capital market
Dangote Cement announces appointment of Halima Aliko-Dangote as Non-Executive Director
Dangote Cement Plc has announced the appointment of Ms. Halima Aliko-Dangote as a Non-Executive Director of the company.
The announcement was made via a disclosure signed by the company’s Secretary, Edward Imoedemhe and filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited.
Ms. Aliko-Dangote’s appointment is to take effect from February 26, 2022.
Ms. Halima Aliko-Dangote is the Group Executive Director (GED), Commercial Operations of Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), one of the largest and most diversified business conglomerates in Africa encompassing manufacturing, Cement, Sugar, Salt, Poly-products as well as Logistics, Oil & Gas and Real Estate.
The combined market capitalisation of DIL subsidiaries is over $25 billion.
As the GED of DIL, Halima is responsible for leading the development and implementation of Dangote Group’s customer strategy to drive customer growth, improve customer relations, enhance the customer experience and increase long term customer value.
She is also responsible for the implementation of the Group’s shared services strategy with specific oversight for the following functions: Commercial, Strategic procurement, Branding & Communications and Corporate Services.
In her previous role, Ms. Dangote served as Executive Director of Dangote Flour Mills, where she led the successful turnaround and recent sale of the business at a higher than Market price.
Prior to then, she also served as Executive Director of NASCON Allied Industries Plc, a manufacturer of salt, seasonings and related consumer products. She continues to serve as a Non-Executive Director of NASCON.
Ms. Dangote is the President of the Board of The Africa Center (TAC) in New York, a uniquely focused centre, providing a forward-looking gateway for engagement with Africa via policy developments, business and culture. She is a Board member of Endeavour Nigeria and is a member of the Women Corporate Directors (WCD).
Ms. Dangote has over 13 years of professional experience and has held several Executive Management roles.
The naira ended a three-day depreciation trend at the parallel section of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Friday.
The local currency appreciated by 0.98 percent to N1,525 on July 5 from the N1,535 per dollar traded on July 4.
Currency traders, known as bureau de change (BDC) operators, quoted the buying rate of the naira as N1,500 and the selling rate at N1,525 leaving a N25 profit margin.
At the official window, the naira also reversed a three-day depreciation streak.
According to FMDQ Exchange, a platform that oversees official FX trading in Nigeria, the local currency exchanged for N1,509 per dollar on July 5, a 0.7 percent rise from N1,520 traded the previous day.
The local currency traded at a high of N1,535 and a low of N1,450.
Consequently, the exchange rate at both sections of the market consecutively depreciated from July 1 to July 4 before an appreciation occurred on July 5.
On July 2, the local currency declined at the street market to N1,515/$ from the N1,510 traded the previous day.
Between July 3 and 4, the naira further dropped to N1,520 and N1,535, respectively.
Data from the FMDQ Exchange showed that the naira depreciated to N1,509, N1,512, and N1,520 from July 2 to 4, respectively.
On June 14, 2023, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced the unification of all segments of the FX market.
The move significantly devalued the naira, provoking fluctuations in the FX market that continue to affect key sectors of the economy.
The FX situation, according to Timi Bomodi, comptroller of Seme command, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), on June 9, has made Nigerian goods affordable for other African countries.
However, on May 29, Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mojisola Adeyeye said the devaluation of the naira accounted largely for the high cost of local medicine production.
But Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, on June 25, said he believes the excessive volatility may be a thing of the past.
Nigeria is set to tap into its cryptocurrency market, which is valued at $56.7 billion, by implementing a 7.5 percent value-added tax (VAT) on crypto transactions.
Starting on July 8, 2024, KuCoin, a crypto platform, will begin charging the 7.5 percent VAT on transaction fees.
This is aimed to align with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS)’s requirement and avoid any potential conflict with the tax agency, with Binance’s case still fresh in the minds of many players.
Nigeria has one of the largest peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto markets globally.
According to Chainalysis, a global blockchain platform, crypto transactions in the country reached $56.7 billion between July 2022 and June 2023.
The Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Emomotimi Agama, recently highlighted that a significant portion of the population is involved in cryptocurrency trading and transactions.
He said, “Reports indicate that Nigeria’s crypto transaction volume reached $56.7 billion between July 2022 and June 2023, representing a nine percent year-over-year growth.”
In an email to customers on Wednesday, KuCoin said, “We are writing to inform you of an important regulatory update that impacts our users from the Republic of Nigeria.
“Starting from July 8th, 2024, we will begin collecting a Value-Added Tax (VAT) at a rate of 7.5 percent on transaction fees in each trade for users whose KYC information is registered in Nigeria.”
The platform noted that VAT will apply to transaction fees, not the transaction amount, and covers all transaction types on the KuCoin platform. It illustrated, “Transaction: Buy 1,000 USDT worth of BTC. Fee: 1 USDT (0.1 percent fee rate). Tax: 0.075 USDT (7.5 percent of the fee). Net Amount for Transaction: 998.925 USDT.”
