The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) will today list the FGN N10.69 billion Green Bond on the Exchange, as part of efforts to make Nigeria one of the favoured investment destinations in Africa.
Nigeria became the first the first nation to issue a climate bonds certified sovereign green bond, the first African nation to issue a sovereign green bond and the fourth nation in the world to issue after Poland, France and Fiji.
Green bonds are fixed income, liquid financial instruments used to raise funds dedicated to climate mitigation, adaptation and other environment-friendly projects. This provides investors with an attractive investment proposition and an opportunity to support environmentally and socially sound projects.
Market analysts had said considering that Nigeria derives more than 90 per cent of its export income from crude oil, the push for green bonds to support initiatives aimed at moderating climate change by investing in solar plants, hydro power and agriculture is particularly noteworthy.
Former Minister of Environment and now Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ms. Amina Mohammed had last year commended NSE for conceptualising the idea of the green bond.
“The NSE sowed the seeds, they talked to me about sustainability principles and what business could do. We thought ‘hey what about green bonds’ – Nigeria was looking for an instrument that worked with its ‘Intended Nationally Determined Contribution’ and its national strategy to bring jobs and green infrastructure investment. Green Bonds provides a new product with new credentials that investors could buy into, which has gone through a vigorous process to ensure transparency, accountability in use of funds and is environmental friendly,” she said.
According to market operators, sovereign green bond represents a new stage in the development of the Nigerian capital markets and opens the way for further corporate issuance and international investment. The NSE is playing a key role in helping to develop this enormous opportunity for Nigeria while fulfilling one of its key objectives as a member of the UN Sustainable Stock Exchange Initiative.
Market operators have called on government to implement tax incentives to issuers, while grant schemes should also be instituted to address some of the costs of issuing bonds for corporates including independent reviews and project assessment and evaluation.
Meanwhile, the stock market continued with its losing streak with the NSE All-Share Index depreciating further by 0.76 to close at 36,470.05.
Wema Bank Plc has reported a profit before tax of N1.83bn for the first half of the year.
The bank said in a statement on Wednesday that its profit before tax grew by 27.44 per cent to N1.83bn in the first half of 2018 from N1.43bn in the same period of 2017.
It said its unaudited financial results for the first half of 2018 showed a 5.12 per cent growth in gross earnings, which was driven by 0.12 per cent and 30.45 per cent growth in interest and non-interest income, respectively.
The Acting Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Wema Bank, Ademola Adebise, while commenting on the results, said the performance of the bank in the first half of the year was largely in line with the expectations of the management.
He stated that deposit grew by 39 per cent to N354.88bn on the back of continued acceptance of the Wema Bank brand and the sustained success of its flagship digital bank, ALAT.
Adebise said, “We also improved our earnings capacity; gross earnings increased by 5.12 per cent from N30.37bn in the first half of 2017 to N31.93bn in the first half of 2018, while profit before tax closed 27.44 per cent higher at N1.83bn.
“The bank continues to execute its five-year retail strategy with a clear mandate to improve performance by leveraging innovation. The emphasis for us is not just to digitise our product offerings to customers but also to build a technology driven back-end infrastructure to further improve on turnaround time and efficiency.
“The bank also continues to improve its customer acquisition through the launch of ALAT and the impressive performance of its unstructured supplementary service data platform (*945#).”
Bearish sentiments persisted at the stock market wednesday, driving the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index (ASI) further down by lower by 0.58 per cent to 36,748.18.
This was the lowest since November 2017. Selling pressure in banking and insurance stocks were highly instrumental to the negative session recorded at the equities market. Out of the 23 price losers, 13 counters were from banking and insurance sectors. This development led to a two per cent depreciation in the NSE Banking Index.
In all, FBN Holdings Plc led the losers’ table with 9.7 per cent to close at N9.25, trailed by Oando Plc. Wema Bank Plc shed 8.8 per cent, while Caverton Offshore Support Group Plc and Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Plc went down by 7.1 per cent apiece.
Other gainers included: GTBank (6.7 per cent); LASACO Assurance Plc (5.7 per cent); Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc (5.5 per cent); WAPIC Insurance Plc, Equity Assurance Plc (4.5 per cent each); Niger Insurance Plc (3.8 per cent); Custodian Investment Plc, Diamond Bank Plc (3.1 per cent apiece).
