News | - Part 78

Blackstone eyes opportunities in African power shortages

DAKAR (Reuters) – Private equity will play a key role in developing Africa given the massive needs for capital on the continent, says Blackstone Group, which is focusing on infrastructure projects involving power generation and transmission. CEO Steve Schwarzman said he would continue to seek partners like Aliko Dangote — Africa’s richest man, with whom Blackstone has a $5 billion joint venture — to ensure that Blackstone’s experience and deep pockets are matched by local…

Flour Mills of Nigeria to cut capex as economy falters

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Reuters) – Flour Mills of Nigeria expects to cut capital expenditure by almost half this year, down from 40 billion naira a year ago, as the slowdown in the economy, caused by the oil price collapse and the weakening naira, hurts consumer spending. Chairman John Coumantaros told Reuters Africa Investment Summit that Flour Mills had spent around $750 million over the past 3-5 years to build capacity but would expected to spend around 19…

Guaranty Trust Bank Earnings up 14.8%

Posted on by The Editorial Team

Guaranty Trust Bank (“GTBank” or “the Bank”) today, March 5, 2015 published its audited FY:2014 result on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), recording impressive growth in top and bottom lines amidst harsh operating environment. We present the highlights of the result and our 2015 estimates. Leading the Pack: Earnings and PAT up 14.8% and 9.6%Y-o-Y GTBank reinforced its leadership role in the banking space to be the first bank to publish its…

South Africa’s Standard Bank posts flat 2014 earnings

Posted on by The Editorial Team

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Standard Bank, Africa’s largest bank by assets, reported a 1 percent rise in full-year profits on Thursday, roughly in line with expectations, thanks to increases in lending, fees and trading. Stripping out its London-based division, in which Standard Bank is selling a controlling stake to China’s ICBC, headline earnings rose 20 percent. Standard Bank raised its dividend 12 percent to 598 cents per share. The lender said headline earnings per share (EPS)…

World Bank sees Kenya’s GDP growth at 6.0 pct in 2015

Posted on by The Editorial Team

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya is due to become one of the fastest-growing economies in east Africa, with a growth forecast of 6.0 percent in 2015 and 6.6 percent in 2016, the World Bank said on Thursday, citing falling oil prices and bigger infrastructure investments. Kenya’s economy grew by an estimated 5.4 percent in 2014, the bank said in its latest economic update, while growth could accelerate to 7.0 percent in 2017. “After growing an estimated…

Diamond Bank sees “minimal” loan growth as economy falters

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Reuters) – Nigeria’s Diamond Bank said it plans to build up cash reserves to ride out a slowdown in the economy that will depress lending after a sharp drop in global oil prices and the weakening naira.Abdulrahman Yinusa, the chief financial officer of Nigeria’s sixth biggest lender by assets, told Reuters Africa Investment Summit on Wednesday that overall loan growth would slow this year compared with last year. The bank will release its results…

Afren defaults on its debt, shares drop 50% in one day

Posted on by The Editorial Team

Debt-laden oil producer Afren Plc has defaulted on its 2016 bonds after declining to make a $15 million interest payment in order to preserve cash pending completion of a review of its capital structure. The company said any restructuring or additional funding deal with bondholders could result in the issue of new equity, which would “substantially dilute the interests of the company’s current shareholders”. Afren’s shares fell as much as 50 percent in early trading…

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