

Popoola in the statement said: “One UK parliamentary report recently noted that UK-Africa trade has ‘flat-lined’ and accounts for just 2.5 percent of all UK trade.  

But before the COVID-19 outbreak, the world’s five fastest-growing economies were all African, and regional leaders like South Africa and Nigeria are likely to become superpowers of the global economy as we move towards the second half of this century.  

More needs to be done on both sides to take advantage of the opportunities on offer.  

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IATFF

Abidjan hosts 2023 inter-African trade fair  

Abidjan in Cote d’Ivoire has been picked to host the 2023 Inter-African Trade Fair (IATF), which is meant to promote trade and investment in Africa.  

The fair, an initiative of Afreximbank, would be organised in collaboration with the African Union and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and hosted by the government of Cote d’Ivoire.  

The third in the series, it is expected to generate billions of dollars of trade investment and deals and attended by thousands of visitors and exhibitors.  

Speaking at the launch in Accra on Friday, the chairman of the Governing Council of IATF, Olusegun Obasanjo, said the registration of the 2023 IATF was opened.  

He said the IATF was to promote trade, jobs in Africa to promote the growth of the continent.  

“The IATF is aimed at righting the wrongs of the past and bridge borders in line with the African Union Agenda 2063,” Obasanjo said.  

He encouraged exhibitors and organisations to register for the IATF 2023.  

The former Nigerian President said the 2021 IATF held in November last year in Durban in South Africa, was more than a trade fair.  

“The IATF 2021 was a powerful transformative socio-economic event that fostered trade and investments,” he said.  

The former Nigerian President said the event was attended by more than 15 heads of states and thousands of participants and exhibitors.  

“IATF 2021 provided platform for trade and investment worth more than $42 billion, ” he said.  

He said the event turned out to be resoundingly successful and surpassed the expectation of the organisers.  

“IATF 2021 epitomised whatever can be achieved in changing the socio-economic development of Africa,” he said.  

He expressed gratitude to all who supported the programme to make it a success, particularly Professor Benedict Oramah, the President of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank Bank, the brain behind IATF 2021and Secretary-General of the AFCFTA, the torchbearer of the event, and the government and people of South Africa for hosting the programme.  

The President of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank, Professor Benedict Oramah, outlining the criteria for the selection of a country for the programme, said hosting the event was opened to all African Union member countries.  

He said countries decided to host on their own volition, saying “A country must demonstrate capacity to host the conference.”  

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Dangote-Cement

Dangote vows to make cement household name in Nigeria

The Dangote Group, has vowed to make its Cement a household name and most preferred cement brand in Nigeria.

Mr Okey Nwankwu, Head, Media and Publicity, South East, Dangote Group, stated this in Enugu on Tuesday.

Nwankwo said that Dangote Cement was a dominant player in the cement sector with three cement plants in Nigeria.

He added that it was the only Cement Manufacturer that catered for all Cement Consumers with three unique brands, Falcon, Dangote 3X and the latest Bloc Master, aimed at adding real values to Artisans.

“We also have cement plants operating in Ethiopia, Zambia, Senegal, Cameroon, Tanzania, Ghana, Congo, Sierra Leone and South Africa with the plans to further expand to Niger,” he said.

He maintained that the company was working on strategies that would drive business and create value for its customers, as it has increased range of its products to provide more alternatives for the customers.

“We also engage the Artisans pan Nigeria with continuous training and retraining of Artisans with practical demonstrations on the right usage of cement and the best practice in their chosen careers at various functions.

“We engage them in the right selection of the basic raw materials with emphasis on the mixing ratios, right applications and usage of the right tools for sandcrete blocks productions, tiling and brick layering activities.

“We collaborated with other Building Industry professionals and Regulated Bodies such as SON, Coren, NIA and NIQS on the sustainability of high standard of cement all the times.

“In our quest to key into the diversification of the economy by the Government, we will continue to roll out massive agricultural projects across the country. We have started in rice and while plans are underway for dairy farming.