On the other hand, Continental Reinsurance Plc led the price gainers with 10 per cent to be at N1.65. PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc followed with 9.7 per cent, just as International Breweries Plc advanced by 9.3 per cent. Japaul Oil & Maritime Services Plc garnered 9.1 per cent.
Other top price gainers were: Linkage Assurance Plc (8.9 per cent); Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc (7.4 per cent); NPF Microfinance Bank Plc (5.8 per cent); Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc (4.2 per cent) and Union Bank of Nigeria Plc (3.5 per cent).
In line with the bearish trend, volume and value of trading fell 11.0 per cent and 31.3 per cent to 181.2 million shares and N1.6 billion respectively. The most traded stocks by volume were Transcorp Plc (16.8 million), Zenith Bank Plc(15.2 million shares) and Fidelity Bank Plc (14.9 million shares ) while Zenith Bank Plc (N361.7 million), GTBank (N225.8 million) and Nestle Nigeria Plc (N117.4 million) were the most traded stocks by value.
Apart from the banking index, the NSE Oil & Gas Index and NSE Industrial Goods Index fell 1.2 per cent and 0.5 per cent in that order.
Market analysts said in the short to medium term, losses are likely to persist, amidst continued risk-off sentiments in emerging markets and the absence of a near-term one-off positive catalyst.
“However, still-positive macroeconomic fundamentals remain supportive of gains in the long term,” analysts at Cordros Capital Limited said.
The equities market halted a three-day bearish run to record the first positive performance yesterday since the start of the second half of the year. After shedding two per cent in three days, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index (ASI) appreciated by 0.65 per cent to close at 37,743.22, while market capitalisation added N88.4 billion to be at N13.7 trillion.
Market operators said gains by bellwether stocks contributed to recovery of the market from the strong grip of the bears.
“Counters like Nigerian Breweries Plc, Dangote Cement Plc, GTBank Plc, amongst others recorded gains that drove the market into the positive region. These gains arose, as investors bought into the tickers, given the attractive prices,” analysts at Meristem Securities Limited said.
A total of 23 stocks appreciated compared with 20 others that depreciated. Multiverse Mining Plc led the price gainers with 10 per cent, trailed by Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Plc with 9.6 per cent. Japaul Oil and Maritime Services Plc garnered 8.3 per cent.
May & Baker Nigeria Plc and Sterling Bank Plc chalked up 5.7 per cent each, just as C & I Leasing Plc, Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc and Jaiz Bank Plc added 5.3 per cent, 5.1 per cent and 4.7 per cent respectively. Cement Company of Northern Nigeria Plc and Regency Alliance Assurance Plc advanced 4.7 per cent and 4.1 per cent in that order.
Other top price gainers included: Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc (3.5 per cent); Julius Berger Nigeria Plc (3.2 per cent); Dangote Cement Plc (2.2 per cent) and Honeywell Flour Mills Plc (1.9 per cent).
Conversely, Capital Oil Plc led the bears, shedding 9.1 per cent, followed by N.E.M Insurance Plc that appreciated by 8.8 per cent. Champion Breweries Plc went down by 8.00 per cent, just as Double One Plc, Unity Bank Plc and University Press Plc depreciated by 7.8 per cent, 7.2 per cent and 6.4 per cent respectively.
Meanwhile, activity level increased as volume and value traded surged 30.2 per cent and 146.8 per cent to 497.1 million shares and N5.9 billion respectively. The top traded stocks by volume were United Bank of Africa(UBA) Plc (294.9 million shares), Zenith Bank Plc (38.3 million shares) and Access Bank Plc (34.4 million shares) while UBA (N3.1 billion), Zenith Bank (N930.7 million) and GTBank (N546.1 million) were the top traded stocks by value.
Across sectors, performance was mixed as three of five indices closed in the green. The NSE Industrial Goods Index emerged top performer, rising 1.3 per cent , while the NSE Banking Index and NSE Consumer Goods Index appreciated by 0.3 per cent and 0.2 per cent.
