Author: Marketforces Africa

IFC partners Union Bank to Support Nigerian SMEs, Women-led Businesses. International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, today announced a $25 million local-currency investment in a risk-sharing facility to expand Union Bank’s lending to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria.

Money Market: Afrinvest says T-Bills rates to trend lower. Due to increase liquidity expected in the market this week, Afrinvest has said it expects rates on Treasury Bills to trend lower.

FX: Naira Remains Stable Despite Sloppy Reserves, Coronavirus Outbreak. In the foreign exchange market, Naira remained strong at direct pair with foreign currencies last week.

NSE plunges: N611bn knocked off value as fear of Coronavirus hits financial markets. The Nigerian Stock Exchange went down significantly last week on the fear of Coronavirus which instigates sharper sell-off. Equities market capitalisation value declined N610.6 billion to settle at N13.7 trillion.

DANGCEM says rivalry, pricing pressure affect earnings, awaits consents for share buyback. Dangote Cement Plc. (DANGCEM) has stated that pricing pressure in Nigeria, increased competition and other factors affected the company earnings in 2019.

UBA posts N89.1 billion profit in 2019. United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has posted a profit after tax of N89.1 billion for the financial year ended Dec. 31, 2019.

Zenith Bank: Equity analysts upgrade estimates as lender’s earnings arouse sentiment. Zenith Bank Plc. raked in profit too steep for envious corporate titans to benchmark in 2019. Now, the die is cast; the financial service supermarket has crossed the Rubicon as the group earned N6.60 on every share outstanding in 2019.

Declining yields: Local investors shift to foreign currency investments. Analysts have observed that local investors are shifting from murky investment environment into foreign currency investments due to declining yields in the market.

MTN Nigeria profit spikes 39%, set plan to invest N600bn on network. MTN Nigeria Plc., a leading providers of communications services has bolstered earnings with more than 38.9% increase in profit for the financial year 2019.

FIRSTBANK WINS 2019 OIL AND GAS BANKER AWARD. First Bank of Nigeria Limited has won Oil and Gas Banker of Year 2019 award. The award was presented at the Patrons’ Dinner and Industry Awards of the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit held recently at Transcorp Hilton, Abuja.