BUSINESS
CIBN Lagos Branch Post 162 Percent Profit
In a change of financial path, the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, Lagos State branch, has said it grew its profit by 162.02 percent in 2021.
The branch Chairman, CIBN Lagos State, Mr. Peter Ashade, who stated this at their Annual General Meeting hybrid event held in Lagos, said amidst the tough macro and tight regulatory environment, banks remained resilient.
Ashade maintained that they were able to provide capacity support to clients in areas such as Money Laundering, corporate Governance and digital transformation among others.
According to him, this was evident in banks delivering a 15.6 percent and 6.8 percent growth in total assets and profit respectively in 2021 despite elevated Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) debits and compulsory Loan Deposit Ratio (LDR) levels.
According to him, “Consequently, the CBN rolled out stimulus packages to critical sectors with significant loan exposure, reduced interest rate on intervention facilities from 9.0 percent to 5.0 percent and granted banks the forbearance to restructure loan exposures.”
“It gives me a lot of delight today to celebrate another period of profitability in the history of the Branch. In the last four, five years, we’ve been struggling because of the effect and impact of the downturn in the economy, from the Covid-19 down to the serious impact it had on the economy.”
Presenting his treasurer’s report, the Honorary treasurer of the branch, Mr. Robert Nnai, announced that the CIBN Lagos State Branch found strength in the global new business normal.
“This arises from the post-COVID crisis to expand our training frontiers to all the nooks and crannies of this country and even outside our shores through the use of virtual technology, especially the zoom facility, to reach a wider audience.
“This development resulted in an approximately 490 percent net positive return on our educational activities, while our consultancy activities also yielded about 30 percent growth in revenue from the previous year’s figures.
“Our total income for 2021 grew by 128.22 percent, while expenditure recorded a growth of 53.14 percent. Expectedly, our branch returned to the path of profitability recording a surplus of approximately 162.02 percent in 2021 from the deficit position of the previous year,” he stated.
Economy
Investors Gain N183bn on NGX
The Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) continued its bullish trend on Wednesday, gaining N183 billion.
Accordingly, the market capitalisation, which opened at N59.532 trillion, gained N184 billion or 0.31 per cent to close at N59.715 trillion.
The All-Share Index also added 0.31 per cent or 303 points, to settle at 98,509.
68, against 98,206. 97 recorded on Tuesday.Consequently, the Year-To-Date (YTD) return increased to 31.
74 per cent.Gains in Aradel Holdings, Zenith Bank, United Bank For Africa(UBA), Oando Plc, Nigerian Breweries among other advanced equities drove the market performance up.
Market breadth closed positive with 34 gainers and 17 losers.
On the gainers’ chart, Africa Prudential, Conoil and RT Briscoe led by 10 per cent each to close at N14.30, N352 and N2.42 per share, respectively.
Golden Guinea Breweries followed by 9.95 per cent to close at N7.18, while NEM Insurance rose by 9.74 per cent to close at N10.70 per share.
On the other hand, Julius Berger led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent to close at N155.25, Secure Electronic Technology Plc trailed by 9.52 per cent to close at 57k per share.
Multiverse lost 7.63 per cent to close at N5.45, Haldane McCall dropped 6.07 per cent to close at N4.95 and Honeywell Flour shed 5.62 per cent to close at N4.70 per share.
Analysis of the market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 49.44 per cent.
A total of 320.10 million shares valued at N6.48 billion were exchanged in 7,943 deals, compared with 939.41 million shares valued at N12.81billion traded in 9,098 deals posted in the previous session.
Meanwhile, ETranzact led the activity chart in volume with 70.27 million shares, while Aradel led in value of deals worth N1.22 billion.(NAN)
Economy
Yuan Weakens to 7.1870 Against Dollar
The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the Yuan, weakened 22 pips to 7.1870 against the dollar on Monday.This is according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.In China’s spot foreign exchange market, the Yuan is allowed to rise or fall by two per cent from the central parity rate each trading day.
The central parity rate of the Yuan against the dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day. (Xinhua/NAN)Economy
Bring Kaduna Refinery Back into Operation, Youth Group Urges NNPCL
Arewa Youths Initiative for Energy Reforms (AYIFER), has urged Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) to do everything possible to bring Kaduna Refinery back into operation.
National Coordinator of the group, Mr Bashir Al’Amin, stated this in a statement issued on Friday in Abuja.
Al’Amin specifically called on the Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Mallam Mele Kyari, to do all within his powers to rejuvenate the refinery and bring it up to global standard.
He said that having delivered the Port Harcourt refinery, coupled with the establishment of Dangote Refinery in Lagos, attention should be shifted to Kaduna refinery for easy spread of petroleum products.
“We are calling on Malam Mele Kyari to expedite action on Kaduna refinery so we can be at par with other regions in the country.
“We equally beg the NNPCL to do professional work in rehabilitating the old refinery and deliver a standard and functional petrochemical refinery and not a blending plant.
“Kyari should resist any temptation that could make him do something that can jeopardise his good image,” he said.
Al’Amin said that since the extinction of groundnut pyramid and textiles in Kano State as well as PAN in Kaduna State and with the Kaduna refinery getting moribund, a lot of youths had lost their jobs.
According to him, all their hopes in the north are tied to the legacy refinery, expressing the hope that God would use Kyari to deliver it well and on time.
He said that the group was solidly behind NNPCL in prayer and would be ready to celebrate the company if its expectations were met. (NAN)