The negative mood at the stock market continued Thursday with the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index (ASI) shedding 0.61 per cent to close at 37,733.44. Similarly, market capitalisation shed N88.5 billion to close lower at 13.7 trillion.This has brought the year-to-date decline to 1.3 per cent. The bearish performance stemmed from depreciation suffered by bellwether counters such as Dangote Cement Plc and some banking stocks as negative sentiments persisted.
According to analysts at Meristem Securities Limited, “the mood in the market was largely downbeat, despite the modest gains recorded on counters in the consumer goods sector. Profit taking on Dangote Cement Plc and bellwether stocks in the banking sector dragged the day’s results.”
In all, 21 stocks depreciated while 17 appreciated. Equity Assurance Plc recorded the highest loss, shedding 4.5 per cent. Wema Bank Plc trailed with 4.1 per cent. Diamond Bank Plc, Prestige Assurance Plc and Transcorp Plc went down by 3.5 per cent apiece.
Other top price losers include: University Press Plc(3.0 per cent); Royal Exchange Plc (2.9 per cent); LASACO Assurance Plc, Okomu Oil Palm Plc (2.7 per cent each). Japaul Oil & Maritime Services Plc (2.6 per cent) and Dangote Flour Mills Plc (2.4 per cent); Dangote Cement Plc (2.1 per cent).
However, the 17 stocks that escaped from the bears were led by Honeywell Flours Mills Plc with 9.5 per cent, trailed by Law Union & Rock Insurance Plc with 9.3 per cent. Lafarge Africa Plc and AIICO Insurance Plc chalked up 5.0 per cent apiece.
Other top gainers were: Regency Alliance Assurance Plc (4.1 per cent); Niger Insurance Plc, Cadbury Nigeria Plc (4.0 per cent each); Linkage Assurance Plc(3.9 per cent) and Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc (3.7 per cent).
But in terms of sectoral performance, three indicators closed higher, one depreciated, while one closed flat. The NSE Industrial Goods Index led with 1.4 per cent, followed by the NSE Consumer Goods Index that appreciated by 0.5 per cent, while the NSE Insurance Index appreciated by 0.2 per cent.
Conversely, the NSE Banking Index was the sole loser, shedding 0.7 per cent on the back of sell-offs in GTBank, Zenith Bank and Diamond Bank Plc. The NSE Oil & Gas Index closed flat.
Meanwhile, activity level improved as volume and value traded rose 11.5 per cent and 40.0 per cent to 414.9 million shares and N4.5 billion respectively.
Corporation of Nigeria Plc, one of Nigeria’s leading conglomerates, has appointed Mrs Owen Omogiafo as an executive director with effect from July 1, 2018.
In her new role, she will support in driving and delivering on Transcorp’s strategic ambitions as the conglomerate continues to fulfill its special mission of lighting homes, schools and hospitals in Nigeria, powering the country’s industrialization process, and hosting local and foreign investors in Transcorp hotels across Nigeria, the firm said in a statement on Tuesday.
According to the statement, Omogiafo has a BSc in Sociology and Anthropology from the University of Benin and M.Sc. in Human Resource Management from the London School of Economics.
It said, “She brings on board over 18 years’ corporate experience and is currently the Chief Operating Officer of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Africa’s leading philanthropic organisation. She has held senior leadership positions, including Director of Resources at Heirs Holdings, a family owned investment company with a portfolio spanning the power, oil and gas, financial services, hospitality, real estate and health care sectors, operating in 23 countries worldwide.
“She has also served as HR advisor to the GMD/CEO at leading pan-African financial services group, United Bank for Africa, and as an organisation and change management consultant at Accenture.”
Dangote Flour Mills Plc has said it will improve its customer engagement strategies and strengthen supply chain capability to surpass its 2017 performance.
The shareholders of the company, at the Annual General Meeting in Lagos, approved a final dividend of 20 kobo for every ordinary share of 50 kobo each held in the company for the year ended December 31, 2017.
The company’s annual report and account presented at the AGM showed an 18.6 per cent increase in its turnover to N125.4bn from N105.7bn in 2016.
Its profit before tax increased to N22.44bn from N11.82bn in 2016, while the profit after tax rose by 43.1 per cent to N15.13bn from N10.57bn in 2016.
