Nigeria Content Online

Ghana announced on
Thursday it expected first oil from its Jubilee offshore field to be
pumped on December 17, in line with earlier forecasts that it would
take its place as a major oil producer by year-end.

“First oil is expected December 17, and the government and all the
Jubilee partners are looking forward to this day,” deputy information
minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, told Reuters.The field is operated
by UK-listed Tullow Oil.

A Nigerian firm
involved in a $2.5 billion bid for former state telecomms monopoly,
Nitel, said on Wednesday it was optimistic it would meet a December
deadline to pay a 30 percent deposit to secure its bid.

GiCell won an
extension on November 5 of 20 working days, after failing to make a
deposit of $750 million by an earlier deadline because its financial
backers had developed what it described as “cold feet” over delays in
the sale process.

GiCell is part of
the New Generation consortium, the preferred bidder for Nitel, whose
technical partners include China’s second biggest carrier, China Unicom.

“We are working
tirelessly to meet the deadline, despite the challenges we are facing,”
GiCell managing director, Usman Gumi, told Reuters.

Questions have been
raised over the financing for the New Generation bid, which some
analysts said values Nitel at more than five times what it is worth.

Dangote Cement Plc
(DCP), a member of the Dangote Group, has announced an interim dividend
of N30.98 billion for the period ended September 30.

The interim
dividend is part of the group’s strategies of enhancing and growing
shareholders’ value through consistent dividend payment. It also
fulfills the promise by the directors of the company to pay an interim
dividend to shareholders.

Dangote Cement
resulted from the merger between Dangote Cement and Benue Cement
Company (BCC). The merger created the biggest company listed on the
Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

In the review
period, the enlarged company reported a turnover of N146.56 billion.
According to the unaudited financial results, turnover rose by N55.26
billion or 37.71 percent, when compared to turnover value of N91.30
billion posted in the corresponding period of 2009.

A review of the
financial results indicated that Profit Before Tax (PBT) rose by N30
billion or 39 percent to N76.93, compared to N46.93 billion recorded in
the corresponding period of 2009. Profit After Tax (PAT) was on the
same upward swing, as it rose by N30.16 billion or 40.05 percent to
N75.30 billion, in contrast to N45.14 billion at the preceding year.

With the payment of
N30.98 billion interim dividend, investors in the companies under the
Dangote Group that are listed on the Exchange received a total dividend
of N60.21 billion.

The Federal
Executive Council (FEC) has commended the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
for the prompt release of a N199.67 billion credit facility to 516
manufacturers across the country.

The minister of
information and communications, Dora Akunyili, made the remark while
briefing State House correspondents at the end of the council’s weekly
meeting in Abuja on Wednesday.

Mrs. Akunyili said
the council made the commendation after the CBN governor, Sanusi Lamido
Sanusi, had briefed it on the performance of the nation’s economy in
the third quarter of 2010.

She said the credit
facility will be disbursed under the manufacturers’ SMEs Loan
Restructuring Refinancing Scheme, at a fixed interest rate of seven
percent.

The minister said
the CBN governor told the council that N130.99 billion of the amount
was disbursed through the Bank of Industry. She said the council was
also informed that there had been a steady growth in the nation’s GDP,
which continued to be driven largely by the non-oil sector,
particularly agriculture.

“The inter-bank rates and other money market rates, including
lending, also moderated. The foreign exchange market was substantially
stable, while the slow and steady recovery in the capital market
continues,” Mrs. Akunyili said.

For about two
weeks, starting from next Monday, the world will be locked into another
session of negotiations on how to tackle climate change. The
conference, to be held in Cancun, Mexico, has drawn less excitement
than its predecessor held in Copenhagen, Denmark, a year ago.

The excitement of
Copenhagen was partly driven by the false information that circulated
that the Kyoto Protocol was ending at that meeting. Though there were
serious, but failed efforts, made at that conference to lay the
protocol to rest, its first period actually ends in 2012, while a
second commitment period will be entered into as soon as the first
period elapses.

