CADBURY, GUINNESS plunge amid profit-taking at Nigeria’s stock market
The Nigerian insurance sector; repositioning for efficiency
Buhari orders MDAs to grant FIRS access to their systems
Buhari reappoints Bala Usman as MD of NPA, reconstitutes the Board
Covid-19: Africa records higher death rate than the global rate
Malabu Oil Scandal: Prosecutors demand JPMorgan documents
Oil prices tumble on fears that energy demand is dropping
273,000 Bitcoins taken away from crypto market within a month
Commercial Banks are still a major competition to Mortgage Banks in Nigeria
Japaul Gold slumps by 30%, after rallying to 52-week high of N1.67 on Monday
Business News
The Nigerian Stock Exchange has just delisted these companies
Two companies – Afrik Pharmaceuticals Plc and African Paints Nigeria Plc – have been delisted by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) from trading on the secondary market. The delisting happened over the weekend following the approval of the National Council of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
Details of the incidents leading to the delisting
The companies, both of which have been quoted on the NSE for the past two decades, were delisted due to their constant inability to adhere to the standards required of them prior to their quotation.
Prior to this time, the NSE tried severally to get the companies to comply with the best practices but all to no avail. Consequently, they were served the delisting notice in October 2016 and then reminded again in 2017 through public announcements made by the regulator on two national dailies. But despite the notices and reminders, the companies still failed to take the necessary actions towards regularising their listing status. Note that this despite the fact that they had the opportunity to do so.
Following these developments, the NSE still gave the companies three months of grace to take care of their compliance issues. But they never took advantage of the opportunity, and as such could not meet up with the time-frame given to them.
Justification for delisting
It is highly important for companies to comply with the post-listing requirements of the NSE, and all other regulations guiding the capital market. That is the only way to ensure that shareholders’ investments are safeguarded.
Consequently, in its determination to achieve a world-class capital market and guarantee investor confidence, the NSE has undertaken steps to penalize erring quoted companies who fail to adhere to its listing stipulations; including prompt disclosure.
Recently, the regulating agency has delisted several companies who failed to comply with its standards. Recall that in 2017, about five entities were delisted from the NSE quoted companies list, including Beco Petroleum Products Plc, Mtech Communications Plc, MTI Plc, UTC Plc, and AshakaCem Plc.
In a similar development, 7Up Nigeria Plc in January this year commenced the process of delisting from the Nigerian Stock Exchange amidst protests from its minority shareholders.
It should be noted that there are two types of delisting that can be carried out by the NSE; voluntary and compulsory delisting. Under a voluntary delisting window (which seldom happens), a quoted company can decide to delist from the Exchange due to reasons such as mergers/acquisition. On the other hand, the NSE can compulsorily delist a firm when said firm fails to meet up with post-quotation standards.
However, these companies failed to take the appropriate steps to regularize their compliance status within the three month period. In spite of this, the Exchange continued to engage these companies but they did not take the requisite steps to comply, consequent upon the foregoing, the Exchange has proceeded with the delisting of these entities from its Daily Official List.-Nigerian Stock Exchange
What happens when a company gets delisted?
Delisting is the process of removing a company from the official list of the stock exchange. In the event that a company gets delisted, the management of such a company would have to consult their stockbroker to arrange an Over the Counter (OTC) sale. If the company’s shares are listed on the NASD OTC exchange, they can be traded there.
Note that during this process, the shareholders will not be affected per se, even though they will not be able to sell off their shares or have as much transparency as they hitherto did.
Appointments
Buhari reappoints Bala Usman as MD of NPA, reconstitutes the Board
President Buhari has approved the reappointment of Hadiza Bala Usman as the MD of the NPA for another term of 5 years.
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the reappointment of Hadiza Bala Usman as the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) for another term of 5 years.
This follows the expected expiration of the tenure of Usman, who was first appointed as the Managing Director on July 12, 2016.
This disclosure is contained in a series of tweet posts which was issued by the Presidency on its official Twitter handle on Thursday. January 21, 2021.
READ: COVID-19: NPA, NCDC disagree over new cases in Lagos
The Presidency in its statement also announced the approval of the reconstitution of the Non-Executive Board of the NPA, with Emmanuel Olajide Adesoye (representing South-West zone) as Chairman.
The statement from the Presidency partly reads, ‘’President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the re-appointment of Hadiza Bala Usman as Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), for an additional five-year tenure.
‘’Also approved is the reconstitution of the Non-Executive Board of the NPA, with Emmanuel Adesoye (from South-west zone) as Chairman.’’
Other members of the reconstituted Board include Ekenyem Nwafor-Orizu (representing South-east zone), Akinwunmi Ricketts (representing South-south zone), Ghazali Mijinyawa (representing North-East zone), Mustapha Dutse (representing North-West zone), and Abdulwahab Adesina (representing North-Central zone).
