Author: Aishat Olalere

GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria Plc’s profit declined by 33.76 per cent to N510.80m in 2023 from N771.15m in the previous financial year. The unaudited condensed consolidated and separate financial statements of the company filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited on Tuesday showed that the firm, which had announced the winding up of its operations in the country, recorded a drop in its revenue to N16.44bn from N25.38bn in 2022. During the period under review, the cost of sales was N10.35bn, lower than the previous year, mitigating the impact of costs on the gross profit, which stood at N6.09bn. In August, GlaxoSmithKline…

TotalEnergies Marketing Nigeria Plc posted a better-than-expected result in the fourth quarter of 2023, exceeding its revenue and profit projections. The 2023 unaudited financial statement of the oil marketing firm, filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited on Monday, showed that it generated N213.38bn in the fourth quarter, compared to the N138.81bn revenue it projected in September. Though its profit before tax stood at N992.89m, lower than the forecasted N2.31bn, post-tax tax grew to N2.11bn instead of the N1.56bn anticipated for Q4 2023. A look at the entire year’s figures showed that Totalenergies Marketing revenue rose by 32 per cent to…

The Nigerian Railway Corporation earned N286.78m from cargo transported by rail in the third quarter of 2023, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. NBS in its latest rail transportation report stated that this represented an increase of 181.58 per cent from N101.84m generated in Q3 2022. The report stated, “In Q3 2023, N286.78m was collected from goods/cargo conveyed in Q3 2023, up by 181.58 per cent from N101.84m received in Q3 2022.” The volume of goods/cargos transported in Q3 2023 stood at 81,963 tonnes, compared to 33,312 tonnes recorded in the corresponding period of the prior year. The statistics…

Oyo State has bagged three awards at the recently concluded general meeting of the National Council on Communications and Digital Economy. The state was awarded the best in human capital development, best in e-government and second runner-up in digital technology infrastructure. The Senior Special Adviser to Governor Seyi Makinde on ICT, Adebayo Akande, who disclosed this in a statement, said it further solidified the state’s reputation as one of the pioneers in the country’s digital landscape. The 11th NCCDE meeting was hosted in Kano by Governor Abba Yusuf with the Minister of Communications and Innovation, Bosun Tijani, who chaired the…

THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has confirmed the conclusion of the verified backlog owed foreign airlines with an additional $64.44 million release. The CBN’s Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Hakama Sidi Ali, in a statement on Tuesday, January 30, affirmed that the CBN governor Olayemi Cardoso and his team were determined to tackle outstanding forex obligations across other sectors. The latest disbursement brings the total verified amount paid to airlines to $136.73 million. Ali added that the CBN aimed for a robust and liquid forex market, warning participants against manipulative activities that could harm the naira. She, therefore, called…

FCMB Group Plc, the parent company of First City Monument Bank, reported that there is over 637.99 per cent increase in fraud and forgery expenses in 2023, from N123.08 million in 2022 to N908.35 million for the financial year ended December 31, 2023. The bank disclosed this in its ‘unaudited annual report and financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2023’ released on Friday, January 26. A check by The ICIR showed that the figure represents the highest amount the bank incurred on fraud and forgery issues in the last five years. It also represents 65.23 per cent of the total N1.39 billion…

The naira plunged further at the official window on Tuesday, closing at an all-time-low of N1,482 against the United States dollar. The local unit had closed at N1,348 against the greenback on Monday after the FMDQ Security Exchange review the methodology used for the calculation of its rates. This came as the Central Bank of Nigeria released a circular to authorised dealers on financial market price transparency, warning them against engaging in sharp practices. The bank stated that its attention had been drawn to the practice of some dealers and their customers in reporting inaccurate and misleading information on transitions…

The impending exit of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger Republic may weaken the $277.22bn trade of the Economic Community of West African States with the world. In 2022, total trade volumes, including imports and exports, from the ECOWAS region totaled $277.22bn according to data from the region’s Trade Information System (ECOTIS) portal. The portal which relies on data from the International Trade Center has not been updated for 2023 hence our reliance on 2022’s data. The potential exit could impact the total imports and exports of the economic region, which is meant to form one of the pillars of the…

The International Monetary Fund, IMF yesterday downgraded its forecast for Nigeria’s 2024 economic growth to 3.0 per cent. This represents one percentage point below the growth forecast of 3.1 percent made in October 2023. The IMF however affirmed its 3.1 per cent forecast for Nigeria’s economy in 2025. The downgrade was announced by the IMF in its World Economic Outlook update January 2024 released yesterday. The IMF also downgraded its economic growth forecast for the Sub-Saharan Africa region in 2024 to 3.2 per cent from 3.4 earlier forecast in October last year. In contrast, the IMF upgraded its forecast for global…

A former Registrar of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Uju Ogubunka has said that the Microfinance Banks in Nigeria should be rated higher than they are based on the ‘Micro Finance Policy, Regulatory and Supervisory Framework for Nigeria’ issued by the CBN in 2005, stressing “that MFBs stand shoulder higher among all the other types of banks/other financial institutions to be given the opportunity to handle financial services/affairs of poor people especially, at the rural areas of the country.” Similarly, the President of the National Association of Nigerian Traders (NANTS), Dr. Ken Ukaoha, said the saga demonstrated…