But why would
anyone want to kill the protocol and why should it be sustained? The
Kyoto Protocol is seen by some as the only legally binding instrument
to which the industrialised and highly polluting nations can be made to
commit to cutting emissions at source. From this perspective, when
countries fight to abolish the protocol, they are simply trying to
avoid making any real commitment to tackling climate change.

One problem with
the workings of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) and the ongoing negotiations is that it bases a chunk
of its reasoning and framings on the market logic. This follows the
path created by the mindset that has built a vicious paradigm of
disaster capitalism, in which tragedy is seen as opportunity for
profit. What do we mean by this?

Rather than take
steps to curtail emissions of greenhouse gases responsible for global
warming, some people are busy devising ways of making every item of
nature a commodity placed at the altar of the market. Through this,
everything is being assigned a value and many others are privatised in
addition.

What makes this
offensive is firstly that you cannot place a price on nature, on life.
Secondly, speculators are hyping the utility of the carbon market as a
means of fighting climate change. Some of the ways this manifests is
through the carbon offsetting projects by which polluters in the
industrialised countries continue to pollute, on the calculation that
their emissions are being compensated for elsewhere.

As Friends of the
Earth International stated in a recent media advisory, “Carbon trading
does not lead to real emissions reductions. It is a dangerous
distraction from real action to address the structural causes of
climate change, such as over-consumption. Developed countries should
radically cut their carbon emissions through real change at home, not
by buying offsets from other countries. Carbon offsetting has no
benefits for the climate or for developing countries – it only benefits
developed countries, private investors, and major polluters who want to
continue business as usual.”

Cancun will
obviously be crawling with carbon speculators and traders, as was the
case in Copenhagen. And they have good reasons to be there. They will
be there because policy makers on both sides of the divide see benefits
in the schemes, even though the so-called benefits are pecuniary and
are actually harmful to Mother Earth. But as far as the money enters
the pockets of some poor countries, the rich countries can go on
polluting, having paid their “penance.”

Not just money alone

The world appears
deaf to the need for real actions to curb climate change, and the focus
remains on money. In fact, while many of the items of the Cancun agenda
have stalled, with regard to reduction of carbon emissions in the
industralised nations, there is no shortage of proposals on how carbon
markets can be brought in to give appearance of action.

Reducing Emissions
from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) is one of such schemes in the
scheme. Quick progress is being made on REDD and already, talks are
advancing on other variants of the scheme. Indigenous and forest
community people are opposed to REDD and object to its implementation,
as attention is being focused on forests merely as carbon stocks for
mercantile purposes. Significantly, many see REDD as not seeking to
stop deforestation, but merely to reduce it.

It is also argued
that that any reduced deforestation may not be sustained, as
deforesters may just shift to another forest or zone to continue with
their activities. In other words, REDD is a pretty fiction that may
pump money into the pockets of some countries and corporations, but
will marginalise forest peoples and will not help to fight climate
change. The attraction, as critics have said, is that if this mechanism
is linked to the carbon market, it will allow developed countries pay
money to REDD-projects that preserve forests in developing countries,
and in return receive carbon credits – buying the right to pollute.

There will also be
strident rejection of any role at all for the World Bank in the climate
finance architecture that may be devised in Cancun.

The atmosphere is
set for a somber, winding series of negotiations. However, social
movements and other civil society groups are set to push up the voices
of the people, as already broadly articulated in the Peoples Agreement,
reached at the World Peoples Conference on Climate Change and the
Rights of Mother Earth held in April 2010 at Cochabamba, Bolivia.

The environmental
justice movement that took first serious steps in Copenhagen is sure to
take firmer steps on the streets of Cancun and in thousands of Cancuns
being planned for a multitude of locations around the world.

The message in
Cancun, if we must expect motions towards real actions to tackle
climate change, is that governments must pay attention to what the
people are saying, to the real challenges faced by vulnerable peoples
around the world, and not lend their ears to carbon speculators.

The Federal
Government is exploring prospects of enlisting the support of the
African Development Bank (ADB) towards the execution of some critical
projects in the country’s power sector.

Olusegun Aganga,
the finance minister, said this on Tuesday, when Donald Kaberuka, the
ADB president, visited him in his office in Abuja.

