Author: Julius Alagbe

Kenya Airways, African Mega, Standard Group, Liberty Kenya, and HF Group boosted the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) as the benchmark index rose on buying activity.

Nigerian Breweries Grows Profit by 25.6% in Q1 Nigerian Breweries Plc has recorded a 25.6 per cent increase in profit after tax to N55.95 billion for the first quarter (Q1) of the financial year 2026, according to its regulatory filing. This is compared with N44.55 billion in the corresponding period of 2025. Nigerian Breweries disclosed this in its unaudited financial statement released through the Nigerian Exchange Ltd. on Friday. Profit before tax increased by 14.9 per cent to N80.41 billion from N69.99 billion recorded in the first quarter of 2025. Income tax dropped by 3.8 per cent to N24.47 billion,…

Ecobank, DHL Equip Nigerian SMEs to Compete Beyond Local Markets Ecobank Nigeria, in partnership with DHL, has successfully concluded a three week intensive capacity building programme aimed at equipping Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with the skills, tools, and insights required to scale beyond local markets and compete globally. The programme brought together entrepreneurs across diverse sectors and focused on critical growth enablers such as cross border trade, e commerce opportunities, logistics, customs procedures, and international shipping—key pillars for sustainable expansion in today’s increasingly connected global marketplace. Participants described the initiative as impactful, practical, and transformative. Founder of Lagos based…

Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) has urged indigenous oil and gas companies to leverage the forthcoming 2026 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in the U.S. to deepen global engagement and attract investment.

NGX Tops N145trn as Industrial, Banking Stocks Rally The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) topped N145 trillion on Friday, driven by cement, banking and oil stocks. The stock market closed the week on a positive note, with key market indicators rising 1.30%. The bullish performance reflected strong investor confidence, as they maintained positive trading momentum, shown by their buying across all major market sectors. Medium and large-cap stocks such as WAPCO, OANDO, BUACEMENT, DANGCEM, WEMABANK, among others, recorded significant price appreciation at the close of trading today. The NGX  All-Share Index added 2,886.65 basis points in today’s trading session, reflecting a 1.30%…

XRP is up 1.05% to $1.45 on Friday, outperforming a flat market, primarily driven by a key institutional adoption catalyst. Coinbase’s upcoming institutional trading feature for XRP futures, announced to launch May 1, signals deeper liquidity and reduced execution risk for large investors.

Dogecoin (DOGEUSD) price climbed to $0.0975, slightly outpacing a flat market, driven primarily by speculative positioning in derivatives markets.

CBN Hikes ATM Issuance Fee, Cancels Maintenance Charges The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has increased the cost of issuing and replacing Automated Teller Machine (ATM) debit and credit cards by 50 per cent. The Apex Bank has raised the ATM card issuance fee to ₦1,500 from ₦1,000. The move is part of a broader review of banking charges across the financial sector. Also, the CBN cancelled N50 monthly maintenance charge previously applied to naira debit and credit cards, a fee that often attracted an additional 7.5 per cent Value Added Tax. However, customers using foreign currency-denominated debit and credit…

Oil prices rose on Friday as persistent tensions between the United States and Iran, along with continued disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, fueled concerns about global supply.

Fixed-interest security investors stayed quiet in the secondary market for Nigerian government bonds ahead of the April auction scheduled for next week.