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Tag: Shares

  • Musk sells Tesla shares as net worth drops below $200 billion

    Musk sells Tesla shares as net worth drops below $200 billion

    Following the purchase of Twitter for $44 billion, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Inc, has reportedly sold Tesla shares worth $4 billion.

    The Verge, reports that Musk has offloaded almost $20 billion from Tesla to mainly finance the Twitter deal which was worth $44 billion.

    In April and August, Elon Musk has sold a combined $15.4 billion worth of Tesla shares, with $8.4 billion in April and around $6.9 billion in August. However, after these sales, he said that there were no more sales planned.

    With regards to these sales, Musk also tweeted, “No further TSLA sales planned after today.”

    His takeover of Twitter has also invited drastic measures like the sacking of almost 50 per cent of Twitter’s workforce, a verification fee.

    According to a Reuters report, Musk’s net worth also dropped below $200 billion on Tuesday as investors dumped Tesla’s shares on fears of the Chief Twit being more preoccupied with Twitter. The report reads, “Now Wall Street fears that Musk has stretched himself too thin at a time when the EV maker is ramping up production and faces rising competition.”

    Musk now has a net worth of $197.4 billion, according to Forbes, with a big share of that coming from his nearly 15 percent stake in Tesla, which has a market value of $622billion.

  • Titan Bank completes acquisition of Union Bank

    Titan Trust Bank Limited (TTB), a subsidiary of TGI Group has completed the acquisition of majority equity stake of 89.39 per cent in Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN) Plc.

    Trading report at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) yesterday indicated that a total of 27.34 billion ordinary shares of UBN were swapped in block divestment. Market sources said the cross deal was the culmination of the transaction between TTB and Union Global Partners Limited, Atlas Mara Limited and other shareholders.

    A total of 19 cross deals were done through the negotiated window of the NGX at N7 per share, indicating transaction value of N191.4 billion.

    The transfer of shares effectively implied approval of the transaction by all regulators including the Central Bank of Nigeria, Securities and Exchange Commission and NGX.

    Earlier, Chairman, Union Bank of Nigeria, Mrs. Beatrice Hamza Bassey said UBN was well-positioned with an innovative product offering, a growing customer base of over six million and consistent year on year profitability.

    “This is a solid foundation for our incoming investors to build on as we move into a new era for the bank,’’ Hamza Bassey said.

    Chairman, Titan Trust Bank, Tunde Lemo, said: “The Board of Titan Trust Bank and our key stakeholders are delighted as this transaction marks a key step for Titan Trust in its strategic growth journey and propels the institution to the next level in the Nigerian banking sector.

    “The deal represents a unique opportunity to combine Union Bank’s longstanding and leading banking franchise with TTB’s innovation-led model which promises to enhance the product and service offering for our combined valued customers.”

    Chief Executive Officer, Union Bank, Mr. Emeka Okonkwo said: “This transaction marks a significant milestone in the journey of our 104-year-old Bank. While thanking our current investors for their unwavering commitment to the Bank over the years, we welcome our new core investor, TTB. We recognise the strategic fit between the two institutions and expect that this deal will deliver the best outcome for our employees, customers and stakeholders. We look forward to collectively writing the next exciting chapter for Union Bank.”

    Chief Executive Officer, Titan Trust Bank, Mudassir Amray said: “After completing over two years of operations with aggressive organic growth, we are excited to have an opportunity for a significant leap forward in market share. UBN’s widespread presence, state of the art technology platform, quality staff and strong brand loyalty fits well with our synchronised modular strategy. We look forward to delivering superior results for the benefit of our staff, customers, shareholders, and stakeholders.”

    Rothschild & Cie acted as financial adviser and White & Case LLP and Banwo & Ighodalo acted as legal advisers respectively, to the selling shareholders of Union Bank.

    Citigroup Global Markets Limited acted as financial adviser, Pricewaterhouse Coopers as due diligence partner, Norton Rose Fulbright LLP, Drew Law Practise and G. Elias & Co. acted as legal advisers respectively to TTB.

  • Nigerian shares steady as dollar sinks – Analyst

    Nigerian shares steady as dollar sinks – Analyst

    Nigerian shares have hovered around 2021 highs, gaining over 4.4 per cent year-to-date, in spite of the December U.S. inflation report reinforcing Federal Reserve rate hike expectations.

    Senior Research Analyst at FXTM, Mr Lukman Otunuga, made this known in analysis in Lagos State.

    Otunuga said that the U.S. consumer price index (CPI) jumped seven per cent year-on-year, matching the median forecast from economists surveyed by Bloomberg and up from 6.8 per cent in November 2021.

    He said core inflation, which strips out volatile items such as food and energy, rose 5.5 per cent, well above the 4.9 per cent reported in the previous month.

