The spread of novel Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) in Nigeria continue to record significant increase as the latest statistics provided by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control reveal Nigeria now has 29,789 confirmed cases.

On the 7th of July 2020, 503 new confirmed cases and 15 deaths were recorded in Nigeria, having carried out a total daily test of 1,831 samples across the country.

To date, 29,879 cases have been confirmed, 12,108 cases have been discharged and 669 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. A total of 152,952 tests have been carried out as of July 6th, 2020 compared to 151,121 tests a day earlier.

COVID-19 Case Updates- 7th July 2020

• Total Number of Cases – 29,789
• Total Number Discharged – 12,108
• Total Deaths – 669
• Total Tests Carried out – 152,952

According to the NCDC, the 503 new cases were reported from 20 states- Lagos (153), Ondo (76) Edo (54), FCT (41), Enugu (37), Rivers (30), Benue (24), Osun (20), Kaduna (15), Kwara (13), Abia (9), Borno (8), Plateau (6),Taraba (5), Ogun (3), Kano (3), Kebbi (2), Nasarawa (2), Bayelsa (1), Gombe (1).

Meanwhile, the latest numbers bring Lagos state total confirmed cases to 11,520, followed by Abuja (2,322), Oyo (1,530), Edo (1,489), Delta (1,285), Kano (1,271), Rivers (1,235), Ogun (1,050),  Kaduna (883), Katsina (628), Borno (555), Ondo (550), Gombe (521), Bauchi (516), Ebonyi (503), Plateau (460), Enugu (418), Abia (400),  Imo (352), Jigawa (318).

Kwara state has recorded 297 cases, Bayelsa (269), Nasarawa (234), Osun (198), Sokoto (153),  Niger (122), Benue (121), Akwa Ibom (112), Adamawa (99), Kebbi (86), Zamfara (76), Anambra (73), Yobe (61), Ekiti (45), Taraba (27), while Kogi state has recorded 5 cases.

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Lock Down and Curfew

In a move to combat the spread of the pandemic disease, President Muhammadu Buhari directed the cessation of all movements in Lagos and the FCT for an initial period of 14 days, which took effect from 11 pm on Monday, 30th March 2020.

The movement restriction, which was extended by another two-weeks period, has been partially put on hold with some businesses commencing operations from May 4. On April 27th, 2020, Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari declared an overnight curfew from 8 pm to 6 am across the country, as part of new measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19. This comes along with the phased and gradual easing of lockdown measures in FCT, Lagos, and Ogun States, which took effect from Saturday, 2nd May 2020, at 9 am.

On Monday, 29th June 2020 the federal government extended the second phase of the eased lockdown by 4 weeks and approved interstate movement outside curfew hours with effect from July 1, 2020.

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In line with strategic repositioning of the company, the management of Purple Group has announced the rebranding of Purple Capital Partners Limited and change of name to Purple.

With this change, its flagship multi-use centre, Maryland Mall in Lagos will now be known as Purple Maryland while the ongoing development in Lekki will be known as Purple Lekki.

Announcing the changes in Lagos, the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Olayide Agboola, noted the rebranding and repositioning takes effect from July 1, and would be implemented across all the company’s physical and digital touchpoints.

The decision, he said, was in line with the group’s core belief in continuous innovation and customer satisfaction.

‘’We are refocusing our brand, and extending our reach beyond just real estate development. We see the need to curate affordable lifestyle experiences by leveraging our expertise in real estate development.

“With MarylandMall, now Purple Maryland and our ongoing development with PurpleLekki, we are integrating retail, arts, entertainment, media and advertisement, family fun, food and drinks, e-commerce and financial services all in one through superior mixed-use centres and services. Our new focus is clear; working with our range and network of partners, we are creating affordable lifestyle experiences for our consumers across all income levels,” the CEO explained.

Agboola further pointed out that all the group’s facilities and ongoing development were also rebranded and would be addressed with the Purple prefix (PurpleMaryland, PurpleLekki) while its new services would also bear a touch of the Purple Identity as well. He however added that to keep in touch with the group’s brand heritage; they had kept the same colors and logo symbol.

