A good year for global equity investors

2017 has been a fantastic year for equity investors globally. From advanced markets to frontier markets, equity benchmarks witnessed bull-run in the year. 

Year-to-date (YTD) return across markets under our coverage averaged 21.2 percent as at Dec-28. Ghana (+53.1 percent) and Nigeria (+41.4 percent) outperformed peers, driven by a rebound in oil prices and improved policy outcomes, while Hong-Kong’s Hang Seng Index (+35.8 percent) and US Nasdaq (+28.9 percent) trailed closely.
Despite increasing tension in the geopolitical space, bullish sentiment across the globe is traceable to a broad-based expansion in the global economy. 

According to the IMF, the global GDP is projected to expand 3.7 percent in 2017, 50bps faster than 3.2 percent in 2016. 

This has been supported by pickups in global investment, trade, industrial production, business and consumer confidence. As such, investors expect stronger global demand to bolster corporate earnings, profitability and dividend income.
More interestingly, a worldwide equities market bull-run can also be linked to the harmony observed in global growth. 

All 45 largest economies in the world tracked by the OECD are firing on all cylinders; they are all expected to either grow faster or moderate marginally, but none is projected to contract in 2017 and 2018, a sharp contrast to observed trend over the last 8 years.

(C) United Capital Plc

Read More

Nigeria's FX reserves up 45 pct yr-to-date, naira falls 0.34 pct on official window

Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves stood at $37.92 billion as of Dec. 22, up 45.34 percent year-to-date, while the local currency closed at 306.05 to the dollar at the official window, while closing at 360.33/$ on the investor forex window and at 364 to the dollar on the black market.

The naira opened at 305 to the dollar on the official market this year and at 490 to the dollar on the black market on January 4, 2017. The central bank introduced the investor window in April this year.

The gain at the black market was a result of the consistent intervention by the central bank on the bureau de change window, while dollar flow through the investor window has helped to ease pressure on the local currency.

At some point, before the central bank introduced the investor forex window, the naira depreciated to around 520 to the dollar on the black market. 

Equally, the nation's forex reserves were as low as $26.09 billion on the first working day of this year.

The forex reserves gained some ground this year due to recovery in global crude oil price, external borrowing by the government and the increased inflow from portfolio investors through the investor forex window.

The government raised $3 billion in Eurobonds in November.

Nigeria’s forex buffer has climbed nearly 50 percent since last December but is still far off a peak of $64 billion hit in August 2008.

Read More

Nigeria says working hard to resolve gasoline crisis

Nigeria vice president Yemi Osinbajo has said that the government is working hard to quickly resolve the fuel shortages being experienced in the country.

Osinbajo said this during an unexpected stopover at some fuel stations in Lagos State on Christmas Eve.
In a chat with Nigerians from all walks of life on Sunday evening during the stopover, the Vice President noted that the Federal Government was moving as quickly as it could to solve the fuel crisis and reduce the difficulties Nigerians were facing as a result.
He said, “We are trying to move as quickly as we can. Obviously, people have gone through a lot of pain and anguish in the past few days, and that is deeply regretted. We were trying to do what we can to move as quickly as possible and there is certainly enough products to be able to solve the problem.
“We will be able to solve the problem; the short period of scarcity is quite a bit of burden, but we know that so long as products are enough and the trucks coming out and feeding the stations, this will be over very soon. I am going around with the Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum Resources here in Lagos to ensure that first, the trucks are being loaded from all the depots, and also looking at the filling stations to see that things are moving on very well.
“The GMD of the NNPC is also working in Abuja to see that that thing are moving quickly and we are moving around the country. So we expect that it will be resolved very quickly.”
“It’s such a shame that Christmas has been, to some extent, with this sort of discomfort. This is deeply regretted, and l know that, despite the resilience and strength of people in Lagos and the Nigerian people, we would see ourselves through this and will enjoy our Christmas and have a great new year.”

Read More

How Jonathan’s officials, cousin shared 27bln proceeds of PHCN sale -EFCC

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has narrated how top government officials under the administration of former president Goodluck Jonathan shared 27 billion, part of the proceeds of the sale of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) in 2014.

