The Markets | - Part 184

Orange Said to Expect African Growth Trailing Expectations

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Orange SA, France’s largest phone company, expects disappointing growth in Africa and the Middle East this year mostly due to poor performance in Egypt and the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to people with knowledge of the matter. While business performance in Africa is improving when compared with last year, revenue is set to expand just slightly more than in 2016, weighed down by political and economic issues in the two…

Nigeria May End Multiple Naira Rates in Quest for Inflows

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria will end a system of multiple exchange rates that has deterred investment in its stocks and bonds, according to the head of the country’s main currency-trading platform. The central bank and Lagos-based FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange are taking a “phased approach toward a single foreign-exchange market,” according to Bola Onadele. “There is opportunity for convergence and there is no better time for it,” Onadele, also known as Koko, said…

Traders Snap Up Assets of Nation Where Default Is New Normal

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – For a country that has missed several debt payments this year, Mozambique’s assets are performing remarkably well. The southern African nation’s currency has posted the world’s biggest gain in 2017, while the price of its overseas bonds, which the government defaulted on in January, has soared about 30 percent, making them among the best-performing sovereign notes in emerging markets. The rally — after last year’s rout — suggests investors may be…

Alexander Forbes Targets 12% Profit Growth Over Next Five Years

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Alexander Forbes Group Holding Ltd., a South African provider of retirement, investment and insurance services, plans to as much as double the pace of profit growth over the next five years. The company is targeting an increase in operating profit of 10 percent to 12 percent until 2022, compared with average growth of 6 percent between 2013 and 2017, Chief Executive Officer Andrew Darfoor said in a presentation in Johannesburg on Wednesday….

Don’t Fear the Fed, EM Currencies Can Do Well, Societe Generale

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Emerging-market currencies should comfortably ride out coming Federal Reserve monetary tightening, according to Societe Generale SA. The Fed’s slow and steady approach — expectations for hikes beyond Wednesday’s widely expected 25-basis-point move seem “extraordinarily subdued” — ensures that emerging market currencies will feel little impact, and carry trades will remain a viable strategy over the coming quarter, said Jason Daw, SocGen’s head of emerging-market foreign-exchange strategy in Singapore. “EM currencies…

`Battle-Hardened’ Investors May Need to Go Easy on African Bonds

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Such is the demand for African Eurobonds these days that not even army mutinies are scaring investors. That may not be the case for much longer. Investors have become “battle-hardened” in their quest for yield, according to Union Bancaire Privee Ubp SA, with issuance from the continent reaching $12.7 billion in 2017, already a full-year record. Less than a month after soldiers rebelled in Ivory Coast, the West African nation attracted $10…

Ivory Coast Said to Attract Almost $10 Billion in Eurobond Bids

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ABIDJAN (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ivory Coast attracted almost $10 billion in bids for its Eurobond auction on Thursday in a sale that came less than a month after a four-day mutiny by soldiers, according to a person familiar with the matter. The West African nation received about $4.8 billion in orders for the dollar portion of its debt sale and a further 4.4 billion euros ($4.9 billion) for the second tranche by the…

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