Author Archives: NairaMaster12

Nigerian Exchange Group of Companies has begun commemorating the International Women’s Day 2022 through a series of Closing Gong Ceremonies to celebrate recently appointed female Board Chairpersons and Chief Executives of listed companies and their affiliates who were appointed in 2021. The events which held on Wednesday, 2 March 2022 and Friday, 4 March 2022, respectively, were hosted in line with The Exchange’s ongoing collaboration with International Finance Corporation (IFC) which aims to reduce the gender gaps in leadership, employment, and entrepreneurship under the Nigeria2Equal programme.

Amongst the female business leaders celebrated are Dr. Omobola Johnson, Chair, Guinness Nigeria Plc; Mrs. Bola Adesola, Chairman, Ecobank Nigeria; Erelu Angela Adebayo, Chairperson, NGX Real Estate, Mrs Catherine Echeozo, Chairperson, NGX Regulation. Ms. Tinuade Awe, Chief Executive Officer, NGX Regulation; Mrs. Yemisi Edun, Managing Director, First City Monument Bank Limited; and Mrs. Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Fidelity Bank Plc. Joining the events as special guests to celebrate the accomplishments of the female business leaders were Dr. (Mrs.) Ajoritsedere Awosika, Chairperson, Access Bank Plc and Mrs. Oyeyimika Adeboye, Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director, Cadbury Nigeria Plc, and Mrs Elizabeth Ebi, Group Managing Director/CEO, Futureview Group. The events were also attended by Mr Kalim Shah, Senior Country Manager, Nigeria, IFC, under the banner of the Nigeria2Equal programme.

The enterprise will continue its IWD celebrations by hosting a virtual symposium to discuss the theme, Break the Bias: Gender Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow on Tuesday, 8 March 2022. The event will bring together high quality male and female industry leaders to highlight the positive contributions of women across various spectrums. The celebration will culminate in a digital Closing Gong Ceremony to advocate for gender equality, in collaboration with IFC, Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) Initiative, United Nations (UN) Women, UN Global Compact (UNGC) and World Federation of Exchanges (WFE). Interested participants can register at www.ngxgroup.com/iwd2022

Confirmed speakers at the event include, Ms. Tinuade Awe, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), NGX Regulation Limited (NGX RegCo); Mr. Oscar N. Onyema, OON, GCEO, Nigerian Exchange Group Plc (NGX Group); Mr. Temi Popoola, CFA, CEO, Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX); Dame Pauline Tallen, OFR, Honourable Minister of Women Affairs, Federal Republic of Nigeria; Amb. Mariam Yalwaji Katagum, Federal Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Nigeria; Mr. Lansana Wonneh, UN Women Deputy Representative; Mr. Kevin Njiraini, Regional Director, Southern Africa & Nigeria, IFC; Ms. Tokunboh Ishmael, MD/CEO, Alitheia Capital; Mr. Kalim M. Shah, Senior Country Manager for Nigeria, IFC; Ms. Kathy Mignano, Operations Officer, Inclusive Business, Gender and Economic Inclusion Group, IFC; Ms. Robyn Oates, Sustainable Finance Specialist, UN Women; among others.

Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX Group) Plc is pleased to announce that it has released its audited results for the full year ended 31 December 2021, on Tuesday, 01 March 2022.

The Group’s audited results revealed that its gross earnings grew to N6.8 billion from N6.0 billion, resulting in a 13 percent increase. Revenue rose by 14.9 percent from N5 billion recorded in 2020 to N5.8 billion in 2021.

Also, the group’s profit before tax (PBT) increased by 25.4 percent to N2.4 billion while its profit after tax (PAT) rose by 22.2 percent to N2.3 billion from N1.84 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2020.

According to the Group, the jump in its revenue was driven by a 24.8 percent growth in listing fees, which grew to N757.4 million as against N606.9 million in 2020, 4.9 percent growth in its treasury investment income, and a 2.1 percent growth in transaction fee, which rose to N2.9 billion from N2.8 billion recorded in 2020.

Further analysis of the NGX Group’s result revealed that its return on equity grew by 70 basis points to 6.6 percent while its return on assets stood at 5.9 percent from 5.2 percent recorded in 2020.

Commenting on the results, NGX Group Chairman, Otunba Abimbola Ogunbanjo, stated, “We are delighted at the progress reported for FY 2021 across strategic, operational, and financial aspects of the Group’s business. The Demutualisation and Listing by Introduction were significant and unprecedented milestones for the Group and we would like to thank our stakeholders for their support and trust in the Group’s quest to unlock its true value and diversify its operations and product offerings”.

“All within one year, we demutualised, restructured, and listed the business with the Holdco being the investment holding company with three operating subsidiaries and other associate companies and equity investments. The Board has during the year under review, focused broadly on adapting to the enhanced corporate governance demands following the change in organizational form, whilst exercising its oversight functions on strategy development and execution and drilling down on emerging value accretive opportunities presented by the demutualisation. In 2022, the aim is to continue to strengthen the NGX Group brand to make it a globally respected and a regional and national significant economic actor”.

Corroborating him, the Group’s Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Oscar N. Onyema, OON, explained that the Group went through a restructuring of its business to refine its business model, with an increased focus on expanding into new business areas, which is reflective in the activities of the Group.

According to Onyema, NGX Group, in 2021, focused on formulating and executing the strategy of the Holding company, which includes building multiple businesses across the entire capital market value chain with diversified revenues as well as strategic and operational flexibility. “Gross earnings growth of 13.0% coupled with after-tax profit growth of 22.2% is an encouraging start to our journey as an investment holding company”.