According to the commission in a court paper filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja on December 5, 27.18 billion naira was allegedly looted by the named officials was said to be meant for the settlement of the insurance premiums for disengaged members of staff of PHCN.
Among the top government officials, named in the alleged scam, were the then Chief of Staff to the then President Goodluck Jonathan, Brig. Gen. Jones Arogbofa (retd.); the then Accountant General of the Federation, Mr. Jonah Otunla; and the then Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Power, Dr. Godknows Igali.
Others also named in the scam are a cousin to Jonathan, Robert Azibaola; a former Director-General, Bureau for Public Enterprises, Mr. Benjamin Dikki; and a former Minister of State for Power, Mohammed Wakil.
A supporting affidavit, filed alongside the EFCC’s ex parte application, stated how the money was shared.
The commission alleged that through proxies, Arogbofa got N150m; Dikki N1bn; Igali, N475m; Otunla N3.6bn; Jonathan’s cousin, Azibaola, N2.5bn; and Wakil, N118m.
The application alleged that of the total sum of N27,188,232,208, allegedly misappropriated by the government officials, the sums of N6,584,785, US$222,000, and N2,028,800,000 worth of shares of Aso Savings Limited had been recovered from the suspects.
The document, obtained by The PUNCH on Sunday, stated that the recovered money was being kept in the EFCC’s Recovered Funds Account domiciled at the Central Bank of Nigeria.
It added that apart from the monetary recovery, 12 houses as well as two pieces of land, located in Lagos, Ibadan and Abuja, and which were allegedly bought with proceeds of the loot, had also been recovered.
The seized properties include two units of four-bedroom detached duplex (Houses 12 & 14) at Alexander Miller Estate, Lekki-Lagos; one unit four-bedroom semi-detached terrace duplex (block C11, Unit 7) at Lekki Garden Estate Paradise 3, Lekki, Lagos; one unit of four-bedroom semi-detached(House 4b) at Olive Court, Agodi, GRA, Ibadan, Oyo State; and two units of three-bedroom flat with one room boys quarters at 6a & b Ogedengbe Street, Apapa, Lagos.
Others include one unit four-bedroom terrace duplex with one one-bedroom flat boys quarters (House 23, Flat 6) at Plot 100/101Gudu District, Isa Mohammed Street, Cadastral Zone, B01, FCT, Abuja; and one unit bedroom detached (House No. D1077) at House No. D1077 at Brains & Hammers Estate, Apo, Dutse, Abuja.
They also include one unit six-bedroom detached (House No.D1069) at house No.D1069 at Brains & Hammers Estate, Apo Dutse, Abuja; one unit three-bedroom flat (Flat 4A Hyde Tower) at 16a Akin Olugbade Street, Victoria Island, Lagos; a five-bedroom (detached) and three-bedroom bungalow both at Plot 145, Tarkwa Close, Wuse II, Abuja.
The rest are one unit plot of land, measuring 921.26 square meters at Plot 1086 Cadastral Zone, B10 Daki-Biyu, FCT, Abuja, and one unit plot of land, measuring 2486.12 square meters at Plot 2317 Nbora District, Cadastral Zone C06 FCT, Abuja.
The commission, by its ex parte application, is seeking orders of interim forfeiture to the Federal Government of Nigeria” of the sums of N6,584,785,000.00 and US$222,000.00 “recovered in the course of investigation and presently in the possession of the EFCC in its Recovered Funds Account domiciled at the CBN.”
It also seeks the interim forfeiture of “units of ASO savings shares worth the sum of N2,028,800,000.00 “recovered in the course of investigation”.
It said the share certificates were “in the possession of the EFCC.”
The application also seeks an “order of interim forfeiture to the Federal Government of Nigeria of the properties allegedly “recovered in the course of investigation from several persons and bodies and presently under the control of the EFCC (the applicant).”
The commission is also asking the court to direct the publication of a notice in any national daily newspaper “inviting any person(s) or body, who may have interest in the funds and /or assets/properties to show cause, within 14 days of the publication of the order of final forfeiture to the Federal Government of Nigeria, why the said funds and assets/properties forfeiture order should not be made.”
The commission, through a member of its Special Investigation Committee, Madaki Yakubu, who deposed to a supporting affidavit, explained that it received intelligence report concerning the looted N27bn in August 2016.
The investigating officer explained that the sum of N27bn, which was part of the proceeds of the sale of PHCN, was released upon a recommendation by the Bureau for Public Enterprises and presidential approval, for settlement of insurance premiums for disengaged staff of the company.
He said the money was released to Great Nigeria Insurance.
He said there were however hiccups that arose in the process of paying the money to GNI Plc, but instead of returning the money to the treasury, “some unscrupulous public officials conspired among themselves and misappropriated the funds.”
He added that investigation revealed “that the funds, less taxes, which amounted to the sum of N26,236,594,986, was fraudulently paid to BBIL for further sharing to the conspirators ostensibly to collate details of beneficiaries, verify their claims and effect payment of group life and group accident insurance claim.”
On how the alleged loot was shared, the document stated, “That in furtherance of the fraudulent scheme, BBIL in turn paid out the sum of N6bn from the said funds to PJO Ventures Limited, a company controlled by Cecilia Osipitan, who doubled as the Managing Director/CEO of GNI Plc.
“That further to paragraph 9 above, the remaining sum of N20bn was further shared by BBIL amongst individuals and corporate bodies who acted as proxies and nominees of top government functionaries while BBIL also retained a part of the proceeds of unlawful activity for itself.
“That investigation further revealed that the details of the beneficiaries of the fraudulent sharing and criminal misappropriation of the public funds are as follows:
“Sunrise Estate Development Limited, a company controlled by one Sami A. Jaoude, fraudulently received the sum of N150m out of the funds from the account of BBIL on behalf of Brig. Gen. Arogbofa (retd.), the Chief of Staff to the then President Goodluck Jonathan, for development of a personal property.
“Kebna Studios & Communication Limited, a company in which Mr. Benjamin Ezra Dikki, the then DG of BPE, has interest, fraudulently received the sum of N1bn out of the funds by the order of BIBL.
“Cheltenham Investment Services Limited, controlled by one Ifeyinwa Umunnakwe Okeke, fraudulently received the sum of N475m out of the funds from the account of BBIL, ostensibly to invest on behalf of Dr. Godknows Igali, the then Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Power.
“WESAC Farms Limited and five other companies, all linked to Otunla Jonah, then Accountant General of the Federation, fraudulently received the sum of N3.6bn out of the funds from BBIL and used the sum of N2.0288bn to purchase Aso Savings’ shares in the name of LAVAGRE Y Limited.
“Sentinel Investment & Property Limited fraudulently received the sum of N45m also from BBIL out of the misappropriated funds.
“KAKARTA CE Limited and its promoter, one Robert Azibaola, fraudulently received the sum of N2.5bn out of the funds from BBIL.
“Carozzeria Nig. Limited and Pikat Properties Limited, both controlled by the then Minister of State for Power, Mohammed Wakil, fraudulently received the respective sums of N118m and N30m from BBIL out of the misappropriated funds.
“Nathan Christopher Construction Limited received the sum of N475m from BBIL out of the misappropriated funds on the pretext of a loan.”
The commission stated that the funds” paid in favour of the respective beneficiaries thereof, represent proceeds of unlawful activity, to wit criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, criminal misappropriation and abuse of office by the public officers involved on one hand, and the unlawful act of obtaining by false pretences, receiving stolen property and money laundering by the companies involved and their promoters on the other hand.”
It added, “In the course of investigation, the public officials, representatives and management of some of the beneficiary companies surrendered the properties listed as items No. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 & 12 in the schedule to the Motion on Notice, and refunded various amounts of money in Naira and US Dollars (the total of each is stated on the Motion paper) to the Recovered Funds Account of the EFCC domiciled at the Central Bank of Nigeria.
“That further to paragraphs 12 & 13 above, in the course of our investigation, we discovered that the properties listed as items No. 1, 2, 3 & 4 in possession of PJO Ventures Limited, were substantially purchased with the proceed of unlawful activities of the company and its promoters as stated in paragraph 9 above.
“That further to paragraphs 11(d) & 12 above, the boards of Aso Savings Limited and Lavagrey Development Company Limited have respectively passed separate resolutions surrendering and forfeiting to the Federal Government of Nigeria the said shares purchased with the proceeds of unlawful activity.
“That further to the foregoing paragraphs, I know as a fact that the recovered funds are proceeds of the stated unlawful activities and/or unclaimed properties, and that it is desirable and in the interest of justice to grant our prayers.”

