Oil marketing giant, Conoil Plc, has announced a final dividend payment of N2.00 per ordinary share of 50 kobo each for the period ended December 31, 2019.

The final dividend payment which will be paid to shareholders whose names appear in the Register of Members as at close of business on Monday, July 13, 2020, is, however, subject to the appropriate withholding tax deduction and the approval of the shareholders.

This information was contained in a notification that was sent by Conoil Plc to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday, July 9, 2020, and signed by its Company Secretary/Legal Adviser, Conrad Eberemu after the release of the full-year audited financial statement for the year ended 2019.

The statement from Conoil says, ‘’A final dividend of 200 kobo per 50 kobo ordinary share, subject to appropriate withholding tax and approval will be paid to shareholders whose names appear in the Register of Members as at the close of business on the Monday, 13^th day of July 2020.’’

‘’The Register of Shareholders will be closed from Tuesday, 14^th to Friday, 17^th July 2020.’’

(READ MORE: Conoil Plc releases FY financial result for 2019, profit up by 11% )

The corporate actions announcement by the oil firm also states that while the payment date will be on a date to be announced shortly, the dividends will be paid electronically to shareholders whose names appear on the Register of Members as at Monday, July 13, 2020, and who have completed the e-dividend registration with a mandate to the Registrar to pay their dividends directly into their bank accounts.

The oil marketing company also noted that shareholders with dividend warrants and share certificates that have remained unclaimed, or yet to be presented for payment or returned for validation are advised to complete the e-dividend registration or contact the Registrar (Meristem Registrars and Probate Services Limited).

The company’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held at a venue and date to be announced shortly.

Conoil PLC, in its recently released audited financial statement for full-year 2019 announced a Profit after tax of N1.99 billion as of December 31, 2019. This represented an increase of 11% when compared to the N1.8 billion that was recorded for the corresponding period in 2018.

The profit after tax was recorded on a Revenue of N139.76 billion as of December 31, 2019. This also represents an increase of 14% when compared to the N122.21 billion that was achieved for December 31, 2018.

The Profit before tax as of December 31, 2019, was N2.78 billion as against the N2.57 billion achieved for the corresponding period in 2018.

The current share price of the oil marketing firm as of July 9, 2020, is N18.90 per share and the earnings per share is N2.77.

Tether, the world’s most valuable stable coin by market capitalization, has been gaining a lot of traction lately. The latest development is that Tether treasury minted a whopping 80 million USDT to unknown wallets in less than 24 hours, as seen on Whale Alert, an advanced blockchain tracker and analytics system.

Tether is ranked the 3^rd largest cryptocurrency by market cap of $9.2 billion, with a daily volume of $22.8 billion as at the time this report was drafted.

READ MORE: U.S regulator invites Banking and Crypto industry leaders for partnership

Quick fact: Tether is designed as a blockchain-based cryptocurrency whose digital coins in circulation are backed by the same value of traditional fiat currencies like the U.S dollar, Japanese Yen, or the Euro. It trades under the ticker symbol USDT.

Barely weeks ago, Bloomberg reports stated that the momentum with the help of the U.S dollar was expected to make Tether gain and move to the second spot.

READ MORE: Fastest growing cryptocurrency, Compound (COMP) up over 143% in 24 hours

“Absent an unlikely reversal in predominant crypto trends, it should be a matter of time until Tether passes Ethereum to take the No. 2 spot in total assets behind Bitcoin. Receiving help from widespread adoption with a workable case as a proxy for the world’s reserve currency, there seems little to stop the increasing adoption of the dollar-linked stable coin,” the report stated.

Oil prices fell on Friday, coupled with the major losses from the previous session. The trajectory seemed to have headed for a weekly decline as more investors panicked about the increasing coronavirus cases in the United States as well as more countries reverted to lockdowns, thereby suppressing fuel demand.

Brent crude (LCOc1) fell by 0.6%, at $42.10 a barrel by 0341 GMT after falling more than 2% on Thursday. U.S. oil (CLc1) also fell by 0.8%, at $39.29 a barrel after a drop of 3% in the previous session. It appears that Brent is heading towards a weekly decline of about 2% and U.S. crude generally, for a fall of over 3%.

READ MORE: Nigerian LNG to increase exports, returns profits despite weak gas prices 

Even though analysts are predominantly expecting that fuel demand will make a comeback from COVID-19, the increasing number of daily cases in the U.S. is raising concern over the possibility of fast recovery. Stephen Innes, chief global markets strategist at AxiCorp explained that:

“I do not suspect many oil traders will be looking to place significant bids in the market today, suggesting prices may continue to wallow into the weekend. More than 60,500 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the United States on Thursday, setting a daily record, with Americans being told to take new precautions. The tally was also the highest daily count yet for any country since the pathogen emerged in China late last year.” 

READ ALSO: The stark reason why Crude oil price went negative

Oil inventories are also still below par owing largely to the constrained demand for gasoline, diesel and other fuels as at the initial outbreak.