“We have to take
advantage of the opportunities in the ADB to solve problems facing
African nations. As Africans, we believe that we have to manage our
issues by ourselves through the partnership with ADB,” Mr. Aganga said.

The minister, who
identified the Independent Power Projects (IPPs) as one area that
requires some attention, expressed optimism that the ADB would be able
to join the World Bank in providing the partial risks guarantees to
interest the Independent Power producers.

The finance
ministers and Central Bank governors in five African countries (C-10
Committee) had in its last meeting in Washington to discuss how issues
affecting Africa’s development could be tackled, directed Nigeria,
Egypt, South Africa, and Kenya to get together to explore creative ways
to solve the infrastructural issues affecting the African continent.

The meeting with
the ADB boss, Mr. Aganga explained, was in furtherance of that agenda,
considering the continued supportive disposition of the bank to the
government’s development efforts, particularly with the ongoing reforms
in the country to check the infrastructure deficit in the power sector.

Ineffective institutions

Besides, the
minister said the Primary Mortgage Institutions (PMIs), like Bank of
Industry (BOI), Nigerian Agricultural and Cooperative Banks (NACB),
Nigerian Export-Import (NEXIM) Bank, and National Economic
Reconstruction Fund (NERFUND), which were established to provide
support to government in the execution of it policies, have not been
living up to expectation.

“All these
institutions were set up by government to help execute government
policies in the different sectors of the economy. But, unfortunately,
government is not seeing the benefits of these institutions at the
moment,” he noted, adding that government is working on ways to ensure
that they become more active in providing finance to the real sector of
the economy of the country’s economy.

“We will see a big
difference and change in how government execute works with the PMIs.
The ADB has worked in so many countries to promote this effort by
sharing ideas to empower them to deliver their mandate to the economy.

“Government has
decided to empower all the banks in the country to work closely with
all these institutions towards the empowerment of Small and Medium
Enterprises (SMEs) and the development of the power infrastructure, to
ensure that they are provided with the support they require to execute
government policies the way they should have been done,” he said.

The ADB president
said he was in the country to, among others, explore ways of working
with the Federal Government to handle the assignment handed by the C-10
in Washington, adding that he was of the conviction that Africa will
come out of the global economic crisis stronger, if its resources are
properly managed to the benefit of the people.

“We are here to
interact with the Federal Government on ways to consolidate on the
achievements so far and to accelerate efforts on the development of
infrastructure in the country,” he said.

South Africa’s
Tiger Brands, maker of food and consumer goods, agreed to buy 49
percent of the food business of Nigeria’s UAC, as it ramps up expansion
in fast-growing African markets to offset slack demand at home.

Tiger also said on
Wednesday it had acquired Deli Foods Nigeria, an unlisted biscuit
maker, and had formed a joint venture with Ethiopia’s East African
Group to manufacture and sell personal goods and food. It did not say
how much it paid for any of the transactions.

Tiger, which also
reported a slight decline in full-year profit, becomes the latest South
African firm to make a push into poor but rapidly growing sub-Saharan
frontier markets.

“Africa is a long
way from being developed, but fast-moving consumer goods such as food
will continue to be a staple consumption, and Tiger Brands wants to be
part of the action,” said Zaheer Joosub, an analyst at Citigroup in
Johannesburg.

Home to about 1
billion people, Africa’s population is expected to double by 2050. Many
frontier economies boast growth rates of 7 percent or more, far
outstripping the projected 2 to 3 percent in South Africa, the
continent’s largest economy.

In what may be the
biggest bet on the long-term outlook for the African consumer, U.S.
retailer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., is in talks to buy a controlling stake
in South Africa’s Massmart, which also has a presence in some frontier
African markets.

Focus on Nigeria

Tiger Brands said Deli Foods and the Ethiopia business would initially add 500 million rand in annual sales.

The UAC deal will
give Tiger a big presence in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and
sub-Saharan Africa’s second-largest economy, while for UAC, which is
struggling to fend off increased competition, the deal with Tiger is
“very positive”, said Akinbamidele Akintola, an analyst at Renaissance
Capital, in a note to clients.