“Our push for backward integration in providing our own raw materials on a massive scale has led to the planned investment of 4.6 billion dollars over the next three years in sugar, rice and dairy production alone,” he said.

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Dala dry port gulps over N5bn, ready in March

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The Chairman, Dala Inland Dry Port (IDP) in Kano state, Abubakar Bawuro, says the management has so far spent over N5billion on its construction.

Bawuro made the disclosure during a visit on the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Mr Emmanuel Jime, on Tuesday, in Abuja.

The chairman said the project, which would be ready for inauguration in March, will further boost business relations between Nigeria and the Niger Republic.

According to him, over 80 per cent of work on the project had already been completed and the rest should be done by the end of February.

He said extensive work had been accomplished in key areas of the ports, including the stacking area of the sea ports containers, the warehouse, the administrative block, electricity supply and the access roads network.

”If you look at them and assess them averagely, we can safely claim that we have attained over 80 per cent completion.

”We want to assure you that we will work 24/7 to ensure that we achieve the goal of realising and commissioning the port by the end of March.

“The idea of the port is not just to limit its operation to Nigeria, but that through the rail link of Kano-Maradi, do more businesses in Niger and other neighbouring countries,” he said.

Bawuro said the state government had spent about N2.7 billion, while private investors had taken over the completion of the warehouse, stacking area, administrative block, security arrangement and ICT, among others.

The chairman, who commended the efforts of the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, in the various sub-sectors of the project, appealed to him to attract President Muhammadu Buhari for the inauguration of the port.

While also recognising the efforts of NSC’s Executive Secretary, the chairman appealed for more support from the council to achieve the essence of the port.

Responding, the NSC boss, Mr Emmanuel Jime pledged to render every necessary support to ensure the success of the Dala IDP.

”Not only will this project be viable and open up shipping trend in the whole of Northern Nigeria, but it will assist this country to become the maritime hub that we wish to be in the whole West African sub-region.

”The IDP will decongest the ports, make business more cost effective, among others.

”We will continue to be very robust in our engagement with you to allow for greater publicity, to enable people know you have such facility existing, so businesses will take advantage of it,” he said.

He commended the Kano state government for its support to the project, while urging other state governments to take a cue and emulate the gesture.

The executive secretary urged the concessionaires to ensure good quality service, to ensure the viability of the port.

FILE PHOTO: People wear protective face masks as they are reflected in a stock quotation board outside a brokerage in Tokyo

Stock market rebounds by 0.58%

The nation’s bourse reversed losing streak on Tuesday with the market indices rebounding by 0.58 per cent on bargain hunting in BUA Cement and BUA Foods.

Speficially, the All-Share Index inched higher by 256.23 points or 0.58 per cent to close at 44,655.89 from 44,399.66 achieved on Monday.

Accordingly, the year-to-date return increased to 4.5 per cent.

Also, the market capitalisation rose by N138 billion or 0.58 per cent to close at N24.059 trillion against N23.921 trillion recorded on Monday.

The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; BUA Foods, BUA Cement, Dangote Sugar Refinery, Conoil and and Skyway Aviation handling Company.

Consequently, market sentiment was positive with 27 gainers in relative to 13 losers.

Skyway Aviation handling Company led the gainers’ chart in percentage terms by 10 per cent to close at N5.83 per share.

Courteville Business Solutions followed with 8.57 per cent to close at 38k, while FTN Cocoa Processors up by 8.33 per cent to close at 39k per share.

Dangote Sugar Refinery grew by 7.35 per cent to close at N18.25, while Berger Paints appreciated by 5.84 per cent to close at N8.15 per share.

On the other hand, NEM Insurance drove the losers’ chart in percentage terms by 8.33 per cent to close at N3.63 per share.

Sunu Assurances followed with 5.88 per cent to close at 32k, while Regency Alliance Insurance depreciated by 4.26 per cent to close at 45k per share.

