capital market

Proliferation of illegal operators a major concern — SEC

Published

1 year ago

January 5, 2023

NewsDirect

By Philemon Adedeji

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has stated that the persisted proliferation of operators running illegal investment schemes in the country continues to be a major critical concern to the capital market.

Director General of the SEC, Mr. Lamido Yuguda who stated this in a New Year Message in Abuja, therefore assured of a renewed onslaught against promoters of such schemes.

Yuguda said that last year alone, the Commission sealed off the offices of four (4) such illegal operators that had defrauded innocent citizens of billions of Naira and assured that the Commission will continue its enforcement actions to ensure that such illegal entities are not allowed to operate.

According to him, “The SEC has been fighting a serious war against Ponzi schemes, we have been alerting people. We have said that investors should only deal with registered operators that have the registration of the Commission, we have their list on the SEC website and we have always said that if you go to an operator or when an operator approaches you, you must confirm that he is a licensed operator with the SEC.

“We have our numbers on how to reach our offices in the zones and we have done a lot of sensitizations in terms of seminars, webinars all in an effort to discourage people from going to Ponzi schemes.

“Unfortunately, a lot of people continue to patronize this Ponzi schemes, we have had cases that have been reported to us, our enforcement department and the police unit has been on many of these cases trying to resolve the cases that have been reported to us.

“The Commission has also continued to employ its compliance tool to ensure that only fit and proper capital market operators practice in the market. This has resulted to an improved level of compliance with filing of prudential returns rising to 96 per cent in 2022 compared with 81 per cent in 2021.”

The DG expressed confidence that as the results of the various initiatives the Commission is implementing begin to gradually manifest in 2023, the Commission and indeed the Capital Market will witness uncommon development in securities issuance businesses especially as it affects digital assets, commodities trading ecosystem, custodianship of assets, and Fintech among others.

“With the implementation of the Revised Capital Market Master Plan, the Market will also witness renewed confidence expected to attract fresh investments from domestic and foreign investors.

“Although 2023 is an election year and market activities may typically slow down before and during the general elections, we are hopeful that the improved awareness and positive electioneering campaigns will lead to peaceful elections and a quick return to the pre-election levels of investment activities.”

On some of the achievements of the Commission in the last year, Yuguda disclosed that on Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT), in order to comply with the requirements of both the GIABA Mutual Evaluation Report(MER) Follow-Up Process and the FATF International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG) requirements to avoid Nigeria being placed on the FATF public grey list at the Plenary after the deadline in October, 2022, the Commission approved the Rules and Regulations of the Virtual Asset Service providers b. Amendments of the sector specific regulations to repeal the 2013 SEC AML/CFT Regulations and enactment of the 2022 AML/CFT Regulations.

On Fintech, the DG stated that the Commission will pursue various initiatives, including sensitisation programmes on Crowdfunding adding that to further strengthen and encourage developments in the Fintech space, the Commission resuscitated the Regulatory Incubation program during the year.

Giving an update on the Investments and Securities Bill (ISB) review, the SEC DG said the Commission presented the ISB to the National Assembly for its legislative consideration and a public hearing was successfully organised on September 20, 2022. The Bill has successfully gone through the 3rd reading at the House of Representatives in December, 2022, and will be presented to the Senate on resumption in January 2023 for its concurrence.

“We are hopeful that the Bill will be passed into law before the end of the 9th National Assembly. With less than six months to the end of the 9th National Assembly come June, 2023, we believe that the Investments and Securities Bill (ISB) will be passed in the coming months.

“The ISB, if passed into law, will align the enabling Act with the realities and trends in capital market regulation and practice in Nigeria and abroad,” he stated.

Yuguda assured that the Commission will continue to provide extra support to the registered commodities trading platforms to complement government’s renewed diversification efforts in agriculture. Engagement with the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) will continue in order to expedite action on the review, approval and publication of commodities standards.

capital market

Bearish trend halted as investors gain N70.87bn

Published

12 hours ago

April 23, 2024

NewsDirect

Investors in the Nigerian equities heaved a sigh of relief as the losing streak on the bourse was halted on Monday, April 22, 2024 as investors recorded a profit of N70bn at the end of trading.

This followed the boom in the share value of stocks like Japaul Gold, GTCO, FTN Cocoa, Universal Insurance Company and RT Briscoe amongst others on the trading floor today.

After five hours of trading at the capital market, the equity capitalization increased to N56.367 trillion from N56.296 trillion posted by the bourse on Friday, last week.

Similarly, the All-Share Index (ASI) grew to 99,665.05 from 99,539.75 achieved by the bourse the previous day.

The market breadth was negative 16 stocks advanced, 18 stocks declined, while 85 stocks remained unchanged in 8, 298 deals.