“This strategic partnership might help turn around the operations of the business to regain market (leadership),” he said.

Tiger Brands, which
makes bread, breakfast cereal, and energy drinks, reported headline
earnings per share of 1.39 rand for the year to end-September, compared
with 1.41 rand last year.

Headline EPS is the main profit gauge in South Africa and excludes certain one-time and non-trading items.

Sales from
continuing operations fell 2 percent to 19.3 billion rand, hurt by
lower food prices and the weaker business environment. Tiger said that
while there was a steady increase in sales in recent months, it
remained cautious about the outlook for the first half of the new
financial year.

Shares of the
company were up 0.8 percent at 185.33 rand by 1018 GMT, compared with a
flat Johannesburg All-Share index. Tiger Brands shares have gained 8
percent so far this year, compared with a nearly 12 percent rise in the
benchmark.

Shares of UAC were little changed, outperforming a 0.7 percent dip in Nigeria’s All-Share index.

JP
Morgan, a United States investment banking and securities firm, has
said it is still managing $500 million of Nigeria’s foreign reserves,
in collaboration with Zenith Bank.

Tosin
Adewuyi, the bank’s senior country officer in Nigeria, said the
collaboration, which has been on since 2006, is still ongoing.

“Zenith
Bank Nigeria joint venture is still very much on. Nothing has changed
since then,” Mr. Adewuyi said at the sidelines of a workshop between
the Nigerian Stock Exchange, the London Stock Exchange, Thomson
Reuters, and JP Morgan, held yesterday in Lagos.

The
Central Bank, in October 2006, gave 14 Nigerian banks, with their
international asset manager partners, $7 billion each, out of the
country’s foreign reserves, to manage on behalf of the country.

The
14 global asset managers and their local counterparts were Black Rock
and Union Bank; J.P. Morgan Chase and Zenith; HSBC and First Bank; BNP
Paribas and Intercontinental Bank; UBS and UBA; Credit Suisse and IBTC
Chartered Bank; Morgan Stanley and GTB; Fortis and Bank PHB; Investec
and Fidelity; ABN Amro and Access Bank; Cominvest and Oceanic Bank; ING
and Ecobank; Bank of New York and Stanbic Bank; and Crown Agents and
Diamond Bank.

Mr. Adewuyi said despite the drop in Nigeria’s foreign reserves, the arrangement still subsists.

Deepening presence

He added that JP Morgan may consider deepening its presence in the country.

“We view Nigeria as a key market for us in Africa. In Africa, pretty much Nigeria comes into number two,” he said.

He, however, said the bank is not considering buying into any of the rescued banks.

“While
we are not purchasing a local bank, we do have relationship with some
of them and helping to build capacity. We don’t run a retail bank in
Nigeria, at least not now. Not to say, in the next two or three years,
we don’t see that as a viable model. But so far, we support banks,
corporations, and government behind the scene internationally,” Mr.
Adewuyi said.

Ibukun
Adebayo, head of primary markets, Middle East, and Africa of the London
Stock Exchange (LSE), said it was collaborating with the Nigerian Stock
Exchange to enhance its development. He said the Stock Exchange has
performed as expected, considering the fallout of the global financial
crisis.

“The
Nigerian Stock Exchange is doing exactly what the London Stock Exchange
is doing, which is keeping interest in the market. We (LSE) get a lot
more support from our regulators. In the UK, we operate under a more
flexible environment. We don’t have rigid rules,” Mr. Adebayo said.

He said LSE operates under codes which need not be rigidly adhered to, provided there is proven effort to comply.

“That
flexible approach to regulation means that we have actually works very
well and that has attracted a number of investments,” he said.

He
explained that unlike Nigeria, investors in the UK capital market have
a responsibility to the companies in which they invest.

“We
have the investors’ stewardship code, which effectively means that
there is covenant between investors. We don’t want you here today and
gone tomorrow. You have to shadow a certain amount of dedication to a
company over a period of time,” Mr. Adebayo said.