Sovereign Trust Insurance dipped four per cent to close at 24k, while Wapic Insurance depreciated by 3.92 per cent to close at 49k per share.

The total volume traded increased by 9.76 per cent to 235.23 million units valued at N1.918 billion, and exchanged in 4,151 deals.

This was in contrast with 214.32 million shares worth N2.69 billion traded in 4,410 deals on Monday.

Transcorp topped the activity chart with 38.11 million shares valued at N40.13 million.

Guaranty Trust Holding Compnay (GTCO) followed with 18.73 million shares worth N476.49 million, while Jaiz Bank traded 14.99 million shares valued at N9.82 million.

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated sold 14.49 million shares worth N126.34 million, while FBN Holdings transacted 13.42 million shares valued at N161.06 million.

RCEP

ASEAN, China’s biggest trade partner in 2021  

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The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN has become China’s biggest trade partner as the country trade surplus was $676.2 billion in 2021, an increase of 29% from 2020.  

In December, it had the largest trade surplus of $94.5 billion.  

For the whole of 2021, ASEAN became China’s biggest trade partner, followed by the European Union, then the US.  

This shows that Asia as a whole is now integral to the manufacturing supply chain, though it is also true that domestic demand from ASEAN is growing.  

In terms of export products, steel increased the most at 80%, electronics, which is the largest in terms of value, rose near 30%. For imports, coal rose near 77% while the largest item, electronics, rose 20%.  

Overall, this shows that China is still a very important manufacturing location for electronics.  

Prospects in 2022  

We believe that as the global economy continues to improve, there will be more demand for goods. This implies more international trade for China in 2022.  

Continued semiconductor shortages will be a challenge for manufacturers and exporters of many goods, from refrigerators to vehicles, not to mention smartphones and gadgets. This is not going to be solved instantly.  

As such, prices of these goods will either have to go up or the quality or functionality may have to come down.  

Coal imports into China were strong in 2021.  

This could extend into 2022 before China beefs up its solar and wind power to replace coal.  

But bear in mind that China’s roadmap is to have peak carbon emissions in 2030 before reducing them from there, to reach carbon zero by 2060.  

So, before 2030 we may continue to see a high volume of coal imports into China as China also starts to close down dirty coal processing lines.  

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energy-growth-text-d-render-44139980

Energy theft worries EEDC

The management of  Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC), on Sunday, decried the raising spate of outright energy theft and meter bypass within the South-East.

“This development has consistently impacted negatively on the revenue of the company and ultimately impacted its ability to meet up with its obligations to market operators,” the Head, Corporate Communications, EEDC, Mr Emeka Ezeh, said in a statement.

Ezeh said this in Enugu while he recounted the recent apprehension of one of the company’s maximum demand customers (high energy consuming customers) by the company’s task force team, for involving in meter bypass.

He said  the customer totally bypassed the meter installed in his  facility and directly connected the armoured cables from the mains to the factory, a situation that kept the meter idle while the customer was busy consuming energy.

“It was gathered that the customer, now a third time offender in meter bypass, is in the habit of downing tools during the day (giving the impression of low business activity) only to resume full operations at night when EEDC officials must have all closed for the day.

“Luck, however, ran out on them when they were busted and caught in the act by the task force,” he said.

Ezeh lamented at the increasing rate at which the company’s high energy consuming customers are engaging in the act of sabotage, stressing that there was a need to nip this in the board.

“One of our customers based at Ikenegbu Extension, Owerri, has been apprehended the fourth time for engaging in meter tampering and illegal reconnection.

“Another one located at Emene Industrial Layout in Enugu has been caught thrice for engaging in meter tampering and insertion of resistors on all the phases behind the meter board.

“If this growing trend is not abated, the sector will continue to feel the negative impact of these infractions,” the EEDC spokesman said.

Ezeh said that in a related development at Woliwo area of Onitsha, Anambra, a prepaid meter connected to a residential building was bypassed.