Read More

Nigeria stock index up 0.45 pct, driven by Dangote Cement, Seplat, Access Bank

Nigeria stock index closed higher on Friday, gaining 0.45 percent to close to 38,522.14 points, compared with the appreciation of 1.10 percent posted the previous day.

The market has risen 43.34 percent year-to-date, swelled by increased offshore interest in Nigeria's equity market. The market was also up 0.22 percent week-on-week.

Dangote Cement, which accounts for a third of the market capitalisation gained the most, followed by Access Bank, Seplat, Dangote Sugar and Transcorp.

The market capitalization appreciated 0.45 percent to close at 13.71 trillion, compared with the appreciation of 1.10 percent recorded the previous day to close at 13.65 trillion.

Transcorp, Fidelity Bank and FBN Holdings emerged the three most actively traded stocks, with investors bought and sold 83.71 million naira worth of Transcorp shares, 15.46 million in Fidelity Bank and 12.69 million in FBN Holdings.

 

Read More

Nigeria unemployment rate climbs, four in ten people in the workforce are unemployed or underemployed

Four out of every ten people in Nigeria's workforce were unemployed or underemployed by the end of September, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Friday.

Nigeria power climbed out of its first recession in a quarter of a century in the second quarter, but economic growth remains sluggish. That has lead to a drought of work opportunities, contributing to a cycle of poverty that drives Nigeria’s yawning wealth inequality as well as social unrest.
“A return to economic growth provides an impetus to employment,” Nigeria’s statistics bureau said in a report released on Friday.
“However, employment growth may lag, and unemployment rates worsen especially at the end of a recession and for many months after,” the stats office said, adding that it expects unemployment to peak in the fourth quarter of 2017.
By the end of September, Nigeria’s economically active or working population was 111.1 million people, said the NBS.
Unemployment has increased to 18.8 percent of that population from 16.2 percent at the end of June, it said.
The combined proportion of people unemployed or underemployed was 40 percent at the end of September, up from 37.2 percent by the end of June, said the NBS report.
Earlier this month, ratings agency Fitch cut its 2017 economic growth forecast for Nigeria to 1 percent from 1.5 percent.
The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, who campaigned on vows to fix Nigeria’s economy, has struggled to follow through with plans to reduce the country’s dependence on oil.
Much of Nigeria’s recovery since the second quarter has been driven by crude production, which accounts for roughly two-thirds of government revenues, despite the government’s assertions they are investing in infrastructure and key industries such as agriculture to drive employment and boost growth.

