oil

Nigeria’s fiscal position remains precarious despite rising oil price

by with No Comment News

Bullish crude oil price since the beginning of the year have raised hope of a better global fiscal performance after severe disruptions caused by COVID-19 pandemic that unsettled oil-dependent economies.

READ ALSO: Livestock Sector Can Add N33tn To Economy —FG

The price rise of more than 75 percent since November 2020 has been on account of major economies reopening and vaccinating their populations after the pandemic shut down factories and grounded the aviation industry in March 2020.

But with the positive sentiments associated with rise in oil price, celebration from the Nigerian economy, sadly, comes off as premature as the country’s fiscal position still remains precarious.

Analysis shows that as of today, Nigeria’s economy can attain fiscal break-even position only if oil prices climb as high as $103 per barrel.

This was attained by incorporating the current official exchange rate at N380/$1, Federal Retained Oil Revenue to Gross Oil Revenue at 37 percent, Average Daily Production of 1.7 million barrels per day (OPEC quota), the current budgeted expenditure as well as budgeted Non-Oil + Other Revenue and Unfunded Revenue at N4.6 billion and N8.9 billion, respectively.

Over the years, the Federal Government has struggled to finance its budget mainly due to low revenues, which have been susceptible to oil price volatilities.

At year-end 2020, the Federal Government’s retained revenue was N3.94 trillion, indicating 73 percent of target of the revised N10.805 trillion 2020 budget, which reflected the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This has resulted in an increasing budget deficit for the country and an increased borrowing culture by the government from both domestic and international sources.

Figures from the Debt Management Office (DMO) indicate that Nigeria’s total public debt as of December 31, 2020, was N32.915 trillion, including those for Federal and State Governments, as well as, the Federal Capital Territory. Debt stock is further projected to hit N38.68 trillion by December 2021, according to Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, budget and national planning.

The Federal Government projects overall budget deficit to stand at N5.60 trillion for the year 2021, representing 3.93 percent of GDP.

With the planned borrowing of N4.69 trillion to finance the budget deficit, total public debt is expected to rise to N36.89 trillion by December 31, 2021.

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Economy Sector

Livestock Sector Can Add N33tn To Economy —FG

by with No Comment News

Nigeria’s livestock sector has the potential to add N33tn worth of investments to the country’s economy, the Federal Government has said.

READ ALSO: Zenith Bank, GTB, Union Bank Lift NSE Banking Index By 2.09%

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sabo Nanono, who said this to the media in Abuja on Saturday evening, stated that the Federal Government was working hard to ensure the release of this huge investment into the economy.

He said, “Just this week in Kano, I inaugurated the pilot scheme of the National Livestock Breed Improvement Initiative aimed at increasing the diary potential of our indigenous dairy cows and meat yield of our national herd.
“The livestock sector has a huge economic potential netting N33tn which should be explored and harnessed.”

He said the goal of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development was to facilitate economic diversification from an oil based economy to an agro based economy.


Nanono stated that to achieve this, the FMARD had commenced the implementation of agricultural mechanisation aimed at massive cultivation and output.

He said, “This will ensure that we have more than enough to feed the population and export to neighboring countries. We are also deepening our extension services to grow the agricultural sector and make farming an informed profession.


“We’ve inaugurated a compact and viable livestock subsector capable of sustaining the supply of beef and dairy demands of the nation for consumption, processing industry and export.”


In another development, the Nigerian Veterinary Medical Association raised an alarm that the activities of uncertified animal care givers were slowing down the growth and development in the livestock subsector.


NVMA is regulated by the Veterinary Council of Nigeria, an agency under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

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NSE

Zenith Bank, GTB, Union Bank Lift NSE Banking Index By 2.09%

by with No Comment BusinessNews

Growth in the share price of Zenith Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) and Union Bank of Nigeria Plc lifted the banking index of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) by 2.09 percent during trading for the past week.

