Business News
Why FMDQ was licensed to trade securities – SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has disclosed that FMDQ Holdings Plc was licensed as a full-fledged securities exchange in order to create competition in the capital market.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has disclosed that FMDQ Holdings Plc was licensed as a full-fledged securities exchange in order to create competition in the capital market.
Speaking at a media parley after the second quarter Capital Market Committee meeting in Lagos, the acting Director-General of SEC, Mary Uduk made known that competition is healthy for business and that licensing FMDQ would create choices for market operators to choose from.
“Competition is good for the market. We expect other similar cases to follow. FMDQ’s licence creates the kind of competition that will bring down cost and improve efficiency in the capital market. It is a welcome development to the market, and it shows that the market is growing.”
[READ MORE: SEC moves to implement e-dividend fee in bank charges]
Recall that on Monday, August 5, 2019, FMDQ Exchange formally launched its new status and corporate identity as a full-fledge securities exchange, with the registration to trade in all securities including fixed income, equities, derivatives, commodities and foreign exchange.
Approvals: SEC had approved the amendment of the registration of FMDQ OTC Plc from ‘an OTC Market’ to a full–fledged ‘securities exchange’. Thereafter, the Exchange secured necessary approvals for a change of name to ‘FMDQ Securities Exchange Plc (FMDQ Exchange)’ with immediate effect, thereby aligning its name to its upgraded status in the capital market.
Furthermore, in June 2019, the Exchange received SEC’s registration of its wholly-owned central securities depository subsidiary – FMDQ Depository Limited, which is positioned to provide collateral caching, custodian and settlement services with excellent operational capabilities tailored to provide value to its stakeholders.
What you should know: Formerly known as FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange, the transition of FMDQ from an Over-The-Counter (OTC) platform to a full-blown securities exchange, ends the monopoly in the Nigerian capital market. It ends the unwritten mono-stock exchange policy and opens the capital market to intense competition.
[READ ALSO: FMDQ Securities to make intervention funds available for SMEs]
Chief Legal Officer of Oando Plc, Ngozi J Okonkwo is dead.
Adewale Tinubu, Group Chief Executive Officer of Oando Plc announced this via a tweet.
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#RIP Ngozi J. Okonkwo, Chief Legal Officer, @Oando_PLC #RIPNgoziOkonkwo pic.twitter.com/CVgCiyADVY
— Wale Tinubu (@AdewaleTinubu) June 4, 2020
Until her death, she was the Chief Legal Officer of Oando Plc, having joined the company as Head, Legal Services of the company in 2009.
According to a tweet from one of her nephews, she battled cancer for a while, recovered before having a relapse during the recent COVID-19 crisis.
She went hard all the way, she was going to beat the cancer and do it in style. Unfortunately she was a citizen (read denizen) of a country determined to kill its children.
— Deno Landing🦍 (@zvko_) June 4, 2020
Before joining Oando, she worked as Junior Counsel with F.O Akinrele & Co., and also with KPMG Professional Services (previously known as Arthur Andersen) as Manager in the Tax, Regulatory and People Services unit and Head of indirect tax services.
READ ALSO: Common legal and general mistakes made by new businesses (Part 1)
She obtained LLB (Hons) from University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 1997 and BL from the Nigerian Law School, Lagos in 1999. She was a member of the Nigerian Bar Association, honorary fellow of the Association of Fellows and Legal scholars of the centre for International Legal Studies, Austria, Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, United Kingdom and Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, Nigeria.
Economy & Politics
NNPC diversifies into housing, power; plans to beat crude production cost to $10 per barrel
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has announced that it is building up business portfolios in the housing, power, and medical sectors.
To cushion against the volatility in the global crude market and strengthen profitability, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has announced that it is building up business portfolios in the housing, power, and medical sectors.
This is one of several measures the corporation is taking to sustain revenue generation for Nigeria, and cope with the boom and bust cycles which are gradually becoming a feature of the global crude oil market.