Read More

IMF says Nigeria is exiting recession but economy remains vulnerable

 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that even though Nigeria is exiting recession but its economy remains vulnerable.

The Fund vedict came after it conducted a review of the Africa’s largest economy.

“Overall growth is slowly picking up but recovery remains challenging,” the IMF said in a statement about the review.

IMF said macroeconomic and structural reforms remain urgent to contain any vulnerability, noting that "in the absence of new policies, the near-term outlook remains challenging.” 

The IMF made broadly similar statements earlier this year, a sign that little progress had been made.
Nigeria, Africa's top crude producer exited its first recession in a quarter of a century in the second quarter, but economic growth remains sluggish. That has contributed to a cycle of poverty that drives Nigeria’s yawning wealth inequality as well as social unrest.
The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, who campaigned on vows to fix Nigeria’s economy, has struggled to follow through with plans to reduce the country’s dependence on oil.
Much of Nigeria’s recovery since the second quarter has been driven by crude production, which accounts for roughly two-thirds of government revenues, despite the government’s assertions they are investing in infrastructure and key industries such as agriculture to drive employment and boost growth.
“Growth is expected to continue to pick up in 2018 to 2.1 percent, helped by the full year impact of greater availability of foreign exchange and higher oil production, but to stay relatively flat in the medium term,” said the IMF.
Low oil prices, security issues and a lack of policy all threaten the country’s economic recovery, the lender said.
The naira’s exchange rate, still controlled by the government and central bank, remains a bugbear after more than a year of efforts to convince the administration to liberalise the currency.
“Moving toward a unified and market-based exchange rate as soon as possible while continuing to strengthen external buffers would be necessary to increase confidence and reduce potential risks from capital flow reversals,” said the IMF.
Earlier on Friday, Nigeria’s stats office said that four in every ten members of the country’s workforce were unemployed or underemployed at the end of September.

Read More

Fasting can delay the signs of AGING, claims researcher

Fasting can delay aging, a researcher has claimed on the back of ‘promising’ trials into the controversial fad of restricting calories.
Dr Rozalyn Anderson, co-editor of a gerontology journal, claimed people are often unaware of the ‘amazing fact’ that wrinkles aren’t inevitable.
She pointed to a landmark study earlier this year which showed adults age 0.6 years slower if they eat 25 percent fewer calories each day.
This is the equivalent of a grown man sticking to 1,875 calories over a 24-hour period or 1,500 for a woman - if guidelines are taken into account.
The groundbreaking results were published in The Journals of Gerontology, Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, which Dr Anderson edits.
She said: 'Remarkably, caloric restriction (CR) has been shown to be effective in delaying aging in multiple species and the results in humans look equally promising.
'Indeed for many studies, CR is used as the gold-standard for enhanced longevity against which new drugs and anti-aging strategies are measured.'
Her comments were published in the journal's latest special issue, which focused heavily on restrictive diets that target the biology of aging.
The issue contains an array of studies, involving mice and humans, looking at the effects of fasting throughout the day.
Dr Anderson, who leads the Metabolism of Aging Research Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, praised the research.
She said: 'Ultimately what these studies show is that what you eat influences how you age, and it's not all bad news.'
'One of the things that people sometimes miss is the amazing fact that aging can be altered; caloric restriction research proves this.'
Scientists first stumbled across the longevity effect of reducing calories more than 80 years ago in studies on rodents.
Advances in technology have allowed scientists to make even further progress in confirming the links with the widely criticised diets.
Concerns have been raised in recent years that the diet can actually have the opposite effect - by slowing down metabolism.
And critics also believe restricting calories can lead to fatigue, nutrient deficiencies and even harm fertility in men and women.
But studies have repeatedly found the diet to lower the risk of killer diseases including cancer, heart disease and even diabetes.
A study published in May, called CALERIE, showed the most stark effects of a low calorie diet on lifespan.
Those on the controvesial diet saw their biological age increase by 0.11 years. In contrast, those eating normally aged by 0.71 years.
Dr Anderson was also behind promising research in January that revealed fasting in middle age can help people to live longer.
Restricting the food we put into our bodies appears to make them more able to fight off the illnesses that accompany old age, the study found.
'Cutting your calories delays ageing, probably because the body uses energy from food differently to become more resilient,' she said at the time.
'By targeting aging itself we could, instead of fighting cancer or cardiovascular disease individually, target the full spectrum of disease simultaneously.'
And previous research from the same university found rhesus monkeys given 20 per cent less food lived nine years beyond the average lifespan.

