Nigeria | - Part 39

Nigeria’s woes won’t deter investors from buying dollar bonds

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Investors are lining up to buy dollar bonds Nigeria is expected to issue soon despite the country’s first recession in a quarter of a century, a currency crisis and budget shortfalls driven by low oil prices. On the face of it, the $1 billion of bonds Nigeria hopes to sell by the end of March might seem unattractive, especially at a time sentiment towards African debt has soured after…

Fitch Revises Nigeria’s Outlook to Negative; Affirms at ‘B+’

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Fitch Ratings has revised the Outlook on Nigeria’s Long-Term Foreign and Local Currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) to Negative from Stable and affirmed the IDRs at ‘B+’. The issue ratings on Nigeria’s senior unsecured foreign currency bonds have also been affirmed at ‘B+’. The Country Ceiling has been affirmed at ‘B+’ and the Short-Term Foreign and Local Currency IDRs have been affirmed at ‘B’. Key Rating Drivers The revision…

Nigerian MPC Member Turns on Central Bank over Policy Paradox

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria is undermining its own efforts to tame inflation and strengthen the naira by “pretending” to tighten policy while boosting the money supply, a member of the Monetary Policy Committee said in an extraordinary attack on the central bank published a day before the first interest-rate decision of the year. While the MPC raised the benchmark interest rate to a record 14 percent last year, the central bank’s management was…

Guinness Nigeria to Convert Loans to Shares to Conserve Funds

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Guinness Nigeria Plc, the country’s second-biggest brewer, plans to convert a portion of dollar-denominated loans from parent Diageo Plc into shares to limit the impact of exchange-rate volatility and conserve cash. “We don’t want to be holding foreign-currency loans,” ChairmanBabatunde Savage told shareholders at a meeting in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, on Tuesday. The company’s cash flow is already under pressure from a Nigerian economic downturn, he said. The company took out…

Nigerian Equities Pare Gains on Bearish Sentiment on Large Cap Stocks …NSE ASI down 5bps

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) -The equities market halted two consecutive days of gains on account of negative sentiment towards bellwether Banking and Consumer Goods counters – ZENITH (-3.5%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-1.4%) and 7UP (-5.0%). The Benchmark index settled at 26,217.54 points, down a marginal 5bps while market capitalization declined N4.8bn to close at N9.0tn. Accordingly, YTD return remained at -2.4%. However, market activity was mixed as volume traded dropped 17.9% to 187.7m units and value traded surged 304.3% to N10.4bn…

Nigerian Central Bank Leaves Key Lending Rate Unchanged at 14%

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria left its policy rate unchanged for a third consecutive meeting to support growth in an economy at its weakest in more than two decades and in which inflation is accelerating. The Monetary Policy Committee held the benchmark interest rate at 14 percent, Governor Godwin Emefiele told reporters from the Abuja-based Central Bank of Nigeria on Tuesday. That was in line with the forecast of all 16 economists in a Bloomberg survey. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari proposed…

Nigeria to Check Capital of Underwriters as Recession Weighs

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria’s insurance regulator plans to audit the capital position of underwriters to ensure their ability to pay out claims as the country struggles to recover from a recession. The verification, scheduled for the first quarter, aims to protect “policyholders and beneficiaries of insurance contracts against unexpected losses,’’ the Abuja-based National Insurance Commission said in an e-mailed statement Monday. Nigeria’s economic downturn and conditions specific to the industry “have created the need for…

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