READ ALSO: Nigerians rise against $1.5bn Port Harcourt refinery repair bill

The Banking Index which measures the performance of Nigerian banks on the NSE closed at 361.13 index point on Friday, March 19th from the 353.75 index point it commenced trading with on Monday, March 15th, surging by 7.38 index point, representing 2.09 percent appreciation. The banking index, however, fell by 8.11 per cent Year- till – Date (YTD)

The Financial Services Industry which includes the banking sector (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.888 billion shares valued at N12.446 billion traded in 12,019 deals, while a total turnover of 2.342 billion shares worth N19.272 billion in 20,173 deals were traded this week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 1.675 billion shares valued at N23.541 billion that exchanged hands last week in 21,732 deals.

The NSE All-Share Index and Market Capitalization depreciated by 0.69% to close the week at 38,382.39 and N20.082 trillion respectively.

Checks by InsideBusiness shows that Zenith Bank led the gainers in the banking sector during the week in review in terms of market capitalisation.

The tier-1 financial institution rose by 6.13 percent in value of its market capitalisation and share price, rising from N665.605 billion and N21.20 Kobo per share to N706.421 billion and N22.50 Kobo per share respectively.

The appreciation saw Zenith Bank gaining N40.815 billion and its outstanding shares remain at 31,396,493,786.

GTB followed with a N30.902 billion growth in the bank’s market share, climbing from N881.463 billion to N912.366 billion, representing 3.50 percent appreciation.

The Orange brand also recorded soared share price, moving from N29.95 Kobo per share to N31 per share.

Union Bank completed the biggest gainers’ table for the week when its share price and market capitalisation jumped by 4.95 percent, indicating a N7.280 billion surge.

The first generation bank saw its market capitalisation currently standing at N154.339 billion up from N147.059 billion, while the value of its share price rose from N5.05 Kobo per share to N5.30 Kobo per share.


Ecobank Transnational Corporation (ETI) dominated the losers for the week, losing N5.504 billion representing 5.8 percent to close at N94.500 billion in market capitalisation down from N88. 995 billion.


The share price which opened at N5.15 Kobo per share on Monday, March 15th fell to N4.85 Kobo per share on Friday Friday, March 19th.

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Refinery

Nigerians rise against $1.5bn Port Harcourt refinery repair bill

by with No Comment BusinessfinanceNews

Nigerians are enraged over government’s plan to spend $1.5 billion (about N570bn) on the repair of one of its derelict and unprofitable refinery.

READ ALSO: Investors: How companies can attract funding

The government’s long history of wasteful spending on turnaround maintenance on its struggling refineries triggers a feeling of bitterness in the hearts of many whenever the government says it wants to pump more money into them.

READ ALSO: Atedo calls $1.5bn refinery bill brazen adventure

They question why the government is throwing money it does not have into a venture that is entrenched in a culture of waste and has gulped far too much public funds with nothing to show for it. Its inflated payrolls also contribute to the non-competitive cost of fuels produced.

Many are in awe of how a cash-strapped government that has been knocking at the door of the World Bank for a $1.5 billion loan since last year is able to turn around and spend a similar amount on merely repair works on one dying refinery, an effort history suggests will be futile.

To put the planned repair into context, the government wants to spend $1.5 billion on a refinery that has never operated above its 200,000bpd capacity, whereas Shell sold a more efficient and profitable refinery with a capacity of 157,000bpd in California for $1.2 billion last year.

The complex nature of running refineries is why experts have called on the government to privatise them rather than seek to hold control and continue splashing cash on them.

“Refineries are one of the most complex facilities to run, they are capital, technology and management intensive operations, yet low margin,” Olagoke Balogun, former processor operator at Chevron with 13 years experience in the refining business, tweeted on Thursday.

Balogun noted, “Aside from corruption, the Nigerian state is grossly incompetent to run such complex operations even if they wanted to.”

It is not the first time the government is carrying out rehabilitation works on its cash-guzzling yet unprofitable refineries.

