Author: Julius Alagbe

Zenith Bank Public Offer: Why It Makes Sense to Buy Now Investment is all about fundamentals, market sentiment and the numbers. Zenith Bank Plc has all these in place, plus strong capital and shareholders willingness to inject additional capital when necessary. The ongoing public offer gives everyone a chance to own shares of one of the profit machines in the banking sector.  And silently, some investors are betting on its new group managing director and chief executive office capability to grow Zenith Bank Plc in the next five and perhaps 10 years. When the dust settled, Umeoji would have a…

Nigeria’s Top 5 Banks Market Value Falls to N4.7Trn or $3bn Selloffs in Nigerian big bank stocks dragged their combined market valuation lower to about N4.7 trillion, an amount equivalent to #3 billion on the Nigerian Exchange, according to trading data tracked by MarketForces Africa. Four out of the five big banks in the tier-1 category ended the week negative due to sell pressure. With mixed activities seen from both the sell and buy side equities traders in the Nigerian, the banking index gained 0.37% week on week due to buying interest in Access Holdings PLC. The largest bank by…

Oando Soars by 34% after Funding Acquisition of NAOC Oando Plc is on the way to reclaim losses following profit taking activities that happened when the oil stock reached a 52 week high in the local bourse.  Data from the Nigerian Exchange showed that the indigenous energy company gained 33.5% in the equities market last week, rising from N35.85 per share to N47.85 due to a fresh rally. MarketForces Africa reported that after the oil stock peaked at N49.1, sell side stock traders started to book profit and investment banking firms announced decision to go underweight after significant loss in…

FG to Support States Affected by Flood with N3bn The Federal Government says it will support states affected by flood with N3 billion to mitigate the effect of the menace. Mr Wale Edun, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, disclosed this while interacting with journalists at the Government House, Birnin Kebbi on Sunday. The minister spoke shortly after inspecting some areas affected by flood in Kebbi. Edun said: “I will announce here that the National Economic Council has been proactive and has taken action in order to support all the states of the federation and the FCT…

US Dollar Falls Ahead of Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s Speech The US dollar fell against its major trading partners on Friday as attention turned to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s keynote address at the Jackson Hole Symposium. In the past, Fed leaders have used this opportunity to indicate shifts in monetary policy. Given the recently soft employment data, supplemented by projected downward benchmark revisions, market participants are looking for hints from Powell that the Federal Open Market Committee will cut rates by at least 25 basis points from the current 5.25% to 5.50% federal funds target range at their Sept.…

US Fed Chair Jerome Powell Confirms September Rate Cut US Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell has confirmed the September rate cut, details from his speech delivered on Friday revealed. In his speech, Powell said the Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) primary focus has been on bringing down inflation, and appropriately so. US Fed chair said prior to this episode, most Americans alive today had not experienced the pain of high inflation for a sustained period. Inflation brought substantial hardship, especially for those least able to meet the higher costs of essentials like food, housing, and transportation, Fed Chair said. He…

Paris 2024: FG Announces Improved Bonuses for Paralympic Athletes The Federal Government (FG) has announced an upward review of the winning bonuses for Nigeria’s Paralympic athletes participating in the forthcoming 2024 Paralympic Games. Paris 2024 Paralympic Games is billed for Aug. 28 to Sept. 8. This is contained in a statement issued by Mrs Kehinde Ajay, Director of Press in the Ministry of Sports Development in Abuja. Ajay quoted the minister, Sen. John Owan Enoh, as saying this during an interactive session with the para athletes in their training camp at Saarbrucken, Germany. Enoh said that the renewed bonus template…

Afreximbank Arranges $650m Loan for Oando Acquisition of NAOC African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has successfully arranged a senior US$500-million and a junior US$150-million reserve-based lending facility for Oando Petroleum and Natural Gas Company Limited. The facility was used to finance Oando’s acquisition of the 20 percent participating interest held by Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited (NAOC) in the NEPL/NAOC/Oando Joint Venture in Nigeria. The joint venture, with significant oil and gas assets, including oil mining licenses 60, 61, 62 and 63, has produced 4.4 billion barrels of oil and 12 trillion cubic feet of natural gas to date, with 1.2…

NCC Confiscates Pirated Books Worth N50m in Lagos The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC has confiscated suspected pirated books worth N50 million in Yaba area of Lagos state. Mr Charles Amudipe, the Deputy Director of Operations/Head of Operations of the commission in Lagos office, who led the team, said that the NCC carried out an anti-piracy action in Yaba Book Market, Lagos. “During the said anti-piracy operation, five bookshops and three warehouses (parking stores, where suspected pirated books were stored around Yaba market were visited. “Materials suspected to be pirated were seized and owners of those bookshops were arrested, ” he…

FG, Shelter Afrique to Deliver 5,000 Housing Units The Federal Government (FG) has entered into partnership with Shelter Afrique Development (ShafDB) to deliver 5000 housing units as part of effort to provide housing for Nigerians. The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Dangiwa, made this known while briefing on the achievements of the ministry within one year in office. “Under the partnership, the Pan-African housing institution will support the Renewed Hope Program with advisory services and financing of competent developers. “We are looking at about 5,000 housing units in the pilot scheme. “This will be the first time the…