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Nigerian stocks hit 10-month low on Dangote drop, election risk

Published

6 years ago

August 11, 2018

Nigerian stocks hit a 10-month low on Friday, dragged down by losses in the country’s biggest listed firm Dangote Cement and mounting concerns over political risk in the run-up to next year’s presidential election, traders said.

The stock market shed 2.9 percent this week, its biggest weekly fall since June 2018. It fell 2.17 percent on Friday after declining for a fifth straight day.

Dangote Cement is one of the most liquid stocks on the Lagos bourse and accounts for around a third of market capitalisation. The company fell 6.1 percent on Friday, its single biggest drop in more than a year and its lowest level in ten months. The reason was not immediately clear.

Reuters reported on Friday that an oil refinery being built in Nigeria by Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, is unlikely to start production until 2022, two years later than the target date, citing sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

In July, Dangote Cement posted a 1.53 percent decline in pretax profit to 77.1 billion naira for the second quarter.

Analysts at FBNQuest Capital said Dangote Cement’s results were weaker than expected in the second quarter, citing that as a reason for the decline.

President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election bid has become a contentious issue after a faction of his ruling All Progressives Congress last month said it no longer supported him, triggering a wave of defections to the opposition party.

Nigeria’s security forces temporarily stopped lawmakers entering parliament on Tuesday in a blockade seen by the opposition as a bid to intimidate its leaders. Some analysts said it highlighted the potential for a fractious campaign ahead of February’s presidential election.

“Recent events … have raised the level of political uncertainty and hit market activity. Market turnover declined to a 16-month low on Wednesday,” Vetiva Capital analysts wrote in a note. “We do not anticipate much joy for the market until the political terrain settles.”

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VenturesNow

Food prices drive second straight monthly hike in Nigeria’s inflation

Published

7 hours ago

November 17, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

According to official statistics released on Friday, Nigeria’s inflation rate increased for the second consecutive month in October, rising to 33.88% in annual terms from 32.70% in September, mostly as a result of increasing food costs.

In an attempt to boost economic development and strengthen public finances, President Bola Tinubu devalued the naira and reduced subsidies, which caused inflation to spike in the second half of last year.

As the effects of the naira devaluation started to lessen in July of this year, a slew of hikes in the price of petroleum and devastating floods that destroyed crops once again exacerbated pricing pressures, making the greatest cost-of-living crisis in decades worse in Africa’s most populous country.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, price increases for basics such as rice, maize, bread, potatoes, and cooking oil prompted food inflation to surge from 37.77% in October to 39.16% year over year.

This year, more than 1.5 million hectares of agriculture have been damaged by torrential rain and floods in 29 of Nigeria’s 36 states, leaving millions hungry and displacing large numbers of people.

In an effort to curb inflation, the central bank has raised interest rates five times this year. On November 26, it is expected to make its final rate decision of the year.

VenturesNow

MTN financial report reveals drop in group service revenue

Published

7 hours ago

November 17, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Due to operational difficulties in Sudan and the depreciation of the Nigerian naira, MTN Group, Africa’s largest telecom provider, announced on Thursday an 18.5% decline in service revenue for the third quarter that concluded on September 30.

With 288 million users in 17 African regions, MTN said that its group service revenue dropped from 156.3 billion rand ($6.99 billion) in the same quarter of the previous year to 127.4 billion rand.

Despite stating that “the naira was less volatile on a sequential basis in Q3 than in preceding quarters,” the business reported a 48.7% decline in MTN Nigeria’s income due to the currency’s depreciation.

Due to a stronger Ugandan shilling than the previous year, Uganda’s largest contributor, MTN South Africa (MTN SA), expanded by a meagre 3.3%.

Due to “subscriber registration regulations in Nigeria and a decline in users in Sudan, where the conflict has displaced millions of people,” the business reported that its subscriber base increased by 1.6% to 288 million.

Given the higher demand in Nigeria despite the legal obstacles, MTN plans to increase its capital expenditures, which it expects would total between 28 and 33 billion rand for the entire year.