Author: Julius Alagbe

Julius Alagbe is a senior financial journalist and Editor at MarketForces Africa with nearly two decades of experience in finance, accounting, and economics reporting.He is one of Nigeria's most prolific financial market reporters, covering capital markets, monetary policy, corporate earnings, banking, telecoms, and macroeconomic developments across Africa.Julius has built a strong footprint reporting on Nigeria's leading corporates and financial services sector, including coverage of the Nigerian Exchange Group, Central Bank of Nigeria monetary operations, MTN Nigeria, GTCO, and major investment banking transactions.He regularly monitors the CBN’s open market operations, interbank FX markets, and equity market movements, providing readers with real-time intelligence on Nigeria’s financial landscape.His reporting draws on direct access to institutional research from firms including Moody’s Ratings, CardinalStone Securities, Fitch, and other leading African investment houses.Julius brings analytical depth and editorial rigour to every story, making complex financial data accessible to professionals, investors, and policymakers across Africa.Julius Alagbe is based in Lagos, Nigeria.

Fitch Affirms Uganda at ‘B’, Ratings Constrained by Weak GDP, Rising Debt Fitch Ratings has affirmed Uganda’s Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs)at ‘B’ with a stable outlook. Uganda’s issuer ratings are constrained by low GDP per capita, weak governance, sizeable twin fiscal and current account deficits, rising public debt/GDP and a high interest burden. Ratings analysts explained that the country’s tax base is structurally narrow, expenditure is rigid, and public financial management is weak. The ratings are supported by a record of macroeconomic stability and favourable medium-term growth prospects, given the approaching commencement of oil production, Fitch said. “We expect…

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FCMB Gains 13% as Earnings Scorecard Boosts Investors Sentiment FCMB Plc post-earnings bets bolstered the market value of the group’s 65.953 billion outstanding shares on the Nigerian Exchange by 13.10% week on week to N854.111 billion. Trading data from the Nigerian bourse showed the FCMB share price surged to N12.95 on Friday with N2.781 billion in transaction value for 217.914 million units traded. The banking group is seeing significant earnings beats with relatively high trading volume in the stock market last week. Increased market activity led by buy-side actors in the local bourse strengthened its share price to N12.95, breaching…

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