Barrow Returns to Gambia as President Amid High Expectations

Barrow Returns to Gambia as President Amid High Expectations

BANJUL (Capital Markets in Africa) – Gambian President Adama Barrow returned from neighboring Senegal to take office after his predecessor went into exile under a threat by West African leaders to remove him by force. Barrow touched down at 5 p.m. at the airport in the capital, Banjul, on Thursday as thousands gathered for his arrival a week after his inauguration at the Gambian embassy in Senegal. This is “a proud day day for Gambians and a…

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AfDB says gives Comoros $20 mln for road network

AfDB says gives Comoros $20 mln for road network

NAIROBI (Reuters) – The African Development Bank is giving Comoros a $20.4 million grant to help it improve and expand its road networks, a move that will boost its agriculture and tourism sectors. The islands have few natural resources and largely rely on exports such as cloves and vanilla, remittances from citizens working abroad and foreign aid to finance development projects. AfDB said the money will be disbursed over five years. “The project will focus…

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Barclays Africa Hit by Protesters Demanding Apartheid-Era Money

Barclays Africa Hit by Protesters Demanding Apartheid-Era Money

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Barclays Africa Group Limited was targeted by protesters who entered one of its branches on Thursday and demanded the bank pay back money from a bailout provided to a company it bought before the end of apartheid. Demonstrators linked to the youth league of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress gathered outside the branch in Durban on South Africa’s east coast, Johannesburg-based Barclays Africa said in an e-mailed response to questions….

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Sasol First-Half Profit Drops After Strike, Currency Losses

Sasol First-Half Profit Drops After Strike, Currency Losses

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Sasol Limited said first-half profit declined as much as 44 percent from a year earlier after the world’s biggest producer of liquid fuels from coal was hurt by currency losses and a three-month strike at its South African operations. Profit before one-time items, known as headline earnings, for the six months through December decreased by between 8.26 rand ($0.62) and 10.68 rand from the 24.28 rand reported a year earlier,…

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Lonmin Drops Most in a Year as Output Falls at Biggest Shaft

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Lonmin Plc, the world’s third-largest platinum miner, plunged the most in more than 12 months after stoppages at its biggest shaft caused output to slide. Lonmin dropped as much as 19 percent in London on Thursday, the largest intraday decline since Dec. 18, 2015, and traded at 143.5 pence as of 1:32 p.m. local time. It was the worst performer on the FTSE SmallCap Index. Fiscal first-quarter ore production at…

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Guinness Nigeria Posts Biggest Loss in 30 Years on High Cost

Guinness Nigeria Posts Biggest Loss in 30 Years on High Cost

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) Guinness Nigeria Plc, the country’s second-biggest brewer, posted its biggest loss in at least 30 years as production and financing costs rose in Africa’s most populous nation. The local unit of London-based Diageo Plc posted a loss of 4.67 billion naira ($14.8 million) for the six months through December compared with a profit of 1.17 billion naira ($4.71 million) a year earlier. Cost of sales rose by more than 50 percent while financing costs…

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Economic Recovery in Nigeria Hobbled by Oil, Currency Policy

Economic Recovery in Nigeria Hobbled by Oil, Currency Policy

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) Nigeria’s economy may struggle to rebound from its worst slump in 25 years unless President Muhammadu Buhari can end an armed conflict in the nation’s oil-producing region and fix a currency policy that’s blocked investment. Pipeline attacks in the Niger River delta cut oil production by a third last year, slashing government revenue, while central bank intervention and trading restrictions that prop up the value of the naira have stymied trade and…

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