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Investors buy most GTB shares in 1yr on impressive financial results

Shares of Nigeria’s biggest bank by market value jumped 6 percent in Lagos trading Thursday, the most in one month, as investors reacted positively to the lender’s financial results.

The 122 million units of GTB shares that investors bought on Thursday is the most they have bought since April 7, 2020, according to data from the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

In addition to that, GTB single handedly accounted for 61 percent (N3.5 billion) of the total N5.85 billion investors spent buying local stocks on Thursday.

GTB had reported Thursday that it’s revenue increased by 4.6 percent to N455 billion while profit grew 2.33 percent to N201 billion in 2020.

Banks had to contend with a myriad of challenges last year from a low interest rate environment to the pandemic-induced economic slump.

The country’s largest banks however showed resilience with income growth amid trying times.

Zenith Bank, the second largest bank by market value also grew profit after tax (PAT) by 10.4 percent to N230.565 billion in 2020.

The audited reports of Access Bank and Dangote Cement are due today, and their release could prove a major boost for a market that has struggled this year as yields in the fixed income market climb. The stock market is down 3.37 percent year to date.

AstraZeneca vaccine declared ‘safe and effective’

The European Medicines Agency said on Thursday that the AstraZeneca vaccine was safe and effective, a finding that could prompt more than a dozen countries, including Germany, France and Italy, to resume use after temporary suspensions.

Those countries had paused inoculations with the AstraZeneca shot over concerns about possible rare side effects involving blood clots. The agency said a new warning label would be added so that doctors could be on the lookout for a potential rare complication leading to bleeding in the brain.

Despite reports of a handful of troubling incidents involving the AstraZeneca vaccine, a review of millions of cases found that it did not increase the overall risk of clots, though “there are still some uncertainties,” said Dr. Sabine Straus, who heads the agency’s risk assessment committee.

Most of the countries signaled that they were likely to resume using the vaccine once the agency issued clearance. But the brief delay could be costly for European countries that are dealing with third waves and a slow vaccine rollout.

Nigerians rise against $1.5bn Port Harcourt refinery repair bill

Nigerians are enraged over government’s plan to spend $1.5 billion (about N570bn) on the repair of one of its derelict and unprofitable refineries.

The government’s long history of wasteful spending on turnaround maintenance on its struggling refineries triggers a feeling of bitterness in the hearts of many whenever government says it wants to pump more money into them.

They question why the government is throwing money it does not have into a venture that is entrenched in a culture of waste and has gulped far too much public funds with nothing to show for it. Its inflated payrolls also contribute to the non-competitive cost of fuels produced.

Many are in awe of how a cash-strapped government that has been knocking at the door of the World Bank for a $1.5 billion loan since last year is able to turn around and spend a similar amount on merely repair works on one dying refinery, an effort history suggests will be futile.

To put the planned repair into context, the government wants to spend $1.5 billion on a refinery that has never operated above its 200,000bpd capacity, whereas Shell sold a more efficient and profitable refinery with a capacity of 157,000bpd in California for $1.2 billion last year.

The complex nature of running refineries is why experts have called on the government to privatise them rather than seek to hold control and continue splashing cash on them.

Oil price slumps to $63 as vaccine rollout stalls

The international oil benchmark, Brent crude, fell on Thursday for the fifth straight day to its lowest in two weeks on growing worries about rising COVID-19 cases in Europe and strengthening of the dollar.

Brent, against which Nigeria’s oil is priced, tumbled by 6.21 percent to $63.78 per barrel as of 7:39pm Nigerian time on Thursday. That puts Brent on track for its lowest close since March 3, and it would be the longest losing streak for Brent since September 2020, according to Bloomberg data.

“Crude prices are declining for a fifth consecutive day as concerns grow that Europe won’t have a regular summer,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA in New York. “Europe is seeing a third straight week of rising COVID-19 cases and with vaccination hurdles remaining in place,” he added.

A slowdown in vaccination programmes in Europe and the prospect of more restrictions to control the coronavirus had tempered expectations for a recovery in fuel use. Analysts say Britain would have to slow its COVID-19 vaccine rollout next month due to a supply crunch caused by delays in shipments of millions of AstraZeneca shots from India and the need to test the stability of an additional 1.7 million doses.

CBN to sell N570bn worth of T-Bills in Q2

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, said it will sell N570 billion worth of Treasury Bills (TBs) in the second quarter of 2021 (Q2’21).

The apex bank disclosed this in its Nigeria Treasury Bills Issue Programme for Q2’21 released yesterday.

TBs are short term debt instruments used by CBN to borrow money from the public on behalf of the federal government.

The TBs would be issued in tranches with the first tranche rolled out on March 11, 2021, while the last tranche is scheduled for May 27, 2021.

During the period, the apex bank will issue TBs worth N92.05 billion on 91 days tenor, N79.64 billion on 182 days and N398.7 billion on 364 days.

A breakdown of the programme revealed that in March, the apex bank plans to sell N135.96 billion worth of TBs, comprising N5.9 billion worth of 91 days bills, N22.39 billion worth of 182 days bills, and N107.67 billion worth of 364 days bills.

Despite yields on Federal Government risk-free instruments rising to a 13-month high, fixed-income investors are earning negative returns in real terms, thanks to Nigeria’s inflation rate which accelerated to a four-year high in February.

With an inflation rate of 17.33 percent, the real return for the 7 percent interest rate on the 364-day Federal Government treasury bill is -10.33 percent.