Speaking on what the new identity connotes, Agboola stated that the new Purple identity signified growing strength, resilience and elegance, which he noted accurately represents the significant growth and successes it has recorded over the past few years.

He said: “Ours is a story of sheer resilience, best practices and excellent service delivery to our partners and clients across the group. With this brand repositioning, we are re-committing to our core beliefs and ensuring unwavering commitment to our values, to our investors and to our esteemed partners. Our refreshed brand clearly communicates these values. We are also excited to unveil the brand identities for our new services and ongoing development projects”.

According to him, with the new development, PurpleLekki, PurpleNano, Purple.shop and PurplePlay, have all been designed to give customers more value for money. For instance, he explained that  PurpleLekki; the all-new lifestyle centre in Lekki, Lagos, currently under development, will occupy a land size of about 10,000 sqm and a few floors which will be mixed use – retail, entertainment, serviced accommodation, and private offices.

For PurpleNano, Agboola stated that the premium and standard studio apartments was conceived with the modern professional in mind and available in 2 bedrooms, 3 bedrooms and 1 bedroom variants. “These ‘nanos’ are furnished to fit the peculiarities and taste of the Lekki Market and provide a peaceful, cozy space for occupants and visitors,” he stated.

Speaking of the future, the company also has plans to venture into the e-commerce space with brand ‘purple.shop’. Purlple.shop will work with the base of retail, fashion, food and entertainment partners and service providers in Purple centres. With this, they can reach even more customers through online channels. The e-commerce platform will also provide marketing tools and real-time analytics to optimize growth.

While pointing out that the group’s identity may have been refreshed, he was quick to add that the company’s focus remained unwavered. “We are creating affordable lifestyle experiences for our consumers through our principal investments in these superior mixed-use centres and services. We also remain thankful and committed to our partners and we will continue to utilize our expertise and experience to deliver alpha returns and provide best service to our customers across the group,” he concluded.

About Purple

Formerly known as Purple Capital Partners, Purple Group is an ecosystem of companies focused on creating best-in-class lifestyle experiences for our consumers through our principal investments in superior mixed-use facilities and services.

Our lifestyle services spans through real estate, retail, e-commerce, media and advertising, entertainment and family fun, financial services amongst others; all focused on driving our mission to create lifestyle experiences for our consumers with convenience, affordability and finesse. Our lifestyle portfolio of developments include purplemaryland, purplelekki, purplenano.

Lafarge Africa Plc. notified the Nigerian Stock Exchange and the investing public that he closed period will commence on Wednesday, 8th July 2020 until the unaudited financial statement for the second quarter ended 30th June 2020, is released to the Nigerian Stock Exchange. 

In a disclosure on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, it wrote: “We hereby notify the Nigerian Stock Exchange and the investing public that a meeting of the Board of Directors of Lafarge Africa Plc has been scheduled to hold on Thursday, 23rd July 2020 to consider the second quarter financial results of the Company for the quarter ended 30th June 2020.”  

The notification which was duly signed by General Counsel & Company Secretary, Mrs. Adewunmi Alode explained further stating that “Accordingly, no Director, employee, persons discharging managerial responsibility and Advisers of the Company and their connected persons may directly or indirectly deal in the shares of the Company in any manner during the closed period.” 

Over the past few months, it made a few board changes with the retirement of two of its Non-Executive Directors, as well as the appointment of three new Directors. It had also spun off its South African subsidiary, Lafarge South Africa Holdings (LSAH), last year. 

Lafarge Africa’s Q1 2020 revenue was up 9.8% year-on-year to N63.7 billion, driven by higher Cement Sales (a figure up 11% year-on-year to N62.3 billion) which offset the weakness in Aggregate and Concrete (down 21% y/y to N1.4bn). Its EBITDA grew by 2.4% year-on-year to N19.3 billion as well. As at Tuesday the 7th of July, the share price of the company was N10.00.