Japaul Gold and Ventures Plc led other gainers with 9.58 percent growth to close at N1.83 from its previous price of N1.67, Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), FTN Cocoa Processors, and Universal Insurance Plc are amongst other gainers that also grew their share prices by 9.55 percent, 8.76 percent, and 8.57 percent respectively.

On the flip side, The Initiate Plc led other price decliners as it shed 10% off its share price to close at N1.80 from its previous close of N2.00. Prestige Assurance, Omatek Ventures, and VitaFoam Nigeria Plc are amongst other losers that also shed their share prices by 9.84 percent, 9.52 percent, and 9.26 percent respectively.

On the volume index, Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) Plc traded 50.158 million units of its shares in 630 deals, valued at N1.1774 billion followed by Access Holdings Plc which traded 48.067 million units of its shares in 951 deals, valued at N815.925 million and United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc which traded 41.746 million units of its shares in 776 deals, valued at N956.455 million.

On the value index, GTCO recorded the highest value for the day trading stocks worth N1.773bn in 630 deals followed by UBA which traded equities worth N956bn in 776 deals and ACCESSCORP which traded equities worth N815m in 951 deals.

capital market

Transcorp Power Plc grows PBT by 775% in Q1 2024

Published

1 day ago

April 22, 2024

NewsDirect

Transcorp Power Plc (Transcorp Power), one of the electricity generating subsidiaries of Nigeria’s leading, listed conglomerate, Transnational Corporation Plc (Transcorp Group), has demonstrated impressive financial performance in its released Q1 2024 unaudited financial statements, for the period ended March 31, 2024.

The Company recorded N67.86 billion in gross earnings, compared to N21.04 billion reported in Q1 2023, reflecting a significant increase of 223 percent.

The strong performance is further demonstration of the Company’s strategic focus and effective execution, as part of Transcorp Group’s implementation of its integrated power strategy.

Commenting on the financial highlights, Evans Okpogoro, the Chief Financial Officer said, “The Q1 2024 results saw a gross margin of 51 percent, a cost to income ratio of 70 percent and net profit margin of 30 percent compared to Q1 2023 gross margin of 37 percent, cost to income ratio of 87 percent and net profit margin of 13 percent.

“This highlights the remarkable operational efficiency gains of the Company. Transcorp Power has continued to grow its revenue aggressively and consistently over the last five years. We expect that by year end 2024, we will see a similar growth trajectory recorded between FY 2022 and FY 2023.”

Transcorp Power MD/CEO, Peter Ikenga, commented on the results, saying, “We are pleased to report further robust financial performance, despite sectoral challenges such as gas supply issues and macroeconomic challenges. Our ability to sustain growth amidst this environment shows the resilience of our business model and the efficient execution of our strategic initiatives.

“We remain committed to leveraging our strengths to capitalise on emerging opportunities, drive sustainable growth and provide superior value to all our stakeholders.

“We will continue to prioritise ingenuity, operational excellence, corporate governance, and stakeholder engagement, to deliver superior value for our long-term growth,” he added.

capital market

Investors end week’s trading with N173bn loss

Published

1 day ago

April 22, 2024

NewsDirect

Investors in the Nigerian equities market ended the week’s trading with a N173 billion loss on Friday.

This followed the slump in the share value of Unity Bank, FBNH, Tantalizer, and Deap Capital Management & Trust, amongst others on the trading floor today.

After five hours of trading at the capital market, the equity capitalisation crashed to N56.2 trillion from N56.4 trillion posted by the bourse on Thursday.

Similarly, the All-Share Index (ASI) fell to 99,539.75 from 99,845.91 achieved by the bourse the previous day.

The market breadth was negative as 14 stocks advanced, 19 declined while 87 others remained unchanged in 7,168 deals.

FTN Cocoa Processors led other gainers with 9.60 percent growth in share price to close at N1.37 from its previous N1.25 per share.

R.T. Briscoe, Livestock Feeds, and Royal Exchange also raised their share prices by 9.26 percent, 9.02 percent, and 8.06 percent respectively.

On the flip side, Unity Bank led other price decliners as it shed 10 percent off its share price to close at N1.62 from the previous N1.80 per share.

Tantalizers, Deap Capital, and Caverton Offshore equally shed their share prices by 8.57 percent, 7.35 percent, and 6.83 percent respectively.

On the volume index, United Bank for Africa (UBA) traded 38.715 million shares valued at N880.5 million in 687 deals followed by Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) which traded 38.296 million shares worth N1.31 billion in 629 deals.

Access Holdings traded 34.339 million shares valued at N584.5 million in 660 deals.

On the value index, banking stocks led the way again as GTCO recorded the highest value for the day, trading stocks worth N1.31 billion in 629 deals followed by UBA which traded stocks worth N880 million in 687 deals.

Zenith Bank traded equities worth N875 million in 622 deals.