Nigeria initially planned to tax crypto through the Finance Act of 2022, which imposed a 10 percent tax on profits from digital assets, including cryptocurrencies.
“Subject to any exceptions provided by this Act, all forms of property shall be assets for this Act, whether situated in Nigeria or not, including options, debts, digital assets, and incorporeal property generally.”
However, this part of the Act was never enforced.
Experts suggest KuCoin’s move could be part of efforts to obtain licensing in Nigeria. “What KuCoin is doing is probably part of the licensing conditions.
“They cannot collect tax from an unlicensed entity. Every other exchange will see this and need to follow suit,” founder and coordinator of Blockchain Nigeria User Group, Chimezie Chuta said.
“KuCoin was doing P2P before, but they had to stop. Now that they have given this requirement, it means they have spoken with the government, and this is part of their compliance requirement.”
Earlier in 2024, Nigeria clamped down on crypto transactions despite a December 2023 Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) guideline meant to govern the digital asset space.
Using Binance as a scapegoat, the country’s crackdown included asking telecommunication firms to restrict access to platforms and asking operators to delist naira transactions from their platforms.
The country blamed these platforms for encouraging the manipulation of the naira to dollar rates and aiding illicit flows.
…As investors lose N20.75bn as equities market crumble in one week
The Nigerian equities market closed the week on a negative note as investors lost N23 billion at the close of trading on Friday.
This followed the dip in the share prices of stocks like Updcredit, Julius Berger, and Ikeja Hotel, amongst others on the trading floor today.
After five hours of trading at the capital market, the equity capitalisation crashed to N56.5 trillion from N56.6 trillion posted by the bourse on Thursday.
The All-Share Index (ASI) increased to 100,022.03 from 100,065.68 recorded the previous day.
The market breadth was positive as 31 stocks advanced and 26 declined, while 63 others remained unchanged in 8,551 deals.
Conoil, Oando, and Veritaskap led other gainers with 10 percent, 9.68 percent, and 9.52 percent growth in share price each to close at N126.50, N17.00, and N1.15 from the previous N115.00, N15.50, and N1.05 per share.
On the flip side, Updcredit, Julius Berger, and Ikeja hotel led other price decliners as they shed 10 percent, 9.59 percent, and 9.15 percent each to close at N4.50, N88.60, and N6.95 from the initial of N5.00, N98.00, and N7.65 per share.
On the volume index, Oando led trading with 53 million shares valued at N901 million in 755 deals followed by AIICO which traded 30 million shares valued at N34 million in 164 deals.
Veritaskap traded 26 million shares valued at N30 million in 154 deals.
On the value index, Transpower recorded the highest value for the day trading stocks worth N1.01 billion in 91 deals followed by Oando which traded equities worth N901 million in 755 deals.
Meanwhile, It was a week to forget for investors in the Nigerian equities market following a cumulative loss of N2.75bn in the just ended trading week.
The bourse recorded losses in three of the five trading days making profits on two trading days.
The market capitalisation fell to N56.58 trillion from N56.60trn the previous week same as the All-Share Index (ASI) which recorded a -0.04 percent decline to close at 100,022.03 points, down from 100,057.49 points recorded the previous week.
The equities market started the week on a losing note as investors recorded a loss of N20bn at the end of trading session on Monday, July 1, 2024.
The trend was reversed on Tuesday as investors made a profit of N25bn at the end of trading session on Tuesday, July 2, 2024.
The positive trend continued on Wednesday, July 3, 2024 as investors recorded a profit of N131bn.
Morgan Capital Securities Limited traded 352m volume of shares valued at N2.300bn.
The NGX Consumer Goods Index dragged the bourse down by 0.69 percent while the banking index pushed up the bourse by 3.87 percent.
Conoil recorded the biggest share price increase from N105 at the beginning of the week to N126.50 gaining N21.50 followed by Guinness which increased its share price from N67.00 to N70.00 gaining N3.00 in the process.
GTCO also increased its share price by N2.35 from N45.00 to N47.35.
On the flip side, Julius Berger recorded the biggest decline in share prices losing N9.40 to close the week at N88.60 from the N98.00 it started the week on followed by Dangote Sugar which shed N2.50 and ended the week on N40.50 from N43.00 at the start of the week.
MRS also shed N2.35 to close at N132.65 from N135.00 at the beginning of the week
Thursday and Friday were not so good for investors as they recorded losses of N133bn and N23bn respectively.
In terms of volumes of transactions made, Cardinalstone securities limited led the way with 774m worth of stocks traded valued at N11bn followed by FBN Quest Securities Limited which traded a total of 726m equities valued at N7.909bn.
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