The profit of Flour Mills Nigeria Plc dropped by over 61 per cent for the nine-month ending December 31, 2016.
The company recorded a profit of N7.4bn for 2016, which was a major decline compared to N19.003bn posted for the same period in 2015.
Its revenue stood at N389.943bn compared to N263.579bn recorded in 2015, according to its filings at the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian equity market closed lower on Tuesday as the NSE market capitalisation dropped to N8.972tn from N9.020tn.
The NSE All-Share Index shed 0.69 per cent as 205.771 million shares worth N2.762bn were traded in 2,914 deals.
The consumer goods sector was the chief laggard following declines across stocks like Nestle Nigeria Plc, Nigerian Breweries Plc and PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc, which depreciated by 3.07 per cent, 1.55 per cent and 4.98 per cent, respectively.
The banking sector maintained its losing streak as the United Bank for Africa Plc, Zenith Bank Plc and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc’s shares dropped by 4.22 per cent, 1.26 per cent and 1.13 per cent, respectively.
The Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) now has a total of N6.02 trillion assets.
This represents total fund accrued from the scheme in its 12 years regime in Nigeria as at November 2016.
The Director-General, National Pension Commission,( PenCom) Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, in her latest information on status of the scheme, asset-wise, attributed the growth to the prudent way the fund managers handled it and lack of fraudulent activities under the scheme.
According to her, the funds rose from N4.6 trillion at the end of the 2014 financial period to N5.3 trillion in 2015.
Anohu-Amazu, also explained that the new law re-enacted in July 2014, replacing the Pension Reform Act (PRA), 2004, also empowered PenCom as the sole regulator and supervisor of pension matters in the country.
According to her, among other significant revisions, the PRA 2014 introduced some innovations in the pension system, instituted a stiffer regime of sanctions and penalties for infringements, ensured the upward review of the minimum rate of pension contribution in order to enhance the value of pension pay-outs, and expanded the coverage of private sector employees under the CPS. She also said the recovery agents put in place by the commission also boosted the performance of the scheme. According to her, the commission has recovered over N11billion between 2013 and date from errant firms through its recovering agents. The PenCom boss, while commending the effort of the recovering agents, said the commission in 2012, discovered that several thousands of employers were not funding their workers’ Retiring Savings Accounts (RSAs), hence, employed the services of recovery agents.
The Commissions Secretary and Legal Adviser Muhammad Muhammad had warned that non remittance of deducted employee salary is a criminal offense adding the Commission would collaborate with the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) to ensure all outstanding contributions were remitted.
Forte Oil Plc reported a profit before tax of N5.34bn for the year ending December 31, 2016.
The firm disclosed this on Tuesday in its result filed with the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
The group’s profit before tax for the same period last year, closed at N7.01bn.
It recorded revenue of N148.61bn in 2016 compared to N124.62bn reported a year ago.
But Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc reported Q1 pre-tax loss of N248.4m against a profit of N51.9m recorded for the same period last year.
It also recorded Q1 turnover of N137.4m, which is a drop compared to N396.2m reported for the same period last year.
In November 2016, Forte Oil succeeded in raising N9bn from the capital market to support its operation and drive its expansion strategy. The capital-raising (in bonds) was a five-year fixed rate issue and the first series of its proposed N50bn bond issuance programme.
The oil firm had said then that the funds raised would be deployed to refinance existing short-term commercial bank loan obligations and its retail outlet expansion. The company has an issuer rating of A- long-term and A1- short term rating by the Global Credit Rating Company.
The Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Akin Akinfemiwa, was quoted to have said, “The raising of this initial capital which has been fully underwritten shows the confidence the investing public has in Forte Oil as an investment of choice.
“This bond programme being the first in the downstream sector, is a testament to Forte Oil’s position within the downstream sector and allows the company to actualise the vision of the board to continue to provide value to its shareholders regardless of the economic climate.”
The bond was listed on the NSE and FMDQ OTC Exchange until maturity date in 2021. United Capital Limited served as the lead financial advisor/issuing house to the transaction while Boston Advisory Limited, FBN Capital Limited, Planet Capital Limited and Vetiva Capital Management Limited served as joint financial advisors/issuing house.
