TheNewsGuru

Tag: Nigerian Stock Exchange

  • Nigerian Banks, Companies fined N125m for failing to file audit reports

    Nigerian Banks, Companies fined N125m for failing to file audit reports

    At least eight banks and 18 other listed companies in Nigeria have been collectively fined N125 million for their failure to submit their 2022 audited financial statements and quarterly reports for the first half of 2023, as mandated by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX).

    Among the banks that faced sanctions were Unity Bank, FBN Holdings, Access Holdings, Fidelity Bank, Jaiz Bank, Wema Bank, Guaranty Trust Holdings Plc, and Ecobank Transnational Incorporated.

    The regulatory rules of NGX dictate that quoted companies must submit their audited results within 90 calendar days or three months after the relevant period has ended.

    Additionally, interim reports are required to be submitted within 30 calendar days after the end of each relevant period.

    FBN Holdings, for instance, was fined for both the delay in submitting its 2022 financial results and its quarter one report for 2023, resulting in total fines of N6.3 million and N3.3 million, respectively.

    Unity Bank faced similar penalties, paying N6.4 million for a delay in submitting its 2022 results and N3.4 million for the delay in its Q1 2023 interim reports.

    Other banks such as Fidelity Bank, Guaranty Trust Holdings, Wema Bank, and Access Holdings faced fines ranging from N1.4 million to N2.7 million.

    Meanwhile, Jaiz Bank, Ecobank, and John Holt faced penalties of N600,000, N3.2 million, and N3.2 million, respectively.

    Non-bank companies like PZ Cussons, Notore Chemical, Glaxo SmithKline Consumer Nigeria, Industrial Medical and Gases Nigeria, and Juli Plc were also affected. GSK, which had announced the closure of its operations in Nigeria, paid a fine of N1.3 million for failing to file its 2022 financial results as required.

    Other companies, including Regency Alliance Insurance, Thomas Wyatt Nigeria, NPF Microfinance Bank, Daar Communications, Champion Breweries, and Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc, were fined varying amounts, ranging from N1.2 million to N4.9 million, for the same offense.

    Furthermore, Presco Plc, Ardova, Universal Insurance Plc, Conoil, Caverton Offshore Support Group, Briclinks Africa Plc, Telecommunications services firm, and more were also among the companies fined for non-compliance with the filing regulations.

  • ECOWAS Don values NNPC at N50trn, wants listing on stock exchange

    Chief Economic Strategist to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Prof Ken Ife, has valued the assets of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) at N50 trillion.

    The Professor of Economics stressed that the oil company can be listed on the Nigerian Exchange Limited.

    Speaking at a Growth Initiatives for Fiscal Transparency, (GIFT) dialogue held in Abuja on Wednesday, Prof Ife averred that the N50tn valuation included the crude, gas, landed and intangible assets of NNPC Ltd.

    The reason for the valuation, according to the economic strategist is to ensure that all host communities, labour unions, oil marketers, citizens and corporates took part in the public quotation expected soon.

    ALSO READ: NNPC boss seeks support of stakeholders in oil and gas to tackle crude theft in Niger Delta

    Prof Ife notes that  it is also the best way to reduce oil theft and opaque petrol subsidy being paid by the government.

    He stressed that if every Nigerian, including militants and oil thieves have shares, it would become difficult for theft to continue at the scale it is currently being carried out.

    With that, Prof Ife said, militants will not break pipelines when they are shareholders of the company. They will demand dividends, rather than break pipelines.

    His words: “If militants break pipelines, they will not get dividends from the company in which they have shares. If Nigerians are shareholders, it then becomes their decision to maintain subsidy or remove it,”.

    The Professor of Economics expressed regret that the Petroleum Industry Act, PIA, had removed the NNPC from being subject to the Fiscal Responsibility Act and the Public Procurement Act, saying that this was not healthy for accountability and transparency.

