Equity Market Gains N156bn On First Trading Day

Domestic equity market opened transactions on the floor of Nigerian Exchange (NGX) on a positive note, gaining N156 billion. The NGX trading result showed that gain recorded in the shares of BuaCement, Oando, Seplat, Glaxosmith, Fidelity Bank and others boasted activities in the market. Market capitalisation of listed equities increased by 0.40 per cent to N38.712 trillion from N38.556 trillion reported the previous day. The NGX All Share Index also appreciated by 282.85 basis points to 70479.62 points from 70196.77 points it closed on Friday. A review of the investment showed that Thomas Way led gainers table in percentage terms, gaining 10 per cent to close at N4.07 per share, Chams Plc followed with a gain of 9.90 per cent to close at N2.22 per unit, Gloxasmith gained 9.68 per cent to close at N13.60 per share, Oando Plc up by 9.66 per cent to close at N9.65 per share, Japaul Gold gained 9.45 per cent to close at N1.39 per unit. On the contrary, ABC Transport recorded the highest loss during the day, dropping by 9.30 per cent to close at N0.78 per unit, Cornerstone Insurance trailed with a drop of 9.27 per cent to N1.37 per share. Champion Breweries gained 9.19 per cent to N3.36 per share, International Breweries down by 8.79 per cent to close at N0.21 per unit. Volume of trades declined by 19.348 million, representing 4.72 per cent as investors traded 391.013 million shares valued at N7.705 billion in 6837 deals against 410.361 million shares cost N9.163 billion exchanged hands the previous day in 6436 deals. Trading  in the shares of United Bank for Africa led market activities with 105.627 million shares valued at N2.137 billion, FBNHoldings followed with account of 33.267 million shares cost N602.498 million, Japaul Gold traded 21.348 million shares valued at N29.607 million, Fidelity Bank exchanged 20.438 million shares worth N175.964 million, AccessCorp exchanged 19.502 million shares valued at N33.657 million.

Nigeria Rakes In N5.2trn Revenue In 6 Months – RMAFC

The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has disclosed that the total sum of N5,244 trillion accrued into the Federation Account in the first 6 months of 2023. A press statement signed by the RMAFC Chairman, Mr. Mohammed Bello Shehu, and made available to journalists on Wednesday in Abuja, said the amount was captured in the monthly report to the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under the caption “CBN Federation Account Component Statement”.  According to Shehu, out of the total gross revenue inflows into the Federation Account, the sum of N627.301 billion was NNPCL JV Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) due, captured and recorded by the FIRS, but utilized by the NNPCL for other FGN obligations. From the reports according to the statement, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) remitted the sum of N823,512,065,893.15 while the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) made a gross collection of N3,655,894,989,129.28 but remitted N3,028,593,066,702.93 retaining the difference as cost of collection.  The statement further disclosed that the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on its part remitted the sumN764,630,581,539.17. It however, added that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) did not remit any amount into the Federation Account during the period either as profit revenue or other revenues as contained in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), 2021 as its revenue performance could not be assessed because neither its revenue target was disclosed nor its revenue remittance to the Federation Account was provided. Furthermore, the statement adds that the sum of N1,490,946,180,918.52 was realized as Value Added Tax (VAT) while the sum of N83,024,395,855.89 was realized from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) from which the sum of N3,320,975,834.23. Additionally, the FIRS received the sum of N82,031,796,937.01 and N3,320,975,834.23 as cost of collection on PPT/CIT and EMTL collections respectively in the period. The report revealed that on VAT, the FIRS/NCS together received the sum of N59, 593,164,213.83 as cost of collection within the period under review. Similarly, the report indicates that the sum of N16, 680,990,990.93 was realized from the solid minerals sector. The RMAFC Chair further revealed that total collections from VAT netted the sum of N1,387,328,862,898.16 whichwas shared to the 3-tiers of government in accordance with the approved VAT sharing formula.On the statutory allocations to the three tiers of government, Mr. Bello disclosed that the net sum of N3,069,594,889,669.74 (Three trillion, sixty-nine billion, five hundred and ninety-four million, eight hundred and eighty-nine thousand, six hundred and sixty-nine Naira, seventy four Kobowas shared to the 3-tiers of government in the period January to June, 2023. In the area of payment of cost of collection to Revenue Generating Agencies (RGAs) from the Federation Account component, the statement reveals that the NCS received the sum of N53,524,140,707.73 within the period under review. In the same vein, the statement adds that the sum of N48,105,698,218.35 was paid to the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA). “This money was collected by NUPRC as penalty on gas flared. Revenues on gas flared penalty used to be Federation Account revenues before the PIA, 2021 which provided that such revenues should be paid 100% to the NMDPRA”. In a similar development, the RMAFC Chair described the statutory deductions which constituted 32.27% of the total gross inflow into the Federation Account in the six-month period as superfluous and constitute a drain on the Federation Account.

Cash shortages drops MTN’s fintechs’ revenue by 39.4%

The effects of cash shortages on over-the-counter (OTC) transactions during the first quarter of 2023 impacted negatively on MTN’s Nigeria revenue from fintech customers. The company, which disclosed this in its first half of 2023 financial results, said it reported a 39.4 percent decline in its fintech customers for the half-year 2023, bringing its users down to 7 million at the end of June. According to MTN, out of the 7 million fintech customers, 3.1 million are MoMo wallet users, representing 44 per cent of its total fintech customers. Despite the decline in customers, MTN said it recorded a 7.8 per cent growth in fintech revenue. Its fintech revenue for the first six months of this year stood at N43.6 billion compared with N40.4 billion recorded during the same period last year. The report also said that the naira devaluation impeded the company’s financial growth in the second quarter of 2023, recording a forex loss of N131.5 billion, an increase of N 117.9 billion from the N13.6 billion forex loss reported in the first of 2022. MTN reported that the Central Bank of Nigeria’s recent forex operations changes caused a significant 60 per cent movement in the exchange rate to N756.24/US$ by the end of June 2023. The telecom giant’s second-quarter results show pre-tax profits fell a whopping 64 per cent to N44.6 billion, taking off its half-year profits to N200.3 billion compared to N268.6 billion in the same period in 2022. Explaining the reasons for the company’s fintech business poor performance in the period under review, MTN’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr Karl Toriola, said the firm’s fintech user base was impacted by the effects of the cash shortages on over-the-counter (OTC) transactions during the first quarter of 2023. Toriola noted that the fintech business remains a crucial priority for MTN as it continues to put structures in place to support the execution of its growth strategy and scale the fintech ecosystem in line with our Ambition 2025 strategy. In that regard, he said the company would ramp up its fintech campaigns to create more awareness. Meanwhile, MTN recorded 49.9 per cent growth in its digital revenue for the period under review. According to the company, this was bolstered by revenue from rich media services and content VAS. Toriola said the digital revenue growth was also supported by the adoption of digital products and the development of the active base, up 56.6 per cent to 14 million. “In H1, we bought Amazon Prime Video and Apple Music to our customers, expanding our rich media services portfolio. Ayoba, our instant messaging platform, continued to gain traction with the addition of over two million users, bringing the monthly active users to 7.2 million in H1.