“Going forward our focus remains: on strengthening our capital structure; being active in every sphere of the capital markets value chain in Nigeria, but also growing our presence across Africa as a leading integrated market infrastructure provider; optimising our current investments and making new strategic investments and recruiting top talents to execute our strategy. We aim to continue to create value, optimise profitability and build a sustainable business in alignment with stakeholders’ interest”, Onyema said.

Nigerian Exchange Group Plc (NGX Group) is a leading integrated market infrastructure in Africa. We service the largest economy in Africa and are strengthening the competitiveness of African economies to achieve global prosperity. As a key player in the continent’s financial markets, we take an active role in shaping the future of the markets through our investment in business innovation and technology.

NGX Group provides a wide range of services including listing and trading securities, licensing, market data solutions, ancillary technology, regulation, real estate, and more through its wholly-owned subsidiaries Nigerian Exchange Limited, NGX Regulation Limited, and NGX Real Estate.

The Group is also invested in the financial infrastructure space with investments in NG Clearing Limited, Central Securities and Clearing Systems (CSCS), OTC platforms and three fintech companies.

The Debt Management Office on Thursday said Nigeria’s total public debt stock increased to N39.56tn in 2021 from N32.92tn in 2020.

The Director-General, DMO, Patience Oniha, said this at a media briefing in Abuja.

According to her, the total debt includes new borrowings by the Federal Government and the sub-nationals.

She also said that the amount helped in financing the budget deficit, capital projects and support economic recovery.

Oniha said, “Nigeria’s total public debt as at December 31, 2021, was N39.56tn or $95.78bn. The amount represents the total external and domestic debts of the Federal Government of Nigeria, 36 state governments and the federal capital territory.

“The comparable figure for December 31, 2020, was N32.92tn or $86.39bn. The public debt stock for December 31, 2021, includes new borrowings by the FGN and the sub-nationals. For the FGN, it would be recalled that the 2021 appropriation and supplementary acts, included total new borrowings (from domestic and external sources) of N5.49tn to part-finance the deficit.

“Borrowings for this purpose and disbursements by the multilateral and bilateral creditors account for a significant portion of the increase in the debt stock. Increases were also recorded in the debt stock of the states and the FCT.”

She further said that despite the debt increase, the country is still within the total public debt stock to the Gross Domestic Product limit of 55 per cent set by the World Bank and 70 per cent set by the Economic Community of West African States.

Oniha also said that the Federal Government was “mindful of the relatively high debt-to-revenue ratio” and has established certain measures to increase revenues through the strategic revenue growth initiative and the introduction of Finance Acts since 2019.

Custodian Investment Plc has said it recorded revenue growth of 14 per cent in its audited financial performance for the financial year ended December 31, 2021.

The audited accounts of the group, released recently in Lagos, indicated that gross revenue increased by 14 per cent to N85.7 billion and, after adjusting for non-recurring one-time gain from prior year’s result, profits from continuing ordinary operations recorded 18 per cent growth while net asset per share grew by 16 per cent to 937 kobo.

The company’s shareholders’ fund also grew by 16 per cent from N47.6 billion to N55.1 billion after paying dividends totaling N3.24 billion, amounting to 50 lobo per share during the year.

The audited result of the company and its subsidiaries has confirmed the growth in revenue and shareholders’ funds for the year that ended on 31st December 2021 as earlier reported in the unaudited result released on 31st January 2022.

The report showed that major business segments posted appreciable revenue and profit growths despite the challenging operating environment.

In line with the tradition of the company on the payment of regular dividends to its shareholders, the directors recommended the payment of a final dividend of 40 kobo per share on every 50 kobo share of the company, having paid an interim dividend of 10 kobo per share in September 2021, thus taking the total dividend paid on the result for financial year 2021 to 50 kobo per share.

Despite price gains that outweighed losses, the Nigerian stock market closed on a downward note yesterday, as profit-taking in 17 stocks dragged market capitalisation by N6 billion.

Specifically, at the close of transactions yesterday, the All-Share Index declined by 11.24 per cent, representing a decrease of 0.02 per cent, to close at 47,353.22 points.

Similarly, the overall market capitalisation value lost N6 billion to close at N25.521 trillion.

The market’s negative performance was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks which are; Seplat Energy, Nigerian Breweries, Dangote Sugar Refinery, United Capital and Unilever Nigeria.

However, market breadth was positive as 18 stocks gained relative to 17 losers. UAC of Nigeria (UACN) recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent to close at N12.10 kobo.

Royal Exchange followed with a gain of 9.80 per cent to close at N1.12, while Wapic Insurance up by 8.16 per cent to close at 53 kobo. Presco rose by 6.40 per cent to close at N133.00, while Multiverse Mining and Exploration gained 4.55 per cent to close at 23 kobo.

On the other hand, Niger Insurance led the losers’ chart by 9.09 per cent to close at 20 kobo. Cornerstone Insurance followed with a decline of 6.45 per cent to close at 58 kobo, while Veritas Kapital Assurance lost 4.55 per cent to close at 21 kobo.

SEPLAT Energy declined 3.13 per cent to close at N930.00, while Lasaco Assurance shed 2.80 per cent to close at N1.04 kobo.

The total volume traded rose by 64.3 per cent to 239.732 million units, valued at N3.892 billion, and exchanged in 3,848 deals.

Transactions in the shares of Veritas Kapital Assurance topped the activity chart with 30.010 million shares valued at N6.302 billion. United Bank for Africa (UBA) followed with 27.730 million shares worth N235.186 million, while FBN Holdings (FBNH) traded 23.021 million shares valued at N272.019 million.

Guaranty Trust Holding Company traded 18.247 million shares valued at N477.757 million, while Fidelity Bank transacted 16.107 million shares worth N47.763 million.