Over the past 12 years, Nigeria tried and failed four times to crank up its aging crude-processing plants.

The West African country of about 200 million people still imports more than 90 percent of products like petrol, diesel and kerosene, swapping crude oil for refined petrol, kerosene and aviation fuel.

Despite the repeated failure to breathe life into the refineries, the state-run energy company, NNPC, is giving it another shot, ignoring global examples on how to run a successful refinery.

Globally, most refineries are privately owned and run on razor-thin low margins in order to realise the highest returns.

Refinery managers seek to pay the lowest price for crude oil, maximise the yield of the higher value products, control operating costs and receive the highest price for its refined products on a sustained basis.

Nigeria’s refineries, which have overtime struggled to operate at 10 percent capacity utilisation, are however unable to operate on these four basic principles.

They currently pay international prices for crude oil, are unable to control operating costs, and cannot maximise the yield on the high-value product (petrol) because they receive the lowest prices for it.

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Cryptocurrency

CBN Denies Placing New Restrictions On Cryptocurrency.

by with No Comment financeNews

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN), Gowin Emefiele has denied that the apex bank place new restrictions on the use of cryptocurrency noting that the recent directive was to protect the financial system and generality of Nigeria from the risk inherent in crypto-asset transactions.

READ ALSO: CBN: Digital economy to drive growth, create jobs

CBN in a directive to financial institutions barred banks and other financial institutions in the country from facilitating cryptocurrency. The bank regulator had on February 5, 2021, sent a letter to all local financial institutions to shut down all bank accounts associated with cryptocurrency trading platforms.

This directive generated uproar some quarters and economic analysts who commended the commitment towards building a digital economy.

The CBN Governor in a keynote address at the 30th Seminar for Finance Correspondents and Business Editor over the weekend explained that the directive was not new but only amplified an earlier regulation on the subject of cryptocurrency.

“The recent directive became necessary to protect the financial system and the generality of Nigerian from the risk inherent in crypto-asset transactions, which have escalated in recent time, with consequences on financial stability and implementation of monetary policy.”

He however added, ” our policy does not preclude Nigerian from harnessing the underlying technology that supports crypto transactions, which is distributed ledger, commonly referred to as a blockchain.”

Emefiele disclosed further that there are several examples where blockchain technology has been used to facilitate and improve transparency in the settlement of trade transactions.

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Nigerian Stocks

These 5 Nigerian stocks control 80% market capitalisation

by with No Comment BusinessNews

Investors in Nigerian stock market have always been rotating around five stocks that control 80 percent of the entire market capitalisation according to EFG Hermes, an Egypt-based investment bank.

READ ALSO: Union Bank grows full year pre-tax profit by 2.8% to N25.4bn

The major stocks in a rotating number include MTN N, Dangote Cement, Nestle, Airtel and BUA Cement.

In addition, the banks have been most active in the equities market but unfortunately, right now analysts have a neutral position on the banking sector.

Friday’s trading data on the Nigerian Bourse show that MTN closed at N157 per share, down -7.6 percent this year. MTN has 20,354,513,050 outstanding shares valued at N3.195 trillion.

Dangote Cement at N220 per share has lost 10.2 percent of its year-open value. The company has shares outstanding of 17,040,507,405 units valued at N3.748 trillion.

Nestle is valued at N1,375 per share. With outstanding shares of 792,656,252 units, Nestle Nigeria is valued at N1.089 trillion. Investors in Nestle have lost 8.6 percent of the company’s year-open value.

Airtel closed Friday, March 19, at N930, which represents an upward of 9.2 percent compared with its year-open value. Airtel has 3,758,151,504 outstanding shares valued at N3.495 trillion.

BUA Cement trades at N69.95, according to Friday’s data at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited. The stock has lost 9.6 percent of its value this year.

With a market capitalisation in excess of N2.368 trillion, investors continue to hover around BUA’s shares outstanding of 33,864,354,060 units.

