CAPITAL MARKET
Dangote Cement shareholders approve 25% dividend rise
Shareholders of Dangote Cement Plc on Tuesday approved a 25 per cent rise in dividend payment for the 2021 financial period. The shareholders approved N20 per share for the year ended December 31, 2021 from N16 paid in the preceding year during the company’s 13th Annual General Meeting in Lagos. At the meeting, the company disclosed that Dangote Cement in the year under review achieved its highest profit before tax in its history at N538.4bn. It added that the company recorded group volumes of 29.3Mta, up by 13.8 per cent. Exceptional EBITDA of N684.6bn was achieved, up by 43.2 per cent owing to strong cost control measures. Punch
Equities reopen negative as indices dip by N47 billion
The Nigerian equities market reopened on a negaative note, yesterday, as profit taking dominated trading activities, causing market capitalisation to depreciate by N47 billion. Specifically, at the close of trading, yesterday, the All Share Index (ASI) decreased by 87.74 absolute points, representing a dip of 0.16 per cent to close at 53,113.64 points. Similarly, the market capitalisation lost N47 billion to close at N28.634 trillion. The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are: Chemical Allied Products (CAP), Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), Lafarge Africa and Dangote Sugar Refinery. Guardian
BANKING
Fitch Affirms UBA’s Rating at ‘B’, Outlook Stable
International rating agency, Fitch Ratings has affirmed United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc’s Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘B’ with a Stable Outlook, just as it also affirmed its Viability Rating (VR) at ‘b’ and National Long-Term Rating at ‘A+(nga)’. Fitch in its rating note said it has withdrawn UBA’s Support Rating and Support Rating Floor as they are no longer relevant to the agency’s coverage following the publication of its updated Bank Rating Criteria on 12 November 2021. “In line with the updated criteria, we have assigned UBA a Government Support Rating (GSR) of ‘no support’ (ns). “UBA’s IDRs are driven by its standalone creditworthiness, as reflected in its ‘b’ VR. The VR considers UBA’s exposure to the Nigerian volatile operating environment, but also the bank’s healthy profitability and adequate capitalisation, which provide reasonable capacity to absorb losses from an economic downturn.” This Day
ECONOMY
Diesel price may hit N1,500/litre, 75% filling stations closed – Marketers
About 75 per cent of filling stations across the country are currently out of business due to their inability to purchase diesel required to power their tankers and transport Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, to their various outlets, oil marketers stated on Tuesday. Marketers also stated that the cost of diesel would keep increasing and might hit N1,500/litre in the next two weeks if nothing drastic was done to curtail the current challenge faced by importers of the deregulated commodity. Dealers under the aegis of the Natural Oil and Gas Suppliers Association told journalists in Abuja that this was also the reason why petrol scarcity had failed to abate in Abuja and neighbouring Nasarawa and Niger states, among others. Punch
Subsidy overtakes health, education, welfare budgets, World Bank warns Nigeria
The World Bank says the cost of fuel subsidy in Nigeria has exceeded the government’s spending on health, education and social protection for Nigerians. It therefore said that removing fuel subsidy would help the government towards its poverty reduction scheme. The Washington-based lender said this in its latest Nigeria Development Update report, titled, ‘The Continuing Urgency of Business Unusual’, which was released on Tuesday. The report read in part, “In 2021, Nigeria’s petrol subsidy cost around $4.5bn, or roughly two per cent of GDP, far exceeding federal government spending on health, education, and social protection. Punch
MTN Nigeria, 21 Others’ OPEX Reached N1.06trn in Q1 on Inflation, Naira Depreciation
Following double-digit inflation and depreciation of the naira at both official rate/ parallel markets, MTN Nigeria Communication Plc, Access Holdings Plc and 20 other companies in Nigeria recorded a 19 per cent increase in Operating Expenses (OPEX) in the first quarter of 2022. THISDAY analysis of the companies’ unaudited first quarter result and accounts for period ended March 31, 2022 revealed that the spike in OPEX impacted on profits. The 22 companies listed on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) announced a total of N1.06 trillion OPEX in Q1 as against N891billion announced in Q1 2021 unaudited results published by the NGX. The investigated companies constitute 13 Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), three cement manufacturing companies, one telecommunication company, two oil/gas companies, among others. This Day
Fuel Subsidy, Nigeria Merely Struggling to Service its Debts, Finance Minister Laments
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed yesterday expressed concern that the federal government’s continuous retention of the controversial fuel subsidy regime was hurting Nigeria’s ability to service its debts. Also, the World Bank has projected that Nigeria may post a N5 trillion loss in oil revenues in 2022, despite oil price rally due to the retention of its fuel subsidy policy. Owing to negative consequences of the fuel subsidy policy, Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo has called for it’s the government to phase it out immediately, noting that the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) hasn’t credited states in recent time as a result of the burden of fuel subsidy. This Day