READ: Haulage cost increases by more than 50% in a week as Apapa gridlock bites harder
What you should know
- Hadiza Bala Usman was born on January 2, 1976, in Zaria, Kaduna State and has a B.Sc. Business Administration from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria and a Post Graduate in Development Studies from University of Leeds, the UK in 2009.
- She worked at the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) from July 2000 to August 2004 as Enterprise Officer and hired by the UNDP for the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) from October 2004 to January 2008 as Special Assistant to the Minister on Project Implementation.
- Ms Bala Usman worked, between 2011 and 2015) as Director of Strategy of the Good Governance Group, a non-governmental organisation founded by Kaduna State State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, and his friends.
- Ms Bala Usman, one of the founders and conveners of #BringBackOurGirls, a campaign group pushing for the rescue of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls, was also a member of the Presidential Advisory Council on Anti-Corruption.
- Prior to her appointment as the Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority, she was the Chief of Staff to Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna, apposition she was appointed to in 2015.
President @MBuhari has approved the re-appointment of Hadiza Bala Usman as Managing Director @nigerianports, for an additional 5-year tenure.
Also approved is reconstitution of the Non-Executive Board of the NPA, with Mr Emmanuel Olajide Adesoye (South-west zone) as Chairman.
— Presidency Nigeria (@NGRPresident) January 21, 2021
Coronavirus
Covid-19: Africa records higher death rate than the global rate
Africa’s coronavirus death rate is now higher than the global average according to Africa CDC.
Africa’s coronavirus death rate has been reported to be higher than the global average as the continent struggle with a shortage of oxygen and other resources during this second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
The continent’s fatality rate currently stands at 2.5%, which is higher than the global rate of 2.2%, a departure from earlier in the pandemic, when the death rate in Africa was lower than that at the global level.
READ: African Union secures 270 million Covid-19 vaccine doses from drugmakers
According to a report from Reuters, this disclosure was made by the Director of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), John Nkengasong, on Thursday, January 21, 2021, during a press conference.
While describing the trend as alarming experts, the continent’s CDC boss pointed out that earlier in the pandemic, Africa’s death rate had been below the global average.
READ: FG alerts that Nigerian hospitals are running out of facilities as Covid-19 spreads fast
He said, “The case fatality rate is beginning to be very worrying and concerning for all of us.’’
Nkengasong also said that 21 African countries are now recording Covid-19 death rate of above 3% as the number of countries in the continent with a higher fatality rate than the global average continues to grow.
Some of the countries include Egypt, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Mali, Sudan and a host of others.
READ: Covid-19: WHO warns the world faces catastrophic moral failure due to vaccine nationalism
What you should know
- Africa has so far recorded 3.3 million cases of the coronavirus infections with 82,000 fatalities as at Thursday.
- These figures represent a small fraction of the global total, but cases have been reported to have increased by 14% each week in the last 1 month.
- According to data from Africa CDC, over the past week, cases decreased by nearly 7% compared to the previous week while deaths increased by 10%.
- The continent reported 207,000 new cases in the past week, with South Africa alone reporting 100,000 of those new cases.
Cryptocurrency
Ex-Real Madrid Striker, David Barral becomes first-ever footballer to be bought with Bitcoin
Former Real Madrid Striker, David Barral has become the first-ever footballer to be bought with Bitcoin.
Former Real Madrid striker, David Barral, makes transfer history as he became the first-ever professional player to be bought solely with virtual currency, Bitcoin.
Spanish third division side, DUX Internacional de Madrid, simply known as Inter Madrid, has officially signed the 37-year-old after teaming up with their new sponsors, Criptan that deals in cryptocurrency, The SUN reports.
Inter Madrid who are part of DUX gaming, eSports club owned by footballers Borja Iglesias and Real Madrid star, Thibaut Courtois, is yet to disclose the total value of the deal.
The Segunda Division B club went to Twitter to welcome their new signing and thank their sponsor.
“David Barral new player of DUX Internacional de Madrid, welcome to the infinite club! He becomes the first signing in history in cryptocurrencies. Thanks to Criptan, our new sponsor, for making it possible,” the club tweeted.
The 37-year-old, who made over 50 appearances playing in the Real Madrid reserve side, expressed his delight at his latest move. Barral has also played for Spanish La Liga clubs Sporting Gijon, Levante, and Racing Santander.
“Glad to join the project of @interdemadrid with eager ambition and responsibility to continue competing and achieve important challenges in my sports career,” he wrote on his official Twitter handle.
What you should know
- A similar deal was when a Harunustaspor, Turkish amateur side, paid 0.0524 Bitcoin (£385) plus 2,500 Turkish Lira in cash (£841) for Omer Faruk Kıroğlu in 2018.
- Back in December, Carolina Panthers offensive tackle Russell Okung became the first high-profile athlete in the United States to be paid in bitcoin.
- Similarly, the Mark Cuban-owned Dallas Mavericks became the second NBA franchise to accept Bitcoin as a means of payment for both game tickets and merchandise.