“The last results show that costs of risk were quite low in an environment where the macro and the risks have been very high and so there’s concern around that. There’s concern around asset growth and quality, whether it can be sustained. There’s also concern around Return on Equity (ROEs),” Lilian Olubi, chief executive officer of EFG Hermes Nigeria Limited, said.

At a virtual meeting recently on “Shifts in investor appetite in East & West African equities – both foreign institutional and local investors”, she said a key variable that has affected the way the locals behave in the market has been the interest rate environment.

“As yields are inching back up as we have seen and expect to continue given the high inflation rate, what we are seeing now is the current rotation out of equities. The trend before now was when the rates were a bit low, a lot of the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) came back to the market in measure terms but they came numberless,” Olubi said.

“Now we are seeing them retreat from that action. Even though the yields are inching up, we still have a negative real return environment given how high the inflation rate is. But currently, the PFAs and most of the local Investors are keener on nominal returns,” she said.

“Part of the problem is the way that they report; they have unit price reporting on a daily basis,” she said.

Olubi said this adds a lot of pressure that the volatility of the stock market does not make friendly for their reporting. This, she said, is exacerbated by the transfer window that has just been opened to allow people to move across PFAs, and there is the pressure of returns because it has been a major barometer for investors’ decisions.

“Even with the equities, there is some lack of depth and breadth, so you have about five stocks that control 80 percent of the entire market capitalisation. Investors have always been rotating around these stocks,” Olubi said.

“A lot of them are already open and close to their internally set limit for these securities, so they are happy to exit and go back to the wider port of investing and so it is a quiet time for local sides.”

She said the retail players seem to have a more herd-mentality viewpoint and they tend to follow how the institution plays.

“So there’s some inactivity on that side as well. Right now, things are low. The local investors really need a lot more product range to go into and so we are looking actively as to how that comes out along the other macroeconomic concerns that continue to prevail on the market and the economy as well,” she said.

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nion Bank

Union Bank grows full year pre-tax profit by 2.8% to N25.4bn

by with No Comment FeaturedfinanceNews

Union Bank has released its audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020. The bank’s results on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited for the full year period shows sustained growth in key income lines and significantly improved fundamentals notwithstanding a constrained operating environment largely due to the impact of the Covid19 pandemic.

Union Bank’s investments in technology and building a progressive work culture over the past eight years, enabled a swift response to the pandemic that allowed our workforce transition to remote working while maintaining the productivity required to deliver these strong set of results in 2020.

Here are the bank’s financial highlights

Profit before tax: up 2.8percent to N25.4billion (N24.7billion in FY 2019); Gross earnings: down 1.9percent to N156.9billion (N159.9billion in FY 2019); Net operating income after impairments: up 8.3percent to N103.4billion (N95.5billion in FY 2019); and Net interest income before impairment: up 10.1percent to N56.9billion (N51.7billion in FY 2019) due to reduced interest expenses.

Non-interest income: up 1.6percent to N44billion (N43.3billion in 2019) driven by growth in net trading income as well as revaluation gains; Operating expenses: up 10percent to N78billion (N70.8billion in FY 2019) due to an increase in regulatory and technology expenses; andGross loans: up 23.8percent to N736.7billion (N595.3billion in FY 2019) driven by targeted lending to key sectors of the economy.

Also, Customer deposits went up 27.6percent to N1.13trillion (N886.3billion in FY 2019) reflecting the bank’s agility in delivering a compelling range of products to our customers during the pandemic and increased adoption of our digital channels; non-performing loans ratio: down to 4percent from 5.8percent (FY 2019) driven by a disciplined recoveries strategy (N7.2billion in 2020), a more robust loan book and key restructurings to support customers during the pandemic.

Read Also: FG Refineries Earn N21bn, Lose N778bn

Subject to shareholders’ approval, a dividend of 25 kobo per 50 kobo share is being proposed.

