Author: Marketforces Africa

Airtel extends work-from-home work policy Airtel Nigeria has extended its work-from-home policy by two weeks to safeguard staff from contracting coronavirus, stem the spread of the virus. Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer at Airtel, Mr Segun Ogunsanya, made this known in a statement on in Lagos. He said that the company’s employees particularly affected were those in Lagos, Ogun State and Abuja. Ogunsanya said employees have been told to continue to work from home until the end of May. Ogunsanya urged the company’s employees in others parts of the country to observe the nationwide 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.…

Equities market rebounds 0.29% on renew bullish activity The Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index (ASI) rose marginally by 0.29% amid renewed bullish activity, The Exchange recorded 25 gainers as against 13 losers at the close of trade on Monday. Consequently, investors gained ₦72.4 billion, thus pushed market capitalisation to ₦12.5 trillion. Hence, the year to date loss of the NSE ASI moderated to 10.80%. Specifically, the NSE banking and Industrial closed higher by 0.51% and 0.94% respectively. The increase was buoyed by gains in GUARANTY, ACCESS and BUACEMENT; their respective share prices by 1.11%, 2.40% and 0.63. On the…

The United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA), on Monday, upgraded its mobile banking applications

Nigeria records ₦338.94 billion VAT revenue in Q1 -NBS The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says ₦338.94 billion was generated as Value Added Tax (VAT) in the first quarter (Q1) of 2020. The NBS made this known in its latest Sectoral distribution of VAT data for Q1, 2020 released on Monday. It stated that the amount recorded in Q1 was more than the ₦308.48 billion generated in Q4, 2019 and ₦293.04 billion in Q1 2019. This represents 9.87 percent increase quarter-on-quarter and 15.66 percent increase year-on-year. The bureau explained that the professional services generated the highest amount of ₦38.30 billion.…

China said it will contribute two billion dollars over the next two years for the global

FSDH Merchant Bank to work with Lagos State on revenue collection — Official FSDH Merchant Bank says it has been enlisted into the Lagos State Electronic Banking System of Revenue Collection and Monitoring (EBS-RCM). Ms Stella Marie-Omogbai, FSDH Divisional Head, Corporate Banking and the Branches, disclosed this in a statement in Lagos on Sunday. Marie-Omogbai said the Lagos State Government approved the bank’s application to be included in the State’s EBS-RCM in March. “On March 30, 2020, the Lagos State Government approved the Merchant Bank’s application to be included in Lagos State’s Electronic Banking System of Revenue Collection and Monitoring…

Balance sheet repair: Meristem advises investors to buy Lafarge WAPCO stock Lafarge WAPCO restructuring efforts cleaning up its balance sheet and operational issues started yielding results before the coronavirus pandemic hits the global economy. This externalities, an uncertainty that the management never factored into its strategic plan has turned initial gains by in about 360 degree. Meristem Securities Limited however advised its customers and investment communities to buy the stock following an estimated upside potential of 35.18%. “After adjusting for its net debt of ₦37.08 billion, we arrived at a 2020 target price of ₦14.87, which represents an upside potential…

Neimeth: Analysts maintain buy rating on earnings upbeat, fundamentals Neimeth International Pharmaceutical Plc operational relevance is quite important at this time with coronavirus on the street. Though, in the second quarter, the company’s numbers came weaker than expected due to increased cost of operations. Traded at ₦0.72k, Neimeth’s market capitalisation settled at ₦1.367 billion on 1,899,157,108 shares outstanding. In first-half financial results, the company recorded revenue growth of 19.38% to ₦1.17 billion from ₦975.98 million in the comparable period in 2019. Revenue from both business lines edged higher, especially the animal health segment, which surged by 897.42% to ₦182.94 million…

Surging global debt: How much is owed to China? With pandemic response a key driver, global debt is set to hit $325 trillion by 2025—up sharply from $255 trillion in 2019 U. S. general government debt is on track to exceed 120% of GDP this year, up from 102% in 2019 China’s total debt hit 317% of GDP in Q1 2020, up from 300% in Q4 2019—the largest quarterly increase on record China is now the world’s largest bilateral lender to G20 DSSI-countries, holding some 25% of their external debt Following a rise of over $10 trillion in 2019, the…

Cowry Asset estimates moderate return on pensioners’ fund in 2020