“When discovered by the team of task force, one of the occupants of the building resisted the team from disconnecting the building; thus, threatening them with cutlass. It took the intervention of police to carry out the disconnection,” he said.

Ezeh noted that meter bypass accounts for the huge losses recorded by the distribution companies and this largely impacts negatively on the growth of the power sector.

“The company has been investing in its network infrastructure and working assiduously to consistently improve its operations to deliver quality service to its customers, but this cannot be sustained if customers continue to sabotage these efforts,” he said.

Ezeh appealed to those customers engaging any of these evil acts to desist from such acts, adding that the task force would continue to be on the lookout for offenders and when caught appropriate sanctions would be applied.

“Customers are also encouraged to report anyone engaging in such act through the established whistle blowing platforms: 08146026678, 084 700 110 and ethics@enugudisco.com,” he added.

2019-04-15_5cb45c1ed542e_Powersubstations

Group calls for reversal of power sector privatisation

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The Peoples Alternative Political Movement (TPAP-M), a labour group, says poor performance of power companies necessitated its call for reversal of the power sector privatisation and re-nationalisation of the sector.

Prof. Omotoye Olorode, Head of the Secretariat Collective of TPAP-M, made this known at a news conference and lecture to mark 10 years of Occupy Nigeria in Abuja on Saturday.

Mr Jaye Gaskiya, a member of the TPAP-M Secretariat, who delivered the speech co-signed by him and the chairman, said returning the sector to the public sector would be in public interest.

According to him, it is advisable to return power to the public sector because leaving it in the hands of DISCOs and GENCOs  would bring no significant improvement in power generation and transmission.

He added that it was better to re-nationalise the sector by “bringing it under the control and management of key stakeholders, including workers, and electricity consumers than leaving it in the hands of private companies”.

He also harped on metering system, rise in the price of cooking gas and electricity tariff, adding that rising energy costs and prices were contributors to the poor condition of living and insecurity in Nigeria.

“We reject the continued practice of estimated billing, whereby as of January 2022, only 41 per cent of electricity consumers supplied by the national grid are metered.

“The estimated billing system has shown to be arbitrary, exploitative of citizens and fraught with corruption and fraudulent practices.

“We therefore demand a programme and investment plan that will ensure the metering of all electricity consumers within the next 12 months.

“Heads must roll for failure to achieve past targets, while people must be held accountable for failure to meet this new target,” he said.

On the petroleum sector, Olorode also called for recovery of misappropriated public funds put into petroleum and power sectors aimed to improve domestic refining capacity and domestic production of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG), among others.

“We demand that the recovered funds should be utilised to build new public refineries, improve domestic LPG production, and improve service delivery in the renationalised power sector.

“We demand the publication of different categories of electricity tariff rates as at September 2020, as well as the rates for the same different categories of January 2022.

“This is for citizens to make a determination as to whether the tariffs have been or are being surreptitiously and marginally increased without public knowledge.

“We demand an immediate and comprehensive update report on the implementation of the transition to CNG scheme, and a public accounting on the expenses made from the N250 billion allocated for the scheme,” he said.

Olorode called on all Nigerians to reject any political party and candidates who do not have any practical, fundable, realisable and believable programme to resolve the energy crisis.

The group threatened to protest rise in price of cooking gas, electricity tariff and pump price of petrol as well as other factors making life unbearable for Nigerians.

car manufacturing

Manufacturers CEO index up 1.4 points in Q4′ 2021

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The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has pegged the composite manufacturers Chief Executive Officers (CEO) Confidence Index (MCCI) of the fourth quarter of 2021 at 55. 4 points.

This translates to a 1.4 point increment from the third quarter.

The President of MAN, Mr Mansur Ahmed, made this known in the MCCI report made available to newsmen on Saturday in Lagos.

Ahmed noted that the value showed improved performance and growing confidence of manufacturers in the economy.