    The analyst also explained that markets initially offered a calm reaction to the hot report with Wall Street closing modestly higher on Jan. 12.

    “The most notable price action was seen in foreign exchange markets, with king dollar breaking down as treasury yields pulled back, while gold bugs were injected with renewed confidence.

    “The December Consumer Price Index (CPI) report has presented further evidence of persistent price pressures, especially with inflation registering its biggest annual gain since 1982.

    “For Nigeria, the key question remains whether the Central Bank of Nigeria joins the tightening bandwagon or focuses on the pandemic economic recovery this quarter.

    “The Dollar Index (DXY) slams into 95.00. The dollar tumbled to a two-month low against a basket of currencies Jan. 12 after the inflation figures for December matched expectations.

    “Investors may have seen this data as bearish for the world’s reserve currency as they were possibly expecting the figures to be even hotter. Nevertheless, the headline surged seven per cent in December.

    “Its biggest year-on-year increase since June 1982 and seven of the last nine releases have now come in above consensus.

    “Traders are currently pricing in an 84 per cent probability of at least one rate hike by mid-March.

    “Looking at the technical picture, the Dollar Index remains under pressure on the daily charts. A breakdown below 95.00 could open the doors towards 94.56 and 94.00, respectively,” he said.

    Otunuga added that gold after notching its sharpest weekly loss since November had returned with a vengeance this week.

    According to him, the precious metal continues to draw strength from a weaker dollar and slight pullback in Treasury yields with prices trading around 1,826 dollars.

    “Inflation risks could also be supporting upside gains for gold which has often been considered a hedge against rising prices,” Otunuga said.

  • The facts behind Wema Bank’s multiplying profit

    The facts behind Wema Bank’s multiplying profit

    Wema Bank Plc experienced quite a rosy year in 2021 with a N6.2 billion closing profit for the third quarter, well ahead of the full-year figure of N4.6 billion in 2020.

    The profit figure for the nine months of operations is a high jump of 138.5 per cent year-on-year from the corresponding figure of N2.6 billion in the prior fiscal year.

    The bank is looking quite good to register the 2021 financial year as one of outstanding earnings performance. Based on the quarterly profit records, the bank could come close to doubling the closing profit at the end of the year.

    Its exceptional growth is a function of three major developments on both sides of cost and income with cost reductions leading the way.

    Big cost savings are coming from interest expenses as well as loan impairment charges and management is converting the same into profit. Defying the rising cost of funds in the financial markets, the bank cut interest expenses by 12 per cent year-on-year to N23 billion at the end of September.

    That represents a cost reduction of over N3 billion in interest expenses over the review period. This is further to a reduction of 23 per cent in the cost of funds at the end of 2020.

    A major development on the side of cost reduction in the third quarter was recorded in loan impairment expenses with the appearance of a net write back in the quarter. That overturned the bank’s position from a 12 per cent growth in loan impairment charges at half a year to a drop of 56.5 per cent year-on-year at the end of the third quarter.

    The bank closed the third quarter trading with a loan impairment charge of N811 million. It closed the preceding financial year with a loan loss expense of N5.6 billion. The drop in credit losses represents a reduction of over N1 billion over the review period.

    On the side of earnings, three income lines held up Wema Bank’s revenue performance in 2021. Net fee and commission income grew at a cruising speed of 69 per cent year-on-year to close at N8.7 billion at the end of September 2021.

    Other income followed with a year-on-year increase of over 52 per cent to N1.6 billion. The bank’s main revenue line – interest income also grew by 11 per cent to N51.5 billion over the period.

    The revenue increases were diluted by a drop of 76 per cent in net trading income to close at a little over N1 billion. That lowered the year-on-year growth in the gross income of the bank to 9 per cent to close at over N63 billion at the end of September.

    This is a step up in gross earnings from an 8 per cent improvement at half a year. Wema Bank sustained a rebound at the end of the third quarter from a drop of 11 per cent in gross earnings at the end of the preceding year.

    With the drop in interest expenses against an improvement in interest income, the bank achieved a robust growth in net interest earnings. Net interest income rose by 41.5 per cent year-on-year to over N28 billion at the end of the third quarter.

    The impressive growth was still improved by the drop in loan impairment expenses, leading to top record growth of 51.5 per cent in income net of loan loss charges, amounting to N27.6 billion at the end of the third quarter.

    The bank maintained a good combination of improving revenue and generally declining costs, which powered its multiplying profit in the year. It can retain a good part of the gains in revenue as interest and loan impairment expenses drop over the review period.

    The favourable cost-income balance stretched out margins further for the bank in the third quarter. Net profit margin improved from 4.6 per cent in the same period in 2020 to almost 10 per cent at the end of the third quarter operations in 2021.

