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By Oil retreats
Oil prices are down by around 2 percent Thursday morning as fuel demand concerns re-emerged alongside fresh coronavirus pandemic lockdowns, trimming overnight gains spurred by the grounding of a giant container ship blocking crude shipments through the Suez Canal.
Brent crude futures slid US$1.14, or 1.8 percent, to US$63.27 a barrel Thursday morning, after jumping by 6 percent the day before.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures dropped by US$1.27, or 2.1 percent, at US$59.91 a barrel, after climbing by 5.9 percent overnight.
Prices had tumbled earlier in the week on worries about tighter pandemic curbs in Europe and vaccine delays stalling growth in demand for fuel, but sharply reversed on Wednesday with the grounded ship in the Suez Canal potentially blocking 10 tankers carrying 13 million barrels of oil.
Naira opens at N408/$ in I&E window
The naira opened at N408.75/$1 at the Investors and Exporters window Thursday having gained 0.26 percent at the close of trading on Wednesday.
This week the naira is up 0.5 percent in the I&E window but has been steady in the parallel market where it opened at N486/$ on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Naira4Dollar scheme is reported to have attracted about $40 million in foreign remittances in one week.
That’s up from about $6 million before the policy was introduced.
The recent exchange rate gains in the Investors and Exporters window may support the narrative of increased diaspora remittance inflows.
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Lafarge shares set for rally ahead N16bn dividend payout
The shares of cement maker, Lafarge, is expected to rise in coming days as investors take position ahead of a N16.11 billion dividend payout.
The Board of Lafarge Africa Plc announced the dividend payment to its shareholders as the final dividend for the period ended 31st December 2020.
According to the announcement published by the cement manufacturer on the website of the Nigerian Stock Exchange,
Lafarge is expected to pay a dividend of N1.0 per share for all the outstanding 16,107,795,721 ordinary shares of the company.
This brings the total dividend payout to qualifying shareholders to N16.11 billion.
The final dividend will be paid electronically to shareholders on Tuesday, 25th May 2021, subject to appropriate withholding tax and approval at the company’s Annual General Meeting, which also holds on the 25th of May.
The Register of Shareholders will be closed from 4th May 2021 to 7th May 2021, to enable the registrar to process shareholders’ dividends.
Lafarge Africa Plc declared in its audited financial statement for 2020, that its profits grew by 98.8% year-on-year to N30.8 billion in 2020.
The company’s earnings per share during the year, increased by 98.8% year-on-year, from 96 kobo to 191 kobo in 2020.
A N5bn trade palliative for Nigerian exporters
The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has announced the launch of a N5 billion export trade palliative for exporters in Nigeria known as the Export Development Fund (EDF).
This was disclosed by Peter Njoku, the Assistant Director, Export Development and Incentives Department of the council, on Wednesday in Enugu, where he said that the EDF was launched over 30 years ago and recently reactivated by the FG.
“The reactivated EDF is part of the export development facilities of the federal government aimed at increasing export in Nigeria,” he said.
He urged SMEs and Exporters from the Southeast to take part in government palliative schemes for businesses, citing that only a small number of Southeast exporters benefitted from a recent Export Development Grant.
“From the records, it is obvious that people from the southeast do not usually come out to be part of this type of thing.
“Almost every intending exporter is qualified to access the fund. The requirements are not stringent to potential exporters,” he added.
Italy’s stymied vaccination rollout
Bureaucratic hurdles and logistical problems have undercut vaccination efforts in Italy, preventing older and vulnerable Italians from getting shots, while hundreds of doses of Covid vaccines are at risk of going to waste.
Italy has the highest rate of daily deaths from Covid-19 among Europe’s major powers, in a country that has the continent’s oldest population. Fewer than one in five people over 80 have received two doses of a vaccine, and less than 5 percent of those 70 and over have gotten their first shot.
Europe’s vaccination campaigns are moving at a maddeningly slow pace, aggravated by multiple countries’ temporary suspension last week of the AstraZeneca vaccine.