This arrangement, he said, helped to mitigate the repatriation of
funds from the UK market during the global financial crisis in 2008.

The minister of
state for commerce and industry, Josephine Tapgun, has urged the Common
Fund for Commodities, an international financial institution
established by the United Nations, to pay more attention to rubber
projects in Nigeria.

She said this on
Tuesday when the organisation’s managing director paid her a courtesy
visit at her office in Abuja. Ms. Tapgun said that the Nigerian
government pays special attention to the organisation activities in
providing support to small scale enterprises and value addition to
commodities in Nigeria.

Ali Mchumo, CFC
managing director, said Nigeria is strategic to CFC programme
actualisation, and that Nigeria has shown political will and was the
only country among members of CFC from Africa that is making
contribution to the fund. Mr. Mchumo added that he hoped that Nigeria
would continue to play an important role in the institution’s
activities.

The courtesy call
was preparatory to the 22nd governing council meeting of CFC, holding
in Abuja. The governing council is the highest decision-making body
within the institution structure of the Amsterdam-based Common Fund,
which finances commodity development projects for small and medium
sized enterprises in commodity production, processing, and trade, in
developing and least developed countries.

The minister, who
also represented vice president, Namadi Sambo, at the opening of the
governing council meeting, expressed concern over the volatility and
instability of commodity markets with less than three percent of total
Official Development Assistance (ODA) to agricultural commodity sector.

She lamented the
continued restriction to market access of commodities from developing
countries to developed countries, and called for the abolition of such
practice. She challenged the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to remain
committed to development, as enunciated in the DOHA Round, with special
attention to the peculiar circumstances on developing and least
developed countries, and adopt an approach that would be fair and
transparent, with respect to trade in agricultural commodities.

The federal
government also promised to assist the CFC and strengthen its future
collaboration, as well as give both moral and financial support to the
organisation. Ms. Tapgun further said that recent economic and
political reforms embarked on by the government have drastically
improved the corporate governance and political climate of the country,
adding that it is not taking for granted the undeniable attraction of
the country to investors, and it is making efforts and striving hard to
improve the economic environment and introduce new incentives.

“We are taking
drastic measure to rebuild, overhaul, and considerably improve our
infrastructure, particularly power supply and transportation, in order
to increase the efficiency of our national economy and decrease the
cost of doing business. We have invested heavily in the provision of
steady power and have launched a road map on power.

“However, to
achieve quick and sustainable results, we are, among other measures,
privatising the provision of power and transport infrastructure,” she
stated.

The stock market recorded a turnover of
1.002 billion shares valued at N9.98 billion in 19,493 transactions.
Recall that the stock market opened for three trading days due to two
days public holidays for the celebration of Eid-el-Kabir. Thus,
Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index (NSE ASI) shed 407.88 points or
1.62% from its opening figure of 25,959.95 and closed down at 24,959.95
points. The drop was strictly linked to traders taking short profit
from most of the banking stocks that have returned so much due to
favourable market fundamentals. Meanwhile the market capitalization of
the listed equities closed up at N7.97 trillion.

NSE-30 Index shed 3.21 points or 0.30%
while NSE Banking and NSE-Oil/Gas closed up by 0.01% and 0.80%
respectively and NSE Insurance and NSE Food/Beverages closed in the red
by 1.21% and 0.04% in that order. 50 stocks end the week below their
various opening prices, 35 gained and 118 ends the week on a flat note.
Gaining and Losing equities did 42.86% each of the market volume while
unchanged stock accounted for the remaining 14.28%.

Market outlook

If the market will follow the trend,
then traders should see a recovery during the new week. Ordinarily,
this should come within the first two trading days of the week. Traders
are to watch closely and take strategic positions in adjusting stocks.
Investors are to clearly avoid panic exit, as most equities promise to
hit new highs on recovery.

Juli Plc

Juli Plc was incorporated on September
14, 1972 as a private liability company under the name Juli Pharmacy
Limited to transact the following businesses; Marketing of wholesales
& Retail of Pharmaceuticals, Running of Super-Market &
Laboratory Services.

