Again, Equity Market Sheds N35bn

Transactions on the floor of Nigerian Exchange (NGX) on Thursday closed negative shedding N35 billion. This was due to decline in the share prices of Oando Plc, Nigerian Breweries Flour Mills Nigeria Plc Northern Nigeria Flour Mills among others. Market capitalisation of listed equities dropped by 0.09 per cent to N37.365 trillion from N37.400 trillion traded on Wednesday. The NGX All Share Index also went down by 64.58 basis points to 68271.14 points from 68335.72 points recorded the previous day. Investors traded 1.125 billion shares valued at N5.818 billion in 7949 deals against 566.631 million shares costing N5.386 billion exchanged hands the previous day in 8201 deals. A review of the investment during the day showed that JohnHolt led gainers table, increasing by 9.55 per cent to close at N1.72 per unit, Daar Communications and Omatek plc followed with a gain of 9.52 each to close at N0.23 and N0.46 per share respectively. Mutual Benefits gained 9.30 per cent to close at N0.47 per share, SUNU Assurance added 9.09 per cent to close at N0.96 per unit. On the contrary, Oando Plc recorded the highest loss in percentage terms, declining by 9.93 per cent to close at N13.15 per share, Lasaco Insurance trailed with a loss of 9.71 per cent to close at N1.86 per unit, Chams Plc fell by 9.59 per cent to close at N1.32 per unit, Northern Nigeria Flour Mills fell by 9.23 per cent to close at N15.25 per share. Tantalizer declined by 8.57 per cent to close at N0.32 per unit. Trading in the shares of Universal insurance led market activities, exchanging 669.012 million shares valued at N134.205 million, Oando Plc followed with 100.680 million worth N1.456 billion, Japaul Gold traded 43.738 million shares valued at N43.385 million, AccessCorp traded 40.144 million shares cost N681.949 million, United Bank for Africa sold 32.450 million shares valued at N552.752 million.

Unity Bank Suffers N35bn Loss On FG’s FX Policy

Unity Bank Plc’s profit in the first half of 2023 was impacted by foreign exchange revaluation on the back of Nigeria’s recent FX liberalization policy, resulting in the lender suffering a revaluation loss of N35 billion within the period. In the retail lender’s financials for the period, notwithstanding the FX liberalization policy and its impact on the bottom-line, the bank grew its FX trading income significantly by 17 per cent to N239.8 million from N204.4 million in the corresponding period of 2022, underscoring the Bank’s strategic focus on diversifying and growing its earnings portfolio. According to the bank, deposits grew to N333.38 billion, representing a marginal increase of 2 per cent compared to N327.42 billion recorded in the first half of 2022 in its Half-Year unaudited financial statement submitted to the Nigeria Exchange Group Limited. The net loans portfolio reduced significantly by 31 percent to N198.6 Billion as at 30 June 2023 from N289.4 Billion as at 31st December 2022. The Bank’s NPL Ratio remained moderate at below 3 per cent while liquidity ratio stood strong at over 45 per cent. The Managing Director/CEO of Unity Bank Plc, Mrs. Tomi Somefun noted that the significant disruptions which characterized the operating environment has impacted the positions of the Bank to the extent that we have constraints in income generation on the back of revaluation of the bank’s net foreign liabilities occasioned by the Naira devaluation during the period. Mrs. Tomi stated: “In the light of the prevailing FX revaluation in the financial system, what we have is a market-driven impact which is adjustable envisaged from the positive economic outcomes of the government policies in the near term. “Be that as it may, the negative shareholders’ fund has improved considerably through the injection of N135 billion which moderated the negative shareholders’ fund from (-ve) N275 Billion in December 2022 financial year-end to (-ve) N178 Billion as at the end of June 2023, after absorbing the FX revaluation loss suffered in the second quarter of 2023. “We are however, focused with clear-cut plans to close out on our recapitalization programme very soon to enable us do business as expected in the fast-growing markets in Nigeria” She further stated that while we remain optimistic that the government’s policy initiatives will lead to cause correction in the market, the Bank has accelerated measures to ramp up asset creation and liability generation in the short and medium term. “The Bank is aggressively driving its retail growth in every segment of the market, expanding strategic partnerships; and growing commercial banking business to develop new and sustainable income lines for the Bank as well as pay sufficient attention to fast-paced process automation, cost and resource efficiency, targeted value chain relationships, and product marketing to enhance value creation in the market.