    It is also a further improvement in net profit margin from 9 per cent at the half-year. The bank has not attained a profit margin that high in many years. That seems to set the stage for one of the most improved corporate earnings stories from the banking industry to come from Wema Bank in 2021.

    The bank earned over 21 kobos per share at the end of the third quarter operations, up from 9 kobos per share in the same period in the prior fiscal year.

    Wema Bank closed the 2020 operations with earnings per share of 12 kobos. Dividend per share has been regular at 4 kobos per share over the preceding two years.

  • Jeff Bezos sells $2 billion worth of his Amazon shares

    Jeff Bezos sells $2 billion worth of his Amazon shares

    Amazon boss Jeff Bezos has sold nearly 2 billion dollars worth of his shares in the online retailer this week, filings from the US Securities and Exchange Commission showed on Wednesday.

    Bezos has sold Amazon shares several times recently.

    In February and November 2020, he parted with shares worth a total of more than 7 billion dollars.

    The 57-year-old founded Amazon in 1994 and is still the largest individual shareholder in the company.

    Amazon was recently valued at 1.65 trillion dollars.

    Bezos himself is thought to be the richest man in the world, according to Forbes and Bloomberg Billionaires.

    He has an estimated wealth of more than 190 billion dollars.

    Bezos plans to give up his position as Amazon’s chief executive in the third quarter of this year and will become an executive chairman instead.

  • Lyon shares fall after defeat by Bayern

    Lyon shares fall after defeat by Bayern

    Olympique Lyonnais’ shares fell on Thursday after the French soccer club’s defeat by Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-final.

    Lyon’s shares, which had risen at the start of the week after Lyon beat Manchester City in the quarter final, were down by 4.7 per cent by 0728 GMT.

    Bayern Munich powered into the Champions League final, where they will face Paris Saint Germain (PSG), as two goals from Serge Gnabry led them to an emphatic 3-0 win over Lyon on Wednesday.

    Bayern Munich will take on Paris Saint Germain on Sunday in the champions league final in Portugal.

  • Court stops proposed sale of Jos Disco’s shares

    Court stops proposed sale of Jos Disco’s shares

    A Federal High Court in Abuja has restrained the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Scams Energy Limted and four others from taking any further steps in relation to the alleged plan to sell some shares of the Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JEDC).

    Also affected by the court’s order are Aura Energy Limited, Highland Dsco Acquisition Limited, JEDC and Sushi Energy Limited, who are all named as defendants in a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/729/2020 by two aggrieved stakeholders in JEDC – MBS Merchant Limited and Masanawa Enterprises Co. Ltd – through their lawyer, Mahmud Magaji (SAN).

    Justice Taiwo Tawo, in an ex-parte ruling, agreed with Magaji the interest of his clients would be jeopardised should the planned sale of 50 per cent of Aura Energy in JEDC to Highland Disco is effected before the determination of the substantive suit.

    Justice Taiwo further granted an order of interim injunction “restraining the defendants/respondents jointly and severally either by themselves or their agents, assigns and privies in whatever name so called from selling, leasing or transferring the 50% shares of Aura Energy Limited in Jos Electricity Distribution Company to Higland Disco Acquisition Limited or any other entity pending the determination of the motion on notice.”

    The judge equally granted an order of interim injunction “restraining the defendants/respondents jointly and severally either by themselves or their agents, assigns and privies in whatever name so called from taking any steps culminating in the sale, lease of transferring the 50% shares of Aura Energy Limited in Jos Electricity Distribution Company to Highland Disco Acquisition Limited or any other entity pending the determination of the motion on notice.”

    Justice Taiwo further said: “An order of interim injunction is hereby made restraining the 5th defendant/respondent (BPE), its agents, assigns and privies in whatever name so called from giving its consent to the 2nd defendant/respondent (Aura Energy) with respect to selling, leasing or transferring the 50% shares of Aura Energy Limited in Jos Electricity Distribution Company to Highland Disco Acquisition Limited or any other entity pending the determination of the motion on notice.

    “An order of interim injunction is hereby made restraining the 6th defendant/respondent (NERC), its agents, assigns and privies in whatever name so called from giving its consent/approval to the 2nd defendant/respondent with respect to selling, leasing or transferring the 50% shares of Aura Energy Limited in Jos Electricity Distribution Company to Highland Disco Acquisition Limited or any other entity pending the determination of the moon on notice.”
    Justice Taiwo ordered the plaintiffs to put all the defendants on notice about the orders of injunction granted by the court.

    He further ordered the plaintiffs to ensure that all the defendants are served with all the processes, including the writ of summons and the statement of claim.

    The Judge then adjourned till a later date for further proceedings in the case.

