ROUNDUP: Seplat Energy dragged to court as Lazerpay shuts down

Key highlights

• The Nairametrics Corporate News Roundup is a summary of major corporate announcements that dominated the headlines during the week ending April 15, 2023.
• It is brought to you every Sunday courtesy of Quidax.
• Kindly subscribe to our mailing list to get the newsletter directly in your inbox. Click here to subscribe.

As always, it was a busy week for Corporate Nigeria, first with Lazerpay shutting down and then Seplat being dragged to court. More so, Transcorp’s share price soared after Femi Otedola acquired some shares, even as more companies released their financial results. Let’s get to the details.

Lazerpay is no more!

Nigerian crypto payment startup, Lazerpay, shut down last week due to a lack of funds. The shutdown follows Lazerpay’s failed attempt to raise a seed fund last year. The lead investor in the funding round had withdrawn due to market conditions and disagreements on terms.

Note that the company became the second Nigerian startup to close shop this year for the same reason. Merchants have been given until April 30 to withdraw their funds.  

Seplat’s court case

Last week, criminal charges were filed against Seplat Energy PLC and some of its executives for allegedly violating provisions of the 2015 Immigration Act. The charges were filed in an Abuja division of the Federal High Court, accusing the defendants of allowing Seplat’s CEO Roger Brown to accept employment without the Controller-General of Immigration’s approval. 

Recall that earlier this year, the Nigerian government revoked Seplat CEO’s visa, residence, and work permits, citing alleged racist practices and discrimination from him against Nigerian employees. Since then, he has been enmeshed in legal troubles. 

The battle for Transcorp Plc

Billionaire investor Femi Otedola acquired a 5.52% stake in Nigerian conglomerate Transcorp Plc, making him the second-largest shareholder in the company. Nairametrics reported that the transaction was made through an entity owned by Otedola and an unnamed seller. He currently owns approximately 2.245 billion shares in the company. 

Following the acquisition, there is speculation that Otedola may trigger a bidding war for control of the company. There are also indications that Tony Elumelu, who currently controls the company, may never allow anyone to corner the company from him. 

Transcorp’s shares jump

Transnational Corporation Plc gained 23.36% at the end of the week’s trading session, prompted by the announcement of Femi Otedola’s acquisition of a 5.52% stake in the company. The acquisition resulted in positive sentiment towards the company’s stocks and led to the stocks emerging top on the gainers’ table, gaining N13.007 billion at the close of the trading session on the weekend.

Transcorp’s market capitalization closed the trading week at N68.695 billion, up from N56.687 billion the previous day. This represents a significant growth of the company’s stock price, rising to N1.69 per share at the close of trading on Friday from N1.37 it traded the previous week.

Lekki Gardens redeems commercial paper

Lekki Gardens Estate Limited fully redeemed its N3.48 billion Series 1 Commercial Paper issuance. The company’s managing director, Dr Richard Nyong, stated that the redemption of the Commercial Paper is a testament to the strength and resilience of the business despite the challenges faced in the past year.

Lekki Gardens Estate Limited is an independent luxury real estate company in Nigeria that provides real estate solutions. FMDQ Exchange approved the registration of the company’s N25.00 billion Commercial Paper Programme on its platform, positioning the Issuer to raise short-term finance from the Nigerian debt capital market.

Fidelity Bank’s private placement

Meanwhile, Fidelity Bank Plc announced that its private placement offering of 3.04 billion ordinary shares at N4.60 per share was fully subscribed. Successful allottees will have their CSCS accounts credited with shares by May 5, 2023.

 The Private Placement was opened on Wednesday, February 22, 2023, and closed on Thursday, February 23, 2023. 

DLM Capital redeems bonds

DLM Capital Group redeemed a significant portion of its CERPAC Receivables Securitization Funding, paying investors a total of N20.161 billion for discrete and Series 1 bonds executed by the group. 

The CERPAC N25 billion Securitization Programme is a five-year bond issuance created in May 2017, which has had four issues. DLM Capital Group has raised about N23.011 billion and paid a total of N31.144 billion covering both Principal and coupons to date.

GTCO’s FY 2022 financial report

Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc released its financial report for FY 2022, reporting a 3.3% drop in profit before tax of N214.2 billion. 

The company also declared a final dividend payout of N2.80k per ordinary share of 50 Kobo, bringing the total dividend for the financial year ended December 31, 2022, to N3.10k. 

Dividends for Cadbury Nigeria’s shareholders

Cadbury Nigeria Plc proposed a final dividend of 40 kobo per share for FY 2022. The dividend payout is subject to shareholders’ approval and should be paid electronically on June 2nd to shareholders whose names appear in the Register of Members at the close of business on June 4th, 2023.

Cadbury Nigeria Plc reported a pre-tax profit of N1.29 billion for the financial year ended December 2022, representing an 18% increase from the previous year. The company’s revenue grew by +30% to N55.21 billion, and its gross profit grew by +19% to N7.72 billion during the period under review. 

Bunmi Popoola’s appointment

TotalEnergies Marketing Nigeria Plc appointed Bunmi Popoola-Mordi as an Executive Director of Human Resources & Corporate Services. 

Popoola-Mordi joined TotalEnergies in 2011 as Legal Affairs Manager and Company Secretary and was promoted to various positions before she was appointed Executive Director.

---

Download Nairametrics App for breaking news and market intelligence.