Article summary
- Hello and welcome to Nairametrics’ Corporate News Roundup for the week ended April 29, 2023.
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The past week was characterised by a series of corporate intrigues at Transcorp Plc, eventually culminating in Femi Otedola exiting his much-talked-about stake in the conglomerate. It’s only fitting to begin today’s corporate news roundup with that story.
Femi Otedola exits Transcorp Plc
Femi Otedola’s recent acquisition of a 6% stake in Transcorp Plc set off a series of events in the company. Just days after the acquisition, Otedola surprisingly sold his stake in the company.
Here’s how that went down -Tony Elumelu increased his ownership stake to about 25% through HH Capital Limited, thus prompting negotiations for Otedola to exit the company. Both parties agreed that it was best for the company if they parted ways. Eventually, Otedola exited at a premium to his average cost of acquiring the shares over the last few months.
Union Bank sold its UK subsidiary
In more markets news, Union Bank Plc confirmed the sale of its UK subsidiary, Union Bank UK, to Fidelity Bank for N8 billion. Nairametrics reported that the sale was in line with the bank’s plan to focus mainly on the Nigerian market and improve its capital base.
Fidelity Bank’s acquisition is expected to create a more scalable and sustainable service franchise to support the wider ecosystem of the bank’s trade businesses and diaspora banking services.
Nigerians to pay more for DStv
MultiChoice Nigeria announced that it will increase the prices of its DStv packages by between 16.3% to 18.6% from May 1, 2023, due to economic challenges impacting its business operations. The increase will affect all DStv packages.
MultiChoice said that the latest increment is necessary to continue delighting its customers with great entertainment. This is the second time the company will implement a price hike in a year.
MTN Nigeria’s data revenue surges
MTN’s data revenue grew by 40% in Q1 2023, reaching N227.8 billion, while voice revenue increased by 7.3% to N277.6 billion. The rise in data revenue can be attributed to the rollout of 5G and the expansion of the 4G network, which increased data consumption at a higher speed. CEO, Karl Toriola, confirmed that the 40% increase in data revenue was due to sustained growth in active data users and increased data usage.
In the meantime, the telco predicted that with the growth rate of its data revenue, it would soon overtake voice as the main revenue source for the telecom operator.
Cadbury’s impressive financial report
Cadbury Nigeria Plc profit after tax for Q1 2023 rose by 124% to N3.453 billion. This was thanks to a 30% increase in topline revenues to N16.5 billion, with sales from refreshment beverages and confectionary divisions driving the growth.
The impressive Q1 results marked a significant improvement for Cadbury, with earnings per share of N1.84, the highest since 2016, and a share price bump of 9.8% on Thursday. The company will need to maintain profitability margins at 15-20% to sustain its performance, which will be challenging in a difficult environment.
BUA Foods’ Q1 result
BUA Foods reported an 85% rise in profit before tax to N49.5 billion in Q1 2023, with earnings per share growing to N2.25. The increase was driven by a 60.3% rise in revenue, with all seven of the company’s major business segments contributing to the growth.
BUA Foods also proposed a dividend of N4.5 per share and has invested in various business expansions, including sugar estates and rice milling facilities.
Wema Bank’s digital boom
Wema Bank has seen a significant increase in revenue generated from its electronic banking channels, having earned N6.1 billion from digital platforms in 2022. This represents a 79% increase from the previous year.
The bank attributes this growth to the success of its digital banking platform, ALAT, which saw a 131% increase in customers onboarded in 2022, as well as a 98% increase in the number of new customers for its other card products.
Ecobank’s AfCFTA ambition
The Group CEO of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), Jeremy Awori, said the Pan-African banking group is looking to leverage the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA) to facilitate payments across Africa.
ETI is determined to double down its efforts to support the growth of Ecobank Nigeria, which is a core business for the group, and to deliver value to shareholders and market stakeholders.
In deals news…
Five Nigerian startups were awarded N17.5 million ($42,200) for developing innovative solutions to address Water Sanitation Hygiene (WASH) challenges in Nigeria. The startups received N3.5 million ($8,400) each and a 4-month mentorship programme during the WASH Hackathon Innovation Fair 2.0 held in Lagos.
The startups are SCHRODINgER, Tech Retreasure, Junkyard, Green Cycle, and SPARKLING Light.
Unilever Nigeria’s new MD
Unilever Nigeria Plc has announced the appointment of Mr Tim Kleinebenne as its Managing Director, effective from 5 May 2023. This followed the resignation of the former MD Mr. Carl Raymond R. Cruz.
Note that Mr. Kleinebenne has 31 years of international experience in the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods industry, including senior sales and marketing roles as well as over 10 years as Managing Director of Unilever businesses.