Read More

Nigeria wants probity in donor-funded agriculture projects

Nigeria has mapped out strategies to monitor projects funded by development and donor partners across the country in a bid to ensure accountability and transparency in the implementation of the projects.

The West African country's junior  minister of agriculture, Heineken Lokopobiri  said that one of the strategies will include the formation of Project Coordinating Unit (PCU) in the ministry
Lokpobiri said the planned monitoring of the projects was in line with the Nigerian government’s directive that all projects funded by development partners should be well coordinated and supervised for maximum documentation, accountability, transparency, and probity.
The minister expressed regret that reports on past projects funded by development partners showed duplication of efforts, inefficiency in the utilisation of resources and poor coordination.
He said that the duplications resulted in the non-optimal impact of the interventions on the country’s agriculture sector.
Lokpobiri stressed that the country could not afford to borrow from development and donor partners and fail to utilise the resources effectively.
He underscored the need for the ministry to prioritise its borrowing plans and engage in activities that would result in import substitution of the country’s agricultural products.
“Our aim is to redirect attention to agriculture in its entirety and empower our people in a productive and sustainable manner," the minister said through his representative.
“This entails treating agriculture as a business to create wealth and provide employment, so as to take us from being an import-dependent country to a self-sufficient nation, with a surplus for export to earn foreign exchange.’’
Some of the agricultural projects funded by donor partners include the West African Agricultural Productivity Project (WAAPP), the Rural Finance Institution Building Project (RUFIN) and the Commercial Agriculture Development Project (CADP).

Read More

Nigeria's equity investment themes: 2018 Outlook

Looking back at 2017, it truly was a pleasant year. Equity investment returns surprised positively and currently stands above 40 percent year-to-date. 

Corporate earnings are turning up and commodity prices are humming along quite nicely. Considering the forthcoming year, Investors want to know if 2018 is going to be as "sweet" as 2017.
Despite the recent gains realized, we think strong returns can be achieved in 2018, driven by two themes: First, we note that most of the gains realized in 2017 were driven by large caps. 

Nevertheless, we expect small caps to catch up as fundamentals solidify. Secondly, even though banks stole the show in 2017, we see little scope for significant outperformance in 2018, but rather, look favourably to the Consumer goods sector. 

With a benign inflation outlook and lower debt burdens, consumers and businesses appear energized. Therefore, we expected the consumer goods sector to be the immediate beneficiary of these fundamentals.
The biggest elephant in the room is oil. Given the over-dependence on oil, the Nigerian equity market is somewhat sticky to oil price movements. 

As long as prices remain stable and elevated, we don’t see any other bottleneck that can trigger a negative repricing.

(C) United Capital

Read More

Ghana Q3 GDP growth rises to 9.3 percent

Ghana’s gross domestic product growth rose to 9.3 percent in the third quarter, up from 9 percent in the previous three months because of increased oil production, the statistics office said on Wednesday.
The rise marks a potential turnaround for Ghana’s economy, which grew at around 8 percent for years before a global commodity price slump caused a sharp slowdown in 2014.
That and a fiscal crisis forced the government to sign a $918 million credit programme with the International Monetary Fund in 2015.
The major commodity exporter is seeking to cut spending, restructure debt and aims to narrow consumer inflation to 8 percent, plus or minus 2 percent, by the end of 2017 under the credit deal with the IMF.
Producer price inflation in Africa’s second largest gold producer fell to 7.1 percent in November from a revised 8.2 percent in October, because of a fall in the oil sector, the national statistics office said.
Inflation in the mining and quarrying sector, which includes gold production, rose 1.9 percentage points over the October rate of 12.5 percent, acting government statistician Baah Wadieh told a press conference in Accra.
Inflation in manufacturing fell by 2.0 percentage points to 7.3 percent. Utilities recorded an unchanged inflation rate of 0.5.

Read More

New PDP faction emerges, berates election of secondus

A new faction has emerged from Nigeria's main opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP), with threats to set up a parallel executive by January and open a new secretariat in Abuja.
The new faction is led by a group of five men, include Prince Obi Nwosu, Alhaji Hassan Adamu, Chief Olusola Akindele, Chief Godwin Duru and Franklyne Edede.
Already, the faction has open a new office located at Asokoro District of Abuja.
The Independent National Electoral Commission-recognized national headquarters of the party is located in Wuse, Zone 5, Abuja.
Only two flags of the party are taped to the building to indicate that it is a party office.
Nwosu, who is the leader of the five-man faction, said that members of the National Working Committee of his group would be announced in January next year.
The new PDP group said it is emerging due to the imposition of a unity list on members on December 9.

The group described the recently conducted elective convention of the party as a charade and condemned the imposition of candidates at the convention by some vested interest.