In December 2020, the bank’s Chief Executive Officer, Emeka Emuwa announced his retirement effective March 31, 2021. Following a successful search process, the Board has appointed Emeka Okonkwo, an Executive Director currently leading the Bank’s Corporate Banking business, to succeed him. Emeka Emuwa served as CEO for eight years and led the Bank’s transformation and repositioning as a key player in the Nigerian financial space.

Commenting on the results, Emeka Emuwa, CEO said: “The Bank has delivered a strong set of results notwithstanding the impact of COVID-19 on our operations and the wider economy, enabling the Board of Directors to continue to return value to shareholders with a proposed dividend payment for the second year in a row. This demonstrates the strong foundations we have built, as we continue to deliver against our target of becoming a leading financial institution in Nigeria.

“For the full year, we grew across key income lines. Net income after impairments grew 8.3percent from N95.5billion to N103.4billion and translated into 2.8percent growth in Profit Before Tax to N25.4billion from N24.7billion.

The core of this performance is driven by the growth in our loan book, with 23.8percent increase in gross loans, to N736.7billion from N595.3billion in 2019.”

Speaking on the FY 2020 numbers, Chief Financial Officer, Joe Mbulu said: “We are pleased with both our top and bottom-line performance in 2020, in light of the impact of the pandemic and economic challenges.

Significant inflationary pressures and the translation of currency depreciation drove growth in our cost base, however we maintained strong control, limiting operating expense increase to 10percent (N77.9billion from N70.8billion), well below the rate of inflation. Consequently, we saw marginal increase in our cost to income ratio to 75.4percent from 74.1percent.

Our customer deposits hit a milestone during the year, crossing the N1trillion mark to N1.131trillion from N886.3billion in FY 2019, an increase of 27.1percent.

Low cost deposits were up by 17percent, constituting 68percent of total deposits helping to push cost of funds down by 1.4percent.

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FG Refineries

FG Refineries Earn N21bn, Lose N778bn

by with No Comment financeNews

FG Refineries Earn N21bn, Lose N778bn In Five Years

The government-owned refineries, being run by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, reported a total loss of N778.71bn from 2015 to 2019, an analysis of data collated from their financial statements has shown.

READ ALSO: GTBank reports full year PBT of N238.1billion

The refineries generated total revenue of N21.12bn in the five-year period as they operated at below their full capacities.
The refineries, which are located in Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Warri, have a combined installed capacity of 445,000 barrels per day.
The country relies largely on importation of refined petroleum products as its refineries have remained in a state of disrepair for many years despite several reported repairs.

Port Harcourt Refining Company generated a total revenue of N10.33bn from 2015 to 2019, but posted a loss of N229.14bn.
The refinery generated zero revenue in 2019; N1.46bn in 2018; N4.82bn in 2017; N3.37bn in 2016, and N683.52m in 2015.

Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company reported revenue of N4.17bn and a loss of N307.27bn in the five-year period.
The refinery generated revenue of N37.17m in 2019, compared to zero revenue reported in 2018. Its revenue had risen to N2.24bn in 2017 from N1.47bn in 2016 and N418.76m in 2015.
It posted a loss of N65.99bn in 2019, N63.64bn in 2018, N111.89bn in 2017, N30.19bn in 2016 and N35.56bn in 2015.
https://insidebusiness.ng/161525/fg-refineries-earn-n21bn-lose-n778bn-in-five-years/

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GTB

GTBank reports full year PBT of N238.1billion

by with No Comment BusinessfinanceNews

Guaranty Trust Bank plc, GTB, has released its audited financial results for the year ended December 31,2020 to the Nigerian and London Stock Exchanges.

READ ALSO: Equities market gains over N100bn as investors buy Zenith, GTBank, others

A review of the result shows improved performance across all key financial metrics in the face of theunprecedented challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, reflecting the quality of past decisionsand reaffirming its position as one of the best managed financial institutions in Africa.

The Group reported profit before tax of N238.1billion, representing a growth of 2.8percent over N231.7billion recorded in the corresponding year ended December 2019.