The Chairman, Board of Directors, Dangote Flour Mills, Mr Asue Ighodalo, said despite the headwinds and extremely challenging business environment in 2017, the company “delivered impressive results for the 12 months under review, continuing with the growth trajectory and company turnaround that started in 2016.”
He said as a result of the improved business performance of the company in the financial year under review, the accumulated loss position in the balance sheet had been fully extinguished.
Ighodalo said the board and management of the company would continue to develop strategies to harness opportunities occasioned by improvements in economic indices while mitigating the adverse effects of continued and emerging threats to the performance and growth of the business.
He stated, “Our key focus areas in the year 2018 include improving our customer engagement strategies, strengthening our supply chain capabilities, assuring best-in-class product quality and managing our costs.
“Our customers remain our key partners in the business. Their patronage, continued support and unflinching loyalty contributed immensely to our performance in the year. I assure you that we will strive to serve you better and employ processes that make your interactions and engagement with us hitch-free and pleasurable.”
The chairman said the company would continue to place high priority on the training and development of its employees, and seek and retain the best talents available in the continued pursuit of operational and service excellence.
He added, “Our greatest strength lies in our committed, hard working and resourceful team of employees.
“I look forward to greater performance from our teams to ensure that we become the number one flour milling company in West Africa by the quality of our products, market share and performance ratios.”
Vetiva Research has said the Nigerian economy has underperformed initial expectations following a slowdown in agriculture and persistent weakness in services.
The research firm, which is a part of Vetiva Capital, an investment banking firm, therefore cut its economic growth forecast for the 2018 to 1.9 per cent, from 2.4 per cent. Vetiva stated this in its ‘Second Half 2018 Outlook Report on the Nigerian Economy, Key sectors and Capital Markets.’
Head of Vetiva Research, Olalekan Olabode said: “The dimmer picture begins with the oil sector as infrastructure integrity issues prevent Nigeria from producing at capacity whilst oil prices are expected to trend slightly lower in H2’18 on the back of rising global output.”
Vetiva Research expects pre-election activities to steer the economic environment for the rest of the year, with election spending boosting the economy but also inducing greater inflationary pressure.
Chief Economist of Vetiva Capital, Michael Famoroti noted that there are uncertain times ahead.
“Impending elections are also likely to induce greater economic uncertainty and distract policy and governance at the tail-end of the year, neither of which is positive for confidence or investment,” Famoroti said.
Speaking on the fixed income market, he said that the late budget passage, pre-election spending, and food price pressure could induce higher inflation at year-end.
“Despite an improving macroeconomic environment and a semblance of policy stability, Nigeria’s financial markets would likely be steered by the fallout of electoral activities and rising global interest rates,” he said.
However, the firm projected a positive outlook for the Nigerian equities market despite the various pronounced impact the coming general elections would have on the economy.
“Comparable multiples with peers suggest the Nigerian equity market remains undervalued. We maintain a strongly positive post-election outlook on Nigerian equities,” it said.
Vetiva Research also revisited its top “10 High Conviction Stocks” presented at the beginning of the year, which represent key stocks on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) that are expected to outperform the market by year-end.
Olabode said: “These high conviction stocks have so far outperformed the broad market index by 1.5 per cent on a market cap-weighted basis and 7.0 per cent in simple average returns, and maintain these stocks as key picks for 2018.”
Meanwhile, the equities market opened on positive note yesterday with the NSE ASI, appreciating by 0.34 per cent to close at 37,992.12.
The market capitalisation of equities listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange continued its downward trend last week, falling by 2.74 per cent at the end of trading.
The NSE All-Share Index declined to 37,862.53 basis points from 38,928.02 at the close of trading the previous week while the market capitalisation dipped to N13.716tn from N14.101tn week-on-week.
Similarly, all other indices finished lower with the exception of the NSE Insurance Index that appreciated by 3.55 per cent, while the NSE ASeM Index closed flat.
A total turnover of 1.097 billion shares worth N15.471bn in 16,288 deals were traded last week by investors on the floor of the Exchange in contrast to a total of 1.738 billion shares valued at N18.462bn that exchanged hands in 14,790 deals the previous week.