Read More

Shell, Eni to stand trial in Nigeria bribery case

Royal Dutch Shell and Eni have been ordered to stand trial over alleged corruption in Nigeria with the Italian major’s chief executive among those indicted.
A Milan judge ruled on Wednesday the two companies along with a series of present and past executives would have to face a trial which legal sources said is due to start on March 5.
The case involves the 2011 purchase by Eni and Shell of Nigeria’s OPL-245 offshore oilfield - one of Africa’s most valuable oil blocks - for about $1.3 billion.
Milan prosecutors allege bribes were paid to win the licence to explore the field which has never entered into production.
Besides the two companies, Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi and former Shell Foundation Chairman Malcolm Brinded were sent to trial along with 11 other people, the sources said.
Under Italian law, a company can be held responsible if it is deemed to have failed to prevent, or attempt to prevent, a crime by an employee that benefited the company.
Shell said it was disappointed by the outcome of the hearing but added it believed the judges would conclude there was no case against the group or its former employees.
“There is no place for bribery or corruption in our company,” it said.
State-controlled Eni reiterated the company and its CEO had done nothing wrong, adding the board fully backed Descalzi who at the time of the deal was head of the exploration and production (E&P).
Brinded, a former E&P director at Shell, said he had done nothing wrong, adding there was no basis for the charges.
The OPL-245 licence was initially awarded in 1998 by former Nigerian oil minister Dan Etete to Malabu Oil and Gas, a company in which he held shares. It was then sold to Eni and Shell.
Campaign group Global Witness and others say much of the $1.3 billion in payments for the block did not go to the state but instead went to Etete, convicted of money laundering in a 2007 French case related to his time in the Nigerian government.
Shell has previously said it was aware that some of the payments it made to Nigeria for rights to the oilfield would go to Malabu but said the transaction was fully legal.
The Italian inquiry is one of several under way into the acquisition of OPL-245, including cases in the Netherlands and Nigeria.

Read More

Benin Republic withdraws Globacom telecoms licence

Nigeria's neighbouring country, Benin Republic has withdrawn the operating licence of Globacom's local unit in a dispute over new terms,.

Benin’s telecommunications regulator in a document sighted on Tuesday said that it took the decision after negotiations with Glo Mobile Benin to renew its licence broke down earlier this month after the company refused new conditions imposed by the government.

The regulator, ARCEP-Benin, had imposed a new fee for telecommunication operators to renew their licence in the country, but negotiation with the Glo Mobile Benin broke down.
Officials with the parent company, which is owned by Nigerian billionaire Mike Adenuga, were not immediately available for comment.
The ARCEP document did not say what the government’s new conditions were, but a source close to the regulator, who asked not to be named, said they included an increase in the cost of the licence.
Glo Mobile Benin said it had over 1.6 million subscribers in 2015, according to the most recent statistics available on ARCEP’s website.
Globacom also operates mobile networks in Nigeria and Ghana.

Read More

Nigeria Cbank resumes liquidity tighten, sells 450 bln naira debt to tame inflation

Nigeria central bank resumed liquidity tighten on Monday after data showed inflation figure marginally slowed at 15.9 percent, an indication that the monetary authority is far from achieving price stability despite the substance of tight monetary stance.
The bank had suspended the issuance of fresh short-dated debt for the rest of the year after the Debt Management Office (DMO) retired around 340 billion naira in the matured paper last week.
The debt office also plans another repayment of maturing Treasury bill this week in furtherance of its proposal to refinance maturing debt with foreign loans.
Nigeria has issued $3 billion in EUROBOND this month as part of measures to finance part of this year's budget deficit and also refinance maturing short-dated treasury bills.
Primary market auction of treasury for the rest of the year was suspended, pushing up the level of liquidity in the money market and exerting pressure on the foreign exchange market.
Many foreign portfolio investors were seen closing their position in the local debt market and buying up dollar to exit the market, leading to the depreciation of the local currency on both the black market and investors forex window.
However, at the resumption of treasury bill auction on the Open Market Operations (OMO) by the central bank on Monday about 450 billion naira debt was sold.
The bank initially offered 200 billion naira of 101-day tenor treasury bills and 250 billion naira in 255-day tenor debt. However, there was overwhelming subscription by commercial lenders resulting in the bank allocating more bills to cover the excess subscription submitted by investors. 

The 101-day paper was sold at at 13.25 percent, while the 255-day paper was sold at 14.95 percent.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria consumer index for November showed inflation figures marginally slowed to 15.90 percent from 15.91 percent in the previous month.

