Author: Olu Anisere

The U.S began their men’s basketball gold medal defence with a 110-84 win over World Cup runners-up Serbia on Sunday at the Olympic Games in Paris.

Guinness Nigeria Declares 31% Revenue Growth in 12 Months Guinness Nigeria Plc has achieved 31 per cent revenue growth for the financial year ended June 30, 2024, in spite of the challenging macroeconomic environment. The Managing Director of Guinness Nigeria, Mr Adebayo Alli, via a statement on Friday in Lagos, expressed confidence in the company’s trajectory. Alli said the company posted a revenue of N299.48 billion during the review period against N229.44 billion posted in the comparative period of 2023. He stated that while the company delivered a remarkable 31 per cent year-on-year revenue growth in 12 months ended June…

Nigeria Oil Revenue Grew by 30% in First Half 2024- FG The Federal Government says Nigeria’s oil revenue grew from 11 per cent in the first half of 2023 to 30 per cent in the first half of 2024. This is contained in a statement by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun on Friday, in Abuja. According to the minister, the growth in government revenue is due to the reconfiguration and improvement in government finances. “The government’s determination to mobilise non-oil revenue has consistently delivered impressive results. “For the half-year 2024, non-oil revenue…

FG Targets 32% Contribution to GDP by Agricultural Commodities The Federal Government has begun developing national agric-commodity value addition guidelines to support Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and agribusinesses in achieving agriculture value chain development and commodity industrialisation. Amb. Nura Rimi, Permanent Secretary, Commodities and Export Department, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, gave the assurance at a stakeholders’ forum held in Ikeja. The News Agency reports that the forum had the theme: “Agric-commodities Value Addition, Industrialisation and Improved Market Access: An Imperative Of Value Addition Guidelines”. Rimi was represented by the Director of Commodities and Export Department in…

Oil Prices Rise as US Economic Growth Beats Estimate Oil prices rose on Friday as US economic grew faster than anticipated in the second quarter of 2024, according to data from Commerce department. Oil prices increased on Friday over signals of greater oil demand supported by data showing that the US economy had grown faster than expected. ICE Brent rose 0.15% to $82.49 per barrel. Also, the American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) traded at $78.39 per barrel at the same time, a 0.14% rise from the previous session that closed at $78.28 per barrel. The US economy expanded 2.8%…

C’River Assembly Approves N437bn Supplementary Budget The Cross River House of Assembly has passed a supplementary budget of N437.876 billion for the governance of the state. A breakdown of the budget showed that N151.684 billion was appropriated for personnel cost, N283.333 billion was for capital expenditure and N2.857 billion was approved for statutory expenditure. It would be recalled that on July 18, Gov. Bassey Otu, presented the Supplementary Appropriation Bill to the assembly. Speaking during debate on the bill, Mr Cyril Omini, the Chairman, Finance and Appropriation Committee, said that the committee undertook a detailed scrutiny of the bill before…

Tech, AI Stocks Tumble – How, Why, and What’s Next? The market turbulence, which saw major US stock indices experience their worst day in over 18 months on Wednesday, is creating a unique buying opportunity for savvy investors, particularly in the technology and artificial intelligence (AI) sectors. The comments made available to MarketForces Africa from Nigel Green, the CEO of deVere Group, one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory and asset management organizations, comes as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite tumbled by 2.3% and 3.6%, respectively, with the decline driven by some of the most influential tech stocks.…

Oando, Transcorp Drive Midday Gain on Nigerian Exchange Oando, Transnational Incorporation and banking names are driving midday gain on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) on Friday amidst flood of earning releases from listed companies. The market has seen rapid weight loss in the past days due to risk off sentiments triggered by increase in benchmark interest rate by the monetary policy committee of the Central Bank. Most investors exited their positions in banking names while insurance stocks were priced lower amidst earnings festival in the local bourse. At mid-day trading, the NGX All share Index trended bullish showing a gain of…

Reps Give EFCC Chairman 4-day Ultimatum to Appear Before it The House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes has given Mr Ola Olukoyede, Chairman, Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), till July 30 to appear before it over budgetary allocation issues. The committee said that Olukoyede, along with his management team, should appear to answer questions relating to the commission’s budget performance and its challenges. Rep. Obinna Onwusibe, the hairman of the committee, expressed the panel’s displeasure at an oversight of the commission’s office in Abuja. The committee condemned what it described as the snobbish attitude of the chairman and…

Fitch Revises Outlooks on FBN Holdings, First Bank of Nigeria Fitch Ratings has revised the Outlooks on FBN Holdings Plc’s (FBNH) and its main operating subsidiary First Bank of Nigeria Ltd.’s (FBN) Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) to Positive from Stable and affirmed the IDRs at ‘B-‘. The revision of the Outlooks mirrors the recent sovereign outlook revision and reflects Fitch’s view that Nigeria’s Long-Term IDRs are likely to represent less of a constraint on the issuers’ standalone creditworthiness in the near term. Fitch has also affirmed the issuers’ National Long-Term Ratings at ‘A(nga)’ with stable outlooks. According to the…