The financial services industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 816.547 million shares valued at N9.425bn traded in 9,263 deals, thus contributing 74.44 per cent and 60.92 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The consumer goods industry followed with 76.361 million shares worth N2.992bn in 2,545 deals, while the third place was occupied by the oil and gas industry with a turnover of 51.600 million shares worth N594.590m in 1,744 deals.
Trading in the top three equities namely – United Bank for Africa Plc, Zenith International Bank Plc and FBN Holdings Plc (measured by volume) – accounted for 325.580 million shares worth N4.854bn in 3,381 deals, contributing 29.68 per cent and 31.37 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
Meanwhile, the NSE has announced a review of the NSE 30, and the six sectoral indices of the Exchange, namely NSE Consumer Goods, NSE Banking, NSE Insurance, NSE Industrial, NSE Oil & Gas and NSE Lotus Islamic Indices.
It said the composition of the indices after the review would be effective on July 1, 2018, adding, “With the review, we will witness the entry/re-entry as well as exit of some major companies.”
The bourse began publishing the NSE 30 Index in February 2009 with index values available from January 1, 2007.
According to a statement, on July 1, 2008, the NSE developed four sectoral indices with a base value of 1,000 points, designed to provide investable benchmarks to capture the performance of specific sectors.
It said, “The sectoral indices comprise the top 15 most capitalised and liquid companies in the insurance and consumer goods sectors, top 10 most capitalised and liquid companies in the banking and industrial goods sector and the top seven most capitalised and liquid companies in the oil and gas sector.
“In July 2012, the Nigerian bourse launched the NSE Lotus Islamic index, which consists of companies whose business practices are in conformity with Shari’ah investment principles, with the aim of increasing the breadth of the market and creating an important benchmark for investments as the alternative ethical and non-interest investment space widened.”
The NSE said the companies on the Islamic Index had been thoroughly screened by Lotus Capital Halal Investment, in accordance with a methodology approved by an internationally recognised Shari’ah Advisory Board, comprising of renowned Islamic scholars.
The price indices, which were developed using the market capitalisation methodology, are reviewed and rebalanced on a bi-annual basis – on the first business day in January and in July, according to the statement.
In line with its resolve to reward shareholders with improved returns, Dangote Sugar Refinery(DSR) Plc has increased dividend paid for the 2017 by 192 per cent to N21 billion from N7.2 billion in 2016. The dividend is 175 kobo per share, up from 60 kobo per share in 2016 and would be paid from today.
Speaking at the annual general meeting (AGM) held in Lagos yesterday, Chairman of DSR, Alhaji Aliko Dangote said the company recorded an impressive performance despite the challenging environment.
According to him, revenue rose by 20.4 per cent from N169.72 billion to N204.42 billion in 2017. Profit before tax jumped by 173.3 per cent to N53.6 billion, from N19.61 billion, while profit after tax grew fast by 176 per cent to N39.78 billion as against N14.4 billion in 2016.
“The board has recommended to shareholders for approval, at this meeting, the payment of a final dividend of N15 billion, being 125 kobo for the year ended December 31,2017. The board had earlier approved the payment of an interim dividend of N6 billion, being 50 kobo per share. This brings the total dividends for the year under review to N21 billion,” he said.
Dangote disclosed that the company had invested N121 billion on equipment, land acquisition, compensation to land owners, consultancy and related services in its backward integration
He said despite the major setbacks like flood, community relations issues and most recently clashes between host community and Fulani herdsmen that hampered progress, Savannah Sugar remained the only company producing sugar from own grown sugarcane in the country with over N30 billion spent to date.
“Negotiations with the government and local communities in Kwara and Niger on land acquisition processes are ongoing, in line with the backward integration sites plan. Project activities will resume in Taraba State when the rain assuages,” he said.
In his comments, the Acting Managing Director/CEO of Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, Abdullahi Sule said the company would continue to pursue its target to achieve 1.08 metric tonnes of refined sugar annually in six years and eventually 1.5 million metric tonnes in 10 years.
“Though the business terrain remains very challenging, we remain resilient in the face of the situation and are focused on increasing our market share and customer base as well as the creation of sustainable value for our stakeholders. Our priority in the current year is the achievement of our Sugar for Nigeria Project goals and sustenance of our leadership position by improving efficiency and growing our markets,” the Sule said.