    Prof Ife, who is also a consultant to the Central Bank of Nigeria, noted that PMS subsidy has reached a critical juncture where the government was now looking to borrow N4 trillion per year, when 50 modular refineries could be funded with just N2 trillion to refine 1 million barrels a day.

  • DMO to auction 3 new FGN bonds valued at N225bn in April

    DMO to auction 3 new FGN bonds valued at N225bn in April

    The Debt Management Office (DMO) has offered three new Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) bonds valued at N225 billion for subscription through auction in April.

    They are an N75 billion FGN bond at a 13.5 per cent interest rate, due in March 2025 (10-year re-opening) and an N75 billion FGN bond, due in April 2032 (10-year new issue).

    The third one is an N75 billion bond at a 13 per cent interest rate, due in January 2042 (a 20-year re-opening).

    The bonds are valued at N1,000 with a minimum subscription of N50 million, and in multiples of 1000 units thereafter.

    The auction date is April 25, while successful bidders have April 27 deadline to pay up.

    “For re-opening of previously issued bonds, successful bidders will pay a price corresponding to the yield-to-maturity bid that clears the volume being auctioned, plus any accrued interest.

    “The bonds qualify as securities in which trustees can invest under the Trustee Investment Act.

    “They also qualify as government securities within the meaning of Company Income Tax Act and Personal Income Tax Act for tax exemption, pension fund amongst other investors.

    “They are listed on The Nigerian Stock Exchange Ltd. and FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange,’’ the DMO stated.

    It added that all FGN bonds qualify as liquid assets for liquidity ratio calculation for banks.

    “FGN bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of the FGN and are charged upon the general assets of Nigeria,’’ it added.

  • MTN Nigeria to go ahead with IPO this year

    Subject to market conditions, South Africa’s telecoms firm, MTN Group will go ahead with its Initial Public Offering (IPO) listing its Nigerian subsidiary, MTN Nigeria in the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) this year.

    Bloomberg had previously reported the Executive Chairman of MTN Group, Phuthuma Nhleko, as saying the company may delay the planned listing until 2018 in order to resolve a regulatory dispute, but a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report indicates the IPO plan might work out this year.

    While MTN operates in 22 countries in Africa and the Middle East with more than 200 million users, MTN Nigeria is the Group’s largest and most profitable subsidiary. It is the market leader in fixed and mobile broadband sectors with over 60 million users.

    The firm is battling with a fine of $5.2 billion that was reduced to N330 billion.

    After the fine was announced in 2015, MTN shares lost its value in Johannesburg, and analysts have said the decision of MTN to list in the NSE was part of agreement the company reached with the Federal Government as a condition for slashing the fine imposed on it by the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC).

    But Nhleko stated at an annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that the firm has ever wanted to list in the NSE.

    “We’ve always intended to list – we have reaffirmed that with the government. Clearly, we can only list when the conditions are conducive,” he said.

    >>Trending: MTN pulls out of Who Wants to be a Millionaire TV show

    TheNewsGuru recalls the fine was imposed on MTN after it was found to have breached the ‘know-your-customer’ rules set by the NCC, and Dino Melaye, the Senator representing Kogi West, had accused the mobile operator of illegally repatriating $14 billion out of Nigeria over ten years.

    The PwC report said Nigeria’s economy slowed sharply in 2015 and 2016, primarily due to global fall in crude oil prices but is forecast to return to slow growth in 2017; and Telecoms operators in Nigeria have been under pressure to list on the exchange to widen equity ownership and tame what many consider as undue profit repatriation that is detrimental to the Nigerian economy.

    Recently, MTN paid N19 billion ($60 million) for a 2.6 GHz licence auctioned by the NCC in June 2016. It was the only company, which secured approval to take part in the auction. MTN will use the frequencies to expand its LTE network in Nigeria.

    MTN, if listed, would become the first major national telecoms company whose shares would be traded on the NSE.