Author: Julius Alagbe

Nigerian US Dollar Bond Yield Dips by 10bps to 9.3% The Nigerian US dollar bond yield dipped by 10 basis points week on week to close at 9.3% as foreign investors maintained positive sentiment in the international market last week.  The buying interest heated up after the US Federal Reserve kept fed fund rates unchanged amidst healthy economic data and President Donald Trump called for rates to be cut. Looking towards the Sub-Saharan papers, demand for African papers increased as foreign portfolio investors capitalised on attractive yields. The bullish touch was witnessed across the short, mid, and long ends of…

Fitch Affirms Kenya at ‘B-‘ with Stable Outlook Fitch Ratings has affirmed Kenya’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘B-‘ with a stable outlook. Kenya’s ‘B-‘rating reflects strong medium-term growth prospects, a diversified economy and recent strengthening of the monetary policy framework. The rating is constrained by weak governance, high debt servicing costs, a significant level of informality constraining government revenues and high external indebtedness underpinned by challenges to fiscal consolidation, despite increased efforts to narrow the budget deficit. Fitch said the stable outlook reflects expectation that continued strong official creditor support will help alleviate near-term external liquidity pressures,…

CBN Priced OMO Bills Rate at 22.65%, Raised N1 Trillion The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sold 361-day OMO bills at a spot rate of 22.65% at the main auction conducted on Friday. The market has seen an improved US dollar, bolstered by foreign investors seeking to take positions in local debt assets. At the OMO auction, the CaBN offered N600 billion across two long-dated maturities, CardinalStone Securities Limited said in an investors’’ note. Due to a robust liquidity level in the financial system, the offer was significantly oversubscribed amidst expectation of an interest rate adjustment at the monetary policy…

DeepSeek Disruption May Lead to More Sustainable AI Investment –Fitch The emergence of DeepSeek, a Chinese AI model demonstrating higher efficiency than prevailing models, highlights the risk of AI infrastructure overcapacity if the current pace of investment continues, says Fitch Ratings. This development could moderate outsized revenue growth for AI chip makers but result in more sustainable AI infrastructure investment, limiting the severity of an eventual downturn. DeepSeek alleges to have been able to produce competitive results using significantly fewer and less advanced semiconductors to build its AI model (R1). This calls into question the necessity of well over $50…

Oando, Sterling Plc Plunge Intraday over Selling Rally Oando and Sterling Plc, among other decliners, dragged the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) backward during the intraday trading session. The sell pressures mounted in early trading hours on Friday with massive selldowns in Oando Plc., Sterling Bank, FCMB, and others. This trading pattern reversed the previous day’s bargain hunting in the equities amidst corporate earnings releases. The buying attraction on Oando and FCMB Plc was noted to ease after their earnings release showed key metrics mirrored pressures. At midday, the NGX All Share Index trended negatively, reflecting a loss of -0.11%, Alpha Morgan…

Telco’s Tariff Increase and NCC’s Patriotism In the heart of Nigeria’s digital economy, a story of patriotism and resilience unfolds. The telecommunications sector, a driving force behind the country’s growth, has been facing unprecedented challenges. Despite its significant contributions to Nigeria’s social and economic development, the sector has been struggling to keep up with the rising costs of operations. For nearly a decade, telecom tariffs in Nigeria remained unchanged, while the demand for data and voice services skyrocketed. The cost of operations, however, surged due to rising energy costs, inflation, currency devaluation, and increased costs of importing telecom equipment. These…

Nigeria Sovereign Eurobonds Yield Falls to 9.3% -MarketNews Nigeria’s sovereign Eurobond yield declined to 9.34% as foreign investors boosted their portfolio across African papers. On the back of an elevated yield, offshore investors’ appetite for African bonds has increased as US Fed fund rates steadied. Following damaging inflation and worsening exchange rates, African sovereign US dollar bonds has continued to attract offshore investors. Hence, trading appetite for the Nigeria Eurobond remained upbeat as market reacted to US Federal Reserve decision to keep fed funds rates. Bargain hunting was spotted across the short, mid, and long ends of the yield curve,…

FBN Holdings Grows Profit by 139% to N734bn in 2024 FBN Holdings Plc doubled down on profitability in the financial year 2024 with strong performance across core and non-core banking operations. Its net income increased by 138.86% year on year to N736.734 billion at the end of 2024, from N308.433 billion 12 months before. The significant surge in bottom line was supported by higher revenue due to a strong increase in net interest income. In 2024, FBN Holdings grew net interest income to N1.391 trillion, up by 155% year on year from N546.288 billion posted in 2023. Net fees and…

NNPCL, Partners Launch 5 Mini LNG Plants in Kogi The Federal Government on Thursday began the construction of five Mini Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Plants in Ajaokuta, Kogi State. The plants are to facilitate rapid access to gas to deepen its utilisation among Nigerians. The plants are being developed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) in partnership with PRIME LNG, NGML/Gasnexus LNG, BUA LNG, Highland LNG and LNG Arete. The project will be constructed on 33,000 hectares of land, with a combined capacity of 97.5 million standard cubic feet of gas per day, and a 500 million…

Geregu Power to Pay Shareholders N8.50/s in March Geregu Power Plc has announced that the company will pay its shareholders their final dividend for 2024 in March, 2025. The company told the Nigerian Exchange that a final dividend of N8.50 per ordinary share. The dividend is however, subject to appropriate withholding tax, and approval will be paid to shareholders whose names appear in the Register of Members as at the close of business on the 13th of March, 2025. The company also said the shareholder register will be closed 14th March, 2025 two weeks after which a dividend sum will…