He listed key factors considered during the research to include accessibility and availability of foreign exchange, lending rates, size of loan to the sector and government’s capital expenditure.

Others, he said, are, operating environment performance regulation, taxation, ports accessibility, local sourcing of raw materials, patronage of made in Nigeria goods, and unsold manufacturing products.

Ahmed said the index for current business condition increased by 1.15 points in the quarter under review from 50.3 points recorded in the third quarter of the year.

Similarly, index for business condition for the period increased by 3.2 points in the quarter from the 55.8 points obtained in the preceding quarter.

“The fourth quarter of 2021 highlighted a gradual improvement in the macroeconomic economic and manufacturing operating environment buttressed by marginal recovery of some key manufacturing indicators.

“Although, changes in almost all manufacturing indicators as measured in this report are still not as desired, the performance in the fourth quarter is better than what obtained in the preceding quarter.

“The resilience of manufacturers, the seasonal transactions and passive policy support sustained manufacturing in the quarter despite the prevalence of familiar and emerging excessive tax-related challenges faced by manufacturers.

“Overall, the sector recorded a mixed grilled performance occasioned by meagre improvement in the operating environment indices and macroeconomic ambience evidenced by the high points.

“In the period under review, the economy witnessed improvement in the volume of economic activities due to the conventional positive seasonal effect notwithstanding the hangover and various waves of COVID-19,” he said.

The MAN President said index for current employment increased by 3 points in the quarter under review from 47.6 points obtained in the third quarter.

In the same vein, index for employment condition for the next three months increased by 2.1 points from 52.3 points recorded in  the preceding quarter.

“The increasing index of employment reflects the improvement in business condition in the economy during the quarter under review.

“It also shows that manufacturers are beginning to engage/re-engage workers after the unplanned retrenchment forced by COVID-19 pandemic and other economic challenges,” he said.

The index for production level for the next three months however decelerated to 61.5 points from 64.3 points obtained in the third quarter of the year; thus, indicating 2.8 points decline over the period.

The decline, Ahmed said, could be attributed to the poor access to foreign exchange for the importation of vital raw materials and machines that were not available locally.

Others, he said, were the progressive erosion of the disposable income of consumers and the sluggishness associated with the first quarter of the year promoted by the uncertainty around the likelihood of another lockdown in the wake of new wave of COVID-19.

Ahmed said that 75.1 per cent of manufacturers claimed that forex sourcing by the sector did not improve in the quarter under review, which is higher than 59 per cent that disagreed in the preceding quarter.

He said that borrowing remained a perennial constraint of manufacturing in the country as manufacturers believed that the current lending rate discouraged productivity in the sector.

The MAN President noted that 75.1 per cent of manufacturers which is higher than 68 per cent of the preceding quarter observed that the current lending rate discouraged productivity in the sector.

“During the fieldwork of the report, manufacturers identified numerous challenges that affected manufacturing operation, particularly in the quarter under review.

“The ranking of issues by CEOs in order of intensity include high cost of local and imported raw materials, insecurity within the industrial areas, shortage of skilled manpower, high cost of transportation, inconsistency in government policies and foreign exchange difficulty,” he said.

To improve the performance of the sector, the MAN President urged government to further incentivize investment in the development of raw-materials locally through the backward integration and resource based industrialization initiates.

Ahmed said specific attention must be given to the security of life and investment in industrial areas, and government must ensure effective allocation of available forex to productive sectors.

“Government should direct the Ministry of Science Technology and Innovation to implement the strategies for the Executive Order to designate local manufacturers of LPG Gas Cylinders as priority provider of the 10 million cooking gas cylinders to be procured by the government for 12 States in the Federation.

“Milk and other dairy products should also be returned to the national list in the fiscal policy guidelines to maintain consistency with the Backward Integration Programme, which has spurred heavy investments in the diary production.

“Government should ensure that industrial policies in the country are allowed to gestate with proper monitoring and evaluation rather than jettisoning or altering them unduly frequently,” he said.

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