NAN reports that this was contained in a statement from the Corporation Chief Operating Officer, Ventures and Business Development, Mr. Roland Ewubare, and signed by NNPC Spokesman, Kennie Obateru.
According to Ewubare, the NNPC will establish Independent Power Plants using the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) pipeline network, and consolidate its presence in the power sector.
(READ MORE: COVID-19: Nigerians react as CBN partners NNPC to feed, accommodate Nigerian returnees)
The statement reads in part; “NNPC is creating an energy company that would have portfolios in renewable energy; we have initiatives on solar that is ongoing.
“We have got biofuels agreements with some state governments that would soon be activated. We do have a lot of non-core businesses that are aggregated under the Ventures and Business Development Autonomous Business Unit of the NNPC.
“This would be expanded through effective collaboration and partnership with the private sectors,”
Lower costs, more profits
As part of moves to improve profitability, the NNPC also announced plans to drive crude oil production cost down to 10 dollar per barrel by Q4 2021,
This according to the statement would be done by systematically and gradually beating down logistics costs.
The Corporation’s revenue took a major hit in 2020 due to the slump in global oil prices, and this in turn affected the Nigerian budget given that oil proceeds account for a significant fraction of her income.
“When you have a low commodity price regime, as the case now, the only way we are able to squeeze out some reasonable cash and financial gain to the nation is by curtailing and constraining our costs in line with the GMD’s aspiration to push for a 10 dollar per barrel cost of production,” Ebuware said.
(READ MORE: NNPC pipeline vandalism up by 50% in January, may suspend crude oil production)
There is also an ongoing collaboration with selected partners to commercialise flared gas in order to preserve the flora and fauna of the country.
This would be done by converting it to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Liquefied Natural Gas, for sale to consumers.
The NNPC is partnering with private developers to reduce the housing deficit in the country and also partnering with medical centres to provide innovative healthcare for Nigeria.
Business News
Microsoft Teams’ rival, Slack shares drop on withdrawal of full-year billings guidance
Slack reported steady revenue growth 50% in Q1 2020, compared with 49% recorded in Q1 2019 on an annualized basis this brought in more customers
Slack shares dropped as much as 17% yesterday after the company’s reported first-quarter earnings.
Investors and stock traders were not happy with Slack’s annual revenue forecast of $855 million to $870 million, up just slightly from Slack’s projection in March stock analysts, on the average, estimated $856.5 million, according to data obtained from Bloomberg.
“Slack’s withdrawal of full-year billings guidance looks conservative to us and likely suggests a pull-forward of revenue amid faster new-customer additions due to remote work,” Mandeep Singh, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst, wrote in a note yesterday.
Slack grew revenue 50% in Q1 2020, compared with 49% recorded in Q1 2019 on an annualized basis.
However, Slack reported steady revenue growth during Q1 2020 brought in more customers, as organizations sought to keep communications going with their newly remote workforces during coronavirus pandemic. It had earnings per share of 2 cents loss per share, adjusted and adjusted revenue of $201.7 million
(READ MORE: How to Profit from Directors’ Share Dealing Notifications)
Slack, in a statement, yesterday reported that it added a record 12,000 paid customers Q1 2020 as against two prior quarters when it added about 5,000 new customers. Slack’s top competitor, Microsoft’s Teams, has also experienced growth in recent months.
“What you saw with Zoom, what you saw with Teams is a great indication that this is not apples-to-apples and that the products are not truly competitive with one another,” Butterfield the Chief Executive Officer of Slack told Investment analysts on a conference call yesterday.
READ ALSO: Jumia is optimistic of COVID-19 boost, despite poor Q1 2020 earnings report
Paid users spent over 120 minutes per day in Slack at the end of the quarter, up from below 90 minutes one quarter earlier.
“I can’t care about the stock price on the level of individual days,” Butterfield said when asked about the reaction to earnings. “I just wouldn’t be able to do my job. I care about where the share price is five years from now and 10 years from now. This is just a very volatile time.”