The Group’s Loan book (Net) grew by 10.7percent from N1.502trillion recorded as at December 2019 to N1.663trillion in December 2020, while Customers’ deposits increased by 38.6percent from N2.533trillion in December 2019 to N3.509trillion in December 2020.

Guaranty Trust Bank’s Balance sheet remained well structured, diversified and resilient with Total assetsand Shareholders’ Funds closing at N4.945trillion and N814.4billion respectively.

Full Impact CapitalAdequacy Ratio (CAR) remained very strong, closing at 21.9percent, while Asset quality was sustained as NPLratio and Cost of Risk (COR) closed at 6.4percent (Bank: 5.9percent) and 1.2percent (Bank: 1percent) in December 2020 from 6.5percent (Bank: 6.2percent) and 0.3percent (Bank: 0.2percent) in December 2019 respectively.

Commenting on the financial results, the Managing Director/CEO of Guaranty Trust Bank plc, SegunAgbaje, said; “2020 was arguably the most challenging year that the world has faced in decades. In suchunprecedented times, we sought to live out the full extent of our values; safeguarding lives and livelihoodsfor our people, our customers and across the communities where we operate. We were on solid footinggoing into 2020; the strength, scale and liquidity of our balance sheet, coupled with the quality of our pastdecisions and the efficacy of our digital-first customer-centric strategy gave us the resilience and flexibilityto navigate the economic shocks and market volatility that dominated the year.”

He further stated that; “Amidst the many challenges that persist, we remain ardent believers in Africa’sgrowth potential. Our world is increasingly digital, and we see it opening new and exciting opportunities forempowering people and uplifting our communities. With our commitment to deepening customerrelationships and intense focus on delivering innovative financial solutions, we enter 2021 well-positionedto lead this new world.”

Guaranty Trust Bank plc continues to post the best metrics in the Nigerian Banking industry in terms of allFinancial Ratios i.e. Post-Tax Return on Equity (ROAE) of 26.8percent, Post-Tax Return on Assets (ROAA) of 4.6percent, Full Impact Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) of 21.9percent and Cost to Income ratio of 38.2percent.

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Equities Market

Equities market gains over N100bn as investors buy Zenith, GTBank, others

by with No Comment BusinessfinanceNews

The record positive seen on Custom Street came as investors realise the equities market offers reentry opportunities for value hunters as prices of most counters hit record lows.

Trading on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited closed in green zone on Thursday as investors raised stakes in stocks like Zenith Bank Plc, Eterna Plc, GTBank Plc, Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc and Lasaco Plc.

READ ALSO: SMEDAN opens N5m loan application portal for SMEs

The record positive seen on Custom Street came as investors realise the equities market offers reentry opportunities for value hunters as prices of most counters hit record lows.

The All Share Index (ASI) of the Bourse stood higher by 0.54percent to close at 38,914.84 points, from 38,706.13 points recorded the preceding day.

The negative return year-to-date (YtD) stood lower at -3.37percent. This week alone, the equities market has increased by 0.69 percent, while this month it has declined by 2.22 percent.

Also, the value of listed stocks on the Bourse increased by N109billion, from the preceding day high of N20.251trillion to N20.360trillion.

Eterna Plc led the gainers league after its share price moved from N4.62 to N5.08, up by 46percent or 9.96percent.

Lasaco also advanced, from N1.2 to N1.3, up by 10kobo or 8.33 percent. Zenith Bank moved up from preceding day low of N20.5 to N22, up by N1.5 or 7.32percent.

GTBank rose from N28 to N29.8, adding N1.8 or 6.43 percent while Dangote Sugar moved from N16 to N17, up by N1 or 6.25 percent.

Unity Bank, GTBank, Zenith Bank and FBN Holdings were actively traded stocks on the floor of Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited. In 4,040 deals, investors exchanged 1,468,421,633 units valued at N5.853billion.

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