Read More

What NOT to buy a woman as gift this season

* Bathroom scales (even if she begs you for them) - the answer as a man is to say ‘"Who cares what the scales say, YOU my love, are perfect in any shape!”’
• Plates or cutlery - are not pleasant to receive for the holidays! I was once given an entire kitchen crockery set and was a little offended as it makes a woman feel like an unpaid chef living in her own home.
• Firming face creams or lotions for wrinkly eyes/sagging jowls - we want to believe you don’t see our ‘laughter lines’ so NEVER suggest we try something to ‘up' our regime to help an issue.
• Anything you buy in your local pharmacy is OFF the list. This isn’t part of your regular online grocery order, so even if she mentioned she needed some deodorant or shaving cream, don’t you dare try to wrap it…. I don’t care if its useful, it is NOT a gift.
• Tooth whitener is particularly offensive - giving such a gift suggests your girlfriend has brown teeth… this isn’t going to win you any points.
• Any products we hide from you are a NO (think electric razors/defrizz/wax strips/hair remover) - you should pretend you don’t know we do this stuff.
• General household DIY items are just that ….HOUSEHOLD GENERAL items and do not have a place in a Xmas stocking. Even if you remember your other half telling you ‘an electric drill would be handy to have around’ that was NOT a hint…. it was a passing comment.
• Sexy/themed/scratchy underwear. Whilst elegant underwear is great to receive, it is another thing to receive a scratchy sailor girl/nurse themed underwear that we would never actually wear. If you are going for the latter then its a gift for you…. not her… so wrap it up for yourself.
• Sex toys are a fun item but do not constitute a proper gift. Firstly be mindful of her opening such a gift in front of others (you don’t want to give the in-laws a heart attack) - but secondly, Christmas isn’t the time to give an indirect hint about you wanting a particular type of action in the bedroom. Watch a movie in your guy time.
• Stuffed toys are just a no. NO NO NO, unless you are a teenage boy buying it.
• Exercise videos, weights and weight loss equipment should be avoided. That is not a subtle hint at all.

Read More

How to choose the right gift for your woman this season

No matter how hard men try, when it comes to buying holiday presents for the ladies in their life, they often get it wrong.
To take the guesswork and stress out of the process, FEMAIL gets real and rounds up what women really want. 
Plus, we chat with Tina Wilson, Founder of Wingman – a dating app in which the user plays cupid for their single friend – about the presents you should absolutely avoid.
Diamonds are a girl's best friend, right? Yes! She's sure to sparkle in one of these stunners by celeb-beloved jeweler Le Vian. The brand's sleek, sexy and ultra-feminine designs feature rare, high quality, natural gems, and diamonds. Their newest bolo bracelets are adjustable and will make a woman of any age very happy.
Some women go weak in the knees for a designer handbag. Why the obsession? Handbags have a way of elevating everything around them. A pair of sweatpants can look ever so stylish when accessorized with a high-end carryall like this one by Saint Laurent. Has she gained weight? Lost weight? Don't know her size? No problem! A bag will always fit.
If a designer handbag isn't in your holiday budget, a sleek leather wallet is a good second choice. This half moon style by cult-favorite Mansur Gavriel just launched this season. The new assortment of small leather goods includes 4 styles and 11 colors in calf and vegetable Leather. Styles range from $195-$395.
While she probably wouldn't splurge on a designer sweatsuit that costs more than a used car, you can bet she would wear it more than anything else in her closet. Comfort is important to a mom on the go, but so is looking good. From morning school drop-offs to weekend soccer games, she'll feel like a million in this Gucci coordinated set.
Surprise her with a trip for two with this sleek set of luggage by Calpak. It's zippered divider creates two separate packing compartments, and an expansion sleeve allows for more room. Multidirectional wheels and an integrated TSA lock will make airport navigation effortless and it's rose gold tone will have her looking fab on the runway.
Despite the exorbitant price, Christian Louboutin heels are the world's most coveted shoes. 'Red bottoms' have become a symbol of success, luxury and sex appeal and after unwrapping your gal won't be able to wipe the smile off of her face. Opt for a classic silhouette that she'll have forever. Trust us, they're instant mood-boosters!

Read More

Nigerian economic growth, not yet cheering news

The recent announcement of 1.4 percent growth in the Nigerian economy by the National Bureau of Statistics was received in the government circles as a major leap in their efforts to rebuild the broken down Africa’s top economy. 

As soon as the announcement was made, top government officials went into a frenzy to beat their chests for a work well done. While many people also considered the improvement in the economy in the third quarter of the year as good news in view of the fact that up until the second quarter, the economy merely exited recession with 0.72 percent GDP growth. However, the truth is that the growth was not as significant as being celebrated in the sense that the recovery in the global oil price was the main driver of the growth. 

An analysis of the NBS reports showed that the 1.40 percent acceleration in the country’s GDP was better than the previous quarter’s figure and exceeded the 0.8 percent projection by the International Monetary Fund, the downside, however, remains the dominant role of the oil sector in the growth. However, a closer scrutiny of the GDP report showed that the non-oil sector contracted by -0.8 percent in the third quarter compared with 0.5 percent growth in the previous quarter while the oil sector grew by 25.9 percent against 3.5 percent in the second quarter of the year. 