The company went public through an
offer for subscription on February 10, 1986 and was listed on November
7, 1986 as the first indigenously promoted company in Nigeria to be
quoted on The Nigerian Stock Exchange. Its name was changed from Juli
Pharmacy Plc to Juli Plc on August 22, 1991 to reflect the flexibility
in its marketing strategy.

The company’s affairs are scrutinized
by 7-man board headed by Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi who doubles as the
chairman and chief executive officer. The day-to-day management team is
lead by Oludare Olubamise who holds the office of Managing Director. He
sits upon four other management members.

Juli Plc is listed on the emerging
market section of The Nigerian Stock Exchange. It is one of the few
actively traded stocks in this sub-sector and currently has 178,000,000
ordinary outstanding numbers of shares 100% owned by Nigerians.

Recent corporate performance

The company recently released its Q3
results for the period ended September 30, 2010. A cursory view of the
scorecards revealed that performance was mixed. Sales revenue within
the period dissipated by 12.66% ostensibly high operating expenses.
Sales dipped from N216 million in Q3 2009 to N188.65 million. It had a
tax holiday as such PBT and PAT retained same figure and dipped by
35.45% respectively against Q3 2009 figures. For detail see the table
below.

NOTE: Juli is not a liquid stock and currently sells at N3.05. It is over priced at current position of performance indexes.

Union Bank Nigeria Plc

Directors of Union Bank Nigeria Plc
yesterday reported its unaudited Q3 results for the period ended
September 30, 2010 in the market. Examination on the available figures
showed mixed performance.

It is heartwarming to note that the
stallion bank’s negative bottom line value of N127.89 billion in Q3 ‘09
had returned a profit value of N6.81 billion in Q3 ‘10. It is worth
recalling that the magnitude of the aforementioned loss in Q3 ‘09 was
as a result of colossal provision for bad debt at the instance of CBN.

Interim Q3 revenue dropped by 40% from
N142.62 billion in Q3 ‘09 to N85.57 billion. This was ultimately due to
16.58% slashed in depositors’ fund in the bank. Irrespective of the dip
in revenue, bottom line grew by 105.32% at N6.81 billion to herald
important era in Union Bank. Marginal 0.64% growth in cash and bank
balances showed that UBN was liquid within Q3 ‘10. Major concern on UBN
accounts remains net liability of N244.15 billion in the stakeholders’
equity position. It is expected that the net liability will be wiped
off by the time AMCON picks up UBN’s non-performing loans and existing
margin loans. Loans and advances within the period dropped by 20.96% at
N371.20 billion.

Further analysis revealed that Q3 EPS
stood at 50 kobo against LPS of 947 kobo in Q3 ‘09. At current market
price of N5.00 PE multiple of 10 was computed. The bank recorded a net
loss of 3% in capital employed.

OBSERVATION: The ability of the
management to effectively consolidate on this recovery through
efficient use of human capital and improve service delivery to
customers is a major challenge the bank faces henceforth.

Total Nigeria Plc

The directors of Petroleum Giant, Total
Nigeria Plc had informed the Exchange that it will be paying interim
dividend of N2.00 per share to its shareholders for the period ended
September 30, 2010. Recall that Q3 result was recently reported in the
market. It had an EPS N12.26 and stakeholders’ equity’s return of 50%.
The register of members closes on November 30, 2010 while payment date
is December 13, 2010.

Report on the otc market for FGN bonds

A total turnover of 88.7 million units
valued at N74.68 billion exchanged in 700 deals was recorded last week,
in contrast to a total of 184.43 million units worth N179.78 billion in
1,068 deals during the week ended Thursday, November 11, 2010.

The most active bond (measured by
turnover volume) was the 10.00% FGN July 2030 (7th FGN Bond 2030 Series
3) with a traded volume of 37.6 million units valued at N28.84 billion
in 343 deals. This was followed by 4.00% FGN April 2015 (7th FGN Bond
2015 Series 2) with a traded volume of 19.2 million units valued at
N14.48 billion in 181 deals.

Nine (9) of the available thirty-five (35) FGN Bonds were traded
during the week, compared with twenty-one (21) in the in the preceding
week.</