Category: Business

Sterling Bank Plc has said its dealings being a lead bank in an N8 billion syndicated loan-financing transaction between it and Grant Properties Limited, a property development company, owned by one Chief Olajide Awosedo, which spanned over a decade solely with depositors funds was transparent. The bank’s rebuttal followed a report by an online news medium where Grant Properties accused the lender of withholding and selling 10-hectares from its 50-hectare land used as collateral to Mr. Yemi Idowu, its one-time non-executive director. Refuting the allegations, Sterling Bank said it was…

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Pan-African financial institution, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, has continued to make waves and positive impact in the local and global financial industry earning more laurels and accolades. Last week, UBA carted away two key industry awards emerging the Winner of the 2017 Sectoral Leadership Awards – Financial Services (Banking) organised by the PEARL Awards; as well as the Bank CEO of the Year 2017 which was organised by New Telegraph newspapers. UBA triumphed over Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (first runner-up) and Zenith Bank Plc (second-run) to win the…

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Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, the Minister of Finance, has accused some importers and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) of planning to blackmail the ministry over import duty waivers.This was contained in a statement yesterday by the Director of Information, Salisu Na’inna Dambatta. Dambatta said the “spurious” plot to malign the minister is based on her alleged refusal to grant import duty waivers in respect of drugs, health commodities and related equipment donated by the Global Fund. He explained: “There are laid-down statutory procedures governing the granting of import duty waivers to importers and NGOs,…

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Dangote Cement would on Thursday in Congo inaugurates its 1.5 million metric tonnes per annum capacity Cement Plant valued at $500m. This was disclosed in a statement to newsmen on Monday in Lagos. The plant, described as the largest in Congo, rolled out its first bag of cement on August 7 and is expected to create about 1000 direct and indirect jobs. According to the statement, the Congo Plant commissioning will make 10 fully operational Dangote Cement Plants across Africa. It said that Dangote Cement maintained its stronghold in the…

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Again this year, I attended the GTBank Fashion Weekend. It was a place to be and be seen in Lagos, especially as Nigeria has a dearth of places you can go to with your family to have a relaxing time. It was also open to all people across the socio-economic spectrum, which was good. My observation is that many banks do not open their events to all of their customers, which I believe should be addressed. I was impressed by what I saw and experienced in terms of the high…

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Fidelity Bank Plc is set to reward loyal customers at the 2017 Lagos International Trade Fair holding at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), Lagos. As part of the financial institution’s ongoing loyalty scheme for its teeming retail customers, 10 lucky beneficiaries – 5 FPSS account holders and 5 SWEETA account holders – will be presented with cheques of N500, 000 extra income and N150, 000 school fees support respectively. The amount totaling N3, 250, 000, according to a statement from the lender, will be given out on the Fidelity Special…

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First Bank Plc, a leading financial institution, had an upsurge in price appreciation moving 14.6 percent during the week. Many stock analysts believed the bank still holds good fundamentals. By this, Year-to-Date (YtD) returns on investment crossed over the 100 percent leading territory. The movement in YtD was coming after three trading days of lack-luster reaction to the bank’s 9-month financial results which saw the stock price in a temporal 0.8 percent appreciation and it lost the gains the next trading day. However, the bulls took over on Tuesday last…

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The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) has suspended trading in shares belonging to Oando Plc following an exchange of correspondence between it and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (the primary Exchange on which Oando is listed). The suspension came after an order by Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, prompted the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, to suspend the embattled company on Wednesday till the regulator concluded investigations on the company. According to a statement issued by JSE’s on Thursday, Oando’s listing was suspended following the review of subsequent correspondence received on October…

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Electronic commerce (eCommerce) platform, Jumia will be giving loans of various sizes to about 60 of its vendors, as part of process targeted at lifting the sub-sector in Nigeria. Jumia Global Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Jeremy Hodara, who disclosed this, informed that the online shopping platform has 15, 000 vendors in the country. Against the usual two weeks of Black Friday sales, Hodara informed that Jumia will be dedicating a month for this year’s promo sales, which start soonest. The Global CEO, who informed that Nigeria remains the largest market…

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Guaranty Trust Bank plc has released its unaudited financial results for the 3rd quarter ended September 30, 2017, to the Nigerian and London Stock Exchanges. A review of the 3rd quarter performance shows positive growth across all key financial metrics and improved strategic positioning of the brand. Despite non-recurrence of significant FX revaluation gain during the period, the Bank reported an impressive Profit before tax of ₦150.03billion, representing a growth of 9% from ₦137.99billion recorded in the corresponding period of September 2016. Increase in PBT is primarily from 36% growth…

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