The GDP data therefore reflected the general perception that the country’s continuous dependence on oil is rather not cheering news because of its vulnerability to any shock in the global price of the commodity. It means that the oil sector is still critical for Nigeria sustaining positive growth in the economy at least in the near term. Global oil price is currently at around $56-$60/barrel, higher than the $44/and $45/barrel benchmark in this year’s and the estimates for 2018 budget. If the oil price remains at the present level, it will sure provide the much needed headroom to stabilise the economy and further push it up in the coming months, but again it reminds one of where we were coming from. It is therefore fair to predict that if there is another unpleasant development in the international oil market today, it is certain that the Nigerian economy may spin back into the negative territory and wipe off some of the gains recorded by the economy in recent times. The lacklustre performance of the non-oil sector to the economic growth is an indictment of the overrated efforts by the government to diversify the economy. 

Although it will be unfair not to acknowledge some of the little gains so far recorded by the government in the field of agriculture with the increased production of rice due to support for farmers; the fact remains that the government is not moving as fast as it should to rescue the nation from economic hardship caused by years of neglect and bad policy and governance. At 1.4 percent GDP growth rate, the economy is not growing as fast as our population rate, which is growing at 2.6 percent annually. The point here is that the government needs to grow the economy higher than the population rate for the people to feel the impact. Some experts are of the view that much of the slow growth in the non-oil sector is as a result of a regime of high interest rate which has stifled production output growth. Cost of funds is considered very high and discouraging to local capacity in the productive sector, making importations of finished goods still very attractive. The high interest rate regime has also continued to hurt growth in the non-oil sector and when combined with the weak currency, local capacity remains under threat. Many hitherto local manufacturers have since discovered that it is more profitable to import the finished products in the guise of raw materials and merely assemble them here. For the crooked ones among them, they simply obtain the foreign exchange at the official rate and round-trip back to make a kill at the black market. The resultant effect is the uninspiring performance of the critical sector of the economy. 

The implication of the weak performance of the critical sector is the impact it has created with resultant effect of unemployment and poor standard of living in the country today. Without significant growth in the local capacity to produce essential items, the mining, service and agriculture sectors, Nigerians will continue to groan under the yoke of economic hardship. 

The non-oil sector is critical to employment generations and government’s efforts to stimulate growth and with its attendant spiral impact on the standard of living in the economy. It is also right to commend government’s efforts at maintaining peace in the Niger Delta region, which has helped the country to benefit from the price recovery in the international oil sector. 

The recovery in the global oil price has helped the government to stabilise the currency crisis that pushed the economy into recession for five consecutive quarters, while the dollar flow from government external borrowing coupled with improvement in offshore portfolio investment flow has equally helped boost the country’s external reserves to about $35 billion. The government’s optimism that the country’s economy will continue to grow further in the fourth quarter of the year on the back of increased global oil price and crude production output put at 1.9 mbpd was encouraging news to the ear. Financial insiders said as long as the economy was exposed to oil shock, it would be difficult to put it on the path of sustainable growth. Many therefore believe that one of the ways to grow the economy is by improving efforts to expand the tax net in order to boost government revenue and increase spending on critical sector necessary to stimulate the economy. 

Government should also enact policies that will improve local manufacturing capacity and provide more support for the agro-allied sector to boost self-sufficiency and food security and also encourage export of more commodities outside of crude oil to increase foreign exchange inflows. Many people are of the view that government should expand the scope of its reform in the agro-allied sector to incorporate mandatory local processing of some of the commodities before they are shipped out so as to help boost foreign exchange earnings from the non-oil sector. 

The fact that we still export crops like cocoa, cashew nuts and other agricultural commodities in their raw forms should be discouraged and government should put in place necessary policies to promote value added to our farm produce to enhance the commodity value in the international market. Essential to fast-tracking economic growth requires that government should kick-start genuine support for the private sector initiative in the development of the critical infrastructure such as road, power generation and the opening up of the rural areas to promote sustainable growth and bring relief to millions of Nigerians who are groaning under the yoke of economic hardship. No economy can survive with a mono-economy and as such the government should roll out policies to promote more direct foreign investment in the critical areas rather than use the high interest rate regime to attract portfolio investors who will fly away at the least signs of unfavourable development in the global economy. 

Capital flows to where it is needed and can give bountiful returns and therefore, the government should continue to work on its efforts to improve on the ease of doing business initiative so as to encourage long-term capital flow into the economy. The central bank should commence as soon as practicable a gradual easing of its tight monetary stance to free more funds to private sector operators to improve on their production capacity. An alignment of the exchange rate policy to eliminate multiple rates should be an urgent step to curb arbitraging and excessive rent on the economy by the elites and the privileged few. 

The government should continue its engagement with the Niger Delta critical stakeholders to nip in the bud any crisis in the region to be able to sustain production output at a level sufficient to increase foreign exchange earnings from oil export. Also, a prudent deployment of the increased earnings from crude oil exports to support efforts to diversify the economy will go a long way to improving economic growth. 

Read More