Companies
This proves Mike Adenuga is now the largest shareholder in Julius Berger
- Julius Berger has appointed Mrs Belinda Joke Disu and Mrs Gladys Talabi as directors at Julius Berger Plc.
- Mrs Belinda Joke Disu is his daughter and a Group Executive Director at Globacom. Mrs Talabi is the Executive Director Legal/Security Services at Globacom and has worked there for over 15 years.
Nairametrics investigations suggest billionaire investor and owner of Globacom, Mike Adenuga is now the single largest majority shareholder in Julius Berger Nigeria Plc.
Our sources had hinted to us months ago that the billionaire owned majority shares in the construction giant but the proof was hard to come by until last week.
The proof
Julius Berger Plc, on Friday sent a notice to the NSE, appointing two new directors to its board, namely Mrs Belinda Joke Disu and Mrs Gladys Talabi. Both ladies are senior staff in Globacom, one of the three major GSM providers in the country, and Mike Adenuga’s right hand women.
Mrs Belinda Joke Disu is his daughter and a Group Executive Director at Globacom. Mrs Talabi is the Executive Director Legal/Security Services at Globacom and has worked there for over 15 years. Prior to that, she worked in Devcom Merchant bank which was also owned by Adenuga. Devcom was merged with Equitorial Trust Bank also owned by Adenuga in November 2005, and then merged with Sterling Bank in September 2011. Adenuga retains a minority stake in Sterling, which is listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). The two ladies being appointed to Julius Berger’s board confirms our suspicion.
Shareholders of Julius Berger
Schedule of majority shareholders in Julius Berger.
Source: Julius Berger 2016 Annual Report
A look at the company’s breakdown of majority shareholders (above) suggest, Mike Adenuga’s stake in the company is via an SPV called Goldstone Estates Ltd. As at the end of 2014, Bilfinger had sold 9% of its stake to Goldstone Estates Ltd. Going by the snapshot below, it has sold a further 10%, increasing the stake to 19.9% making it the single largest shareholder in Julius Berger. Of course a Google Search for the company will lead to a dead end.
Nestoil , an indigenous engineering firm owned Dr. Ernest Azudialu-Obiejesi bought a 10% stake in the firm in 2012 in a deal worth N1.4 billion, following Bilfinger Berger’s selling down of their stake in the firm. It acquired the stake via a vehicle called Watertown Energy Ltd. Year to date, the company’s shares are up 2.51% on the NSE.
Why would Adenuga buy a stake in Julius Berger? Though he may be popular due to his ownership of Globacom and to a lesser extent Conoil, Adenuga fondly known as ‘The Bull’ has real estate holdings running into billions of Naira. He could either be looking at expanding into construction or developing large real estate projects which would require services of a good construction firm. Globacom recently was rumoured to be interested in a potential acquisition of Etisalat Nigeria, which is currently battling to repay a $1.2 billion loan taken from a consortium of banks.
Julius Berger was founded in 1965, as a unit of Bilfinger Berger a German construction firm and listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in 1991. The company has constructed several landmark projects in the country including the Eko bridge and the Abuja National Stadium. Figures from its 2016 financial statements show Julius Berger made a loss of N3.8 billion, due to foreign exchange acquisition losses of N14.3 billion. First quarter 2017 results also show a loss after tax of N426 million, which was also caused by foreign exchange acquisition losses.
Companies
Airtel Africa signs new $500 million loan with Bank of America, HSBC, others
The new committed facility consists of a combination of a revolving credit facility and term loans with tenor of up to 4 years.
Airtel Africa has signed a new $500 million loan facility with a group of relationship banks to partially refinance the Group’s €750million Euro-denominated bond (c.$880million) due 20 May 2021.
The banks are Bank of America, BNP Paribas, Citibank, HSBC, J.P. Morgan, Standard Chartered Bank and two Indian relationship banks, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank.
This was disclosed by the Telco via a statement signed by its Group Company Secretary, Simon O’Hara on Wednesday.
READ: Airtel’s reduced PAT position doesn’t tell the whole story
It stated, “The new committed facility consists of a combination of a revolving credit facility and term loans with tenor of up to 4 years. The facility will be used to partially refinance the Group’s €750m Euro-denominated bond (c.$880m) due 20 May 2021.
“The balance of the Euro-denominated bond will be repaid with existing Group cash to reduce gross debt and associated interest costs. The new loan facility further strengthens the core liquidity of the Group.”
READ: Airtel Africa Plc records 3.8% decline in 2020 9M pre-tax profit
Repayment of the loan
The Group Company Secretary explained that the Telco has prepayment flexibilities that will allow the Group to optimise the efficiency of its capital structure with the free cash flows and cash receipts anticipated over the next 12 months following the recent announcements related to tower sales and mobile money minority investments.
Companies
Unilever earmarks N62 million as remuneration to its Non-Executive Directors in 2021
Unilever Nigeria has fixed its remuneration to the Non-executive Directors of the company in 2021 at N62 million.
One of Nigeria’s leading FMCG companies, Unilever Nigeria Plc, is set to pay out a total of N62 million as remuneration to its Non-Executive Directors for the year ended December 31, 2021.
This disclosure was made by the leading consumer goods company as one of the key resolutions that would be considered and passed at the Company’s ninety-sixth (96th) Annual General Meeting, which will hold on Thursday 6 May 2021 at 10.00 am.
The famed manufacturer of Sunlight detergent also revealed that in addition to the N62 million remuneration, sitting allowances will be paid at standard agreed rates for each meeting attended and the Chairman of the company will be entitled to a vehicle allowance of N12 million gross per annum.
READ: Heavy sell-off in PZ & Unilever shares leads to N6.09 billion market value loss
Short-term benefits paid by Unilever in 2020 to its Directors
Despite the fact that Unilever Nigeria Plc has not paid its shareholders dividends for about two years now, the FMCG company paid out short-term benefits of about N511 million and N73 million to its Executive and Non-Executive Directors in 2020 respectively, compared to a sum of N590 million and N59 million it paid out in 2019 respectively. The members of the leadership team, excluding the Executive Directors of the company, were paid a total of N867 million short term benefits in 2020, down from the N1.04 billion they received in 2019.
On the flip side, the total payout as wages and salaries to the company’s employee in 2020 was N5.05 billion, this is down from the N5.99 billion which the company paid out in 2019.
READ: Abdulsamad Rabiu set to earn N39.4 billion from his cement business
In case you missed it
According to a recent result by Unilever Nigeria Plc, the company made a loss of about N492 million in the first quarter of 2021. This figure is 144.1% lower when compared to the profit of N1.114 billion made by the company in the corresponding quarter of 2020.
Unilever’s revenue however surged by 45.7% during the quarter. However, the growth in the cost of sales, and the huge 63.3% increase in marketing and administrative expenses pressured the profits down to a loss of N492 million in the first quarter of 2021.
READ: Guinness shares surge by 9.89%, lifting the brewer’s capitalization by N5.9 billion
What you should know
- Shares of Unilever Nigeria Plc are currently valued at N12.95 per share, placing the YTD loss in the shares of the company at -6.83%.
- Unilever Nigeria Plc is the sixth most valuable consumer goods company listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, with a robust market valuation put at N74.4 billion, higher than Guinness Nigeria Plc, NASCON Allied Industries Plc and PZ Cussons.
- The shares of the top FMCG brand is trading 23.8% lower than its 52-week high price of N17, and 23.3% higher than its 52 week low of N10.5.