  • 9mobile rebounds, increases market share

    Nigeria’s innovative telecoms company, 9mobile is well and truly on the rebound as latest figures by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) show that the operator is regaining its market share.

    April figures released in June showed that the number of voice subscribers on the network has risen to 12,568,088 from 12,123,185, indicating that the telco has added 444,903 new subscribers.

    Previously holding 6.1 per cent in March and 6.5 per cent in February, 9mobile now has 6.6 per cent, to confirm that the repositioning of the brand by the company’s Board and Management has started yielding positive results.

    This is coming as the telco maintained its lead in incoming subscribers’ porting for the fifth straight month, beginning December 2019 when it received 8,613 subscribers from the other operators.

    Incoming (Inward) Porting means the number of numbers ported from another service provider’s network into a service provider’s own network.

    9mobile received 5,516 customers from other operators in January 2020, 5,371 in February, 8,225 in March and 3,829 in April to underscore its determination to reclaim its pride of place, especially in the youth market and mobile money space amongst other critical territories in the telecoms consumer market.

    9mobile’s impressive repositioning efforts got a boost from the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) which approved a $230 million (two hundred and thirty million US Dollars) loan facility to help it attain its long-term growth plans in 2019.

    It embarked on the expansion of its 4G LTE deployment to more Nigerian cities earlier in February as part of efforts to continue offering superior quality services to its customers. Some of the benefits of the expanded 4G LTE include a low latency rate for high-speed connectivity and planned redundancy to minimize downtime impact.

    The telecoms company also just appointed a substantive CEO, the vastly experienced telecoms expert, Alan Sinfield, who has worked and distinguished himself in emerging markets in the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe.

    Sinfield has promised to use his experience and unique value propositions to lead the company in the next exciting phase of its journey. He said he would build on the existing strong foundation to create value that will transform the Nigerian telecoms sector.

  • Fidelity Bank Orders Directors, Others to Stop Sale of Shares

    Directors, managers and other high-ranking members of staff of Fidelity Bank Plc as well as their related persons have been asked to stop the trading of the company’s equities on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) for now.

    These set of people have been prohibited by the financial institution to stop buying and selling of the stocks from Thursday, October 17, 2019 until the third quarter earnings of the bank are released to the NSE and the investing public.

    This is to prevent insider trading by these people because of the company’s vital information at their disposal, which they may use to affect the price of the stock at the exchange to the disadvantage of others.

    In a notice on Friday, Fidelity Bank said its board of directors was planning to have a meeting on Thursday, October 24, 2019 for the consideration and approval of its results for the nine months ended September 30, 2019.

    After the approval of the results by the board, the financial statements would be transmitted to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which would look into them and return to the bank before they are released to the public.

    “This is to inform the Nigerian Stock Exchange and the investing public that in line with Fidelity Bank Plc’s Insider Trading Policy and the extant Issuers’ Rules of the exchange, the board of directors of Fidelity Bank Plc shall meet on Thursday, October 24, 2019, to consider the Unaudited Financial Accounts for the third quarter ended September 30, 2019.

    “Consequently, all insiders and their connected persons are prohibited from trading (i.e buying, selling, transferring or otherwise dealing) in the bank’s shares from October 17, 2019 until the Unaudited Accounts for the quarter ended September 30, 2019 are released on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE),” the disclosure from the lender today said.

    Meanwhile, shares of Fidelity Bank appreciated on Friday by 2 kobo or 1.18 percent to close at N1.72 per share.

  • Orji Kalu denies selling issued shares capital of his banking group

    Dr Orji Kalu, former governor of Abia and Chief Whip of the Ninth Senate, has denied selling the issued shares capital of his banking group, First International Bank (FIB).

    Mr Obinna Kalu, Legal Adviser, FIB Group Limited in a statement issued on Monday and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) , said that the online report that Kalu sold the issued shares capital of FIB was misleading.

    “The report that a former governor of Abia, Orji Kalu has sold the issued shares capital of his banking group- First International Bank (FIB) Group Limited, The Gambia is misleading.

    “To set the records straight, Slok Nigeria Limited has not sold any of its issued shares capital in FIB Group Limited, The Gambia to any person or organisation.

    “Be it known that Slok Nigeria Limited remains the legal and genuine owners of FIB Group Limited and its subsidiary banks.

    “Recently, an illegal attempt by one Lilium Grays Limited to take over the subsidiary banks of FIB Group Limited was dismissed by the Supreme Court of The Gambia via a judgment delivered on July 30, 2019.

    “The judgment thus reaffirmed that Slok Nigeria Limited is the legal and genuine wholly owner of FIB Group Limited and its FiBank subsidiaries in Guinea, Gambia and Sierra Leone,” Obinna Kalu said.